Rocklahoma 2007: The Hair Generation Rocks the
Nation
By: Commish
commish@lifename.com
“Welcome to Jackylstock 2007”
announced Jackyl lead singer, Jessie James Dupree as
they kicked their show into high gear Sunday at the first annual Rocklahoma music festival in Pryor
The festival kicked off with a special Thursday “Pre-Party” that had all the makings for a night of musical mayhem. The rainy day lineup included a few local cover bands, a couple tribute bands by way of Kiss Army and the Hollywood Roses and a special appearance by the UK’s Gypsy Pisteleros, the self proclaimed kings of Europe’s glam music scene. The highlight of the day came with a late night all-star jam session that included some of the Sunset Strip’s biggest legends. Tracii Guns, Joe Leste and Chip Znuff led the jam that also included former Guns and Roses drummer Steven Adler along with Chad Stewart(LA Guns), Michael Thomas(Faster Pussycat) and Greg Leon. Their were few surprises in the set list that included many notable GNR classics as well as several other well known cover songs by some of rocks greatest musicians including a few Jimi Hendrix staples played out nicely by Tracii Guns and a very poor version of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”. Lillian Axe, a late addition to the Thursday lineup, played a very tight and rocking set to a small, yet ardent fan base and added a much needed boost of original music to the day. A great kickoff party that was only added to the lineup about a month before the show and one that will definitely have more in attendance next year.
Friday came and so did the sunshine. The rain that dampened the early part of Thursday’s party had passed and left nothing but sunshine and plenty of mud. We arrived early Friday morning, not knowing how big the crowd was going to be and was very surprised to find, or not find, many people onsite yet. Friday was the true start to the Rocklahoma festival as the major national bands and headliners were starting this day. We had previously purchased VIP seating, which is well worth every penny, and spent the morning getting acclimated to the fest grounds and what it all had to offer. The fest grounds cover about 400 acres, complete with camping, onsite store and shower facilities as well as dozens of vendor and sponsor booths. The official merchandise booth was opened so we checked that out and was disappointed to find that the coolest shirt there had already sold out in our sizes. Oh well. Off to the VIP tent for some much needed food, which is included in the ticket price, and then down to our seats for the first show of the day for us.
The Greg Leon Invasion took to the stage in a very unassuming fashion and played mostly what sounded like Dokken and Ratt songs, with different lyrics. Greg Leon is a Sunset Strip legend and was the original Dokken guitar player before they hired George Lynch. His set was lacking in enthusiasm and was overall just plain dull.
After a quick break, JPOT Music contest winners Dirty Penny,
from
After several weeks of speculation as to whether or not White Lion was going to be allowed to play the fest, due to ongoing legal battles with original White Lion guitarist, Vito Bratta, over name ownership, Mike Tramp’s latest version of White Lion hit the stage to a small but enthusiastic crowd. More than a one-hit wonder, Mike Tramp plodded along through the White Lion catalog and covered all the fan favorites as well as a few deep album cuts. The uninspired performance put many of those standing, back in their seats for a majority of the show. Unlike Dirty Penny before, White Lion did nothing to excite the crowd, even during their biggest hit songs, “Little Fighter” and “Wait”.
Having seen Y&T a dozen times or so over the past 6 or 7 years, I pretty much knew what to expect with this show and could have written the set list myself. I am always very eager to see Dave Meniketti tear up the stage as he is one of my favorite guitarists and certainly one of the finest at this festival. Opening with their classic “Black Tiger” and finishing up with the barnstorming “Forever”, their set was chock full of technical problems. Dave’s guitar was not on during the “Black Tiger” solos nor during the second song, “Lipstick and Leather” and many other times throughout the show. Whoever was running the sound boards over the weekend really needs to have a lesson from a qualified audio technician. Almost every band, every day had guitar or mic problems. One song they were on, the next song they were not. Unfortunately Y&T had far too many of these types of problems during their set and it made for a very frustrating show. The band probably had no clue, as all the stage monitors seemed to be working fine. Their show was cut short and they unfortunately had to cut “I Believe in You” from the set list. Beginning with my first Y&T show in 1983, I have never seen them without hearing that song and it was a big disappointment. They left the stage with the crowd wanting more and chanting “Y&T”, “Y&T”, “Y&T”.
The latest rendition of Slaughter was next up to the plate. Having never been a big Slaughter fan, this show wasn’t too high on my list of must see shows. With a small number of hit songs in their bag, Mark Slaughter and the rest of the gang worked their magic the best they could on this hot day. The vocals were fair, at best, during most of the show, but Mark Slaughter didn’t let that affect his performance. As he usually does at festival shows, Slaughter spent a good amount of time out in the crowd, singing and playing guitar, which is always a hit with the fans. Working his way through the Slaughter staples which culminated with a rousing version of one of the era’s biggest anthems, “Up All Night (Sleep All Day)”, Slaughter turned in a decent performance and was a good setup for what was to come the rest of the evening.
This festival has a full list of arena rock anthems and Quiet Riot may very well be at the top of that list. “Bang Your Head” is indeed one of the all-time greatest rock anthems to come out of the 80s and that one song alone forever cements Quiet Riot’s contribution to the hair/glam metal scene. They have always been regarded as a one-hit wonder hard rock band, but they actually do have several radio friendly hit songs, although a couple of the well known ones are actually cover songs by the band Slade. Regardless, Quiet Riot has a place in music history and Kevin Dubrow and the rest of Quiet Riot showed why they are still a viable act and more than a one-hit wonder. Dubrow took to the stage looking much better and fresher than he did last summer when I saw them, that show was pretty much a waste of my time. This year’s performance however had Dubrow looking good and sounding great. With mainstay Frankie Banali on drums, Chuck Wright back on bass and Alex Grossi on guitar, with another year under his belt, Quiet Riot transported themselves back 20 years and stormed through their set. The set list provided no surprises as we got a plateful of Quiet Riot staples including “Slick Black Cadillac”, Mama We’re All Crazy Now”, “Cum on Feel the Noize” and of course, the closer “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)” which indeed had the crowd banging their heads.
With much anticipation, the somewhat reunited RATT took over the stage to rousing applause. Having reunited with lead singer Stephen Pearcy, for the first time in 7 years, the band took their brand of hair metal, lead by guitarist Warren DeMartini, and rolled through some of the biggest hits of the 80s. Musically, the band was tight, but Stephen Pearcy bored the hell out of me. His vocals were horrible, at best, and his lackadaisical attitude ruined the show for me. Kevin Dubrow looked like the new Steven Tyler when compared to Stephen Pearcy. RATT has a ton of hit songs, but even those songs couldn’t save this show for me. By the 8th or 9th song, I had pretty much had enough and we left for the VIP tent. The best vocalist in the band is John Corabi, and he’s playing rhythm guitar. How unfortunate for him to have to suffer through listening to Pearcy night after night, knowing he could sing the songs way better. And, too bad for Warren Demartini as well, he should move on and start a new band with a better singer. He’s got so much talent but he’s stuck in a RATT trap.
One of the best live party bands to come out of LA is Poison. With Bret, CC, Bobby and Rikki still together after 20 years, Poison gives you what you want, every time out. Its non-stop hits, non-stop party and non-stop Poison. This time around, the band is pushing the release of their covers album, Poison’D. I’m not big on covers albums at all and especially a covers album that is done by Poison. They have their own style of hair/glam metal that works well for them, but when that style gets put on a bunch of mostly forgettable cover songs, it just doesn’t work well. Why are they doing a cover of the Romantics “What I Like About You”? And why oh why do they have to play it live? Poison has a chest full of hits, so why do they think they have to play half a show of cover songs. Have they just run out of original songs to write? When they were playing their own songs, they were giving the crowd everything they wanted. One of the highlights was the rarely played acoustic number “I Won’t Forget You”, which hasn’t been dusted off since the mid 90’s. Poison always delivers a great live show and this time around was no exception. My only beef is with the cover songs. One or two is ok, 5 or 6 are not ok, especially when the show isn’t getting over until 2:00AM and the crowd is a bit restless and tired.
Day 3 at the fest and there are a whopping 12 bands on
today’s main stage lineup. After getting
about 4 hours sleep, we were dragging a bit, but that didn’t last for
long. After a quick bite to eat in the
VIP tent, we were off to see local
Bang Tango took the stage, just before lunchtime and I thought we had our first Axl Rose sighting. Instead, it was Tango lead singer Joe Leste. Looking like he had just graduated from the Axl Rose school of stage props, complete with the “Welcome to the Jungle” era headband and sunglasses, Leste fumbled through a 40 minute set of Tango classics and GNR hits. Bang Tango never made too big of a statement during the hair/glam era and there were few in attendance that could name more than one Tango song, if any. Sounding like he had smoked a carton of cigarettes before hitting the stage, Leste’s vocals were shot. Musically, the band sounded great but the vocals and the whole Axl Rose look alike thing ruined it for me. Towards the end of their set, they were joined onstage by former GNR drummer Steven Adler to replay the same GNR songs from Thursday night’s jam session along with another horrible rendition of “Highway to Hell”. Unfortunately, this show ranked at the bottom of the entire lineup for me.
One of the bands I was looking forward to seeing most was up next with the Bullet Boys. In the 31 years of attending concerts, somehow I had never seen this band. For the most part, I got what I wanted. Marq Torien was in fine form and his vocals sounded great. The band was tight and didn’t miss a beat. The set list could have been changed a bit for me, but it did include “Kissin’ Kitty”, my favorite BB song, as well as “Hard as a Rock”, “Smooth Up in Ya” and “For the Love of Money”. Missing favorites were “F#9” and “Shoot the Preacher Down”. Overall, they were great and I hope to see them again soon.
The show up next was rather interesting. Up until about 3 weeks before the festival, Brent Muscat’s version of Faster Pussycat was playing at Rocklahoma. That was until original vocalist, Taime Downe, threw down the hammer and put a stop to that. This is one of those bands that are battling for naming rights between the lead singer and the lead guitarist. Much like White Lion, we were unsure who was going to show up. In the end, we got the Taime Downe version of Faster Pussycat. The show started off great and was rolling along nicely until about 6 songs into the set and Taime goes off on some tirade about Brent Muscat and him stealing the band name and having cancer and being a victim and how Taime wished he would just shut up and die, blah, blah, blah. It was a pretty brutal statement to make which left most in the audience a bit flabbergasted about what they just heard. Two more songs and Taime says “F@ck You, we are Faster Pussycat, goodnight” and throws down the microphone and walks off. They left their set 4 or 5 songs short and didn’t play several of their well known songs due to the early exit. It was definitely an interesting moment.
We chose to hit the VIP tent for a quick bite and some much needed air conditioning instead of watching Enuff Znuff. I have never been a fan of their music, mostly due to the vocals. I know they have a different singer now, but it still made more sense to eat and cool off for a bit.
Most people regard Firehouse as one of those one-hit wonder, sappy, ballad bands. But, after pulling back the covers, one reveals that they are so much more than that. Firehouse is one of the tightest and best sounding bands to come out of the early 90’s. Their music style fits right in with the hair/glam metal scene of the 80s and most of their music has a crunch to it. Vocalist CJ Snare still sounds like he is 14 and barely has any hair down below, but that doesn’t keep him from rocking out with the best of them. Yes, they have some ballads, but on tracks like “All She Wrote” and “Reach For the Sky”, all visions of love songs are tossed to the side. Bill Leverty does a very credible job on guitar and the rest of the band never misses a beat. They have a lot more hit songs than you think they do and most of the headbangers in attendance were singing word for word to the sappy love songs when they were played.
Last summer, I saw Warrant and was very impressed with newly added lead singer Jamie St. James and how well he seemed to fit right in with the band. This time around, I wasn’t as enamored, as he seemed to be struggling to hit the notes and looked like he was out of shape and out of breath for most of the show. Granted, it was quite hot during their set and Jamie mentioned that it was probably the hottest weather he had ever played in. The band is all original members, with the exception of St. James, and is super tight. Joey Allen and Erik Turner feed off each other well and the beat of bassist Jerry Dixon and Steven Sweet keep your feet moving throughout the show. Playing a long list of hit songs, that included 80s staples “Cherry Pie, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, “I Saw Red”, “Heaven” and “The Down Boys”, Warrant marched on through the hot sun and lead the faithful Rocklahoma fans into the night.
We missed most of the Skid Row show during the late dinner hour and a tour around the festival grounds. Not being much of a fan of lead singer Johnny Solinger, I decided I could hear the show from the back versus being in my seat. Can’t really say much other than the band sounded great and Solinger is still no replacement for Sebastian Bach. Skid Row is one of those bands where they are never going to be able to shed their legacy as long as they keep calling themselves Skid Row. Their debut album was great and after that they had a few hits here and there, but they should move on with Solinger in a different direction and let Bach be the voice of Skid Row. The songs people want to hear Skid Row do need to be done by Bach and not by someone trying to squeeze their vocal range into Bach’s range, which just doesn’t work for me.
One of the bigger disappointments at this fest came in the form of Winger. I was very much anticipating this show and when it was all said and done, I was bored stiff during the entire show. First off, when you are playing a festival you need to play some songs early that people know so they will stay awake. Winger proceeded to reel off 8 straight songs that only the diehard Winger fans would know, with the exception of the marginal hit song “Easy Come, Easy Go”. Other than that, the first 40 minutes of the show put festers in their seats with most of them asking for them to play songs they knew. And then next they play a very mellow and strung out version of “Headed For a Heartbreak” that added to the boredom. The band is loaded with talent, but this show just didn’t bring much of it out. I was expecting a much more high energy show and it just never materialized for me.
One of the best shows of the festival came on Saturday night when Dokken hit the stage. From start to finish, Dokken were on fire. Don Dokken looked as though he had lost 20-30 pounds, moved around the stage and even smiled a time or two. His vocals were in fine form and he rarely struggled to hit any notes. New guitarist, Jon Levin, was phenomenal and didn’t make me miss George Lynch one bit, hitting all the solos, note for note. “Wild Man” Mick Brown took a hiatus from Ted Nugent’s tour to sit in his regular spot behind the drum kit and Dokken regular Barry Sparks was pounding the bass. Playing a set list of hits as long as my arm, Dokken unchained the night with a barrage of 80s classic hard rock songs that included “Just Got Lucky”, “Breakin’ The Chains”, “Into The Fire”, “The Hunter”, “In My Dreams”, “Alone Again”, “Dream Warriors” and the smoking hot “Tooth and Nail”. One of the top performances of the festival and one of the best Dokken shows I have been to in the past 15 years. Kudos to Dokken for a fantastic performance!
Here’s a scary thought.
The Vince Neil band being better than Motley Crue?? Say it
isn’t so… Yep it’s true. After witnessing an absolutely horrible Crue show last summer at Rock-Fest, I was a bit worried as
to what we were going to see close out the Saturday lineup. Much to my surprise, we got a great show from
Vince and his band. Much like Don Dokken, Vince looked great and sounded good and most
importantly, was sober. Seems there are
quite a few lead singers at this years festival that may have went to the Rockstar Celebrity Fit Club and shaped up a bit. Vince and his band, that included former
Slaughter members Dana Strum on bass and Jeff Blando
on guitar and newcomer Zoltan Chaney pounding away on the skins, kicked off the show
with a blistering version of the Crue’s “Livewire”
and never looked back. A few songs into
the set and Vince took leave of the stage to let his band perform several well
done cover songs with Blando singing lead on classic
tracks by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
Fresh from his nap, Vince came back and stormed through several more Crue hits including, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Red Hot”,
“Helter Skelter”, “Looks That Kill”, “Wildside” and “Kickstart My
Heart”. All in all, this was a pretty
decent show and a good way to close out another very late night at the fest.
Having gotten an extra hour of
sleep over the previous night, we arrived at the fest grounds ready to rock our
faces off. The lineup today held much
excitement as Twisted Sister, Jackyl, Queensryche, Great White, Steelheart,
Britny Fox and LA Guns were all slated to play today. We opted to skip the first two local bands
this morning as they started at 9:30AM.
Yes, 9:30AM. I don’t know if
anybody was at those two shows, unless they slept in their seats after the
Vince Neil show ended. First up for us
though was Rhino Bucket, playing in the pre-lunch slot at 11:20AM. Former Kix
guitarist Brian “Damage” Forsythe leads this outfit of Bon Scott era, AC/DC
sounding rockers which included special guest, and former AC/DC drummer, Simon
Wright. If you’re into the early years
of AC/DC, you will love Rhino Bucket.
Similar song structure, back beat, guitar and vocals. It was our first time riding the Rhino and we
thoroughly enjoyed the early morning show.
It was a great way to wake up and smell the coffee.
After a quick bite to eat in the
VIP tent, we were off to see Britny Fox. With original member Billy Childs on bass and
long time vocalist Tommy Paris at the mic, Britny Fox rocked their way through a short set that
included their biggest hits “Long Way to Love” and “Girlschool”. Unfortunately most of their show was
forgettable as it just wasn’t overly exciting.
This might sound weird, but the stage just seemed too big for them. I think they would be best watched in a club
filled with Britny Fox fans. I was really looking forward to seeing this
show as it had been a good 15 years since I last saw them. I wasn’t necessarily disappointed; it just
wasn’t at the top of my list of great shows.
I can sum up Steelheart’s performance in one word. Fantastic! The voice of Steel Dragon, from the Rockstar movie, blasted onto the stage to the sounds of “Blood Pollution” and it was a non-stop rock and roll show that surprised everyone in attendance. Steelheart is another one of those bands, like Firehouse, that had their biggest hit with a love song that included ear piercing vocals and they will always be remembered for that. But, after Sunday, there are several thousand newly converted Steelheart fans that know they have much more than 1 song in their bag. Lead singer Miljenko Matijevic (aka Mili) gave the best vocal performance of the weekend and left many in awe of his talent. Most in the crowd were surprised by the range of his vocals as well as his on stage performance. Steelheart came to show the Rocklahoma fans that they indeed deserved to be included in this hair/glam fest and put on a smokin’ rock show which included several songs from the Rockstar movie including “Blood Pollution”, “Stand Up” and the Steelheart, but now Steel Dragon hit song “We All Die Young”, along with many Steelheart originals that included “Love Ain’t Easy”, “Rock and Roll (I Just Wanna)”, “You Can’t Stop Me Loving You”, “Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes)” and the new single “LOL”. Mili and the rest of Steelheart proved indeed they belonged at Rocklahoma in 2007 and we look forward to having them back in 2008.
Ah yes, another in a long line of bands fighting for the right to use the band name is LA Guns. Does the band name belong to original guitarist Tracii Guns or does it belong to original vocalist Phil Lewis? How come the drummers and bass players never want to take the names? It’s always a battle between the singer and the guitar player. Anywhoo, the version of LA Guns to hit the Rocklahoma stage was the Tracii Guns version that also includes his son Jeremy on bass, Chad Stewart on drums and Paul Black on vocals. As a fan, there’s one thing to remember, always follow the singer…… Not in all cases, but certainly in this case. It’s a toss up as to who’s vocals were worse, Paul Black’s or Joe Leste’s from Bang Tango. Once again, musically they were great, and Tracii Guns smoked on guitar, but the vocals were horrible and just ruined the show for me. During their biggest hit, “The Ballad of Jayne” it was really unbearable. Paul Black invited dozens of fans up onstage during this song to help him sing it in hopes that most festers wouldn’t notice how bad it was. Maybe next time around, they will bring in the Phil Lewis version so we can hear the songs the way they should be sang. Ouch….
Celebrating their 25th anniversary, a newly reformed Great White put on an outstanding show. Jack Russell and Mark Kendall have been touring together for years under the Great White moniker, but it wasn’t until recently that the rest of the original members got on board to tour in support of their anniversary as well as put out a new CD of all original material. It was like 1985 all over again. I was amazed at how good Jack Russell looked and sounded. He has dropped a good bit of weight, cut his hair and seemed really fresh and sober. I was really glad to see that. His vocals were top notch and the rest of the band seemed like they never took a break from each other. Michael Lardie, Audie Desbrow and Sean McNabb all seemed to be having a great time and as a unit, they were just terrific. The set list was a greatest hits package that included everything you would expect, from Great White, “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”, “Lady Red Light”, “Mista Bone”, “Rock Me”, “Save All Your Love”, “Face the Day”, “Down On Your Knees” and “Rollin Stoned” as well as many others. My hats off to Great White for coming back together and giving the fans a terrific show.
There is a reason that Jackyl
plays at the Full Throttle Saloon at the Sturgis motorcycle rally every
year. Because when they hit the stage
this band hits it Full Throttle! It’s a
non-stop in your face barrage of hillbilly, countrified, hard rock with a touch
of punk and a whole lot of swagger. The
self proclaimed new Mayor of Pryor
A welcomed late addition to the Rocklahoma
lineup was Queensryche, due to WASP having to cancel
their performance because of financial difficulties by their North American
distributor. It was an unfortunate
cancellation as I was really looking forward to seeing WASP, but being a huge Queensryche fan I certainly wasn’t disappointed when they
were added only days after WASP cancelling.
I don’t know that Queensryche fits into the
whole hair/glam scene as they are considered to be more progressive in their
musical styling, but the Rocklahoma crowd loved
them. Queensryche
has enough radio hits to keep the average fan interested when they play their
greatest hits set list, so this was not a difficult show for everyone to
enjoy. Fresh off their Mindcrime I and II tour, the Ryche
stuck mainly to the meat and potatoes by not straying too deep into the album
cuts to lose the crowd. Songs like
“Empire”, “Jet City Woman”, “Eyes of a Stranger”, “Another
Rainy Night” and “I don’t Believe in Love” went over big. Unfortunately, the show was hit with the
usual technical problems all the other bands were having which was
frustrating. A real strong performance
by the boys from
37 bands down and one left to go. Who better to close out this celebration of
80s glam and hair metal than those sick SMFs from
Twisted Sister? The voice of the Hair
Generation that keeps rockin’ the nation, Dee Snyder
and company finished this fest in pure glam bam hard rock style. In full makeup and costumes, Twisted Sister
hit the stage about 12:30AM Monday morning after 4 full days of rock and blew
everyone out of their seats. Twisted
Sister held back nothing on this night, the hottest of the fest. Along with
Overall:
Rocklahoma was a fantastic event and one can only hope it is as good next year. Early rumors indicate it will be even bigger and better, which is hard to imagine. The guitar and mic problems were a nuisance all weekend but it didn’t ruin the overall event. The facilities were great and with a few changes, it could become the premiere destination for hard rock music fans all across the world.
