Let the countdown begin! There are just two months remaining until the second annual ROCK CARNIVAL – taking place on September 30, October 1 and October 2 at its new location in Lakewood, NJ at FirstEnergy Park – home of the Lakewood Blue Claws! The festival is thrilled to be hosted at their new home, which will feature a more efficient layout for attendees to enjoy activities.
“Our ballpark is well positioned with ample space on the field, the seats, the concourse, and the front of the park, plus with substantial parking space, to maximize the experience for each fan,” states Steve Farago, VP of Operations & Events, Lakewood Blue Claws.
More room also equals more food trucks! As last year’s attendees know, one of the largest attractions at the ROCK CARNIVAL is the wide array of food trucks. Based on 2015’s high demand, the number of food trucks serving their scrumptious culinary creations at this year’s carnival has been boosted to 50! See below for a preliminary list of returning and new food truck vendors:
Tater’s Half BakedLuigi’s Ice Cream
The Empanada Guy
Oink and Moo BBQ
Cafe Gallo
John and Debbie O’s Concessions
The Angry Crab
House of Cupcakes
Aussie Pie Guys
Callahan’s
Tacoholics
The Caribbean Soul
One Big Party BBQ
The Little Sicilian
Jersey’s Johnny’s
Cheezen
Maddalena’s Cheesecake
Big Dogg Festival Food
Glazed and Confused Mini Donuts
+ Many more to be announced!
Additionally, the ROCK CARNIVAL will feature several local arts and entertainment, awareness and clothing vendors. Vendors will include:
Art/Entertainment Vendors
Eyellusion Tech (the team behind Wacken Open Air’s Ronnie James Dio hologram!)
NJ Lottery
Phil Kunto Studios
Tattoo Tonys
Awareness Vendors
Foster’s Future
Clothing Vendors
Petunia Rocks
As with its inaugural year – which drew a staggering 50,000+ attendees – the second annual ROCK CARNIVAL will also feature classic amusement rides and entertainment, high-action Professional Wrestling, a wide selection of tasty brews, pig racing and more. This year’s event will also see the addition of a children’s fun zone. It’s a weekend of big fun for the whole family!
As mentioned above, ROCK CARNIVAL is pleased to announce the addition of top-charting rockers Halestorm and The Used to the Sunday line-up. The bands join a stellar line-up currently featuring Friday’s headliner, shock rock king Alice Cooper, and Saturday’s presentation of Twisted Sister‘s official tri-state farewell performance. The show will also feature Daughtry – featuring its namesake Chris Daughtry, contestant on the fifth season of Fox’s American Idol – Clutch, Overkill, Ace Frehley, Fuel, Monster Magnet, Life Of Agony, Sebastian Bach, Jim Breuer and the Loud & Rowdy, and many more.
GRAMMY® Award-winning band Halestorm‘s latest album, Into The Wild Life, debuted in the top 5 on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its release last year while also entering Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums tally at #1 – both marking Halestorm‘s highest chart placement to date. The album’s first three singles reached the top 5 at active rock. Halestormare currently on the road supporting Shinedown on the Carnival of Madness Tour before heading out later this fall for another leg of their headline tour with support from Lita Ford and Dorothy.
Halestorm states, “SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY! We can’t wait to bring the rock n’ roll madness with all of our Freaks at the second annual ROCK CARNIVAL! We just really want to watch the pig racing! See you there!”
RIAA Gold-Certified rockers The Used will join ROCK CARNIVAL along their 2016 15th anniversary tour, celebrating the release of their highly-influential self-titled record. Upon the album’s release, The Used became the unexpected face of a new generation of youth culture. This year, the band released a reimagined acoustic version of that same seminal record, recorded live with a full orchestra and entitled Live and Acoustic at the Palace. The Used‘s most recent full-length studio album, Imaginary Enemy, entered the Billboard Independent Album chart at #1 in its first week, while landing within the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The Used singer Bert McCracken adds, “We look forward to heading back to NJ for the Rock Carnival to play for those die-hard Used fans. See you all in October!”
This year’s festivities will also include a brand new “Classic” Friday night celebration, which will feature tributes to classic rock favorites! Almost Queen will play your Queen favorites,Alive! ’75 will take us back with some KISS, and Zakk Sabbath – featuring vocalist/guitarist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), bassist Blasko (Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Rob Zombie) and drummer Joey Castillo (ex-Queens Of The Stone Age) – will performBlack Sabbath classics.
“ROCK CARNIVAL is very excited to finally announce Halestorm, The Used and the others who will help round out this year’s line-up,” states ROCK CARNIVAL producer John D’Esposito. “The festival outlined a plan that would deliver famous classic rock Friday, strong family friendly rock packaging Saturday and to close Sunday with active radio rock headliner. We put a strong emphasis on stacking the line up with New Jersey and immediate area acts who have had a long tradition of playing the infamous Jersey rock scene over years. Horns in the air, let’s get ready to rock!”
See below for the current line-up, with more artists being added leading up to the main event.
Friday, September 30th
Alice Cooper
Clutch
Zakk Sabbath
Blue Oyster Cult
Almost Queen
Alive! ’75
Kyng
+ more tributes!
Saturday, October 1st
Twisted Sister
Daughtry
Ace Frehley
American Angel
Cycle of Pain
Four By Fate
Fuel
Jackyl
Jester
Killcode
Monster Magnet
Overkill
Punky Meadows
Shaman’s Harvest
Texas Hippie Coalition
Zebra
Sunday, October 2nd
Halestorm
The Used
10 Years
Bullet Boys
Cinderella’s Tom Keifer
Citizen Zero
Doro
Jim Breuer and the Loud & Rowdy
Legion
Life Of Agony
River Monsters
Sebastian Bach
Trixter
+ more TBA!
Music will take place on multiple stages, including two main festival stages, side by side, on the field. Fans will have general admission access to the stadium field. The musical portion of the event will once again feature the Birch Hill stage, a very popular performance area, with the addition of another performance area showcasing developing artists.
Reserved weekend, GA weekend, single day, VIP and Skybox tickets for this year’s ROCK CARNIVAL are on sale now. Single day tickets are just $44.99! Carnival and concert entry is FREE for all children under 16 and Adult Carnival Only Admission is $15 in advance, $20 at the Carnival. Carnival Only Admission does not include stadium access.
Get your reserved and GA weekend + single day tickets here! Find VIP packages and Skybox tickets via SoundRink.
More carnival details, per-day line-ups and other entertainment will be announced soon. For more information, visit http://therockcarnival.com/.
The ROCK CARNIVAL is produced by Stan Levinstone Presents and GameLoud.