Orange Loop Rock Festival Day 2, Saturday June 11, 2022 Atlantic City New Jersey

 

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

 

 

Doro

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

 

 
Slaughter
Saturday June 11
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Main Stage
 
With a short 45-minute set, Slaughter had only enough time to play their most popular songs. Starting the night off with “Mad About You”, you could see it was going to be a great set. Mark’s voice was on point and sounded great. And, as always, Dana and Blando have a stage presence that won’t quit! With Dana swinging the bass around through the entire set, I am surprised he hasn’t broken a strap in as many times as I have seen them. Also playing with the band was Jordan Cannata on drums, filling in for Will Hunt while he is on tour with Evanescence. My wife said, “Holy shit, he was pounding them bad boys at one point while standing on his seat!”. Jordan fit right in to help make this one of the best performances of the weekend so far. They ended the night with their hit, “Up All Night”.
 
 
 
 
 
Slaughter is:
Mark Slaughter – lead vocals, guitar
Dana Strum – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Blando – lead guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Cannata – drums
 
 
 
Saturday June 11
6:15 pm – 7:00 pm
Main Stage
 
 
It was just announced at the end of May, that Mitch Malloy was leaving Great White to concentrate on his VH Experience band and Andrew Freeman of Last In Line would be taking his place. Although Andrew is a fantastic vocalist, I wasn’t sure how he would fit with this band. Well, let me tell you he filled the spot perfectly. The crowd was very receptive and even my wife, who was never a big Great White fan, walked away from the set blown away! Playing a 7-song set of mostly their hit songs. Great White put on a classic performance.
 
 
 
 
 
Great White is:
Andrew Freeman – lead vocals
Scott Snyder – bass guitar, backing vocals
Michael Lardie – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Audie Desbrow – drums
Mark Kendall – lead guitar, backing vocals
 
 
 

Stephen Pearcy

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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