Day two of the Rockin' Thunder Fest was another beautiful sunny hot day with another full line-up of music. Again Nazz and I got there early as we weren't sure what to expect after the first day fiasco. The good thing was that we didn't much care about the first band. It seemed they had it together a little bit better, still stupid long line ups to get in through security, but we found a way to get into one of the shorter lines. Day two was more of an alt-rock line up. I wasn't sure how the turnout would be for this, but by the time we got there which was about 40 minutes before gates opened, it looked to be much like day one, a good showing, yet again. My guess for attendance each day would be around 10,000, that's just a guess of course.
The first band of day two was the Vancouver band Default. They got their start back in the early 2000's, I didn't like them then, and their performance did nothing to change my mind. Just middle of the road generic alternative rock, boring! With a set that felt like it was never going to end.
This first picture was taken just as Default was hitting the stage. As you can see, lots of people and beautiful weather.
Next up was another Canadian band, Nova Scotia's The Trews. This would be my fourth time seeing The Trews in concert. This is a band I have tried to get into for many years and yet I just can't. They're a good rock n' roll band, I just don't do anything for me. Their set was alright, nothing special. At one point during their set the lead singer ventured into the crowd, and then a little later into their set the band ventured into the crowd. I'm thinking once was enough but nope twice. My buddy Nazz and I had a good laugh at the bass player and guitarist sharing the same mic through out the whole show. Could they not afford another mic, after a while it just looked and seemed very odd. I'm giving up on trying to like this band.
During one the set changes Nazz and I wandered the grounds of the fest and found a smoking tent where you could purchase weed. Remember the days of smuggling weed into a concert, obviously those days are over with cannabis being legal now, but at this festival you could actually buy it there, I thought that was pretty cool.
Next up was the Montreal's Sam Roberts Band. This would be my sixth time seeing them in concert. The first time I saw the Sam Roberts band was in 2002 when they were touring for their debut EP and opening for The Hip. Now this is a band that gets better every time I see them live.
Sam and his band know how to put on a rock n' roll show, their hour plus long set flew by in no time. While I do like their albums, live in concert they are so fucking good. Great energy, tight band, and awesome songs with great lyrics. Some of the songs played were "Brother Down", "Afterlife", "Hard Road", "Them Kids", "Don't Walk Away Eileen", "We're All In This Together" and the song "Where Have All The Good People Gone?" which is probably one of their biggest songs, that one had the crowd singing along loud and proud. I was very impressed with their set and look forward to seeing them again soon hopefully. Again, Nazz and I had a good laugh when we both said the same thing "the bass played looks like Liam Gallagher of Oasis".
Next up was Stone Temple Pilots out of San Diego. STP were a fairly big band back in the early 90's, especially their first two albums Core and Purple. They were part of the grunge and alternative music scene lead by lead singer Scott Weiland who was kicked out of the band in 2004 because of substance abuse issues and later died in 2015 of an overdose. I had never seen STP before, though I did have tickets to see them twice back in their hey days, but cancelled both times. Was I looking forward to seeing them perform, to be honest, I didn't even realize they were still touring let alone releasing a few albums without Scott. But here I was finally getting to see Stone Temple Pilots in concert.
The band now is still all original members, except obviously without Scott on lead Vocals. The core members being brothers Dean Deleo on guitar and Robert Deleo on bass with drummer Eric Kretz, on lead vocals now is Jeff Gutt who has been singing with the band since 2017. Who knew, I sure didn't.
STP put on a good show with the Deleo brothers very in sync with each other and rocking the crowd playing old time favourites mostly from their first two albums, songs such as "Unglued", "Big Bang Baby", "Vasoline", "Interstate Love Song", "Dead And Bloated", "Big Empty" and "Sex Type Thing". All songs that I know and enjoy, lead singer Jeff Gutt did a very good job of the songs, I just couldn't get past the new lead singer, that's just me, for some reason I couldn't get in to it. He does a great job and the band were good. The crowd ate it up and that's what matters. Would I go see them again? Nope!
Now it was time for Saturday's headliner Weezer. Now this I was looking forward to. This would be my second time seeing Weezer in concert. The last time being in 1997 in Calgary on their Pinkerton tour.
The crowd was ready for Weezer in a big way, and they did not disappoint. The first thing you notice when Weezer hit the stage was the big production and lead singer Rivers Cuomo looking his nerdiest in his wool sweater, looking a lot older then but still sounding amazing on vocals and guitar. The other members in the band were original members Brian Bell on guitar, Patrick Wilson on drums and newest member Scott Shriner on bass who has been in the band since 2001. The line-up actually surprised me, I didn't realize that they were all still performing together.
Weezer opened with a song I didn't recognize but the second song of the night was very familiar, that being "Hash Pipe", then it was "My Name Is Jonas" from their debut 1994 debut album. And man, much to my surprise, I think they played every song from that album, which was super cool. I guess it makes sense as it was 30 years ago last year that their debut album came out. My only disappointment about their set was not enough songs from the Pinkerton album, as that is my favourite of theirs. But they did play "The Good Life", "El Scorcho", "Pink Triangle" and "Why Bother?" from said album. There were some other songs from their catalog that I didn't really know but they all sounded great live. And closing the set with their biggest hit and biggest sing-along song "Buddy Holly". Such an awesome hour and half long set and a great way to end the inaugural Rockin' Thunder Music Festival. Looks like this could be the beginning of an annual festival as they were advertising tickets on sale for next years fest on the screens at the show. Favourite bands of the two day festival for me would be in order Weezer, Sam Roberts Band and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Good times!!!
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