I love the summer for a variety of reasons including baseball season, warm weather, and music festival season. Music festival season in the Midwest is confined to a very specific time because the cold weather forces us inside much sooner than those in the South and Southwest. I would dare any promoter to go out on a proverbial limb and book any major act to play outdoors in Minneapolis in January. I don't think you could even get a crowd outside to see the Rapture play out in Minneapolis in January let alone The Who so I am confident in my previous statement about there being a "music festival season."
I have been at a music festival in Minnesota in JULY where it was so cold on the final night even the acts themselves came out in winter coats. I'm not kidding, I actually had to find a Walmart to buy a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt just to prevent me becoming hypothermic while April Wine and Loverboy played. That statement alone questions my sanity, after all it was April Wine and Loverboy but I have been to a music festival in Las Vegas Memorial Day Weekend and it was so hot you didn't want to go outside. While attending a music festival in September a couple of years ago in Chicago the crowd was so thick and it rained so much that I am fairly confident in saying that many in attendance couldn't make it from their spot to the portable toilets and found it easier to wet themselves than to make the trek.
Was that experience related to the crowd itself or was it do to the weather? I think that is a valid question and under the context of Midwest weather I think weather was as large a factor if not larger than the crowd itself. The opening day of that festival it was so rainy that even before I got to the venue itself I was soaked to the core but it rained so badly that for the next two days you fought mud so thick and slippery that standing in place seemed like the best possible solution to the problem. Regardless of location of a music festival rain is a terrible equalizer and killer of the music festival. In few other weather events can you find the need to be terrified about being electrocuted by a bolt of lightning cutting through the crowd like a hot knife through butter but if it is only raining that can make for just as miserable of a time.
I'm hard pressed to find a good part of standing in a monsoon, trying to stand upright and fighting for my one square foot of personal space as Drunky McDrunkpants screams over the vocals with a mind shattering "WHOO!!!" every three and a half seconds as he spills his overpriced Old Style down the backs of everyone within a square mile of him. Sure the rain washes off the sticky solution of beer and bad judgement but it will tend to aggravate a person. But while McDrunkpants is a really a microcosm of the festival, the weather is the macrocosm, it is ever present and it is everywhere. Rain really becomes the great equalizer of a music festival, it can make or break a festival worse than a horrible lineup. It's possible to ignore a bad band or two but when the skies open and it drops an inch or two of rain even the most hardcore fan will question their need to be drowned in Mother Nature's wrath.
It was decided earlier in the summer that we would make a trip to a new music festival called "Loud-N-Lima" that found itself smack dab in the middle of Lima, Ohio so as the date approached, the eyes began to watch the weather forecast and with good reason. There were a few things going this festival: We had never been to it before (it was new after all), we had never been to Lima, Ohio before and the lineup was pretty impressive so it was a bit of a win-win-win situation. The biggest fear we had however was that weather because as the date approached the forecast was not seeming to be our friend. We firmly expected humidity, its July in Ohio for God-sake if it isn't humid then I am firmly worrying but this forecast seemed bad. Everything I was beginning to read was showing that the storms we could encounter could be gully-washers of the firmest extreme, with the potential for severe thunderstorms and damaging winds but we continued forth on our newest music festival adventure.
After arriving at our hotel through a minute amount of rain optimism began to run high and the rooms themselves almost made it okay if the weather were to open up on us because we could have stayed in our rooms without issue. The rooms were gorgeous and comfortable so the festival be damned I quipped! The next morning our optimism began to wane because all night long we were in a deluge of rain but what really rang "home" about the rain (literally) was the fact that the storm we were now in had dumped so much rain back home that our downtown area was under a serious threat of being flooded and countywide damage from the storm was horrific.
When we arrived to the festival grounds we were told by a staff member that one of the first two bands had cancelled and that the other was being scrubbed because of the state of the area of the infield where General Admission and VIP were located. I was a little confused by what was meant by that until the same person told us that it was a giant mud bog and moving around was almost impossible but with those words came some optimism as the soundcheck for the BulletBoys was heard coming from the stage.
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| LOUD-N-LIMA - July 22nd, 2017 ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
We have pretty much nothing but clay for soil where I live so I am used to being in the mess but what was fascinating was the number of people that seemingly have never walked in wet clay before. It was not an uncommon sight to see people slipping and falling regardless of alcohol consumption because they were walking like they were on ice. At one point in the evening I saw a woman standing still, talking to a security guard and as if an invisible rug had been yanked out from under her feet she fell straight on her back. There was no reason for her to have fallen either and it was laugh out loud worthy because it made no real sense.
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| Entrance into the "PIT" at Loud-N-Lima ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
As the day progressed, the rain held off allowing the bog to dry out under the sun and wind but the damage was already done because the mud was thick. Watching people wallow through the mud it was abundantly clear that many of them didn't think of the "stuff" that was also in that mud. Sure there was beer but what else was squeezing up around those phalanges, I didn't want to know or think about it.
There were attempts to rectify the situation to stop the falls such as 4X8 sheets of plywood that were laid down as walkways and places to stand but they became mud-caked and slippery with new mud being introduced onto them along with spilled beverages but there really isn't a much better stop-gap measure that could have been taken. The only way to stop falls from happening to the fans would have been to close the festival for the day but why? It's rock-n-roll for God sakes AND its an outdoor music festival, the mud was a mere distraction. There were murmurs from within the crowd about the necessity to bring in loads of straw and laying that on top of the muck, and even about loads of sand but that is far too time consuming, labor intensive and most importantly, expensive. It was mud, and it could be avoided if necessary. I did make my case to one of the gentlemen laying down the sheets of plywood by telling him to NOT do it because it was more fun to watch people fall. He called me a "hater" but that's profiling because I would have laughed at anyone that fell in that stuff so that isn't technically "hating" its being entertained in between acts.
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| Inside the "Pit" ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
Each of the members of the BulletBoys are superior musicians with backgrounds that are befitting the best punk bands and these guys can just plain rock. The BulletBoys took control of the crowd and the situation by giving one of the best performances of the day but it was also one that made many scratch their heads. Before I say another word that had NOTHING to do with the BulletBoys but to what I am alluding to is the fact that their set was only five or six songs long, with Torien telling the crowd that "we've been told that this is our last song" alluding to the fact that their set was trimmed without their knowledge. That's sad because had Torien and the BulletBoys been allowed their full set (or allotment of time) they could have really turned a very soggy and miserable start to the day into a win-win for everyone at hand. Regardless of that, the BulletBoys performed in a fashion that is the only way they know how: Spectacular!
During the "era of hair" there were some givens regarding that genre that simply couldn't equate into success had they not been there in some combination and form. As an example there always had to be a "stud" for a lead singer, he had to have a vocal range that would allow them to hit a high note so high that dogs would jump off of bridges and there had to be a power ballad, and without those details they simply didn't succeed. If you are a disbeliever look no further than the band Steelheart.
Steelheart had a heartthrob of a lead singer (Miljenko "Mili" Matijevic) and his vocal range that would tear groin muscles for any man that tried to hit those freaking high notes and the "Mother-of-all" power ballads: "I'll Never Let You Go." Having seen Steelheart at countless festivals it is safe for me to say that I have never walked away disappointed by a performance of the band so booking them for your festival is a no-brainer. I was excited to see that the band would be taking the stage at Loud-N-Lima and they promptly did just that following the BulletBoys. Matijevic takes the stage with such a presence and he remains that presence the entire performance so it wasn't surprising in the least when he did just that in Lima.
Matijevic is a BEAST vocally and he knows his voice, its capabilities and he trusts himself as he approaches and hits those monster notes. He is still vocally superior to his contemporaries and his band (Uros Raskovski - Guitar, Rev Jones - Bass and Mike Humbert - Drums) are some of the finest musicians together today. Raskovski is a maestro on the guitar, Jones who reminds me of Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) in looks and in performance is simply one of the best and Humbert on drums makes the drums bleed he abuses them so hard while playing. They really are the backbone to Steelheart and it shows.
When I mentioned "I'll Never Let You Go" earlier it was for a couple of reasons, one of which was to point out one of the greatest ballads ever but the other was to highlight something I have seen Matijevic do live on several occasions. When he begins the song he is playing the acoustic guitar but he is not playing the song the way we all remember it. The song has a super strong message but he begins it with reverence and subdued vocals that draw you in and pulls that emotion forward which then leads to the song that we remember and love. It is simply brilliant and something I look forward to every single time I see them live.
Steelheart seemed to be under a similar time constraint that they didn't know about as Matijevic pointed it out on stage as well and unfortunately that meant that they had to cut one of my favorite songs from the set, "Everybody Loves Eileen." It was kind of sad for me at least because that is one of the highlights of their set but as with every performance I have seen from the band they were brilliant! I truly think that this shortened set was one of the best I have seen them accomplish bar-none.
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| GA Seating - Loud-N-Lima ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
While Steelheart has those three intangibles that were requirements for success in the "era of hair" they weren't the only ones to hold the position. When I think about that time I know for a fact that there were times when I couldn't tell the difference between Steelheart and the band FireHouse. Before you begin to rant and throw things let me explain. Vocally they have a similar tone but each lead singer is entirely different BUT both Matijevic and CJ Snare (lead singer - FireHouse) had such power in their voices and that range which is mind-blowing for me still to this day. Both singers had powerful looks and their power ballads were unquestionably some of the best of the entire genre.
Ask yourself this one question, when songs by either band came on the radio did you try to sing like them? Did you try to hit those notes? How many of you made mix tapes that had "I'll Never Let You Go" AND "Love of a Lifetime" on them? That was the power of those bands and why I said I couldn't tell the proverbial difference, I knew the lyrics of both but both had the same intangibles, they were that good!
Just like those mixtapes from years gone by, Steelheart and FireHouse shared time together once again. Following the incredible set of Steelheart was Snare and the incomparable FireHouse. By that time, the sun began to pummel the crowd and the humidity began to reign supreme but FireHouse never skipped a beat. Snare still has that quality in his voice that is still the definition of that era, it's eerie how familiar every note still is. The man can belt out all of the FireHouse classics in such a way you are transported back to those days. FireHouse is one of those bands that themselves has never disappointed me on stage, they have an extra gear it seems that propels them to the front of the pack still to this day.
Why wouldn't they? FireHouse has EXCELLENT members in this band and each feeds off of the other. They are tenacious on stage, and execute their music with the precision of a Swiss watch. Allan McKenzie on bass (and apparently an Ohio boy to boot) has a presence on stage that really is larger than life and a skill set that makes the backbone of the band as rigid as steel. If McKenzie is the steel making up the backbone then Michael Foster on drums is the concrete because these two are as solid and strong as any combination in music today.
Another aspect to bands from the "era of hair" has to be guitar players because a great guitar player sets the pace and drives your emotions so with Bill Leverty in that role it goes without saying that FireHouse is set. Leverty is a treat to watch, he is so professional and makes the entire performance effortless but there are few with more passion and skill than he. Leverty makes it look so easy to be that good but few are.
There was a trend during the earliest performances at Loud-N-Lima that I touched on, that being shorter sets and at one point Snare himself said "we have been told that this is our last song but we are going to play three more instead" and that made the experience all better right there. What a better feeling that to see a rock star tell the "man to shove it" as one patron told me. He was right you know. Schedules be damned, the fans there paid quite a bit of money to see these acts and didn't deserve to see their sets cut short.
Snare and the rest of FireHouse were worth the 400 mile one-way trip to Lima, Ohio for me because they are always on point and they are always that good! If you have never been able to see FireHouse live and they are within 400 miles of you, go for it you will NOT be disappointed! Awesome job!!!
While the sun was high in the sky and the clay-filled mud began to bake off some of its water we decided to venture through the festival grounds looking for flip-flops and food because both were vital to long term success of the day. There were no vendors selling any type of flip-flop or other footwear but we did find an AWESOME wood fired pizza vendor so we gathered up the food and settled in to listen to the next band: Geoff Tate's Operation Mindcrime.
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| Geoff Tate's Operation Mindcrime ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
Tate told a great story about going to the store to purchase some products for his wife and a fan who confronted him, telling him about his favorite Queensrÿche song, it being "Silent in Tennessee" and I wish I hadn't been eating flaming hot pizza at the time because I think I burned a chunk of pepperoni in the top of my sinus cavity as I began to chortle and later choke. Tate was engaging, his vocals sounded like they did before "Silent Lucidity" but it was terrifyingly apparent that he hasn't lost a moment of his vocal prowess. Tate and his bandmates are superior and it was like seeing an old friend once again after all of these years. Job well done!
There were a few parts of the "era of hair" that men seeming chose to forgot about, mainly those female bands that we weren't supposed to like. Bands like Femme Fatale, Vixen and an artist named Lita Ford were to be admired because they were "hot" but their music was to be immediately discounted because of preconceived misogynistic ideals. It's true and any guy that claims that wasn't true is not telling you the truth and while some female artists were shtick and used as eye candy to sell records Ford never fit those categories.
Ford has a pedigree that many men and women didn't have during that era or even today for that matter. Ford was part of The Runaways, one of the greatest bands of all-time with Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Jackie Fox and Sandy West. Depending on who you ask you will be told they were one of the best hard rock bands of the era or by me one of the best punk bands of that era but they were phenomenal. After leaving The Runaways Ford went on to collaborate with the likes of the immortal Lemmy Kilmister and the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne. Ford is not a flash-in-the-pan, nor was she just a pretty face, that woman can shred a guitar!
Ford has a propensity to tell incredible stories about those she has collaborated with and she tells an incredible story about working with Kilmister on the song "Can't Catch Me" and she makes the man an even larger-than-life character that music misses more daily. Ford is engaging with the crowd, she pulls no punches but what she does do is DOMINATE on stage. Watching her play guitar is a thing of beauty because you can see the dedication she has put into her craft. Vocally she still is a legend and her voice really is one that is immediately recognizable.
I mentioned that Ford also collaborated with Ozzy Osbourne, the song "If I Close My Eyes Forever" to be more specific and as that is a duet one would think it would be hard to bring Osbourne out on stage every night for just one song but Ford doesn't need too. The person that helps sing the part of Osbourne is Ford's guitar player Patrick Kennison. Kennison has a quality in his voice that while it isn't Osbourne-esque it has a quality that I like much better actually. Kennison is an exceptional guitar player to begin with but he can just beat the crap out of that guitar and make it scream like a banshee.
Metal, punk and plain hard rock needs a bass player that is befitting a beast on stage and Ford has that person in Marty O'Brien. O'Brien has this wicked accountant look to him with, and befitting that description is the fact that he seemingly beats that bass like it owes him money. He has incredible stage presence and skill set that makes him a key part in the sound of the band, and not just a guy that plays bass, holding that spot for someone else. O'Brien is the quintessential bass player, and one of the best. Then there is this next guy, a guy I've been holding off on talking about because he is that LEGENDARY: Bobby Rock.
There are few drummers I can wax poetic about but Rock is one because he has an energy about him as he performs that cannot be believed if you have never seen him before. Rock is a huge man to begin with, and his entire performance the drum kit is rocking. I would really like to know how much equipment he goes through in a single performance because he flails on the drums with such power one is awestruck. Rock is the prototypical rock drummer, no he really is in a class all by himself.
The performance that Ford, Kennison, O'Brien and Rock put on at Loud-N-Lima was awesome and judging by the length of their set they didn't fall prey to the set time reaper. What a great show by them!
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| Sound Booth Facing the Stage - Loud-N-Lima ©musicallead.blogspot.com - 2017 |
With that said Keifer had cancelled previous to the day of the performance so I still don't understand why other acts were allegedly cut short because it wouldn't interfere with the headliner since Keifer's spot wasn't filled. Part of my struggle was with the fact that the next band was scheduled to take the stage BEFORE Keifer but ended up playing before the headliner so for continuity sake I decided to outline it the way I did.
What was scheduled to happen was that after Lita Ford left the stage, the band Warrant was supposed to jump on and then give way to Keifer BUT... When Warrant entered the night time at Loud-N-Lima, the air was beginning to cool, the mud was drying and the crowd was filling in nicely. Warrant came out with the energy befitting the headliner, it was incredible! I'm not kidding, I could have gone home right after their set and been ecstatic because they dominated. I heard a few well placed imbeciles scream things about Jani Lane, trying to almost taunt Robert Mason, lead singer for Warrant but ladies and gentlemen Mason is far too good!
Mason is in an unenviable role where he is trying to fill the shoes of who people remember from videos as the voice and face of Warrant but in my opinion there are songs that Mason sounds better singing than Lane. Mason is a frontman that most people would have killed to become during the "era of hair." He is engaging, with a powerful voice and a Texas-sized personality that makes a person smile while he is performing. Mason said early in the performance that they wouldn't talk much so the headliner could get out there but there wasn't a need to because there weren't time issues.
Mason destroyed the crowd that Saturday night, with skills like no other and when I saw him a few days later at Poopy's in Savanna, Illinois when they performed (LINK) I told him that and he was beyond gracious. The entire band of Warrant is but above that they are extremely good at their jobs. Take Erik Turner for instance. Turner is a guitar legend, he is entertaining but he is a true professional and I still cannot get over how much he seems to love his fans. He really is a rock star. Then there is the man, the myth, the Joey Allen another guitar legend. Allen has that personality that you want to watch him on stage because he is larger than life, he is a treat, a real treat!
The drum master, or beat master if you will for Warrant is Steven Sweet. Sweet has a very omnipresent personality that makes you lock onto him, not to mention that he sings backing vocals and he destroys the drums! Sweet is really fun to watch, he is beyond amazing! It's simple band mathematics when you think to yourself that every band needs that one part that keeps the pulse flowing and the heart pumping and that part is Jerry Dixon and his bass guitar. Dixon looks so stern on stage but I think it is the true professionalism that a bass played of his caliber must maintain. Dixon is a breath of fresh air when it comes to playing bass, he is technical but he is willing to literally engage fans as he is playing.
What an incredible gift did the fans of Loud-N-Lima receive when they had Warrant fall into their lap when they signed up! Warrant really should be nothing less than a headliner at any show or festival and their performance really proved that point sevenfold. I loved their performance!!!
Soon after Warrant left the stage something incredible happened, very few people left the place they were standing and that really doesn't happen all that often. Usually in between acts people run for the restrooms and meander off to get their next beverage but surprisingly few did. Add to that list the fact that more people began to wander into the voids where people weren't standing and you have the "headliner effect." What is that? It's the condition that occurs just before an anticipated headliner is about to take the stage and people don't want to leave their spots and that what was beginning to happen.
It usually happens about that time too where Bret Michaels Band fans begin to waft their way closer to the stage to get a closer glimpse at the Pennsylvania native. It is usually a great way to equalize any voids that may have been present in the crowd. Michaels is such a HUGE draw and the things he does for our veterans is beyond admirable it really makes finding your spot very early very important. Michaels came out with the fanfare that one would expect, amid the lights and cheers showcasing his vocals that have lost little in all of those years gone by.
Michaels has a huge stage presence and he engages his fans like no other can or will do because they really can't do it better, he truly is the best at it. It is possible that many would come to see Michaels live even if he just stood up there and talked but I would suffice it to say that the vast majority are there to hear him sing and he needs a band to do that. Michaels doesn't just have a band, he has a superband if you will with two heavy hitters in Pete Evick and Eric Brittingham.
Evick is a powerhouse on guitar, he is a producer, and a songwriter but what he is in all reality is a whirling dervish on stage that will out play the world. Evick is a blast to watch, his facial expressions alone are worth it and he truly is the soul behind the guitar of the BMB. What can be said about the other gentleman I just named, Eric Brittingham? Brittingham is a bass legend, member of Cinderella and one of the nicest guys in music today. I've talked with Brittingham before and he will talk about anything and he will listen which translates to how he is on stage perfectly. Brittingham is engaging with the fans, he his warm and friendly and always smiling but the guy wields that bass like a freaking rocket launcher and will destroy his contemporaries with his skills hands down. The Bret Michaels Band really was the epitome of what a headliner should be that Saturday evening in Lima, they were extraordinary!
FINAL OBSERVATIONS
Through all of the mud, weather and stuff that happened at Loud-N-Lima they were really minor bumps along the way and I can joke about there were a few things that I saw that were disturbing. During Michaels set for instance there were people behind us that decided that throwing beers at others was a really cool idea. On several occasions people in the pit were hit with full drinks (cups of beer, even water bottles) and I saw on three occasions security get told about it and them simply shrug their shoulders. At one point the only thing that stopped the flying cups was a person near those doing it and mentioning to them he would "beat (their) asses if they kept doing it" and judging by the size of the gentleman that said it it would have happened. It did stop for a little while but either the giant man moved or the throwers did because it started up again.
There really wasn't much of a presence of police in that area because of the mud I suspect but security was actually quite thick in that area really did little more but keep people from going into the "pit" without the proper wristband. It's a shame too because as I said that the area filled IN before Michaels, about three-quarters of the way through the set it emptied to about half with many leaving because of the stupidity of cup throwing. It seemed that at times security was more worried about wristbands than the other extraneous activities.
Loud-N-Lima Day 2 had something bad happen to it that it simply couldn't control, that being Mother Nature. She dumped epic amounts of rain on the event the night before which made the entire area a giant mud bog and I have read that next year they already have plans to address that and make it a total non-issue which would fix any real serious problems should it rain that way again during Loud-N-Lima. I suspect that the issue will be a moot point and everything will go off without a hitch.
The set time issues were bothersome with reasons for it only allegations and it wouldn't be fair to anyone to go down that road. Some of the issues with set times and setup times could be addressed by adding a second stage that would accommodate downtime between acts and give stage setup or other necessary maintenance the ability to get completed and not slowing down the flow of the event or penalizing the performers and fans themselves.
As I see it the positives outweigh the negatives hands down however. For the vast majority of the time there weren't security issues, nor were there any real fights or fighting which is a huge positive. The real winner in all of this was the fans because the lineup for Day Two was incredible (judging by what I saw Days 1 and 3 were great as well)! There really wasn't a band that shouldn't have been there and each one played to their highest possible level! Each performer deserves a pat on the back and a sincere thank you but so does the support staff, promoters, organizers and the vendors because this was very well done!
The 403 mile one way trek to Loud-N-Lima took me into another part of the world that I had never been in. I have driven in Indiana and Ohio before but I had never been all of the way through Indiana (while driving myself) nor had I ever driven in that portion of Ohio. It was much like driving back home, and with the monsoons that hit us in Ohio (and at our home in Illinois) it was like we were still there. Although the town had a rural, small town feel to it I understand that Lima isn't that small but it was inviting and a great place to visit. It was such a treat to be able to take that trek and enjoy every aspect of it.
There is one lingering question I still have though and I refused to ask it while I was there because I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb and give it away that I wasn't from there: Is it Lima like the bean or Leema like the Peruvian capitol? Regardless of the answer great job by everyone! Keep up the great work, I hope we can make it again next year too!
#BulletBoys #Steelheart #FireHouse #GeoffTateOperationMindcrime #LitaFord #WarrantRocks #BretMichaelsBand #LoudNLima
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