Day 2 of Boardwalk Rock Festival in Ocean City, Maryland Was a Huge Success on Sunday, May 18, 2025

May 28, 2025
International Concert Reviews, International Festivals
by Jody Wilk Photographer/Writer

Day two of Boardwalk Rock brought what seemed to be even more people out to listen to their favorite bands. The day featured a little cooler temperature with overcast skies and a little more breeze, which made the trek between stages a little easier than the day before. Day two’s headliners were Alice Cooper, Shinedown, Three Days Grace and Nickelback. Three Doors Down cancelled their appearance due to Brad Arnold getting a stage four cancer diagnosis. We wish him the best in his battle. Also on the bill were Tim Montana, Saliva, Black Stone Cherry, Lit, Fuel, Crossfade, Dorothy, Candlebox, Night Ranger, and Bret Michaels.

Once again, the boardwalk was in full swing and filled in quickly with concert goers wanting to grab a quick bite to eat before their marathon day of running from stage to stage to catch all of their favorite bands, while others took a different approach by spreading out a blanket on the sand and staying put for most of the day. The crowd was full of every demographic of people you could imagine, however, it’s always great to see the younger generation getting out to see the bands that we all grew up with. It lets us know that rock is still alive and thriving. Eddie Trunk from Sirius/XM was on hand again to introduce many of the bands. As with the day before, due to bands having the same start times, I was unable to cover every band in attendance.

Tim Montana

Bolt Stage 12:30-1:15

First to take the stage was Tim Montana.

Tim grew up in Butte, Montana and started learning to play guitar at age 6. He moved to Los Angeles and then to Nashville and continued to pursue his career in country and southern rock. The crowd quickly bellied up to the front of the stage and Tim won them over while he played a short 45-minute set of rockin’ original tunes. Tim refers to his touring band as the Shrednecks. He made sure to mention his friend, Robert J. Oniell, a former Navy Seal Team 6 member and longtime friend from Butte, who was credited with killing Osama Bin Laden. He then thanked all current military members and veterans before playing “Die Today”. Tim has 6 studio albums out, with the most recent released in 2024 called Savage. They made sure to play their most popular song, “Devil You Know”, and ended their set with “Savage”.

Saliva

Thunder Stage 1:15-2:00

Black Stone Cherry

Lightning Stage 1:15-2:00

Black Stone Cherry was a must see for me. This high energy rock band from North Carolina never fails to bring a killer performance to the stage. They were the first band of the day to play on the Lightning stage, and even though they were up against Saliva, who I was told put on a stellar show on the main stage, they really packed in their fans for a 45-minute set of killer hard rock favorites. They started the set with “Me and Mary Jane”, and Ben Wells always starts the day off with a big kick. I swear, he must drink a six-pack of Redbull before the set. He’s one of the most entertaining performers of the weekend. At one point, he jumped off the drum riser and his guitar strap came undone from one side of the guitar. he proceeded to jump and flail around making fun of it before his tech gave him a hand fixing it. (see photos) Drummer John Fred Young is also always putting on a show for the crowd. If you like hard rock and a killer stage show, check these guys out when they come to your town.

Lit

Bolt Stage 2:00-2:45

Late 90’s band Lit, best known for their hit song “My Own Worst Enemy” was the second band to grace the Bolt stage, and they really heated it up playing a 45-minute set of hard rock tunes. They formed in 1988, but gained mainstream popularity in 1999 with their album, A Place in the Sun. Lit kicked off their set with “Kicked Off the Plane” off of their most recent (2022) album called Tastes Like Gold. Bassist Kevin Baldes is also a fellow photographer who knows how to put on a show in front of the lens. Founding member Jeremy Popoff was on guitar, brother Ajay Popoff on lead vocals, and Taylor Carroll on drums. They also brought out Zach Myers from Shinedown to sing along on “My Own Worst Enemy”, the last song of the set. These rock icons have a bunch of shows lined up this summer and you don’t want to miss them.

Fuel

Thunder Stage 2:45-3:45

Fuel has had laundry list of members with guitarist Carl Bell being the only original member. They have 6 Studio albums, the most recent was released in 2021 entitled Anomaly. Charismatic frontman Aaron Scott kept the crowd entertained and wore a huge smile throughout the set. You could tell they were having fun while playing a killer set of fan favorites. Six of the songs they played were off of their 2000 album Something Like Human. Their hit single “Shimmer” was one of three songs they played off of Sunburn. They also did a cover of The Eagles song “Hotel California” and ended with “Hemorrhage (in My Hands)”. These guys brought an energy and camaraderie to the stage as if they had been playing together for 40 years.

Crossfade

Lightning Stage 2:45-3:45

Dorothy

Bolt Stage 3:45-4:30

Dorothy is a rock band from Los Angeles formed in 2014 currently featuring Dorothy Martin on vocals, Sam Bam Koltun on guitar, Jake Hayden on drums, and Eliot Lorango on Bass. Dorothy has 4 studio albums, with the most recent having been released on March 14 of this year, entitled The Way. Dorothy has a powerful voice that has been featured on a bunch of other artist’s songs. Dorothy also made sure to mention Brad Arnold and send thoughts and prayers to him. They ended the set with “Tombstone Town” a song featuring Slash on the studio album.

Candlebox

Thunder Stage 4:45-5:45

Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle Washington formed in 1990. They are best known for their singles “Change”, “You”, “Far Behind”, and “Cover Me”, all of which were played near end of set. Led by original members Kevin Martin on lead vocals and Peter Klett on lead guitar, and newer members Adam Kury on bass, Island Styles on rhythm guitar, BJ Kerwin on drums. Candlebox was celebrating 32 years of American made Rock and Roll as could be seen on the screen at the back of the stage. They played a cover of “It’s Not My Time” by Three Doors Down in dedication to Brad Arnold. For the last song of the set, Bobby Amaru of Saliva got to get on stage with them and sing one of his favorite songs of the 90’s, “You”.

Night Ranger

Lightning Stage 4:45-5:45

Alice Cooper

Bolt Stage 5:45-6:45

The pioneer of shock-rock, Alice Cooper, was the one band I was looking forward to capturing the most on my camera on Sunday. Alice is known for having an over-the-top theatrical performance, utilizing many props, a giant Frankenstein running around, a guillotine, and even a live snake around his neck. Unfortunately, none of these antics were during the first 4 songs that we were allowed to photograph, so you’ll have to look on YouTube for videos from the show. Alice always has a crew of top-notch musicians performing with him. This included Ryan Roxie on lead guitar, Chuck Garric on bass, Tommy Henriksen on guitar, Nita Strauss on guitar, and Glen Sobel on drums. Every single one of them will keep you entertained, leaving you looking all over the stage to see what is going on every second of the show. Alice played a seventeen-song set, including all the favorites, and of course, ended the set with “School’s Out” with all of the band members intros. And, oh yeah, and Alice is NOT eighteen, he’s 77 but still puts on a phenomenal performance as if he were 18.

Shinedown

Thunder Stage 6:45-8:15

Shinedown is a band that I never really paid much attention to until a couple of years ago, and boy was I missing out. These guys are true entertainers, musicians, and artists. With Brent Smith on lead vocals and Barry Kerch drums since the band’s inception, and Zach Myers on guitar and Eric Bass on bass for longer than I have been following them. They have 7 studio albums, with the most recent being Planet Zero. Although I love all of the rocking songs the best, I developed a liking for “Symptom of Being Human” after seeing them play it liv,e not long after it came out. That one hits you right in the heart. They also played “Fly From the Inside” with original bassist Brad Stewart, who currently plays with Saliva. This was the first time they had played together since 2006. Closing in on the end of the hour-and-a-half set, they did a snippet of Three Doors Down’s “Kryptonite” as a nod to Brad Arnold and then played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”. As any true fan would have hoped, they ended the set with “Sound of Madness” and “Second Chance”

Bret Michaels

Lightning Stage 6:45-7:45

I only was able to get a few photos from afar of Bret Michaels because I was covering Shinedown, which started at the same time, and I wanted to get on the Ferris wheel to get some photos from up high before I had to go to Three Days Grace.

Three Days Grace

Bolt Stage 8:15-9:30

Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in 1992 that has 8 studio albums, with the most recent being released on August 22 of this year, entitled Alienation. They played songs spanning their career. Songs that the casual fan might know are “I Hate Everything About You”, “Animal I Have Become”, “Never Too Late”, “Riot”, and “Pain”, all of which they performed. Late last year Adam Gontier returned to the band to sing along side of the current singer Matt Walst, who has been their singer since 2013. This made for a really cool show with them trading off vocals and singing along through the songs. Young vocalist Veda, daughter of Saliva vocalist Bobby Amaru, joined them on stage to help sing “Just Like You”. She definitely added a third dimension to the song, and what a powerful vocalist she is. Three Days Grace was probably in my top 6 performances of the weekend.

Nickelback

Thunder Stage 9:30-11:00

With three original members still together, Chad Kroeger on vocals, Ryan Peake on rhythm guitar, Mike Kroeger on bass, and Daniel Adair on drums since 2005, these guys sure have their performance together. They started the set with “San Quentin”, a song off their most recent album, Get Rollin’, which was released in 2022. This song really drew me in to take a better look into their music when it was released. Ryan Peake took to lead vocals on “Dirty Laundry”, a Don Henley cover. During the middle of the set, Zach Myers from Shinedown joined them on stage for the song “Figured You Out”. At one point, they mentioned that they were going to release a new version of “Rockstar”, which left fans questioning whether they were serious or just joking around. They ended the festival with the proverbial “Burn It To The Ground”.

With the final day of Boardwalk Rock Festival in the books, it is safe to say that it will happen again next year. It was a stellar weekend of top-notch bands playing all of our favorite songs along with great weather to enjoy next to a beautiful beach and boardwalk. There appeared to be very few incidences other than some people getting dehydrated. The festival provided free water at hydration stations as well as the staff handing out cartons to people that were close to the stage and couldn’t or didn’t want to leave to go get it. There were plenty of great food choices to keep everyone happy, and plenty of beverages. The boardwalk provided a break from the music for those that wanted it as well as provided entertainment for the kids. Fans have already taken to social media with their wish lists of bands for next year’s Boardwalk Rock Festival.

If you missed my coverage from day one, you could check it out here.

Day One Boardwalk Rock Festival Coverage

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