Back in NJ after a week in OK with some notes on Day 5 of this year's event and an overall wrap up. First Day 5, Sunday. This might have been the best day of all as far as bands were for me. Got there in time to see a bit of Zebra. Of course these guys are buds from the NY scene and were first timers at Rocklahoma. A few tech issues on stage but the little I saw sounded good. Zebra has not played in this area in a long time so people seemed excited to see them. All due respect to Steelheart, but there was no way UFO should have ever gone on before them, but due to some error in booking that's what happened. Still UFO turned in a strong set that featured all the 70's classics plus one new song from each of the last two new CDs. Jeff Kolman filled in on bass and did a good job. The band only had 60 minutes but did a great set in unreal heat on stage. They are now headed back to England with one more US date in Aurora, IL in early August. The guys told me next year marks the 40th anniversary of the band and they are planning some special stuff. Phil also told me the next studio CD will be an all out heavy album with no ballads. They hoped Pete would get it together to make it for what should be a special 2009 for UFO! Steelheart was on next. Melie took the stage in a Harley and played a set of Steelheart as well as a few tracks from the Rock Star movie soundtrack. His voice and the band sounded powerful but I did not get to watch much due to my backstage schedule of interviews, etc. Ace Frehley was up next. Ace took the stage at maybe the hottest point in the day with the sun blaring. Did not slow him or the band down at all as they blasted through a set of Kiss and solo classics. Ace's new band, which first debuted at my Halloween bash last year, has really gelled. Again, only a one hour set, but the song list was great and he is doing a great job mixing in classic riffs in a medley inside some songs. He remains clean and sober and at the top of his game playing and singing well. This was pretty much his last gig of the year with the focus now on getting the new CD done and an official site launched. He is having some songs remixed in the next few weeks and invited me to his home studio to hear how it's coming. I'll of course post a report when I can. Tesla is one of my all time favorites from the 80's and they played Rocklahoma for the first time this year. During my interview with the guys for the Jumbotron they said my hard sell on them for not playing it last year was the reason they did this year. They also gave me a copy of a brand new live DVD that came out today that has a quote from me about them on the back, very cool! Jeff and Frank watched UFO and Ace from side stage before they went on, and Ace joined me to watch their set later in the day. Ace said he also did a festival with them in Sweden and seemed impressed. They just have great songs and the band kills, as simple as that! New guitarist Dave Rude has settled in nicely and Jeff was sounding great. Drummer Troy Lucketta explained that he will be doing another Station Fire benefit and wanted me involved, which I of course told him I would be at. Also, those that thought Jeff sounded off in the special on VH1 Classic were right to think so, as the singer was sick at the time that show took place. At Rocklahoma Tesla were great as always, and did all the hits plus a couple tracks from the most recent studio CD. There is a new album coming in October. Great dual guitar stuff as always! Queensryche wrapped up the entire event. They performed the full production of Operation Mindcrime, which never gets old, and played a set of classics after. The show looked great and the band delivered a very classy production to wrap up Rocklahoma '08.
So that's it for Rocklahoma 2008! I hope to have my voice back in time for this weekend's radio shows and will talk about all this in depth. I will be live on XM this Monday and will spend most of the time taking your calls and talking about this year's event. So if you have questions or comments save it for then and call in. I cannot thank everyone involved in Rocklahoma enough for having me as their host and MC once again. It is a blast and I am grateful to be associated with these people and this festival. Also thanks to Erik Luftglass, who braved the heat and took almost all the photos and video you see on this site. Much more coming as we continue to upload stuff. Thanks most of all to the fans of Rocklahoma! You guys are unreal and I am so grateful for your support. To have that kind of connection with you all is awesome, and again, thanks, it was great to meet many of you. No doubt 2009's event is already in the works, I'll keep you posted and have more here soon.
ET
