Well, it's been a while since I've had something to blog about, so here goes: I just went to the Half Way Jam outdoor classic rock festival in Royalton, MN last weekend, and I had a blast! I thought about going to this event last year, but I wasn't too thrilled with the lineup. This year's performers intrigued me though, so I thought I'd give it a try, and it turned out to be a lot of fun!I decided not to go to the early events, and I was able to find the event parking right off of Highway 15 on Thursday night about 20 minutes before Quiet Riot was scheduled to perform on the main stage. There was plenty of room for people to mill about, buy souvenirs and refreshments, and catch up with friends. I moseyed over to the main stage area that Thursday night just in time for Quiet Riot to begin. I thought that they did a good job of warming up the crowd, and new singer Mark Huff screamed just as loud as the late Kevin DuBrow, especially during their hits "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)" to close out their set.
Amped up for more music, I then wandered over to the Rhino Deck side stage just to the left of the gates to hear the local Led Zeppelin tribute band Blimp. I had heard their band members Jeff Engholm, Mark Hasbrouck and Stacey Bauer play in local bands Collective Unconscious and the Stearns County Pachanga Society before, so I knew to expect a good set, but Bauer's powerful vocals channeling her inner Robert Plant took their songs to exciting heights as they partied through songs like "Black Dog" and "Rock and Roll" and took the audience on a soaring journey with the Zeppelin epic "Kashmir."
After watching Blimp's set, I then returned to my folding chair by the main stage to sit back and listen to Firehouse. I've seen Firehouse in concert twice before, once at the old Del-Win Entertainment Center in St. Joe about a decade ago, and more recently at the Paramount Theatre in downtown St. Cloud a couple of years ago, and their set was reminiscent of their last performance. I'm not a big fan of Firehouse, but I thought they did a good job, and kept the couples dancing with their wedding reception-ready ballads "Love of a Lifetime" and "When I Look Into Your Eyes." As the crowd left for the night, we were ushered out by the sounds of AC/DC's hit "Thunderstruck" being performed by tribute band T.N.T. on the Rhino Deck. I left the venue that night looking forward to even more rock the next night - turns out it got even better!
On Friday night, I got to Half Way Jam just as local grunge covers band Wicked Garden was treating eventgoers to a hearty rendition of the Stone Temple Pilots song "Plush." The first band on the main stage that night was the hair rockers Slaughter. I saw some friends in attendance as I walked to the barrier seperating the VIP area from the general admission crowd mulling around the stage. In the middle of their set, frontman Mark Slaughter walked around the crowd in the general admission aread while singing, so I and several people around me got to shake hands with him while enjoying the show. They closed out their set with the singles "Fly To The Angels" and "Up All Night (Sleep All Day)," leaving the crowd ready for more!
Between sets, I returned to the Rhino Deck to hear more of Wicked Garden's covers of songs by grunge-era artists Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. I liked their covers of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Alice in Chain's "Bones," a song which signaled the next act on the main stage, rocker Lita Ford, was ready to begin.
I realized that quite a few people around me weren't even born when some of Lita's hits were on rock radio, but that didn't seem to mind as Lita and her band (including solo recording artist/producer Gary Hoey on guitar) kept the crowd rocking with her songs. I liked hearing some of the rarer tracks like"Back to the Cave" and "Falling In and Out of Love" and the fact that Lita was rather humble, apologizing to the crowd a couple of times on songs that she forgot she was supposed to start on guitar. Towards the end of her set, her keyboardist played the opening to the Ozzy Ozbourne single "Mr. Crowley," which led in to her famed duet with Ozzy "If I Close My Eyes Forever." Lita polished off her set with the hit song "Kiss Me Deadly." I was thoroughly impressed with her performance, and I liked the fact that she played lead or rhythm guitar on most of the songs in her set.
Of all the major acts in this year's Half Way Jam, the one I was looking forward to hearing the most was Cinderella, because they were the band that I knew the most songs of than all the others. Cinderella headlined on Friday night, and it was by far my favorite performance of the festival. Everyone in the band put forth their best efforts, especially frontman Tom Kiefer. In addition to singing all the vocals, he also played guitar with about a half-dozen different guitars, played keyboards on the first half of their anthem "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)," and even blasted a little saxophone on their encore closer "Shelter Me." Kiefer looked thoroughly worn out at the end of their set, and acknowledged that Minnesota "kicked his ass again." It looked like the band had as much fun as the audience did, so I'm sure they'll be back at Half Way Jam again.
On Saturday, I had just finished a nice meal with family in St. Cloud when it was time to "head back to the farm," as the Half Way Jam radio commercials say. I arrived just in time for Stephen Pearcy and his solo band perform most of the big hits from his band Ratt, who is currently on hiatus. I've been aware of Ratt ever since a friend started wearing her Ratt T-shirt to school in sixth grade, so I enjoyed listening to their classics "Back For More," "Way Cool Jr." and "Round and Round."
The second band on the main stage was Kix, a band I didn't know much about, but they put on a good show for the crowd as the rain began to fall. Frontman Steve Whiteman was a blond ball of energy, as he ran and twirled around the stage throughout their set. I appreciated his self-deprecating humor as he mockingly acknowledged that the song "Don't Close Your Eyes" was their hit. I had forgotten about their lesser-known songs like "Cold Shower" (which was prefaced by an amusing story from Steve about their exploits the previous night, an encounter that I won't reprint here) and "Blow My Fuse" so it was good to see a band having a great time and getting the audience primed for the final headliner of the evening.
After the set-change intermission and hearing a few songs by the Metallica tribute band "One" on the Rhino deck, it was time for the final headliner, Skid Row, to begin on the main stage. My first exposure to this band was listening to a friend's Youth Gone Wild cassette while a bunch of us were hanging out in a hotel room in what was still West Germany about a month after graduating high school. I haven't heard much from this band since they had their original singer Sebastian Bach in the early 90's, but their current singer, self-proclaimed redneck Johnny Solinger did a great job with their newer material as well as the band's greatest hits "18 and Life," "I Remember You" and "Monkey Business." I enjoyed the solos and one-offs by guitarists Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill during the extended bridge of "Monkey Business" and by the time the band finished their encore song "Youth Gone Wild," it was hard to believe this year's Half Way Jam was almost over - most of us still wanted more!
I did get to hear more Metallica cover songs by the tribute band One before I left that night, and was thoroughly tired by the time I rolled into bed early on Sunday morning. For a show like that, I think you have to follow Slaughter's mantra of "up all night, sleep all day." For my first Half Way Jam festival, I have to say I was impressed. The bands were great on the main and side stages, everything was well-organized, and I didn't see too many people get too rowdy or out of control. If next year's line-up is half as good as this year's was, I'm sure I'll be back next year to get my fix of some great hairball rock!
No comments:
Post a Comment