Rocklahoma Day 1 - 2008

Terry and I just wrapped our first day of Rocklahoma 2009. We got checked into our hotel late afternoon and made it to the Rocklahoma grounds around 6:30. It had rained earlier in the day so things were a little wet, a little muddy and very humid. We did a cursory walk through the VIP area and found our seats from last year and then headed to the merch booth. I bought a Ron Keel cd which was next to a side stage. We walked over just as the side stage was getting started and saw Bang Tango.

I had never seen Joe Letsé live and he played a short set of Bang Tango with a couple of Beautiful Creatures songs thrown in. Last year they didn't have these large side stages so it was nice to see a smaller crowd in a GA environment right up against the stage with some big name talent, or at least big in Rocklahoma terms. It was a good start for the fest prior to a big act on the mainstage.

Bang Tango
July 9, 2008
Rocklahoma

20th Century Boy
Dancin' On Coals
Love Rejection
Dressed Up Vamp
Attack Of Life
Ride (Beautiful Creatures w/ BC bass player)
Kick Out (BC w/ bass player)
Someone Like You

After the Bang Tango set Terry and I walked over to the main stage area to watch Firehouse. Last year Firehouse was one of the surprises and played a great set. This year their set was just ok and even though the singer tried to work the crowd they didn't win over any new fans. The Wednesday line up was added at the last minute and the crowd was a fraction of what it will be this weekend so maybe the bands were having a harder time feeding off a crowd so early in the festival.

Firehouse
July 9, 2008
Rocklahoma

Overnight Sensation
All She Wrote
Oughta Be A law
Shake & Tumble
Love Of A Lifetime
Reach For The Sky
Don't Treat Me Bad

Just as their set ended we headed back to the side stage where we saw Bang Tango perform. Just as we got in front of the stage the curtain dropped for Faster Pussycat. They played a short set that skipped many of their hits. This band still sounds good live, but time has not aged these rockers well.

Faster Pussycat
July 9, 2008
Rocklahoma

Power And The Glory Hole
Cathouse
Slip Of The Tongue
Number 1 With A Bullet
? (lyric - turn you on... turn you up...)
House Of Pain
You're So Vain

At this point the sets were perfectly timed, so as the second stage ended Eddie Trunk was on the main stage announcing the next band. Jackyl was up next. I find Jackyl very entertaining although I didn't need to see their entire set. They played the usual hits and capped off the set with a flying chainsaw routine which included pyro concussion bombs. I forgot my cord for my digital camera so I'll post the chainsaw pics when I return home. Since we missed some of Jackyl's set I didn't take set list notes.

Ratt was the last band of the night and they alone were the reason we made an extra effort to come out to the Wednesay date. The band sounded great and didn't disappoint. They played their entire first EP and mixed up the set a bit from their tour last year. Being the final headliners they added an extra few songs to their set. I taped their performance and after a quick listen in the car back from the hotel I think I'm going to have a bootleg worthy of sharing. Stephen's voice was better than last year's performance although the energy of the band wasn't as high.

Ratt
July 9, 2008
Rocklahoma

Tell The World
Sweet Cheater
Walkin' The Dog
U Got It
You Think You're Tough
The Morning After
Back For More (Ratt EP Version)
Wanted Man
I'm Insane
Lack Of Communication
Lay It Down
You're In Love
Lovin' You Is A Dirty Job
Dangerous But Worth The Risk
Slip Of The Lip
Way Cool Jr.
Body Talk

Encore
Givin' Yourself Away
Round And Round

One day in and it is now 3:30am local time. We capped off the evening at Waffle House and consider the first day a good start. We'll wake up around noon tomorrow and lather, rinse, and repeat.

Day 3 Rocklahoma Set Lists

Here is a recap and the set lists from the final day of Rocklahoma. Wrap up and pictures will be posted next.

July 15, 2007
Rocklahoma
Pryor, OK

Terry and I arrived during the Steelheart set. I think we missed two songs. I was pleasantly surprised. The singer had an amazing voice and I had forgotten that he was the singing voice of Mark Wahlberg in the movie Rockstar. The highlights for me were We All Die Young and Stand Up.

Steelheart
(missed first two songs)
Buried Unkind
Sinner (?)
I'll Never Let You Go
We All Die Young
Stand Up -> fast riff from middle of Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin)

They changed the order of the bands so I thought Britny Fox was up next but evidently they swapped set times with Steelheart, so LA Guns was up next. Terry and I were eating lunch and ended up missing the first song of the LA Guns set.

For me this was the breakout performance from the third and final day. I've now seen LA Guns three times but with radically different line ups. This line up featured Tracii Guns, his son Jeremy Guns on bass, Chad Stewart on drums, and original vocalist Paul Black.

Paul Black was a fantastic front man. He worked the crowd well, had a Chris Robinson (Black Crowes) kind of look and vibe about him and seemed very happy to be playing to the crowd. Chad Stewart was also playing with Faster Pussycat so I think he gets the distinction of being the hardest working man at Rocklahoma.

L.A. Guns
(missed first song)
No Mercy
One More reason
L.A.P.D.
You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones) -> with Sweet Child Of Mine riff (GnR)
Ballad Of Jayne -> Whole Lotta Love -> Superstition -> Ballad Of Jayne
(Paul Black invited people on stage, well over a hundred jumped on stage. This was one of the highlights of all of Rocklahoma, a great moment)
Shut The Fuck Up (Brides Of Destruction)
Sex Action -> Paint It Black (Rolling Stones)
Hells Bells (AC/DC)
Never Enough
Mean Street intro (Van Halen)
Electric Gypsy
TNT w/ Paul on Drums and Chad on vocals (AC/DC)
Children Of The Grave riff (Black Sabbath) -> Rip and Tear

One of my favorite bands Great White was up next. The played a nice selection of hits, album cuts and even played a new one off their yet to be released new album. Their set was more blues rock and laid back. Even with that said they were able to keep the audience standing on their feet the entire set. Jani Lane came out for Jumpin' Jack Flash and shared vocals with Jack Russell. Jack had one of the best punchlines on stage. After introducing the rest of the band he said if you don't know me by now then you don't know Jack.

Great White
Cant Shake It
Face The Day
Standin' On The Edge
On Your Knees -> Achilles Last Stand (Led Zeppelin) -> On Your Knees
Mista Bone
House Of Broken Love
Save Your Love
Rolling Stoned
Rock Me
Jumpin' Jack Flash w/ Jani Lane (Rolling Stones)
Once Bitten Twice Shy

Jackyl is a band with a singer that comes off as extremely arrogant and full of himself. However those are the ingredients for a great front man. Their performance was great and the crowd loved it. The music was a mix of hard rock and southern rock with a heavy dose of over the top lyrics thrown in. Of course the highlight of the set was with the chainsaw solo during The Lumberjack.

Jackyl
Sometimes I Find Myself Acting Just Like a Negro (?)
Push Comes To Shove
Just Like A Devil
She Loves My Cock
Kill The Sunshine
Down On Me
I Stand Alone
When Will It Rain
Dirty Little Mind -> Miss You reference (Rolling Stones)
Redneck Punk
Black Sabbath intro (Black Sabbath) -> The Lumberjack

I've been seeing Queensryche live since their very first tour back in 84/85. They ended up being a last minute replacement act replacing W.A.S.P. I was disappointed in losing W.A.S.P. but I think 95%+ of the audience considered the 'Ryche a huge upgrade. Their music doesn't traditionally fit in with the rest of the bands on this line up but they were able to command the audience just fine. The delivered a fairly high energy set and omitted their slower paced songs for this appearance. Geoff even hit some of the high notes in the middle of Take Hold.

Queensryche
The Whisper
Damaged
Breaking The Silence
I'm American
The Hands
Another Rainy Night (Without You)
I Don't Believe In Love
Eyes Of A Stranger
Empire
Walk In The Shadows
Take Hold Of The Flame
Jet City Woman

The last band of Rocklahoma was a group I was into very heavily as a child. I never had the chance to see them live and had to settle for a Dee Snider solo show with his band Widowmaker in the 90s, which was great. Dee and company know how to command a huge crowd. They brought their New York attitude, the makeup, the costumes and played great. This was a great send off for the first Rocklahoma and I don't think a single person in the crowd left the show dissappointed.

The surprise song of the night was Silver Bells from their Christmas CD. They brought in fake snow that fell from the lighting truss, like confetti, brought out the Santa hat and even threw out candy canes into the audience. This was also one of their best sounding songs of the entire night. This was a great send off and great to see one of the bands I so dearly loved long ago.

Twisted Sister
What You Don't Know
The Kids Are Back
Stay Hungry
Captain Howdy
Shoot 'em Down
You Can't Stop Rock And Roll
Fire Still Burns
We're Not Gonna Take It
The Price
Burn In Hell w/ Drum Solo
Silver Bells
I Wanna Rock
Encore
Come Out And Play
SMF