It was day three of Brad Lee Entertainment‘s Masquerade Festival, held at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and everyone seemed to be moving a little slow. From what I heard, lots of people stayed out late partying after last night’s show was over. The days headliner was Autograph, along with a few other bands from the 80’s, some newer bands, and an after-party featuring Paradise Kitty, an all-girl Guns and Roses tribute band. Towards the end of the night the autographed guitars were raffled off to 3 lucky winners. Two guitars were autographed by Alice Cooper and the other autographed by all of the artists playing at the festival. Also, April Lee was in the house to promote Monsters on The Mountain and provided tickets to the 3-day event for the raffle.
12:55pm-1:35pm
(Set times are listed times, not actual times)
Babylon Shakes is from Staunton, Virginia and formed in 2017. They have a hippy-soul vibe about them and were a nice way to start off day three of The Masquerade Festival. They started approximately an hour late as the fans slowly filed in. Jeff Mortimer was a standout on stage with his showmanship, tossing his drumsticks into the air and catching them. Although, I was not familiar with any of their songs, they were catchy and kept my attention throughout their nine-song set. They played seven songs off of their latest release Vintage Soul RocknRoll.
Babylon Shakes is:
Chris Herninko – Bass
Chris Clark – Vocals, guitar
Jeff Mortimer – Drums, vocals
Gary Jordan – Guitar, vocals
1:45pm-2:25pm
Native Sons is a rock band from Louisville, KY. They have a fresh, raw rock n’ roll sound that keeps the energy going throughout the set. Ashton Blake runs about the stage with slick dance moves while ramping up the fans. They are working on their next album entitled Shadowhead, in which they played the title track. These young guys are headed straight to the top! You can catch them performing an acoustic set at Monsters on The Mountain in Tennessee on Friday, August 19.
Native Sons is:
Ashton Blake – Vocals
Mike Little – Drums
Victor Adriel – Guitar
JT Shea – Guitar
Jim Quiggins – Bass
Shotgun Superstars
2:35pm-3:15pm
With the day still running late, and in an effort to try to get back on schedule, Shotgun Superstars set was cut by three songs. They started the day’s set with “Bastard of Society” by H.E.A.T. then moving right into “Above the Law” by Hardcore Superstar. They maybe the only band to perform a cover of the song, “Bang Go the Bells” by Babylon A.D. To top it off, Annie hopped off of the catwalk onto a tall fan and sang almost a whole song while he walked around the VIP area with her perched on his shoulders. During their final song of the day, they brought up a bunch of fans onto stage to help sing “Last Call for Alcohol”. Once again, these guys did not disappoint with their high energy cover tunes, they had the crowd singing along to each and every song.
Shotgun Superstars is:
Annie Clark – Vocals
Victor Adriel – Guitar
Erikk Marz – Guitar
Scott Clark – Bass
Stephen Polson – Drums
3:25pm-4:05pm
Next up was former Tesla guitarist Tommy Skeoch’s band, Resist & Bite. This band features Nathan Utz on vocals, who also sings in Pandora’s Box, and formerly in Blonz, and Lynch Mob. The band is rounded out by Steve Stokes on guitar, David Parks on Drums, and Brian Powell on Bass. Resist & Bite was formed in 2019 and released their first single on February 29, of 2020 called “The Myth I’m Livin'”, and have since released their second single and video called “Fate”. Nathan had a great stage presence and got the crowd pumped up during their performance. They played mostly original songs with a few Tesla covers thrown in, such as, “Modern Day Cowboy” and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)”.
Resist & Bite is:
Tommy Skeoch – Guitar
Nathan Utz – Vocals
Steve Stokes – Guitar
David Parks – Drums
Brian Powell – Bass
4:20pm-5:00pm
Steel City was formed in 2018 and has likened their sound to “arena rock”. Mike Floros is super-talented and was sporting a rock-star look with his Superman jeans and huge silver Superman logo necklace. Anthony White from Cold Sweat, was killing it on the drums at his first show with the band. Roy Cathey’s voice is more than memorable, hitting some killer high notes. They played a 7-song set featuring songs from both Fortress and Mach II. Because the band members are from all across the country, they hadn’t gotten a chance to rehearse, but yet they still sounded fantastic.
Steel City is:
Roy Cathey – Vocals
Mike Floros – Guitar
Jason Cornwell – Bass
Anthony White – Drums
John’s Crossing
5:15pm-6:00pm
The sixth band to take the stage was John’s Crossing, a Christian Rock band on In-Site Records. This six-piece Christian rock band has a 70’s vibe with a heavy edge. Today they were given the opportunity to play a second set for the festival goers. They feature 3 guitarists, a keyboardist, bassist and drummer. Although I didn’t get to photograph them today, I did have the opportunity to have a little better listen. I gained an appreciation for their music and presentation. They have a really great classic rock sound and a positive message to boot. (Photo set from Friday’s set)
John’s Crossing is:
John Albino – Lead vocals, Rhythm and lead guitar
Glenn Kahn – Keyboards, backing vocals
Mike Cavalero – Acoustic guitar
Jacki Lombardo – Bass guitar, backing vocals
Danny Pagan – Drums, backing vocals
Mike Dunleavy – Rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals
6:15pm-7:00pm
Every Mother’s Nightmare formed in 1987 in Memphis. Holy shit, this singer doesn’t stop moving! I think he drank a six-pack of energy drinks before the show. That being said, “Loco Crazy” was a good song to start their set. Rick Ruhl‘s hair was flailing the whole set. They dedicated their new song “Goodbye Yesterday”(working title) to Bill and Lori Chavis of HiVolMusic, who passed away last year from covid. They signed a deal with Dark Star Records for their next album, which this song will be on. They ended the set with their hit song “Love Can Make You Blind”.
Every Mother’s Nightmare is:
Rick Ruhl – Vocals
John Guttery – Lead Guitar
Troy Fleming – Bass
Allan Bone – Drums
Travis Butler – Lead Guitar
Roxy Blue
7:15pm-8:00pm
Roxy Blue is a hard rock band from Memphis, Tennessee. They released their debut album in 1992 but broke up shortly after. The band reformed in 2019 and was signed by Frontiers Records. About half the set was off their self-titled release and the rest off of Want Some?. The band was all dressed in black, with Todd Poole sporting an old-school Black Sabbath shirt. These guys have a solid hard rock sound and I am glad they reformed to bring us more music. They also played “Give Me Some Love”, a new song off their album being released this year.
Roxy Blue is:
Todd Poole – Lead Vocals
Josh Weil – Bass
Jimmy Fulp – Drums
Jeff Caughron – Guitar
8:15pm-9:00pm
Tora Tora is a glam metal band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1985. The band’s name comes from the song of the same name off of Van Halen’s Women and Children First album. Jeff Caughron, guitarist from Roxy Blue, was playing bass for Tora Tora. Five of the six songs they played were off of their debut release from 1989, Surprise Attack. The only other song they played was “Amnesia” off of their 1992 album, Wild America. These guys have such an iconic hair metal sound that it brings you back to days gone by.
Tora Tora is:
Anthony Corder – Vocals
Keith Douglas – Guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Caughron – Bass
John Patterson – Drums
9:15pm-10:00pm
Killer Dwarfs are a heavy metal band from Canada formed in the early 1980’s. Russ Dwarf utilizes the whole stage in his performance and really gives the fans a high-energy performance, although, tonight, he didn’t break out the tricycle. They played songs spanning their career. Johnny and Russ kept hamming it up for the photographers and for the fans as well. Killer Dwarfs is a treat to see and hear. Killer Dwarfs are currently on their STiLL STaNdInG TaLL 40th ANNiVeRsArY ToUr.
Killer Dwarfs are:
Russ Dwarf – Lead Vocals, guitar
Darrell Dwarf – Drums
Gerry Finn – Guitar
Johnny Fenton – Bass
10:15pm-11:15pm
The headlining band for the weekend was Autograph. Best known for their radio friendly hit song “Turn Up the Radio”, this band has so much more to offer. Some of my favorite songs are “Blondes in Black Cars”, “Loud and Clear”, and “Dance All Night”. Autograph is still releasing new music. More recent songs they have released are “You are Us, We are You”, and “Get Off Your Ass”. They have a new album being released this year. Sadly, founding member Randy Rand will not be here to see its release, although he did play the bass tracks on it. Current members of the band are Simon Daniels on vocals and guitar, Marc Weiland on drums, Jimi Bell on lead guitar, and Metal Church bassist Steve Unger.
Autograph is:
Simon Daniels – Lead Vocals, guitar
Marc Weiland – Drums
Jimi Bell – Lead Guitar
Steve Unger – Bass
Paradise Kitty (After party)
11:30pm-End
These ladies are best all-female Guns and Roses tribute band in the world! They really rock the house. Jenna Syde smashing the vocals and Rachael Rine keeping the beat, they play all the hits from Guns N’ Roses. Ariel Bellvalarie shreds the guitar leads like nobody’s tomorrow. Jenna starts the set by asking the crowd if they know where they are? “We’re in the jungle baby!!!” The fans were singing along to all the songs, including “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Out to Get Me”, “Sweet Child”, and “Paradise City”. During the middle of the set, they brought up BLE’s Media Manager, Eric Teir to give him a proper Paradise Kitty Happy Birthday. They closed out the festival with “Mama Kin”.
Paradise Kitty is:
Jenna Syde – Lead Vocals
Rachael Rine – Drums
Ariel Bellvalarie – Guitar
Hisako Ozawa – Guitar
Terri King – Bass
The inaugural Masquerade Festival had a great mix of classic 80’s hair metal bands mixed with newer rock and metal bands. Some of the highlights for me were Beasto Blanco, Autograph, Kickin’ Valentina, Steel City, All or Nothing, and Dirty Looks. Really, I could name them all, because everyone put on a great performance. Saturday was probably the biggest day, attendance wise, of the weekend. The 2300 Arena in Philadelphia was a great place to host the event. It had a nice stage area with good lighting, a concession stand, and a front bar area which was great for socializing. I would like to thank Brad Lee and his team for putting on a great show and I’m looking forward to the next one.
Day 1 review and photos HERE
Day 2 review and photos HERE
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Music photography is my passion! Live in the moment, Capture the moment.
