Rock on The Range Rumors

2011 Lineup?

Unlike other bloggers out there in the interwebs, I'm not going to lie to you and say I know who's going to be at ROTR this year; sadly I do not have any insider info to spill. What I do have is a search engine, a mind, 4 years of ROTR experience, and some knoweldge on what's going on in the hard rock/metal music scene today. So here's a look at bands that are rumored and/or could play the Ohio festival this year.

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers

After heavily touring behind 2006's Stadium Arcadium, the boys took a break for a few years and sadly guitarist John Frusciante left the group (now replace by the band's former touring musician Josh Klinghoffer). Now the band is finishing up their 10th studio album, which they hope to release by June 2011. Drummer Chad Smith has stated in a recent interview that the band is already booked for several summer festivals, and headlining spots on Japan's Sumer Sonic Festival as well as Rio de Janiero's Rock in Rio have been confirmed. Could their summer festival run include a spot in Ohio; a large number of bloggers and message board writers seemt to think so. If the Peppers were to grab one of ROTR's two headling spots I would definatley approve. Stadium Arcadium was a sweet album, and these guys have a massive list of hit songs.

System of A Down

Officially annouced just yesterday, System of a Down is back from indefinate hiatus. After releaseing two amazing records in 2005, Mezmerize and Hypnotize, headlining Ozzfest, the Armerian rockers called it a day in the summer of 2006. Already slated to play ten festivals in Europe his summer, it's little wonder why many have them pegged as ROTR headliners. Again I would totall be down to see SOAD at ROTR, I acutally saw them at Ozzfest in 2006 and they were epically awesome. Glad to have the boys back, and ROTR or not, let's hope they do a real US tour and start work on a new album.

Soundgarden

This past summer, grunge's heaviest band was reborn after being inactive for 12 years. So far the reunion has only yielded two club shows, headlining Lollpalooza, playing on Conan, and releasing the compilation album Telephantasm (it contains the previously unreleased single "Black Rain"). Hopefully 2011 will see more from these guys, please don't be like RATM, and I would fucking love to see them headline a day at ROTOR. I'm still pissed at myself for missing them at Lolla.

Linkin Park

Unlike the previous bands on this list, Linkin Park are not returning from a long break or launching a reunion tour. Instead they are hugely successful band promoting their new album A Thousand Suns.While I'm less excited about the possibility of LP headlining ROTR, it makes sense for them to be there. Sadly ROTR will probably not book two reunion groups as their headliners, that gives LP a possible foot in the door (besides the fact that they've sold millions of albums and millions of concert tickets worldwide). Only adding to the LP possibility, their current North American tour is conveniently missing an Ohio date. Maybe it means nothing, or maybe it means they're coming to Crew Stadium this May.

A Perfect Circle

With a belly full of wine, Maynard made his fans very happy this past fall by rejoining Billy Howerdel and reviving their band A Perfect Circle. The band had been inactive since 2004, with constant speculation if the group would ever reconvene again. With a mini tour playing each of their albums in full as well as two late night talk show performances, 2011 could very well see more dates as they work on new music. A one off concert in Ohio could very well be up their alley; my fingers are certainly crossed.

The Foo Fighters

Gearing up to finish their follow up to 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, the Foo should be considered as a possible headliner for ROTR. Grohl has already revealed to fans that the band is planning a massive world tour behind the new disc, which he also promises to be the Foo Fighters' heaviest. With a couple UK festival dates already booked for June, why not give America a little love with a ROTR performance (seriously Europe has a the best festivals, we need to keep ROTR growing each year). You know what would be really cool, Foo Fighters headline Saturday and Soundgarden headline Sunday; Seattle fans would love it.

The Big Four

After the Big Four shows in Europe this past summer, everyone is wondering if and when the Thrash kings will roll through American soil. As much as I would love to see this thing go down at ROTR, I seriously doubt it will happen. It just doesn't seem fit with ROTR's current musically style. A Big Four show would mean that one of the days would feature four older thrash metal bands playing the main stage back to back to back to back. ROTR's main stage is usually much more diverse than this, heavily leaning towards bands that are mainstays on current rock radio stations, something none of the big four outside of Metallica can bring. So ya, while this tour will probably hit the states in 2011, doubtful ROTR will be part of it.

So those are my mains speculations for headliners. There are also those who think Guns N' Roses or Van Halen have shots of headlining due to both bands having strongly rumored 2011 US tours, but I'm not buying into it. Also, it would be fucking stupid and horrible if any former headliners were to headline again. Who are my guess for the actual headliners? Man that's tough, I guess I'll say Linkin Park and The Red Hot Chilli Pepprs, unfortunately my brain seems to think this is the two most likely booked. But besides headliners, what other bands are likely to make appearances at ROTR?

Since ROTR will inevitable have a number of repeat bands from previous years, I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the following bands: Disturbed, Papa Roach, Alter Bridge, Five Finger Death Punch, Sevendust, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Filter.

For new comers, I would like to/wouldn't be surprised to see some of the following bands: Motorhead, Murderdolls, Trapt, Down, Dark New Day, Stone Sour, Black Label Society.

It's going to be a long wait till February when the actual lineup is announced.

Update: here