The rock Gods rejoiced on Saturday, May 20th as WMMR’s MMR-B-Q returned to BB&T Pavilion for a day of tasty guitar riffs and heavy vocals. The day kicked off with a set from blues/rock/country local band, ‘Stolen Rhode’s, who started things off nicely for those who entered the venue early, and was the first of many bands that day to mention and/or pay tribute to Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell who tragically passed away from suicide on May 17.
Next up was a quick set from ‘Dinosaur Pile-Up’ who finished with their recent hit ‘11:11′. The crowd continued to grow steadily with each band, as well as during intermission, and it was filling in nicely as ‘Rival Sons’ from Long Beach, CA, a combination of blues/rock similar to Led Zeppelin + Bad Company + The Doors, hit the stage.
‘Zakk (Wilde) Sabbath’ set the head-banging in motion and the hair flying during their rockin set, including one of the best “covers” of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ that we’ve ever heard!
After the intermission, ‘The Struts’, who never seem to disappoint, raised the energy of the crowd to pitch levels. This was the band’s third trip back to the Philly area and we are already anxiously awaiting the fourth.
A subdued ‘The Pretty Reckless’ (understandably so as they were close with Chris Cornell) took the stage next, and frontman Taylor Momsen finished their popular set which included ‘Take me Down’ and ‘Heaven Knows’ with an emotional tribute rendition of Audioslave’s ‘Like a Stone’.
‘Bush’, who we first saw as kids at the Spectrum back in the 90’s, then amplified the crowd, starting their set off with the aggressive ‘Machinehead’. Later in the set, lead singer Gavin Rossdale toured the entire crowd, including the lawn area of BB&T, while singing ‘Little Things’. The band also played a cover of REM’s ‘The One Love’ and pieces of Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’.
We were huge fans of ‘Live’ in the 90’s, and we were thrilled to be on hand for their first major reunion gig at MMR-B-Q! After a few of their hits from the 90’s and 2000’s, they paid touching tribute to Chris Cornell with Audiosoave’s ‘I Am the Highway’ followed up by their super hit ‘Lightning Crashes’ to the delight of the fans.
Last, but certainly not least, headliner ‘Godsmack’ took the stage and positively rocked the crowd with a string of their hits including ‘Awake’, ‘Straight Out of Line’, ‘1000 HP’, ‘Cryin’ Like a Bitch’, and ‘I Stand Alone’.
The weather held out all day and it turned out to be an action packed line-up of rock legends that we won’t soon forget.
[Photos by: Rick Pettine]
[Article by Rick Pettine & David Miller]
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