I'm Baaaaaccckk!! ROTR 2014 RECAP

 Long time no see!! I feel like a major slacker and frankly I forgot I even HAD a blog for a little while. That's how crazy my life has been these past few months! So let's play catch up. Brace yourselves. I will start off by saying that a few posts back I mentioned taking a "break" from the concert scene. Yeah, that didn't happen. I tried I really did, but it just wasn't meant to be. I literally cannot stay away from the music scene. at ALL! When they released the 2014 line-up for Rock on the Range in Columbus, OH I was feeling SUPER conflicted about it. I desperately wanted to be there, but I had told myself I just wasn't going this year. It wasn't in the budget and I needed to take a break. The presale dates came and went, and the regular sale dates came. I had a pretty severe meltdown, grabbed that freaking credit card and said f*@k it, I'M GOING! I'm pretty sure this is going to happen every year as long as this festival is around, just saying. May FINALLY came around and we headed out. This time we got to the airport plenty early because I wasn't going to almost miss my flight like last year! We had a layover at O'Hare in Chicago. A VERY short layover. Like less than 40 minutes. I was so stressed about making the flight myself that it didn't even occur to me that my luggage was going to have the same damn problem! We got to Columbus around midnight and headed to baggage claim where we waited. and waited. and waited. and our bags were no where to be found. I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had heard horror stories about lost luggage and I didn't know if I would ever see my bag again. While we were waiting there was this incredibly hot guy that I had been playing eye-tag with the entire flight from Chicago who appeared to have the same problem. Waiting at the turn-style we kept the game up, and soon realized that we were both in the same predicament. Lost bags. So he and his group of friends as well as myself headed over to the scary little room to report that our bags hadn't made it. We finally talked and I learned that they were from Canada and had also come for the festival. Their bags got stuck in customs, while mine just didn't make the transfer because there wasn't enough time for it to hop planes. So after spending what felt like an eternity describing our bags and giving them the info on where to ship it when they finally showed up, we parted ways with our Canadian friends and I feared I would never see them again. My eye-tag buddy in particular because he was freaking hot. I knew it would be nothing short of a miracle to find him in a sea of 50,000 crazy metal heads. We parted ways and Shelly and I headed to the nearest Wal-mart for a 1 AM shopping session for the essentials to get us by until our bags showed up. We finally made it to the hotel and got a little shut eye before we had to head to the concert the next morning.
    Day 1: Being that this was our 3rd year, we know the ropes. We know where to go to get in the quickest. We know that you buy field tickets. We know that you have to stake your place near the main stage early if you want to get a good seat and keep it. So we found our gate that got us in the fastest, and headed straight for the merch booth because that's exactly how I roll. I'm going to be honest here. I spend a crapload of money on concert merchandise. Like I could probably put a down payment on a house with all the money I've spent on concert shirts and jackets and hoodies and whatever. But it's completely worth it. I had literally started saving months in advance because I knew I was going to be dropping some serious cash. Every day started this way. Get in, get merch, get your seat. The lineup (the bands that I watched anyway, there is no way to see every band and keep your main stage seat) for friday consisted of Thousand Foot Krutch, Redlight King, Black Stone Cherry, Killswitch Engage, Black Label Society, Seether, Staind, and Guns and Roses. It was a pretty epic day with so many great bands! My favorite of the day was without a doubt Seether. They are my #2 band and I am seriously in love with the lead singer Shaun Morgan. They were downright amazing. It was really cool to get to see BLS and GNR for the first time. We left the first day on a pretty great music-induced high, with sore butts and happy hearts.
  Day 2: Rain. Lots and lots of rain. I was deathly worried about how this was going to impact this day. This was the best day lineup wise and I was seriously going to die if things didn't clear up. We got in and one of the little booth merchant guys was selling blankets and ponchos. Smart, smart man. I'm sure he made a killing. We bought two blankets and two ponchos and waited out the storm. This was a day that I was so sad I wasn't seeing all the bands that played because they were all awesome. Every freaking one. But the bands that I saw were Rev Theory, Fuel, Pop Evil, Theory of a Deadman, Chevelle, Slayer, and my personal favorite, Avenged Sevenfold (A7X). It was cold. Damn cold. The music was worth it though. By the time A7X came on I couldn't feel my feet, but I didn't care. They are my favorite band and I just prayed that their pyro was strong enough to warm my poor toes! Obviously A7X was the best band of the day, but Pop Evil, Theory of a Deadman and Chevelle all did really great as well. It was pretty cool to say I've seen Slayer, but they aren't my favorite. It was a fantastic day and I always hate saying goodbye to A7X, but I finally had to go home and get warm before I died. A7X made the whole cold rainy day worth it. Best. band. ever.
 Day 3: By this point we are pretty exhausted. 11 hours a day for 3 days straight is draining, but it's our favorite weekend of the whole year so we nut it up and have a great time! The lineup that I saw consisted of Trivium, Adelita's Way, Wolfmother, Mastodon, Alterbridge, 5FDP, and Kid Rock. Day 3 was the complete opposite of day 2 in the weather department. It was hot. Damn hot. I got some serious sun that day, but after the day before I didn't even care. Bring on the heat. It was a pretty good day, with my favorites being Adelita's way, Alterbridge and 5FDP. I was sad to see the weekend over, but it was amazing and it just gets better and better every year.
    Now you may ask, what happened to Mr. Canada as I lovingly refer to him now. I saw him. Every day. Somehow despite impossible odds I saw him every day. I wish I wasn't the big freaking chicken that I am, because if I wasn't, I would have talked to him. But I didn't. I just stared. Needless to say this experience is helping me change a few things in my life so I don't have to be scared put myself out there sometimes. All in all this weekend was a complete success and I already can't wait to go back. I love Columbus. I love ROTR weekend. Best weekend of the year. 57 bands, 150,000 people who all come together for one purpose. To prove that rock and roll is alive and well! Below are some videos and photos from my amazing weekend- as always parental discretion is advised!

Thanks for stopping by, you stay classy!

-Nicole