Monday, June 21, 2010

M3 Festival Initial Reactions

As I'm sure you are aware, the M3 Rock Festival was this past weekend in Columbia, Maryland. In the coming weeks, I will be posting full, in-depth, analytical concert reviews of all of the acts that I saw full sets for at the M3 Festival. However, as I prepare for copious amounts of review writing, I wanted to put down my initial reaction and showcase some of the highlights from this year’s festival.

The Shirts
Obviously, a LOT of T-Shirts were worn and seen throughout the day. Wondering what the number one shirt worn at the festival was? Cinderella. Second place went to Kix. There were quite a few Kiss shirts as well, including a couple of button down shirts with the four solo album faces on both the front and the back. Those shirts were cool.

The Food
Kudos to the Merriweather Post Pavilion. The food was excellent. The cheeseburger I had for lunch was one of the best cheeseburgers I ever ate. And yes, I know how bizarre that sounds. My cheese steak for dinner was exceptional as well. I also noticed several food and drink options throughout the pavilion and although the lines were long, the workers moved quickly to keep the lines moving. Well done. My one complaint? The ice cream machine was broken (and there was only one on the entire premises). No ice cream on the hottest day of the year? That sucked.

Best Tent At The Festival
This is a tie between Shiprocked, who was there helping to raise money to prevent cancer and the Gentleman’s Gold Club. Shiprocked was fighting for a noble cause, but the Gold Club had half naked hot women sliding down makeshift poles. That can be very hard to top.

Best Performance of the Festival
Hands down, Kix was the best performance of the day. The energy that they brought to the stage was incredible and Steve Whiteman’s ability to work the crowd shows how a real frontman handles an audience. I am a newly minted huge fan of Kix after seeing them perform. I want to see their full set now and I am making plans to see them as soon as they perform again.

Worst Performance of the Festival
Vince Neil. Someone (perhaps more than one person) actually tweeted that they were leaving Vince Neil to see Nelson perform. I had done the same thing, but I had planned to do that. A full explanation of why Vince was so horrendous will be posted soon.

Overall Rating
Overall, I am extremely glad that I attended M3. I got to hang out with my good friends from Hard Rock Hideout, I got to see some exceptional bands perform (some which I’ve never seen before, others not in a long time) and it was an enjoyable day. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Check back soon for full concert reviews of Kix, L.A. Guns, Trixter, Jetboy, Cinderella, and The Scorpions as well as a complete recap of my festival day.

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