Hog Heaven Hits Freedom Hill
Hog Heaven Hits Freedom Hill
Hog Heaven landed in Sterling Heights this past Saturday as Detroit’s undisputed champions of rock & roll radio, WRIF, held their 10th Annual 2008 WRIF Harley Fest. Under beautiful blue skies and moderate temp’s, thousands of Harley & Local Music fans descended upon the Freedom Hill Amphitheater to help raise money for the local Rainbow Foundation. Now in its tenth year, The Harley Fest has been a staple on the metro Detroit Music Festival scene since its inception, which saw small national acts hit the big stage inside the amphitheater using a number of local acts to warm up the crowd. Undergoing many different reincarnations over the years, the fest moved into the park’s pavilion stage, dropping the national bands in favor of a full day of the area’s top local bands, finally migrating to this year’s version which brought back a national act to “headline” 
the Fest while being supported by 9 of Detroit’s top rock & roll bands. The day started off with a huge charity run that set off from Motor City Harley Davidson and arrived at Freedom Hill just in time for the noon time Kick-off by none other than Dr2’s favorite east side party band Soul Circus! These guys are the role models when it comes to flexibility, definitely worth more than a noon time opening slot, Soul Circus took the opportunity to showcase what they do best, getting the party rolling. Fresh off a recent medical scare, Kevin Kanka (vox) showed no signs of slowing down, delivering a blisteringly fun set of beach ball laden rock & roll in the sun! 
Not to worry though with Soul Circus and their “Crunk” girls on hand, passing out ice cold freebie samples of Crunk Energy Drink straight from a front row cooler! No Justus slid into the 2nd slot as they continued to build on their loyal following. What they may lack in corporate sponsorship, they make up for with a fantastic vocal from their lead singer, Ron Mowrer. He has that effortlessly controlled, smooth voice that, seemingly, flows from his acoustic guitar. A nice mid-afternoon set from these southern alt-rockers. Looking as if they, themselves, rolled into the park on Harley’s, Dismantle took the stage next, revving everyone’s engine with their full throttle rock & roll. Straight out of the book of good time rock & roll, Dismantle picked up the pace by delivering a tight set to an ever increasingly, Miller-Lite-toting crowd, finishing it off with the first fist-pumping sing-along of the day, More Rock N Roll. 
Justin Herbert (vox) and the guys always seem to be having way too much fun onstage, and today was no exception as they cranked the energy up and brought the crowd along. Metro Detroit, believe it or not, is still ranked in the top 10 “Metropolitans” in the United States, which nowadays extends clear out to Flint, which is were the next band up, Frequency 54 hails from. Having been big fans of this group since the first time we caught them at the now defunct Club 54 (what shame BTW- place had a lot of promise at one time), Frequency 54 brings their “A” game each & every time we’ve seen
them and today’s set was no different. Garnering ever increasing Regional exposure, Frequency 54 has become a band to notice, filling area venues to capacity whenever they play. Frequency 54 has that unique ability to blend crunching guitar riffs over the top of their bombastic rhythm section, ultimately showcasing the melodic vocals of Justin Rose to deliver a sound that seemingly crosses a variety of genres, yet manages to keep their own identity along the way. Another fine set in a growing string of awesome performances today! Radiocraft. Even the name begs to be heard. What else can be said about this group of extremely talented musicians that hasn’t already been said? 
Recently up for 4 Detroit Music Awards, Radiocraft parlays addicting hooks with mesmerizing vocals to produce an undeniable sound that leaves you wanting more! Hey, in today’s world of iPod friendly emo jump music, it fascinates me when my 15 year old sites Radiocraft amongst his favorite groups. This only fuels our confusion and begs the question “why isn’t this group in regular rotation on this area’s radio stations?” Playing the 3pm slot today, Radiocraft absorbed the blazing sun and increased the energy of the crowd tenfold with superb renditions of their hit songs including Red (which by now we all were), Hurricanes (actually would have been welcomed at this point), and the eye popping hook filled Bribe The Guards (thankfully we didn’t need too!). Radiocraft will be hitting the National Stage next weekend at the Stars & Stripes Festival in Mt. Clemens were they’ll be opening for The Romantics, Everclear & Uncle Kracker on Saturday night! The Unheard has played the Harley Fest a number of times in previous years which is exactly why they’re here again this year. Never one to disappoint, The Unheard picked up right where Radiocraft left
off and proceeded to annihilate the packed pavilion as that damn sun started to blister foreheads! Playing a number of their hard hitting tunes this afternoon, it was their newest, yet unreleased, single that threw the crowd into a frenzy. Nearing the end of their set The Unheard “Unleashed” their all out rock & roll party song “Last Night’s Girl”, complete with scantily clothed dancers on stage that were one step away from an assault on various members of the band, culminating with the release of dozens of brightly colored balloons and confetti filling the sky in a carnival like fashion! Being quite a few beers into the set, Dr2 cannot wait to get a chance to spin this newest single that certainly points to an upcoming CD Release sometime in the near future. If you’re like us and can’t wait for your chance to hear the new one, then make sure to head on over to the Stars & Stripes next weekend where The Unheard will also be on that National Stage opening up for Sponge & Skid Row Friday night. Whenever you want a party to reach fever pitch, just call on Ugly. A 
virtual traveling party machine, Geo Teubl (vox) takes having fun to the extreme. Known for his all out antics onstage, Teubl is like that Energizer bunny, a never ending blur of movement, jostling from one end of the stage to the other, only to come back up front and indulge himself (and us) with an onstage costume change! Still flying high off their latest release, Sex, Drugs, And Rock N Roll, it took a Wrif time mismanagement (who would of thought) to bring these guys to a halt, stopping them mid-set so Big Daddy Authur P could conduct a renewing of the vows on the second stage, clearly annoying the huge crowd of fans that had poured into the pavilion. After the short interruption, Ugly was again allowed to “disturb the peace” as they rollicked through there latest smash up hit Pusher before belting out their sing along anthem Sex, Drugs, & Rock N Roll.
If you’re a fan of Geo’s, then make sure you check out the upcoming “reunion” show, dubbed “F#ck The Snow” with his old band Bridge this Saturday night over at the Token Lounge. After an extended hiatus due to personnel changes and an unexpected injury, Mindcandy returned to the stage to rock the Harley Fest. Up for a couple DMA’s themselves, it was great to finally get to see Mindcandy take the stage, and apparently a lot of other folks felt the same way, packing the pavilion shoulder to shoulder to catch their favorite MIA Rock Band deliver all their classics including 
Recognize as well as their hugely popular cover of the Gap Band’s You Dropped A Bomb. Look forward to some new material from these guys as rumor has it they’ve been penning some new stuff to record in the near future. With the local bands nearing an end for the day, The Howling Diablos hit the stage as the last “Local” band of the night before those boys from across the river, Ashes of Soma (Windsor) and the supposed headliner of the night Days Of The New invaded the Pavilion, signaling a departure siren for us here at Dr2! Packing up the troops is no easy task, especially when your planning a quick BBQ back home before heading out again to hit up the Harley Fest After Party where those bad boys from Clarkston Ballz Deluxe were playing. Phew, a burger never tasted so good before Dr2 rolled on down the street and continued this marathon of a day that lasted a full 15 hrs before we finally decided to call it quits after seeing a full set from Ballz, who by the way released their Self Titled debut CD just over a week ago, check it out here. Enough already, and remember to support Local Music before it’s gone! Detroit Rock Review, The Only Place for Local Music News & Reviews!