Review and Photos by Kate Drexel
I got to the festival grounds early on Friday, hoping to get a good spot in the media tent. After I checked in, I set up my tripod, and checked everything in my camera bag, more than ready to begin the first day at Rocklahoma. I looked through the schedule countless, determining which bands I want to shoot. Finally the doors opened and I made my way over to the Hard Rock stage. The first to start day one off was Swedish hard rock band, Truckfighters. Their energy washed over the crowd and seemed to have resonated throughout the entire festival grounds. The band that really kicked the day off right was Kentucky band, Black Stone Cherry. The day continued with me going back and forth between the two stages, conveniently enough, they were next to each other. I managed to catch new up and coming band, Nothing More, hair-metal band Skid Row, Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil, Killswitch Engage, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Seether. I ended the day with the very sexually driven new comer band, The Pretty Reckless, Deftones and to end the night on a killer note, Five Finger Death Punch, while taking snapshots, singing along whole heartedly to “Under and Over It”. The energy from both the crowd and the band were through the roof! I couldn’t wait to see what Day Two had in store.
Day Two began with a storm rolling through the fields then the skies cleared for the rest of the day. Both the energy from Gemini Syndrome and Adelitas Way thrived throughout the festival fields. Front men Aaron Nordstrom and Rick DeJesus’s vocals sent chills through my body, giving me the energy I desperately needed to continue the rest of the day. The bouncing between the Hard Rock stage and the Main stage continued as I managed to catch Christian hard rock band We As Human, rising band Pop Evil, the highly energized Devour the Day, and Filter. I took a brief break to catch my breath before diving back into the madness and ending my day with Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria’s side project, We Are Harlot, 70’s hair rock band, Twisted Sister, and the incredible Staind. Aaron Lewis’s voice blew me away, considering it was my first time seeing them, and gave me goosebumps. After the show, I drove off feeling such a high and it dropped instantly when I realized that the next day was the last day in this paradise known as Rocklahoma.
Day Three began with the highly entertaining Australian rock band, Twelve Foot Ninja, quickly followed by Redlight King on the Main stage and Eve to Adam on the Hard Rock stage. I unfortunately missed Cinderella’s Tom Keifer due to an interview but I could still hear him from the media tent and he sounded epic. I continued my last day of bouncing between the stages and caught British hard rock band, Heaven’s Basement, and Black Label Society, who was late coming on to the Main stage. This did set the set times off a little bit but nonetheless Butcher Babies was the band on the Hard Rock stage that melted my face off as well as the others. They were the ones who unleashed the massacre upon the crowd. That was the wildest I have seen the crowd. The last few bands I caught were nothing compared to Butcher Babies, the somewhat calm Extreme and Theory of a Deadman. However, Pantera’s Phil Anselmo’s band Down continued what Butcher Babies created and the night ended with the main event, Kid Rock. Now that was a party! He had such a youthful energy about him that washed over the crowd. I drove back to my hotel; sad that it was all over, but I knew I would be back next year, one way or another.
Overall, the weekend was beyond epic proportions and I was stoked to have covered it! New memories were created and incredible experiences were witnessed. This year’s Rocklahoma was it’s biggest yet!
Bands Covered:
Friday (Day 1):
-Truckfighters
-Black Stone Cherry
-Nothing More
-Skid Row
-Lacuna Coil
-Killswitch Engage
-Thousand Foot Krutch
-Seether
-The Pretty Reckless
-Deftones
-Five Finger Death Punch
Saturday (Day 2):
-Gemini Syndrome
-Adelitas Way
-We As Human
-Pop Evil
–Devour the Day
-Filter
-We Are Harlot
-Twisted Sister
-Staind
Sunday (Day 3):
-Twelve Foot Ninja
-Redlight King
-Eve to Adam
-Heaven’s Basement
-Black Label Society
-Butcher Babies
-Extreme
-Theory of a Deadman
-Down
-Kid Rock