The Showboat Festival Grounds in Atlantic City, New Jersey, were ready for the second day of the Orange Loop Rock Festival, and Doro, Slaughter and Great White were three of many highlights.
Orange Loop Rock Festival – Part Two, Saturday 11 June 2022
Words and photography: Shannon Wilk
Day Two kicked off at 3:15 PM on the Beast Equipment Stage with New Jersey’s own Pierced. The festival shows it values new, up-and-coming artists through its Artist Support Network, which was a battle of the bands type competition for new acts to be featured at the festival.
Some of these smaller, newer acts featured on Saturday included Who On Earth, Kamenar, and Black Dawn. To add another level of entertainment to the weekend’s jam-packed lineup, Orange Loop brought in “Midgets With Attitude” Wrestling featured between bands at the Beast Equipment Stage. Talk about a fun weekend!
Starting the day on the main stage was the Queen of Heavy Metal herself here in Atlantic City to claim her throne – Doro! Taking the stage with an iron fist on this warm Saturday afternoon, Doro and her incredible band brought 45 minutes of straight Metal fire.
The setlist was quite career-spanning, featuring songs from Warlock’s Burning The Witches, Hellbound, Triumph and Agony and Doro’s Raise Your Fist and her most recent studio release Forever Warriors/Forever United.
With her band headbanging, running and jumping around the stage like animals just released from cages, paired with Doro’s grin and thunderess Heavy Metal voice, the audience was certainly in for a treat.
Following Doro were iconic Las Vegas-based ’80s hard rock band Slaughter. With only a 45-minute set, these four guys cranked out hit after hit. From Mad About You to Fly To The Angels to Real Love to Up All Night”.
The band features founding members Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum as well as Jeff Blando, who replaced Tim Kelly after his passing back in 1998. The reason I bring this up is that the member who really impressed me was fill-in drummer Jordan Cannata. This guy is in constant motion behind the drum kit. You can’t help but keep your attention on him, from his standing on the snare drum to smashing cymbals with other cymbals – all these antics while keeping perfect time.
Frontman Mark Slaughter let his voice shine in his solo performance of Days Gone By. This band knows how to put on a show, and I have not once been disappointed by any of their performances… and I’ve seen Slaughter countless times!
Bringing the bluesy rock to Orange Loop were Great White, hitting the main stage at 6:15 PM for their second show with brand new frontman Andrew Freeman. You’ve seen him rock with Last In Line, Lynch Mob, filling in with Firehouse, and so many more.
Great White’s set started off strong with Desert Moon and Lady Red Light. They even got crowd participation going in House Of Broken Love. Mid-set was the time for the sexy riffage of Mista Bone before they had to Save Your Love. All five members of the band played through the whole set with smiles on their faces and showed evident brotherhood between the band.
Next up was Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy and his solo band on the main stage. Their 45-minute set featured hit after hit from Ratt’s prime time. From You’re In Love to Slip Of The Lip to Round And Round. The crowd energetically sang every word in unison with Pearcy from start to finish.
Word on the street is that Stephen’s vocals can be hit or miss from show to show, but this was definitely a great night for him and the boys. Stephen Pearcy certainly brought the Sunset Strip to the gambling capital of the East Coast.
The first 2000s rock band of the weekend hail from Oklahoma City. The kings of Extreme Behavior – Hinder. These five guys hit the stage wearing matching black and white clothing from head to toe. Their set included tunes such as All American Nightmare, Lips Of An Angel, a rockin’ cover of the Eagles’ Life In The Fast Lane, and more.
This band has always been impressive when it comes to their level of crowd interaction. This show was no different, with the band’s frontman taking fans’ phones and filming videos of the band as they played. What else can I say? Hinder brought the fire!
Headlining Saturday night were alternative Metal unit Chevelle. Two out of three members are the Loeffler brothers, who formed the band back in 1995, and the third amigo is bassist Kemble Waters, who joined the brothers as a touring member back in 2021.
Their stage setup included life-size alien statues and a giant screen the length of the stage with their logo projected across. They played several songs from their latest release, Niratias, including one of the new instrumentals, Verruckt.
From start to finish, this 3-piece powerhouse brought their musical excellence to the Orange Loop Main Stage this weekend.
