This year marks the fifth consecutive year of the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio.  In a short time, this festival has developed a reputation as the bona fide destination in America for blue-collar, radio rock fans.  You won’t find much alternative music here. Most years, the line-up simply didn’t do it for me, but after finding out that P.O.D. chose this festival as one of their first appearances in a few years, and being a offered a ticket on the cheap, I decided to give the festival a shot.

Saturday afternoon I walked through the gate of Crew Stadium, and promptly heard the growls of alternative metal band 2Cents, playing the Jagermeister Stage to my right.  I watched but the attitude of the band got me to leave pretty quickly.  The lead vocalist heckled a few audience members before beginning a chant to their next song. This chant consisted of the supremely inspiring words “Take me farther / F*** me harder / Give me drugs / and go away!” repeated ad nauseum.  I thought, “Really? is this meant to be some sort of satire?”  but the attitude of the band seemed to indicate otherwise.

The opposite side of the festival grounds was home to the larger FYE side stage, and at the moment I arrived Crossfade happened to be playing.  Apparently they’re still pretty popular, as a HUGE crowd, much larger than the one on the field of the stadium at the time, was rocking out to them.  Now, regrettably I was not too familiar with their music but easily picked out their crossover hit “Cold” that was popular a few years ago.

Following the conclusion of Crossfade’s set I made my way onto the stadium for the mid-afternoon set of the Australian hard rock trio, Sick Puppies.  I am somewhat familiar with this band, most recently blasting their single “Riptide” while listening to Q101 around Wheaton when I still attended college there.  They opened their set with the repetitive anthem “War”, following it up with their radio singles “My World”, “Odd One”, “Maybe”, “Riptide”, and finally “You’re Going Down.”  The crowd seemed to enjoy themselves, and despite the liberal amounts of f-bombs being hurled our way from the stage I managed to enjoy the set as well.

After an hour of waiting (I had to choose between Black Veil Brides and Hinder, both of which sounded horrendous. How did Hinder make it on Top 40 radio?) at the top of the bleachers and weathering the copious amounts of marijuana smoke drifting into my sinuses (I’m half-kidding, it wasn’t that terrible), I made my way back to the Jagermeister Stage.  A band I had been waiting to see since I was 14, P.O.D., were about to headline there.

A rather large crowd had formed by the time the band took the stage. This time, they had a keyboardist with them who also helped out with background vocals and made use of his very long dreadlocks for stage theatrics.  The band opened with the chaotic “Without Jah, Nothin'” and quickly followed up with “Set it Off.”  The crowd reacted with much enthusiasm, and a crowd surfer seemed to float past me every 20 seconds. The most pit up front looked pretty intense as well. “Boom” and “Southtown” followed, and a brief interlude of Sonny, the lead vocalist talking led into their best known single, “Youth of the Nation.”  They then launched into a new song, declaring that they had been on break for awhile but would be back later this year with a new record and tour.  The new, untitled song featured a catchy refrain of “Stop! Drop! Roll! I’m on fire!” and seemed to carry spiritual undertones.  The final two songs in the set were “The Messenjah” and the feel good anthem “Alive.”  Overall, it was a solid set although they oddly featured nothing from their last three records.

I left the festival glad to check a band off my bucket list, but not a huge fan of the atmosphere.  Rock on the Range is definitely not a place for kids, as there were many instances of profane and lewd behavior from the crowds and stages alike.  From a Christian perspective, making the decision whether or not to attend should be based on one’s maturity level.  Are you there for the music or to get hammered and catch a glimpse of some skin? Will exposure to this kind of behavior cause you to stumble? (Important note: I am not out to condemn all who partake in the behaviors I mentioned, they need Christ’s grace too!)  P.O.D. definitely stood out from the crowd (pun intended) with their classy stage presence and song choices that did not hide their faith in Christ.  They certainly didn’t stage preach, but they were definitely there to encourage people, with Sonny even stating they would still be around the next day willing to hang out with concert-goers.

Visit my 2011 live shots page for photos.

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