MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, USA- Day 1, May 20, 2017
Story by by Dan Locke
Rock on the Range is an annual rock festival featuring mostly mainstream rock bands, with a classic band usually
crowd surfing
headlining the show. The festival is held at two venues; MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, Ohio and Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Rock on the Range debuted in Columbus on May 19, 2007 and in Winnipeg on June 27, 2009. It was founded by and is co-produced by Danny Wimmer.
The first Rock on the Range was held on May 19, 2007 at Columbus Crew Stadium. The sold-out festival ran all day, beginning around noon and ending after 11:00 pm. Due to such success, Rock on the Range was turned into an annual event by returning to Columbus Crew Stadium in 2008. The second festival was a two-day event held on the weekend of May 17–18, 2008.
In 2014 it was announced that the third day added in 2013 would be expanded time wise to allow for additional bands to be added to the line-up. The comedy tent and stage added in 2013 will also be returning. Also, new was an updated festival layout with the addition of carnival rides including a Ferris wheel and a Shock drop.
With the fest growing, so has the crowd.
- 2007 – 35,000 (one-day total) sold-out event
- 2008 – 55,000 (two-day total)
- 2009 – 55,000 (two-day total)
- 2010 – 60,000 (two-day total)
- 2011 – 70,000 (two-and-a-half-day total)
- 2012 – 70,000 (two-and-a-half-day total)
- 2013 – 103,000+ (three-day total) sold-out event
- 2014 – 120,000 (three-day total) sold-out event
- 2015 – 120,000 (three-day total) sold-out event
- 2016 – 120,000 (three-day total) sold-out event
- 2017 – 135,000 (three-day total) sold-out event
Which brings us to this year’s festival.
This is the eleven year of Rock on the Range and it was the biggest year yet. With a Stellar line up which include the likes of for the first day.
Day one (Friday, May 19)
Monster Energy main stage:
Soundgarden (did not play due to the death of Chris Cornell), Live Chevelle, Bush, Of Mice & Men, Thrice and Beartooth
Stage two:
Pierce the Veil, Sum 41, Motionless in White, The Amity Affliction, I Prevail, Badflower and Goodbye June.
Stage three:
Gojira Norma Jean, Red Fang Bleeker, Cover Your Tracks and Aeges.
The first day started all right a nice sunny day and about 3pm we got hurricane warnings. So the event was shut
Crowd coming in after the storm
down until about 7pm. During this time most people waited in their cars and a few left the parking lot. After the gates reopen they had Orianthi Alice Cooper Band play the National Anthem. All the bands (minus The Amity Affliction) did get a chance to play, though the schedule got bumped around a bit.
The night just continued on with full force of music dedicated to the memory of Chris Cornell. The end of the night ended with Live doing some Soundgarden songs and finally with a moving tribute from Corey Taylor on stage playing Chris Cornell songs with Chris Cornell standing tall on the big screen as moments of his life flashed before our eyes.
In closing for the day music fans all bonded together as a big family to remember Soundgarden and show his music will live on forever.
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