Upon arriving at the venue, I immediately noticed the better parking situation over last year’s three mile backup to get in; this year, the backup barely stretched a thousand feet. But quickly, the familiar sights of a heavy metal parking lot take hold; plenty of Natural Ice and American Spirit cigarettes abound. After looking over the crowd for two days, it's pretty obvious what the eventual cause of death will be for a solid fifty percent of the festival goers, and it's not natural causes.

As the first band on the second stage comes on, you look at how pristine everything still is and you wonder how long it will take for this beer swilling crew to wreck the place- my initial prediction is somewhere in the 4-5 hour range (it only took 2 hours, maybe, for the second stage area to be littered in plastic beer bottles). The first band, Drive A, a Buckcherry-rip off, would be more memorable for giving out the most free stuff during the weekend than for their 25-minute set.

Billy Howerdel’s new band, Ashes Divide, seemed better suited for a darkly lit goth club than the 1 p.m. sunshine. Not bad, but not all that great in their 30-minute set and definitely not the demographic the band was looking for. Finger Eleven was the first band to take to the main stage. The Canadian band was brief, but made the most out of their time. Playing songs like “Good Times” and the massive hit “Paralyzer,” the band was a pleasant early day surprise. It looked as if lead singer Scott Anderson might have started celebrating a little early, but the band had seized their moment.

If there was a band that seized the moment more than any other at Rock on the Range ’08, it was the Australian band Airbourne. The band played to their AC/DC influence, and won the crowd (and myself) over with their half hour set with fun no-brainers like “Cheap Wine and Cheaper Women,” and “Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast.” Lead singer Joel O’Keefe even nailed the high pitched wail of Brian Johnson. Some people may complain that the band sounds too much like their influences, but it’s a brand of rock we don’t see much of these days.

As Airbourne seized the day, Killswitch Engage took their usual spot as the court jesters of the festival circuit. Killswitch gave ROTR a little taste of the full on metal that had so far been avoided at the festival. Armed with a blow up doll strapped to his back, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz taunted the crowd, while lead singer Howard Jones wanted to see “white people collide” during songs like “Rose of Sharyn” and their ripping cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver.”

SerjTankian delivered the first blows to the Bush administration during his 40-minute set, which became a theme of Saturday. Richard Patrick of Filter and David Draiman of Disturbed also took shots. Filter’s 45-minute set was a sturdy greatest hits run-through and even praised his former bandmates in Army Of Anyone (STP’sDeLeo brothers) on the return of the upcoming Stone Temple Pilots show. The Filter and Disturbed sets were highlights of the weekend, with most of the people in attendance in full support of Disturbed’s no-filler hour long set. The band went on political diatribes, while delivering their signature tune “Down With The Sickness,” as well as their new single “Inside The Fire.” It's obvious by now that Disturbed has mastered the arena rock art and sent the 30,000 or so into a frenzy, with mosh pits for the entire hour.

Disturbed stole the thunder from the most talked about set of the weekend, the long awaited return of Stone Temple Pilots. Most people seemed tired and heading towards the exits as the band started with “Big Empty.” The band was slow off the gate, with mellower tracks such as “Lady Picture Show” in the early part of the set. The very dapper looking Scott Weiland and crew seemed to find their heavier hand later in the set, with old school rockers “Crackerman” and “Dead and Bloated” played towards the end of the set. Weiland seemed to look good and comfortable with his old bandmates, but it remains to be seen if the band regains the creative fire that made the band as popular as their mid-90s heyday. Even though their set list could be tweaked a bit, STP almost met expectations, but it was obvious that Disturbed was the band of night one of the fest.

If day one was all about condemning the government, Sunday’s theme was to rally around the flag and to be quite honest, it got to be a bit much after a while. Drowning Pool lead singer Ryan McCombs’ came out during their set attired in a formal Marines jacket and had the fans going to tracks like “Soldiers.” We get it; you support the troops. That’s fine, but let the music to do the talking. Their biggest hit, “Bodies” was the most all out wildest 4 minutes of the weekend. Sevendust also discussed their upcoming trip to meet soldiers in Afghanistan and their 45-minute set would have been better with songs like “Black” and “Bitch,” but those didn’t make the set list. However, the band did play band staples “Denial” and “Enemy,” which whet the appetite to a certain degree.

Sevendust fared much better than the mind numbing hour long set from 3 Doors Down. With an American flag waving throughout most of the set and their soldiers’ anthem “When I’m Gone,” it was obvious Sunday’s bands were set to be the opposite of the defiant nature of some of the Saturday bands. Anyways, the set was a plethora of the band’s banal and limp rock radio hits over the years. The crowd thinned out during their set, most likely due to the plummeting temperatures that time of night.

Saturday featured a lot of filler (Red, 10 Years, Shinedown, and the take it or leave it Theory of a Deadman), but Sunday had just a little bit more. Groups like Saving Abel, Bobaflex and Alter Bridge all seemed to run together.

Sunday did have its moments though, L.A. based band Rev Theory put together a better than expected set and Five Finger Death Punch gave all the early fans a wakeup call during their 35-minute set, which shook any cobwebs in the fans’ brains.

Also, teenage Florida band Black Tide showed some promise during their set, including a cover of Metallica’s “Hit The Lights.” Bassist Zach Sandler and guitarist Alex Nunez seemed to be the hype men in the band and found their niche as smartasses on stage. Meanwhile, it was obvious that 15-year-old singer Gabriel Garcia’s voice had dropped and puberty had set in since the recording of their Light From Above album and also needs some improvement at being a stage presence. He might want to talk to his band members for tips.

And as always, Detroit’s own Kid Rock was as fun as usual, putting together a wicked abridged version of his “Rock & Roll Revival” tour as the wind and cold kicked up a notch. Rock busted into “American Bad Ass” and “Cocky” way early on, before bringing Peter Wolf (as boring as it was in Detroit) and Run DMC’s Reverend Run (as good as last time) to bring on a medley on their hits. Rock’s almost three hour set in most shows had to be trimmed down to 80-minutes for this show, but he made the most of it and was as entertaining as always.

As could be heard in the headlining sets, the festival  definitely could boast a better sound system than last year’s muddled P.A.. But with all the bands at Rock on the Range, we saw some potentially entertaining newcomers, some bands that were probably best in smaller clubs and a chance to bring back some names from the past. Now, we’ll have to wait and see how those other festivals respond to Rock on the Range’s “largest rock festival” claims.