Music • Matchbox Romance played
to a sold out crowd at the KROQ Weenie Roast
May 13. Matthew Wilkinson Online Forty-Niner
Annual
Weenie Roast brings new acts together
By Matthew Wilkinson
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Weenie Roast, KROQ’s annual summer festival, always appears a who’s
who of Top 40 alt-rock music. This year was no different. The popular Los Angeles
radio station crammed 16 of today’s hottest acts into almost 11 hours
of music and gave those lucky enough to get tickets quite a show.
The day started off with two smaller stages side-by-side in the outer pavilion
of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, Cailf.
L.A.’s own Rock Kills Kid kicked off the side stages. This band is a
Jimmy Eat World-esque rock group with jamming guitars and keyboards. It was
a good choice to break the ice and get people dancing.
Seconds after Rock Kills Kid ended its set, the Academy Is … started
right up on the other stage next to them. It was surprising a band with such
a big fan base and such a good record would play so early. Frontman William
Beckett danced and shimmied his way across the stage as the band jammed through
most of its “Almost Here” debut album.
Matchbook Romance followed right after with a half-hour set drawing mostly
from their new sophomore release “Voices.”
KROQ has kept its hand-clapping anthem “Monsters” in regular rotation.
The band flew all the way from Japan to play the festival and flew back the
same night to play a show the next day.
Aussie rockers Wolfmother were up next. The power trio caught the attention
of several colleagues at the festival and drew quite a crowd for its half hour.
Its self-titled debut CD was released early this month and is a fusion of ’70s
rock and the White Stripes.
Much like they will be doing on Ozzfest, Orange County’s own Atreyu shut
down the side stage. The metalcore quintet has been touring in support of its
recent release “A Death Grip on Yesterday.” Brandon Saller was
quite impressive as he wails on the drums while singing the tenor vocals. That
had to be a challenge.
Bam Margera’s prodigy band H.I.M. kicked off things on the big stage.
The Finland rockers played a good mix of music from its old releases as well
as a few from its new “Dark Light.” The band’s cover of Chris
Issak’s “Wicked Game” is one of my favorite covers around
and its new single “Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly” got people
out of their seats from the get go.
Bob Marley’s youngest son Damian “Jr. Gong” was up next.
The main stage was set up on a revolving platform so as soon as one band finished
it would spin right around revealing the next band. Marley followed right in
his father’s footsteps, playing a handful of upbeat, jammin’ reggae
hits. His 2005 release “Welcome to Jamrock” is already a favorite
among reggae fans.
New York’s Taking Back Sunday revolved right around rocking with “What’s
It Feel Like To Be a Ghost?” the first track off its newest album “Louder
Now.” It powered through it’s half-hour set playing mostly new
tracks, but not forgetting old favorites such as “Cute without the E” and “You’re
so Last Summer.”
It was a scenester’s dream when Taking Back Sunday revolved around to
reveal Panic! At The Disco. This Las Vegas foursome has become one of the hottest
acts in music, selling out pretty much every show it plays. It came out singing “The
Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage” and
continued through most of “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.” Barely
out of high school, the kids get better every time I see them.
The stage revolved to reveal DJs Justin Warfield and Adam “Adam 12” Bravin
who make up She Wants Revenge. The San Fernando Valley group played an energetic
set that kept everybody dancing. It played most of the tracks off its recent
self-titled album, including “Tear You Apart” and “These
Things.”
Dashboard Confessional revolved around, played a few songs and left. Its set
seemed to be over as soon as it started.
Frontman Chris Carrabba didn’t seem to have much to say to the crowd
as he blew through “Hands Down” all the way to “Vindicated.”
Not everybody was a Rob Zombie fan when he came in, but most were when he left
the stage. The former White Zombie lead singer aimed to get the crowd’s
attention, and did this by going into the crowd. Zombie spent most of his set
in the middle of the pit blazing through hits like “Superbeast” and “Living
Dead Girl.” By the time he left, the whole amphitheatre was on its feet.
Tom DeLonge’s Angels and Airwaves were the disappointments of the night.
The young band, that doesn’t even have an album out yet, looked ill-prepared
on stage. Its instruments sounded very out of tune and DeLonge’s vocals
were off key.
Hopefully the members will get more practice in before they come around next.
The next band needed no introduction. AFI came out to most of the crowd screaming
and on their feet. Bearing fake eyelashes and pink glittery eye shadow, Davey
Havok led his band through an awesome, but pretty short set.
Dave Grohl of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters took the stage as KROQ’s annual
secret act. The legendary musician led the crowd in acoustic sing-alongs of
Foo Fighters hits including “Everlong,” “Times Like These” and “Best
of You.”
The strangely popular Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu was next. Dressed in a
Hasidic Jew black suit, rimmed hat, yarmulke and huge beard, Matisyhau rapped
about the greatness of Judaism over catchy reggae beats. He also showed off
his beat-boxing abilities, which could be put up against any hip hop star in
the business.
Rock-and-roll legends Red Hot Chili Peppers brought the night to a close. Touring
in support of its new double CD album “Stadium Arcadium,” the Peppers
filled the amphitheatre with a mix of old hits and new favorites. Its energy
on stage was amazing and showed why it has remained popular for almost three
decades.
Weenie Roast proved to be a superstar concert. If these are the 16 bands KROQ
plays the most, then I should listen to KROQ a lot more.
|
