Rock’N Derby continued Saturday at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, and saw a comfortable but cloudy day, with a small 10-minute rain shower during Halestorm’s set. The music started at 1:30 p.m. at the Upstate Concert Hall Arena Stage with New York City area band Streetlight Circus.
Saturday’s lineup was jam-packed with bands, and boasted the biggest lineup out of the three days. The turnout of fans looked, considerably larger than Friday’s crowd. Fans who packed the fairgrounds saw the likes of Anthrax, Halestorm, Hollywood Undead, Sebastian Bach, Beartooth, Chevy Metal, All That Remains, Avatar, Cilver and A Day To Remember, who were the headliners for Saturday.
A Day To Remember had the longest set time of any band in the three-day festival, with an hour and a half of playing time. ADTR headlined the Derby Stage, and their set had the most crowd surfing fans of the weekend to that point.
After giving props to the security team for catching fans surfing over the rail all day, frontman and lead vocalist Jeremy McKinnon then asked the crowd if they had ever surfed a crowd surfer. He said to fans, “So during this next song, I’m gonna start this off by saying, you don’t have to participate in this shit cause its wild. We were playing in Wisconsin or some shit, on the Warped Tour one time, and these two guys did something that I will literally never forget. And I dubbed it ‘crowd surfing on top of a crowd surfer.’ Now let me explain this shit to you, somebody crowd surfs on top of the crowd as normal, and then your friend stands on top of you, like your a fucking surf board, and surfs all the way up to the front to the [security]. Please guys don’t do this, but have a fucking good time New York.” The band then played “Better Off This Way.”
As the intro played for “Have Faith In Me,” McKinnon asked where the ladies were in the crowd. After many screams from the ladies in the lawn, the singer then said “Wow, that’s a lot of you.” He then dedicated the next song to them.
In a hilarious moment, ADTR was next to notice the birthday girl in the front before the song “Sometimes You’re the Hammer, Sometimes You’re the Nail” and told the crowd they only had 3 songs left.
McKinnon and lead guitarist Kevin Skaff had fun with the crowd and randomly started playing “Faith,” by George Michael. After two lines of the song, Skaff then joked “That was one song out of three.” The crowd laughed and McKinnon replied, “That’s one song down. What else we got Skaff?”
Skaff started singing “Happy Birthday” to even more laughter. This prompted McKinnon to ask the crowd if anybody had a birthday. As the two’s eyes combed through the crowd, Skaff noticed a fan that said they turned sixteen today. He said back “You just turned sixteen and you already have a beer? That’s weird.” The crowd erupted again with laughter.
McKinnon then noticed the 5-year old girl and asked if she wanted to come up on stage. The frontman then said to the crowd “Everybody out there tonight, this is this girls first show and she turns five years old today.” After cheers from the crowd, he asked the girl her name, then the band and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to the girl. After they sang to the girl, McKinnon said, “That should work for a first concert.” Skaff then interjected “That’s some good footage, put it in the archives. I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for my fifth birthday.” That made McKinnon and the crowd laugh. The band got down to business and asked the crowd how many of them checked out their latest album Common Courtesy.
A lot of bands could take note when being a headliner from ADTR when it comes to how many songs a band puts in their set. McKinnon recalled a story that happened from the beginning of their current tour. McKinnon stated, “I gotta to tell you a true story. We started this tour, and we were playing fifteen songs … and this girl got on Twitter and she was like, ‘Yo, I waited eight years to see your band, and you only played fifteen songs?’ And I got to tell you, she was not wrong, and I felt guilty. So we’re gonna play some extra songs for you tonight. Is that cool?” The fans at Rock ‘N Derby went crazy. McKinnon finished by saying, “So if this song right here meant anything at all to you in your life. If this song is your shit…you owe that girl.” ADTR then played “It’s Complicated.”
ADTR closed out with “The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle.” McKinnon introduced the last song by saying “We are A Day to Remember from Central, Florida, and you’ve been fucking amazing tonight. Thank you for sticking around. This is going to be our last song for the night, and this is what I need from you. I wanna see everybody out there jumping up and down with us on this next song. That means everybody across the back, everybody on the fucking sides and especially all my people down fucking front. New York are you with me? I wanna feel the earth fucking shake.” What a way to close out the second night. ADTR’s set was really fun and energetic and wild. Multicolored streamers shot through the sky during the last song in the set. Set Time 9:30-11 p.m.
Anthrax headlined the Rock’N Stage on Saturday night. Huge turnout of fans to take in their set. Joey Belladonna, an upstate New York native and the band’s lead singer, shouted out to the crowd after a couple songs saying, “Oh yeah, how we doing out there? Everybody good? I know we got a lot of people from New York here tonight. Good evening to you. It’s nice to be here. This is the first time I’ve seen this show out this way. It’s nice to see everybody here. You all having a good time? Fuck yeah, lets get this going, alright?” Anthrax then played “Madhouse.”
After a couple more tracks, guitarist Scott Ian had the crowd laughing as he took the time to talk with the crowd about how the name of the town is hard to say and to give Belladonna a small break from singing. Ian stated “Upstate New York, how the fuck are you Rock’N Derby? Someone told me how to pronounce the name and where we are and I all heard was Shitty Coke!” The crowd erupted with laughter and started a “Shitty Coke” chant. Ian then apologized saying “Excuse me if I’m saying it wrong.” He then yelled “Shitty Coke, New York! We have a new album called For All Kings. I got a question, my friends. Do you love thrash metal? You’re welcome. This is ‘Evil Twin’.”
During the intro to “War Dance” drummer Charlie Benante stopped the song making Scott Ian state “Why did you stop? I have to watch Game Of Thrones. You wanna know why he stopped. Cause Charlie is very concerned that some of you aren’t having as much fun as you should be having. Now check it out, don’t take this the wrong way. We love those dudes in Extreme. They were up here earlier. But this ain’t “More Than Words” now. This is some demolition derby shit. Let’s see you fuckers move one more time tonight. Let’s try the ‘War Dance’ again.” Set Time 9-10 p.m.
This was the part of the night where the crowd segregated from one another. Everyone over 35 was there to watch Anthrax, while everyone under was watching A Day To Remember.
Halestorm got the many fans taking in their set right into it by kicking things off with the song “Apocalyptic”. Frontwoman Lzzy Hale yelled to the crowd, ‘Rock ‘N Derby, are you ready?” After cheers from fans, Lzzy pointed to her brother on drums and replied “Arejay, give it to them.” Arejay let out a big “yeah,” then started the intro to “Love Bites.”
After the band finished “Love Bites,” Lzzy took a minute to get acquainted with the crowd, she said “Rock’N Derby.” Then Lzzy shouted the name of the town Schaghticoke, correctly. She asked if she pronounced it right then went on to say “So how many of you are actually from Schaghticoke?” After almost silence from the fans Lzzy said “That’s like ten people.” After some laughs, Lzzy then got serious and introduced who they were and what they are about. She stated “Thank you so much for allowing us to be here tonight. We are Halestorm. My name is Lzzy Hale, and for the next 70 minutes or so I’m gonna be bossing you around alright. So, we got two rules, number one, we are all here to have a fucking fantastic time tonight. And number two Schaghticoke, when I say scream, you fucking scream, alright? Ready?” Halestorm then performed “Scream.”
Lzzy then talked about how she is a a freaky chick. She said there’s some stuff up here that just ain’t right, pointing to her head, then told the crowd to ask any of her ex-boyfriends. She then said to the crowd “I feel like I’m not alone tonight, Schaghticoke, I’m not alone. Sing this one if you know it.” Halestorm then went into “Mz. Hyde.”
If you know the lyrics, Lzzy picked the perfect time to perform the song, “Rock Show.” She noticed the birthday girl and said “Happy fifth birthday darling.” Lzzy then said to the crowd “This is what its all about right here. We have a future leader of rock and roll, right front and center. Young lady’s fifth birthday, first rock concert. I’m gonna be looking for you for lyrics alright.” The frontwoman the went on to sing freestyle asking the fans in attendance if they wanted her, if they loved her, cause she loves them too. Lzzy then asked the crowd “Schaghticoke, are we in church? Schaghticoke, are we in a classroom right now? Hell no. Schaghticoke, are we at a boring dead end job right now? Schaghticoke, give me one more, are we at a fucking rock show tonight?”
After the song, Lzzy asked the crowd if anyone watched the demolition derby that went on earlier in the day. In a funny moment, she then shared her experience with the crowd “So something pretty cool, I was watching the derby over there. Fucking demolition derby. I was watching through the fence and I was like, what does it say on the side of number 33, it said fucking Halestorm, that’s what it said. So I’m rooting for this truck, I’m rooting for it the whole time, I’m like kill him, finish him. And then what do you know? Number 33 Halestorm won the friggin derby today. So this one goes out to all the drivers, this is called “I Like It Heavy.”
After Arejay’s drum solo, Lzzy asked the fans if they could do something for her because she has never been to Schaghticoke. She the said “We decided that there’s only about 10 people actually live here. So I kinda wanna know something. I need to know what you can do. I need to know how crazy you motherfuckers are. I need to know, I need to know what kind of freaks showed up at a rock show in Schaghticoke, New York tonight. Are you ready?” Halestorm played “Freak Like Me.” Set Time 7:45-9 p.m.
Avatar, a Swedish rock group, performed on the Rock’N Stage and put on one hell of a live show. Their costumes and frontman Johannes Michael Gustaf Eckerström’s gestures and mannerisms are silly but fun to watch. He had the whole crowd rocking and laughing at the same time. It’s really a feel-good time watching this band. It’s like a show inside of a show.
As the intro for the band’s song “Hail The Apocalypse,” Eckerström asked the crowd to raise their horns in the sky and join us as we burn the house down. The band had a really good fan turnout ready to take in Avatar’s set. Set Time 3:30-4:10 p.m.
All That Remains followed Avatar on the Rock’N Stage. Singer Philip Labonte stopped after a couple songs to ask the crowd, “You guys got some energy out there, huh?” Not liking the fans’ response, Labonte yelled to the crowd, “C’mon, I know you can do better than that, make some noise. In case you’re not familiar with All That Remains, we’re one of those bands who like to do some heavy stuff and some not-so-heavy stuff. The two songs we just played, they fall under not-so-heavy. And I think you gentlemen out there on the floor, out there in the pit. You guys ready for something heavy? Again not feeling the response from the crowd he wanted, Labonte yelled ‘Bullshit,’ then screamed “Are you ready for something heavy?” ATR then played “No Knock.”
Labonte wanted to bring things back down for a bit. After asking fans if they were having a good time, he sat on the stage and said to the fans, “We don’t have a lot of time left so we’re gonna do a few more, and like I said earlier, we’re one of those bands that likes to play some heavy stuff, and some not-so-heavy stuff. A couple records back we wrote a song, that’s really not heavy at all, and if its cool with you guys, were gonna do it for you, alright? Here’s the deal, now’s the time to cuddle up next to your girlfriend or boyfriend if you expect to get laid tonight. Well you should expect to get laid, you’re at a fucking show, and everyone is drinking and shit. If you know the words, c’mon and sing along. This ones called “What If I Was Nothing?” Set Time 4:30-5:10 p.m.
Hollywood Undead, an L.A. rap and rock group, had fans over at the Derby Stage bouncing and jumping through their whole set. Hollywood Undead has a unique stage show. If every member wearing their own individual masks on stage wasn’t enough, every member of the band plays an instrument and has vocal duties throughout their sets. Band members even rotate singers and musicians during their songs.
Jordan “Charlie Scene” Terrell called up the little girl who was celebrating her fifth birthday at Rock ‘N Derby on stage to introduce the band’s next song. After asking her name, Terrell then asked the girl what her favorite song was. She replied “Let It Go” from the Disney movie Frozen. Terrell replied to the girl “Holy shit, we definitely don’t know that one. How about you introduce this song. Check this out. Let’s have you help me introduce this song. I’m gonna tell you what to say.” Terrell held the mic in front of her and whispered in the girls ear as he held another mic with his back turned. Terrell then said in a little squeaky voice, “This song is called ‘Comin’ in Hot’ motherfucker.”
George “Johnny 3 Tears” Ragan stopped to talk to the crowd before the song “Day Of The Dead.” He made fun of the name of the town by pronouncing it Schnananananacoke.” Terrell replied “Did somebody say coke?” Ragan finished his speech by saying “You guys are fucking awesome. Thanks for having us, thanks for coming and support. It’s our pleasure to be here and do this Derby. We love it so fucking much. We had a record come out last year. We will play a song from it. This song is called ‘Day Of The Dead.’” Set Time 6:30-7:15 p.m.
Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, rocked the Rock ‘N Stage. After the first song in the set “Slave To The Grind,” Bach said to the crowd, “I see you in the back, what the fuck’s going on New York? Lets go back to the first album. What do you say? Bach then played “Big Guns.” Bach played many Skid Row classics, ending the set with “Youth Gone Wild.” Bach really exceeded my expectations of him. It was going around that he was not feeling well, and his meet and greet with RND Vip’s was cancelled. Bach performed pretty good on stage vocally and showed a ton of energy. Set Time 6:35-7:20 p.m.
Beartooth rocked out the Upstate Concert Hall Stage. I was kind of let down here, but it may not have been all their fault. They had bad sound quality, and I actually think they may have been too loud for the building they were in. There seemed to be an echo at times during their set depending on where you stood in the venue.
Singer Caleb Shomo asked the crowd, when he says “1, 2” he wants them to say back, “1, 2, 3 ,4,” before the song “Dead.” He said to fans “We’re gonna do this one more time. When you say one, this whole room, barn, thing, is gonna be one giant mosh pit. Everybody moves. I need mass organized chaos. This ones called ‘Dead.’”
Before the band played their new single “Aggressive,” Shomo said to the crowd “We kind of feel like we’ve been playing the same old shit for a little bit too long. We’re gonna change that one. We have a new record. Were gonna play a new one for you now, is that O.K.? This is the title track of our new album. This song is called “Aggressive,” Let’s go.” Set Time 8:45-9:30 p.m.
Labonte, who is good friends with Moody, stepped up and filled in on Dec. 1 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA, doing a tremendous job in the process. Joining Labonte in helping save the tour for FFDP and their fans were Sixx: A.M. frontman James Michael and As Lions singer Austin Dickinson (son of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), lending their vocals during FFDP’s set. Phil will continue the vocal duties for Five Finger Death Punch for the remainder of the tour. There has been speculation that this could be an audition for Labonte to replace Moody for an extended period of time or even permanently.