It’s hard to truly fathom the things that can change in just ten years. When you’re in your early 20’s, you feel invincible and believe you have the world at your fingertips even if you’ve failed out of college or move back in to your parents’ basement.
As for myself…I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and contributing to society in some kind of meaningful way seemed like a trite existence when all I really wanted to do was attend rock concerts and sporting events.
I grew up baptized by the blood of hard rock music from the time I was a kid. I remember sifting through my uncles’ old Kiss records at my grandparents’ house and becoming instantly mesmerized.
I attended my first real rock concert when I was 14. It was the Summer of 1999 and two of my friends and I let my mom drop us off at the Poison reunion concert at Sandstone Amphitheater in Kansas City. It was an experience that would prove to be life-changing for me as hundreds of concerts spanning all genres would follow over the years. If I had a $20 dollars to my name you can bet that I would be spending it on a cheap lawn seat to see my heroes like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Iron Maiden and countless others.
Fast-forward to 2007. I’m 23 years old and I had just quit my first “real” job as a mental health technician. I caught wind of a rock festival in Pryor, Oklahoma called Rocklahoma which included just about every great 80’s rock band in history. I knew I had to make it to this event and didn’t even try to find another job the rest of the summer so I could attend.
I assembled my team and headed to the show on a smoldering-hot July afternoon with a pup tent and a cooler filled with beer. Never mind none of us had any money to do things like eat or buy water at Rocklahoma- I knew that braving the elements and roughing it would be so worth it in the end.
As I look back now, those three days were completely transcendent. My early 20’s self truly believed that this was the most important thing in my life and, priorities in place or not, I just may have been right.
We camped out under the hot Oklahoma sky for three nights. I showered in a room that resembled something from a “Saw” film and polished off a case of beer in a day in a half. Band’s like Dokken, Winger, Poison and Ratt graced the main stage before thousands of celebratory rock fans- most of which longing for days long past but never forgotten. An estimated 30,000 fans per day filed into the festival grounds throughout the weekend, and triumphantly cheered their rock heroes.
I remember getting up early on the second morning to watch a band called Down For Five perform on the main stage. I had become familiar with this Oklahoma-based band from the Rocklahoma message boards prior to the event. They had become the proud winners of a contest which allowed them to play the main stage at this event and I remember feeling such joy and adulation for this band that was just trying to make it big in this crazy universe of hard rock.
Twisted Sister would eventually close out the weekend with a thunderous set that ended after midnight as thousands of fans poured back to their vehicles sunburned, weather-beaten yet completely satisfied.
The first Rocklahoma was certainly a litmus-test to see if a festival like that would work in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. It was a rousing success and helped lead me on a path that would bring me back ten years later, as both a fan and rock journalist.
Ten years later, all the people that attended the first “Rocklahoma” with me are now married. They have kids and mortgages. Some of the bands that played that first weekend cease to exist in 2017. The truth is- part of me never really grew up during that time. Sure, I have a “real” job but never got married and always promised that I would never succumb to societal norms and that walking down the lonely street of dreams was most important to me.
In 2010, I started my own sports podcast. It was just a way to put some of my thoughts out there and interact with other fans. Soon after, I started a music podcast called “Music Mania.” It started out simply enough. I just wanted to talk about my favorite bands and talk with others that enjoyed old-school hard rock music. Soon, we were landing actual band members as guests and doing frequent interviews with some of my favorite musicians of all time.
Just this past weekend I attended Rocklahoma once again. No, I wasn’t sleeping in a tent for three days, instead choosing the friendly confines of a nearby motel. And in between bands, instead of scrounging up money for beer or a slice of pizza, I was interviewing bands in the media tent backstage. It’s funny how things come full circle in life. From spending every last dime I had to attend the concert to being seen as a professional rock journalist by one of the biggest rock festivals in the country. And it happened all within just 10 years time.
The 2017 edition of Rocklahoma was as bombastic as ever. Sure, there were a few problems which plagued the event this year. From the shocking news that Saturday headliner Soundgarden lost lead vocalist Chris Cornell to suicide to storms forcing the cancellation of much of the show Saturday evening and even a bird flying into a transmitter (which caused a power outage in a 15-mile radius). Sure, things were not perfect, but rock n’ roll was never supposed to be.
Def Leppard headlined a wonderful day of unabashed rocking on Friday as the festival grounds were packed with patrons from the opening bands all the way until night’s end. It’s hard not to consider their set the triumph of the weekend as they ran through big arena rock hits, one after the other.
Sunday saw an eclectic mix of bands taking the stage throughout the day (including Buckcherry, who could not finish their set due to the hour-long power-outage) but 80’s rock stalwarts Ratt stood out with a blistering set of hits from their glory days including “I’m Insane,” “Back For More,” and (of course) “Round and Round.” Jackyl took the stage moments after the intense Norma Jean finished up on the River Spirit Casino Resort Stage.
The boys from Kennesaw, GA, Jackyl were as fun and over-the-top as ever despite a shortened set time due to the power issue. 2000’s rockers Seether and 90’s alternative stars The Offspring rounded out the three-day event. Certainly, it was not the biggest lineup the festival has ever had but no one seemed to mind as Sunday brought one of the largest crowds in Rocklahoma history.
Sure, Rocklahoma has grown into a multi-generational music festival that supports all genres of hard rock, but the unbridled spirit and excitement took me right back to when I was “just a fan” back in 2007. Back to when a sporadic Oklahoma storm blew the roof off of our tent in the middle of the night. Back to the same place where my friend Jeff disappeared for hours only to be found in the morning passed out in front of our tent in the mud.
You see, so much can change in 10 years. You get married, divorced, your kids grow up too fast, you change jobs and you run out of money. But you’ll always have the things that made you happy before life got hard. For me, Rocklahoma has become a symbol of my decision to start following my dream, a dream that likely began during that unforgettable three day trip to Pryor, Oklahoma ten years ago.
