SUNDAY AT ROCK ON THE RANGE PART 1: 7TH CYCLE, ART OF DYING, TRAPT AND THE DAMNED THINGS
The second day of Rock on the Range 2011 brought on Ohio’s infamous humidity. It was a foreshadowing of the weather to come later in the day.
No rock band in the world wants to hear that they are playing at a festival in the morning. Local band 7th Cycle made the most of a potentially drab situation by bringing in a record crowd for their 11:30 AM performance on Sunday. They rocked the stage with songs like My Enemy, off their 2010 album Small Town Drama, and the passionate new song Watch You Burn. But they got the biggest response with their closing number, a fun cover of House of Pain’s Jump Around.
Art of Dying hit the Jägermeister stage in the early afternoon. By that time, a more significant crowd had formed and a great number of spectators were hanging off the sides of the stadium to watch. The Canadian quintet performed with energy that was worthy of a much larger stage. They really hit their stride with the song Best I Can, which obviously elicited an emotional response from the audience. The inspirational anthems Get Thru This and Die Trying rounded out a very memorable set.
Over on the f.y.e stage, platinum-selling rockers Trapt aimed high by starting their set with their biggest hit, Headstrong. The remainder of their performance didn’t quite live up to the standard set by the first song, but by 4:00 in the afternoon of day two, most “Rangers” were inebriated enough to just be happy with a decent rock band. The last number, Stand Up, did get the crowd more engaged.
The final act on the Jägermeister stage was super group The Damned Things. Comprised of members of Anthrax, Fall Out Boy and Every Time I Die, these six guys were down a man. Scott Ian had to fly home to be with his wife, who was very much in labor on Sunday. The remaining five burned through a hard rocking set of songs off their album Ironiclast. Singer Keith Buckley took a moment to dedicate A Great Reckoning to the late Columbus native Randy “Macho Man” Savage.
Part 2 of Sunday’s coverage is coming soon!
Category: Photo Updates, Reviews
