Day two of The Inaugural Orange Loop Rock Festival featured four Artist Support Network bands on The Beast Stage. These bands competed within the month prior to the festival for a chance to perform. The bands that won the Saturday spots were Pierced, Who On Earth, Kamenar, and Black Dawn. The Main stage acts were Doro, Slaughter, Great White, Stephen Pearcy, Hinder, and headlining was Chevelle. The day got off to a slow start but steadily filled in. I would guess 2-3 times the crowd as the night before. Most of the bands had merch tables set up on the way into the 2 stage areas.
Orange Loop Support Bands:
Pierced
Saturday, June 11
3:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Beast Stage
The first band to take the Beast Stage for the weekend was Pierced. Pierced was formed in 2017. This New Jersey based quartet recently released their first full length album “Cheers to Brutality”. The first song they played was called “You Can’t Play God with Me”. This was an awesome thrashy, heavy song that set the tone for the show. Some of the other songs on their new album are “Machine Gun Metal”, “Cheers to Brutality”, and “Razors and Heathens”. Pierced reminds me of many of the bands I would go to see at our local thrash club in Norwalk, Connecticut called The Anthrax. A little heavier that what I usually listen to, these guys still caught my attention and put on a great show.
Pierced is:
Rob Middleton – vocals
John Barone – guitar
Pete Rizzi – bass
Joe D’Aqui – drums
Who On Earth
Saturday, June 11
5:45 pm – 6:15 pm
Beast Stage
“We wanted to fill in the blank of who on earth is going to bring back good rock and metal?”, says Pete Rizzi. These guys have an awesome classic rock sound with a heavier edge. Their new single “On The Brink” is out on all platforms now. Love it, love it!! It’s an awesome song that makes me want to check out more! Andrew Couche sporting a grey beard, pony tail, and cowboy had excellent stage presence and belted out the lyrics with authority! Joe D’Aqui from Pierced also kills it on the drums in Who on Earth. Their songs have catchy riffs and make you want to bang your head.
Who On Earth is:
Andrew Couche – vocals
Pete Rizzi – bass
Joe D’Aqui – drums
Steve Eagle – guitar
Rob Damms – guitar
Kamenar
Saturday, June 11
7:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Beast Stage
Kamenar is a high energy hard rock band from Tampa, Florida formed by twin brothers Sean and John Kamenar in 2015. Due to some of the bands running late and overlapping from the main stage, the crowd turnout for Kamenar was very light. Sean and John still put 100% into their high energy show regardless. Interacting with the crowd to get them pumped, they put on a show that was worthy of the venue being packed. During a drum solo, Sean heads behind the drum kit to add to an already awesome performance by John. Kamenar was given a second set on Sunday, which attracted a much better crowd. This brotherly duo is not to be missed.
Kamenar is:
Sean Kamenar – lead vocals, guitar
John Kamenar – drums
Black Dawn
Saturday, June 11
7:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Beast Stage
Black Dawn has been performing live since 1996. They are from the NYC and Long Island area. Their influences are Godsmack, White Zombie, and Five Finger Death Punch. They have 2 full length albums and 2 EP’s, the most recent released in 2019 entitled “On Blackened Wings”. Unfortunately, due to some bands running late on the main stage, I was unable to get to see their set.
Black Dawn is:
Matt Kotten – lead guitar, vocals
Tom Kelly – rhythm guitar
Shawn Cox – bass guitar
Enzo DiPaolo – drums
Saturday June 11
3:45 pm – 4:30 pm
Main Stage
As always, Doro hits the stage with horns flying, getting the crowd pumped and chanting “Hey, Hey, Hey!” and going right into “I Rule The Ruins”. Doro Pesch, The Queen of Metal, is known for being the frontwoman of the 80’s metal band Warlock. This band performs like they’re at a sold-out stadium tour no matter where they are! Tommy Bolan is a madman, thrashing, jumping around, and swinging his Warlock themed guitar all over the place. I was glad to see Nick Douglas back on bass guitar bringing his a-game. And I always love to see Johnny Dee on drums. He brings the same positive energy to the stage that Doro has. Doro played an 8-song set, with the last 2 songs being “All For Metal”, and “All We Are”, two of my favorites. Although they were supposed to play a 2 song encore, they only were allowed to sneak in “Burning The Witches”, due to getting a late start. Doro is always a crowd favorite.
Doro is:
Doro Pesch – Lead Vocals
Nick Douglas- Bass
Johnny Dee – Drums, Backing Vocals
Bill Hudson – Guitars
Tommy Bolan – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Saturday June 11
7:30 pm – 8:15 pm
Main Stage
Steven Pearcy performed a classic lineup of 11 Ratt songs and sounded good doing it. Stephen was wearing his leather vest and studded pants singing though his brass knuckle microphone. His vocals were the best I have heard in a while. The band was tight. Even the newest member of the band Johnny Monaco was on fire. Johnny is probably best known for his time in Enuff Z’Nuff. The crowd was singing along to all the hits and they even added “I’m Insane” and “Way Cool Jr.” to the set tonight.
Stephen Pearcy is:
Stephen Pearcy – lead vocals, guitar, writer
Erik Ferentinos – lead guitar, backing vocals
Jerry Montano – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Juaquin Revuelta – drums
Johnny Monaco – guitar, backing vocals
Hinder
Saturday, June 11
8:45 pm – 9:30 pm
Main Stage
Joe Garvey came blazing onto a stage with white mic stands, donned in a white sports jacket, tight white pants, white Converse sneakers and a red tie, and each of the other members had either a white shirt or pants. That being said, they played through a killer set with Joe jumping on to the speakers in front of the stage multiple times so he could be closer to the fans. At one point, he grabbed someone’s cell phone and went around recording things from his perspective before returning it. They played their hits including “Get Stoned” and “Lips of an Angel”. These guys were the first band at the festival originating in the early 2000’s. It was fun for me to have bands stemming from multiple eras. Most festivals stick to one decade. These guys are very under-rated and put on an energetic show.
Hinder is:
Joe “Blower” Garvey – lead guitar, backing vocals
Cody Hanson – drums
Mike Rodden – bass guitar
Mark King – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Marshal Dutton – lead vocals
Chevelle
Saturday June 11
10:00 pm -11:00 pm
Main Stage
Chevelle came out to a much more elaborate stage setup with large spotlights flashing and spinning around and a really cool display behind the band that displayed their name in LED’s and alien heads. I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t hear of Chevelle until a couple years ago. They have been a band since 1995 and released their first full-length album in 1999. March of last year they released their ninth full-length album, Niratias(Nothing Is Real And This Is A Simulation). They played several songs off of this most recent release including, “Verruckt”, “Mars Simula”, and “Self Destructor”. This band has gained a new fan.
Chevelle is:
Pete Loeffler – guitars, lead vocals
Sam Loeffler – drums
Kemble Walters – bass
Find Pierced online:
Find Doro online:
Find Slaughter online:
Find Great White online:
Find Stephen Pearcy Online:
Find Hinder online:
Find Chevelle online:
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