Word is Escape the Fate had to bow out of Saturday's 93X Fest because growling singer Craig Mabbitt (unsurprisingly) blew out his throat. Nearly everything else at the seven-band, eight-hour marathon went off without a hitch. The hour of rain around Black Label Society's set only seemed to add a little character and color to the proceedings. The center-field setting made for a fun atmosphere, and not to mention a soft-landing for all the crowd surfers. And the audio quality at the ballpark was surprisingly solid for an outdoor concert -- at least until the soundsystem inexplicably cut out entirely near the end of Godsmack's set. I'm quite certain that glitch was Godsmack's own doing, though.
Let us know what you though about the venue. If the 93X Fest does return next year, should it try to make Midway Stadium its permanent home? (That may depend on the Saints' schedule, though.) And would you like to see more concerts there?
The write-up for Sunday's paper is online here. Here's a little more on the bands' sets:
All That Remains: Set list included "This Calling," "Hold On" and "Won't Go Quietly." The refreshingly straight-up, hard-roaring Massachusetts rockers didn't seem fazed having to break in a new member or go on early in the afternoon.
Black Label Society: Set list included "Fire It Up" and "Godspeed Hellbound." Zakk Wylde's unceremonious and relatively unexplained firing by Ozzy didn't seem to change fans' love for the monstrous guitarist. The tornado-siren opening really wasn't cool, though.
Queensryche: Set list included the way-oldie "Walk in the Shadows," "Silent Lucidity" and "A Dead Man's Words," the latter coolly dedicated to fallen soldiers for Memorial Day. Marking its 30th anniversary this summer, the Seattle art-metal veterans haven't lost their power. However, they were sort of lost on the mostly young and rowdy crowd, and the lighter-fluid majesty of "Silent Lucidity" was somewhat lost in the daylight. Geoff Tate also seemed a bit lost in the head as he made such semi-esoteric comments as, "How many of you are here today?"
Puddle of Mudd: Set list included the opener "Away From Me," "Psycho," She Hates Me" and covers of "War Pigs" and "TNT." These middle-America rockers were as middle-of-the-road as ever, sounding like Nickelback with a little less crunch and even more inane lyrics. The crowd certainly loved singing, "I like the way you smack my ass," though.
Hollywood Undead: Set list included the opener "Undead," "Been to Hell," "Coming Back Down," "My Town" and the finale "Hear Me Now." I give the young L.A. septet props for raising pandemonium in the crowd, but they didn't raise the originality level one iota after PoM. They blatantly rip off Linkin Park – although the LP dudes would never resort to making such a clearly radio-baiting ballad as "Coming Back Down" – but they do it with the intellectual level of Limp Bizkit.
