Columbus and Crew Stadium will be the home in which rock music lives May 18-20. Tickets for Rock on the Range, one of the largest weekend rock festivals in the United States, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
Rock on the Range, which started in 2007 with 14 bands, is entering its sixth year — featuring 44 bands, including headliners Incubus, Rob Zombie, Shinedown and Marilyn Manson. Gary Spivack, co-executive producer for Rock on the Range, said he is confident the lineup of bands will blow the previous five years out of the water.
“This is the most well-rounded lineup we’ve had in our six years, from left to right,” Spivack said. “We went a little left with bands like Incubus, a little right with bands like Megadeth, and right down the middle with Shinedown and other big names.”
Spivack said Rock on the Range has evolved into one of the biggest rock festivals in the nation, which allows them to do a lot more with its lineups than it was able to do three or four years ago. This allows for the introduction of first-time performances at the festival such as Incubus and Marilyn Manson, while bringing back old favorites who have already rocked rangers once before, such as Rob Zombie in 2010.
“Bringing Rob Zombie back just made sense,” Spivack said, calling his performance “controlled chaos.” “That’s what Rock on the Range is all about.”
Jonathan Parrish, a second-year in economics, said he is excited to see Mastodon, who also performed at Rock on the Range in 2010, come back to Columbus and play at Crew Stadium.
“They have a unique, classic rock-like sound with catchy guitar riffs,” Parrish said.
Weekend passes to this year’s event include tickets to the festival’s Friday Night 4Play, which enters its second year in existence. Four bands take the stage to open up the weekend festival, with the main event kicking off Saturday.
Josh Javor, a first-year in mechanical engineering, said he thinks the events lined up for this year’s festival seem worthwhile to check out.
“It sounds like a good time — a good way to get out of the dorms for a weekend,” Javor said.
Presale tickets for the event went on sale Tuesday and closed the next day. Spivack said he was pleased with the presale results from the first day and expects this year’s event to be the biggest one yet.
“So far, we are ahead of pace on last year’s presale, which was record-setting,” Spivack said. “We’re raising the bar for Rock on the Range more and more each year.”
