Rock Hard at the Park 2011 Friday, August 26th at the Greyhound Park & Event Center
Featuring: Red Line Chemistry, Volbeat, All that Remains, Five Finger Death Punch, and Korn
I wasn’t lucky enough to get out of work until later in the afternoon but as soon as I finished I was running out the door and hightailing it to I90. I don’t know if anyone else was experiencing this but, I was stuck going around 25mph from Sullivan to a mile before the exit. It was the weirdest thing there wasn’t any construction really and no accidents so I was like what the heck when everything cleared right up before the exit. However the slow driving and parking and all of that jazz resulted in me not getting into the venue until Volbeat was just about to start.
Denmark’s Volbeat killed it at Rock Hard at the Park; with the blistering sun shining down and high temperatures these guys fucking worked their asses off. I am sure they made a lot of new fans today. Outside of the event shirts I saw more Volbeat t-shirts than anything else. Their fans are loyal and will take every opportunity they can to see Volbeat in concert. We hung out with our good friend Shawn from Rockstar Radio™ today and one of his favorite bands is Volbeat. He has seen them three times this year, then saw them tonight and is heading back home to see them in Missoula on Saturday! He has been a fan of them since 2009 and has sworn by the band from the start. It was cool to see him sing along to the music and rock out. In between each of their songs all you would see were thousands of horns in the air. A couple of the songs Volbeat performed today included “The Human Instrument,” “Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood,” “Sad Man’s Tongue,” “Still Counting,” “Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza,” “Fallen,” and even a cover of “I Only Want To Be With You.” I love how the band is able to rock metal, punk, rockabilly and classic rock n roll into their music. They were a really fun band to see live and I can’t get enough of their song “Sad Man’s Tongue.” Cash, Presley, Volbeat.
All That Remains was glad to be in Idaho for people in Spokane as thousands of kids and adults put their firsts in the air. They told the crowd “…we are going to play the heaviest goddamn shit you’re going to hear tonight,” and I am pretty sure that was accomplished. All That Remains’ extreme metal music had kids letting their energy out in the mosh-pit and screaming at the top of their lungs. There was a lot of guitar shredding and head banging that’s for sure! All That Remains performed songs including “The Last Time,” “Two Weeks,” “This Calling,” “The Air That I Breathe,” “Hold On,” and a few others. They definitely got the crowd ready for Five Finger Death Punch.
Their name alone sounds like it could beat the shit of you, but their live shows are killer. This is first tour with Five Finger Death Punch’s new bass player Chris Kael. I have seen them in concert before and each time they bring on the energy but tonight they did something that showed the softer side of metal and won me over! Before they started their song “White Knuckle,” 5FDP brought up bunch of little kids and their dads from the crowd on stage. Then during the whole song they all rocked out together, it was awesome to see these kids on stage head banging and putting up their little baby horns. Like Shawn said that is going to be the highlight of those kids life. 5FDP treated us to some new songs including their new single “Over and Under It,” which is about how the internet will piss you off. Ivan talked about how he goggled the band’s name and read things like he committed suicide or the band broke up or he has 14 kids, and how that is all false and in resulting came a kick ass new song! Along with “Over and Under It” 5FDP also performed “The Bleeding,” “Bad Company,” “Never Enough,” “Hard to See,” “No One Get’s Left Behind,” “Far From Home,” and a few other songs including an encore of “The Way of the Fist.” Which was so appropriate because right during that song the three of us were standing there drinking our last beer of the night when all of these shirtless assholes decided to pick fights, too much testosterone I tell ya. That also makes me wonder though, is a rock show a rock show without a fight?
Also major props to Rock 94.5 for being one of the first radio stations in the country to play 5FDP first single “The Bleeding,” very fitting that the band killed it for the stations Rock Hard in the Park!
Last but not least came Korn. It was actually pretty cool, I was standing off to the side of the stage along the railing and when the lights dropped I noticed a flashlight running across the grass and escorts. I knew that was Jonathan Davis and Munky as soon as they got close to the stage stairs. This may sound dorky but I totally watched them prep each other up for the show and get amped and excited and it was really fucking cool! Another really cool thing was how badass Jonathan looked in his kilt; especially when he fucking rocked the bagpipes on stage. They sounded great it was just as cool seeing them tonight as it was when we saw them last summer at Mayhem Fest at White River. I totally sang along to songs like “Blind,” “Here to Stay,” “Freak on a Leash,” “Got the Life,” “Shoots and Ladders,” and more. It was pretty cool during “Shoots and Ladders” they totally went into a little “One” by Metallica. Korn is still rockin’ and I am stoked to say that I have seen them twice now and they killed it both times.
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.
