 I
recently attended the 1st Annual Food
Truck and Rock Carnival Festival;
a spectacular three day festival that
included concerts, comedy, carnival
rides, food trucks galore, 40 craft
beers, wrestling matches and more for
people of all ages at Oak Ridge Park in
Clark, New Jersey.
At 5 pm Friday night, the carnival opened
its doors to a sizeable crowd who enjoyed
amusement rides, concerts featuring some
of the nation’s premier tribute
bands including Voyage (a Journey Tribute
Band), Almost Queen (a Queen Tribute
band), Ozzmosis (an Ozzy Osbourne cover
band) and Judas Priestess (A Judas Priest
cover  band),
entertainment featuring Illusionist Jason
Bishop and Hypnotist Dan Candell and
comedians from Vinnie Brand’s Stress
Factory, and GCW westling.
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The
Conspirators was the Headliner for
Saturday night. I had no idea what to
expect. My friend, Jim E. tipped me off
that Slash had gotten a new lead singer
who was supposedly really good. I had no
idea what to expect. Was Slash going to
perform some new original songs that he
wrote? I figured, ok, I’ll check it
out. I was in awe from the moment they
went on. The singer was fantastic; he
sounded exactly like Axl but with his own
style too;  they played
mostly all Guns N Roses songs. The crowd
went wild! Gilby Clark unexpectedly
joined them on stage for their closing
song, “Paradise City.” Slash
& band were scheduled to perform from
9-10:30; but they played well through
11:00pm. Also performing on the main
stage 1 that night was Black Label
Society, Puddle of Mudd, Pop Evil and Fit
For Rivals. Performing on Main Stage 2
Saturday eve was Three Days Grace,
Sevendust, Skid Row, Otherwise and Bad
Case for Big Mouth. There must’ve
been tens of thousands of people gathered
on the lawn watching the shows at both of
the Main Stages. There must’ve been
like 10,000 people out there; well
behaved, no major problems. A lot of fun
for a lot of folks!
Stone Temple Pilots were the Headlining
band for Sunday night. They did an
incredible job; a high energy show
playing their hits and some new songs. At
one point, to the audience’s
surprise, the lead singer jumped right
down into the audience and continued
singing. I could not believe it. Security
was tight and there were no problems.
Bass player Robert De Leo mentioned that
he and Dean De DeLeo are both originally
from NJ, so this show meant a lot to them
and they were really grateful to be
there. It was definitely a real treat to
see them in concert. Also performing on
Main Stage 2 Sunday night was Anthrax,
Crobot, and Dead Fish Handshake. Godsmack
headlined on Main Stage 1 for Sunday
night. Also performing that night on Main
Stage 1 was Clutch, Skillet, Like a Storm
and Puddle of Mudd. All the bands did a
great job.
 Performing
Saturday at the Birch Hill Stage were
some of my favorite bands including Edgar
Cayce, Gilby Clark, Stephen Pearcy from
RATT, along with Kix, Kings X, Faster
Pussycat, Rahway and Second Skin. That
tent was packed to the max each night. I
caught Gilby Clark’s show. I knew he
was a great guitarist, but had no idea
that he is also a singer/songwriter. I
really enjoyed his set and his stories.
He did a great job as did all the artists
and bands.
Sunday at the Birch Hill tent also had a
stellar lineup including performances by
Slaughter, Lita Ford, LA  Guns, TT Quick,
Prophet, Graveyard Lovers, Ashes of your
Enemy and Out of Bounds. All the bands
did an excellent job. TT Quick’s
lead singer Mark Tornillo asked the fans
to support the festival. He mentioned
that there are a lot of festivals like
this in Europe, but hardly any in the
USA; so if you like this; it’s
important to support it.
The festival also gave up and coming
bands and artists a chance to perform
Saturday and Sunday as well at The
Carnival Stage. The Illusionist,
Commonwealth, Ronin, Bobby Mahoney, Out
of Ashes, Bipolar, Barren, XNY, School of
Rock, Broken Fayth, Escape from Crete
performed on Saturday. Sunday’s
lineup included North Down South,  Raftree, Mother,
Still Phase, Flowers to Flames, Small
Town Scoundrels, Empire Fallen, School of
Rock and Hot Lips! Nationwide Tribute
bands RATM2 (Rage Against the Machine)
& Schism (Tool) also performed each
night on the Carnival stage.
Entertainers performing in the
Gamechanger tent including Illusionist
Jason Bishop, Hypnotist Dan Candell,
Stress Factory Hour with comedians
including Vinnie Brand, Don Jamieson, Jim
Florentine and Big Jay Oakerson. There
was also a special Q&A with VH1
Classic’s “That Metal
Show” Host Eddie Trunk.
 For those who
enjoy wrestling, GameChanger Wrestling
presented wrestlers including: WWE Hall
of Famer Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The King of
Ultraviolence Nick Fn Gage, The Bad Boy
Joey Janela, The Dirty Daddy Chris
Dickinson, GCW Tag Team Champions The
Beast Squad Kyle The Beast & Monsta
Mack, GCW Extreme Champion Pinkie
Sanchez, The Cold Hearted Playa Danny
DeManto, The Escort Erik Andretti,
Chainsaw Joe Gacy, EYFBO Plus and more.
The HELL ON WHEELS BMX Stunt Show
also performed at The Food Truck and Rock
Carnival. Hell On Wheels is one of the
nation’s premier action sports BMX
stunt show,  featuring some
of the world’s top riders and had
free giveaways and meet and greet with
the riders.
All in all, it was a fun and memorable
festival, very well organized with
something for everyone!
(Aka
The Rock Carnival)
www.TheRockCarnival.com
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