Carnival of Madness Kicks Off At Rock the Ranch, Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry and Nonpoint Bring It Hard

By: Brady Lavin

Photos by Faraz Chaudry

The Carnival of Madness just started its tear across the US, kicking the tour off with a bang as part of Milwaukee, WI rock station 95.1 WIIL Rock’s hard rock festvial, Rock the Ranch at Shadow Hill Ranch in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. While the Carnival lineup consists of Theory of a Deadman, Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry, Adelita’s Way and Emphatic, Rock the Ranch had a lineup of 20+ bands, adding big names such as Five Finger Death Punch, Hinder, and Candlebox to name a few.

It was a great setup for a show; the two stages were a stone’s throw from each other, so fans just had to slide on over to see the next band, which usually started only 5 to 10 minutes after the previous act finished. Gotta love the nonstop rock!

Although the Carnival bands were outnumbered 3 to 1 in quantity, their quality shined through brightly in a field that was not without its duds. Earlier in the day, Black Stone Cherry made it feel like a nighttime concert while the sun was high in the sky. Vocalist Chris Robertson and company completely owned the stage; it has been a while since I’ve seen a band that had this great of a stage presence. Lead guitarist Ben Wells and drummer John Fred Young must have either had aching necks the next day or tremendous neck muscles ’cause their long locks were flying all over, all the time. Jon Lawhon (bass/backup vocals) was all over the place as well, mouthing the words to their blues-infused hard rock when he wasn’t also headbanging his neck into oblivion.

Ben Wells of Black Stone Cherry

The centerpiece of Black Stone Cherry is definitely Chris Robertson’s powerful voice. He takes the obligatory modern rock bravado and adds a blues grit that really brings their songs to life. And the harmony, oh damn the harmony. While some of the bands on the bill had some decent harmony, like Alter Bridge and Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry had some really interesting three- and four-part harmonies going on that were a welcome respite from the constantly aggressive distortion that is modern rock’s trademark. My only complaint: Chris, why did you cut your awesome long blonde hair? For shame.

10 Years followed, and they had some good songs, but the energy didn’t seem like it was fully there. Frontman Jesse Hasek did all the rock star frontman stuff, like climb the stage rigging and lean on the front row of the crowd, but it seemed like his heart wasn’t in it. Good thing Nonpoint destroyed faces immediately after. Immediately upon the start of their set it was obvious that the quartet was about to throw the hell down. Singer Elias Soriano and his impressively long dreadlocks captivated on stage, and his yell-singing showed no ill effects on his voice, remaining spot on and seemingly effortless to the end when they closed with the heavy metal stomper “Bullet With A Name.”

Nonpoint’s Elias Soriano

The next band to stand out was Saliva, who rocked the crowd at the second stage, who drunkenly loved screaming in response to every time vocalist Josey Scott asked, “Can I get a HELL YEAH??” Saliva’s peculiar brand of rap-rock nu-metal has a distinctive southern flair, which draws up comparison’s to Kid Rock’s earlier stuff, only better, because Josey Scott has a much better voice and the songwriting is more interesting. Guitarist Wayne Swinny got what seemed to be the day’s first extended times to shred, and he made good use of them, ripping some sick solos.

Josey Scott of Saliva

The shredding really opened up with Alter Bridge. While vocalist/guitarist Myles Kennedy had some flashes of chops, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti had the absolute coolest guitar work of the whole festival. Kennedy’s Axl Rose-esque vocals are the centerpiece of Alter Bridge on the surface, as he has incredible range and vocal acrobatic abilities, but the musclebound Tremonti stole the show with his Paul Reed Smith guitars.

Mark Tremonti

Earlier in the day, I feel that many of the bands would only allow their guitarists depressingly truncated periods of time to let loose and melt faces, and it was disappointing sometimes. As soon as some cool ideas started to develop, the solo would end, but I understand that the earlier bands were scheduled for shorter sets, only 20 minutes in the cases of Veilside, Emphatic, Soil and Royal Bliss, so they wanted to get through as many songs as possible instead of jamming with extended solos. Alter Bridge got a good 50 minutes, so Mark Tremonti had ample time to showcase his ridiculous chops. He didn’t do what so many metal/hard rock guitarists seem to do, which is do the flashiest, fastest guitar licks they are physically capable of. Instead, Tremonti actually developed his solos, building on ideas that brought the audience in. Of course, there was plenty to show that he has unmatched chops, but he didn’t throw it in our faces.

A typical Carnival of Madness concertgoer

Nonpoint bassist Ken MacMillan lookin’ scary

Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy