At Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on April 25, 2024
This year New Jersey’s own rock radio station WDHA 105.5 FM hosted third Rock The Rock Fest. Three years ago their inaugural event was headlined by Godsmack and supported by Three Days Grace, Black Veil Brides, Wage War and Lilith Czar. Last years line up was just as impressive with Breaking Benjamin as a headline along with The Pretty Reckless, Beartooth, Sevendust and Dorothy. This year, which seems like it will now become an annual event the lineup consisted of another assortment rock music legends and popular bands – Staind shared the spotlight along with Seether, The Struts, Dayseeker and Ayron Jones.
Written by Andris Jansons
WDHA New Jersey Rock Radio 105.5 links
The first band that I was able to see was The Struts. British hard rock band with incline to some traditional British alt rock is a blast live. Their performances are lively and energetic. The band consists of lead vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies. The band has released four studio albums, two EPs and two live albums.
By no means I want to somehow imply of the generic image of the band, however (it is a positive) the bands vocalist Luke Spiller has this traditional British alt rock singer look and flamboyant stage image. His moves and his singing style is infectiously British. Band opened their set with Primadonna Like Me and followed with Body Talks and Fallin’ With Me. Band played two songs from their latest release Pretty Vicious and Too Good At Raising Hell. They rounded up their performance with arguably their biggest hit Could Have Been Me.
The Struts links
See full Photo Gallery of The Struts performance here.
Next up came Seether. South African rock band is completely opposite image of cheerful hard rock that we saw with The Struts. Seether delivers some deep meaning lyrics with hard hitting music in pretty darn dark stage setup (yes, you probably feel my photographers scream of frustration). Of course, if you don’t have to take pictures of their performance this setting feels just perfect. One thing I forgot to mention is that Seether is my favorite band.
Seether’s current lineup consists of the bands founder Shaun Morgan (vocals and guitar), Dale Stewart on bass, who joined the band shortly after the formation, long time drummer John Humphrey and Corey Lowery at lead guitar.
Because of my affinity to the band, I can’t be impartial, and I will say that their setlist could have been much more big-hit studded. I was longing to hear Driven Under, Tonight and much more. Though the set still provided all the songs that we love – Broken, Bruised and Bloodied, Nobody Praying For Me, Let You Down and Remedy.
Seether links
See the full Photo Gallery of Seether performance here.
The headliner for tonight was Staind, the rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts. The band has been rocking since 1995 and has released eight studio albums, while managing to be on hiatus twice. Now they are back and as strong as ever.
The band is still consisting of three original members – lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April. On drums the band has Sal Giancarelli from 2011.
While Staind is hard rock band, for many fans it has gained popularity because of their rock ballads line It’s Been Awhile, Right Here and So Far Away. And these songs still had a loudest reception and basically a sing-a-long.
The most played album in the set was the 2011 eponymous album release, it was represented by five songs – Eyes Wide Open, Not Again, Something to Remind You, Wannabe and Paper Wings. The second most played was their best selling third studio album Break The Cycle with hits like For You, Outside, Fade and already mentioned It’s Been Awhile.
Staind links
https://www.staindofficial.com
See the full Photo Gallery of Staind performance here.
WDHA radio personalities came on stage between the sets to address the fans and have introductions. See their gallery below.
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