At first Rock the Rock Fest seemed like a weak pun, but when you consider that the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ is nicknamed "the Rock" then the play on words is revealed to be even more clever! The event was sponsored by 105.5 WDHA (one of the few FM stations worth listening to) and although this was a big lineup worthy of a festival, this concert from April 25 is not in place of their annual Rock the Park concert which is being held in July at PNC Bank Arts Center. Rock the Rock featured Staind, Seether, the Struts, Dayseeker, and Ayron Jones. My buddy and I took the train in, and got to our seats just in time for the main stage opening act. There were a couple of acoustic performances as well as radio interviews taking place around the arena prior to the 5:30 start time. This is a classic example of it being worth it to get there early/on time. If you are only coming for headliners and spend too long pre-gaming, you are missing out on some great tunes and not getting the most out of what you paid for a ticket.
After hearing Ayron Jones on Sirius radio stations and the Colbert show, I was excited to catch a live performance. Similar to Gary Clark Jr., Ayron Jones sings about racial tensions and growing up in America while blending genres including blues, soul, hip-hop, and rock. The band sounded phenomenal jamming through six songs from three studio albums. I particularly enjoyed the opener "Boys from Puget Sound" as well as rockers "Blood in the Water," "Mercy," and "Take Me Away". You can catch the blistering end of Mercy and the beginning of Take Me Away on my YouTube channel.
At about 6:20PM came Dayseeker out of California. Though they have five albums going back to 2012, I've only recently become aware of them as their last two albums Sleeptalk and Dark Sun have been getting played on Sirius Octane. They're characterized as post-hardcore, and while some songs feature screams, most of the singing is clean and the music is rock with some electronic elements similar to bands like Sleepwave and Starset. Highlights for me were the really catchy "Without Me" and closer "Neon Grave."
During the set change we went in search of some food which required taking an elevator up from the concert floor to get to the overpriced concessions. The silver lining was that there wasn't much of a line, and we found some tables to stand at. We just about finished our meal when the next band came on and we headed back to the floor. We had seats near the back, next to the sound board, and nobody bothered checking our tickets at this point. The arena looked pretty full, but the seats above the luxury boxes were closed off, and even the lower section was not sold out. The Struts are glam rock band from England that is kind of like a hybrid of the Darkness and the Strokes. They played 8 songs in a fun set. My favorite was definitely "Pretty Vicious," the title track from their 2023 release.
Before each set, the WDHA DJ's would come out to say hello and hype up the crowd. They did a good job of not hogging the stage, and if you are a fan of the station it was nice to see Terry Carr, Michael Anthony, and crew. This night was my 11th time seeing Seether live, but the first time since 2017. Of course in between there was that whole pandemic thing and then on 8/21/21 Seether didn't show up in Philadelphia. Although I've seen them as a threesome, they typically tour with a second guitarist. Since 2018 the guy has been Corey Lowery (formerly of Stuck Mojo, Stereomud, Dark New Day, Eye Empire, and Saint Asonia). I noticed that Corey is also singing back-up to Shaun a lot more than Dale is. They played 12 songs from 7 different albums in about an hour. Like the last time I saw them, they fill space between songs with guitar feedback and noise rather than have a lot of dead space. Some people have criticized that their setlist hasn't changed much since Corey joined, but as I haven't seen them in years I wasn't bothered. Also it was my first time hearing songs from 2020's Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum live which were "Bruised and Bloodied," "Wasteland," and "Dangerous." As is typical, they opened with "Gasoline" and closed with "Remedy." On the penultimate song "Fake It" there was a different slow breakdown and then harder ending. They are playing more shows with Staind this spring on "The Tailgate Tour" and a few festivals in the summer. I hope to get new music and a headline tour from them soon.
This night would be my sixth time seeing Staind live and the third time with them headlining. They were great just last year with Godsmack, but I enjoyed them even more as the headliners. Aaron's voice still sounds great, and they were able to go deeper into their catalogue and play some more of the heavier tunes. They played 16 songs, from 6 albums, in 90 minutes. (Lowest in Me, Eyes Wide Open, Fade, Raw, Not Again, Here and Now, Something to Remind You (Aaron & Mike only), Right Here, Wannabe, Outside (full band), Better Days, Paper Wings, So Far Away, For You, It's Been A While (full band), and Mudshovel). Notably, they haven't been playing any songs from 2008's the Illusion of Progress. I was pleasantly surprised to hear "Paper Wings" and "Raw," the latter of which he sang a little differently than usual when saying "raw." I also liked that they did "Outside" and "It's Been A While" as full band instead of just acoustic as it is often done. I just about blew my voice out in the middle of the set singing along. I don't know how Aaron's has held up as well as it has. If you haven't seen them at all or in a while, and you're in the NJ area, I recommend getting tickets to see them with Breaking Benjamin at PNC in September!
