When some of rock ‘n’ roll’s biggest names come together for four full days of entertainment, you can be sure to see a show you’ll not soon forget.
That will be the case for many this weekend, as more than 100 bands will come together for Rock The Bayou, which will take place on the former grounds of AstroWorld, directly across from Reliant Stadium on 610 South Loop.
Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels, Queensryche, L.A. Guns, Twisted Sister and many more will take the stage this weekend in front of an estimated 50,000 fans per night, something the bands are looking forward to.
"It’s great to be on a bill with a lot of bands that are great entertainers," Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French said. "We celebrated our 9,000th show last year and, to be honest, there’s no alternative to performing."
Some may look at the list of bands as a lineup of has-beens, but the number of multi-platinum records represented by the group demands respect. Add in the list of No. 1 singles among them, and you have quite a lot of songs that you will be singing along to-whether you want to admit it or not.
"If Queen wrote the definitive two anthems, ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions,’ of the ’70s; we have the most popular anthems of the ’80s, which is ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and ‘I Wanna Rock,’ French said. "No matter where we are, these songs resonate at a massive level, so we’re very fortunate to have that."
Rock The Bayou will feature four stages, with headlining acts playing on the giant Bud Light stage, complete with special effects and lighting capabilities. There will also be food, drinks, a vendor marketplace and much more.
For those who want to rock all night, The Meridian will host after-parties beginning at 11 p.m. each night except for Saturday, when the party begins at midnight. Special guest performances will be held at the parties, to which tickets are being sold separately.
Tickets to the festival have been sold to fans as far away as Japan, Germany, Italy and Portugal, according to a press release. With so much buzz building about it worldwide, Houstonians don’t have to look far for local Labor Day weekend activities. No matter what you show up for, there will be plenty of entertainment from acts that know how to put on a good show.
"(We) don’t sit there consciously thinking, ‘I’m gonna be better than I was yesterday.’ I just go up on the stage thinking, ‘You know what, I love this. This is what I do,’" French said. "I put my passion, my heart and my soul into that stage performance, and it transcends because people love it."
For more information about tickets and performances, you can check out www.rockthebayou.com.
