Sleaze Roxx ranks the Rock N Skull 2016 performances from first to last

Sleaze Roxx ranks the Rock N Skull 2016 performances from first to last

It’s one thing to review every band’s performance from 2016’s edition of the Rock N Skull Festival (Pre-Party, Day One, Day Two and Day Three) but you as the reader may still not be able to exactly ascertain who Sleaze Roxx thought provided the best performances and which day of the festival turned out to be the best one.

There were 31 different sets at Rock N Skull this year with a number of artists pulling double duty including singer Phil Lewis and guitarist Michael Grant who played twice under different factions of L.A. Guns, American Bombshell who played twice after being called upon to replace Tigertailz on Day Three, guitarist Steven Mazza who played for both Danger Danger and PJ Farley, and Swede Magnus Ulfstedt who played drums for Ammunition and bass for Eclipse.

I would like to emphasize that I found that every act at Rock N Skull this year put forth a strong effort and tried to “bring it” for the fans in attendance. Accordingly, just because a band or artist is at the bottom of the lists below does not mean that the band or artist did not put forth a good performance. It simply means that someone has to be ranked at the bottom and/or the lower positions for this list to work. There is no question that the rankings are heavily influenced by my personal musical preferences, my familiarity with the performers’ music going into the festival (with Ammunition being the exception since I did not know any of their songs), fatigue, hunger, a couple of impromptu interviews (Eclipse‘s frontman Erik Mårtensson and Babylon A.D.s’ singer Derek Davis) that caused me to miss parts of a few sets, etc.

The following lists rank the Rock N Skull performances for each day and at the end, you have an overall ranking that includes all the performances over the four days. 

Olivier

Pre-Party:
01. L.A. Guns feat. Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis
02. Johnny Gioeli, the voice of Hardline
03. Enuff Z’Nuff
04. Drivin’ Rain
05. Keith St. John, the voice of Montrose

Day One:
01. Babylon A.D.
02. Ammunition
03. L.A. Guns
04. Anthony Corder, the voice of Tora Tora
05. American Bombshell
06. Jetboy
07. The Fifth
08. Johnny Lima
09. House Of Shakira
10. Todd Poole, the voice of Roxy Blue

Day Two:
01. Eclipse
02. Pretty Boy Floyd
03. Jack Russell’s Great White
04. The Radio Sun
05. Danger Danger
06. Brian Howe, the voice of Bad Company
07. Tuff
08. Martina Edoff
09. Livesay 

Day Three:
01. Stephen Pearcy
02. American Bombshell
03. Tango Down
04. Junkyard
05. Inner Siege
06. King Of The Hill
07. PJ Farley

Overall:
01. Eclipse (Day Two) — Simply the best. Eclipse set the bar too high for any other act to reach.
02. L.A. Guns feat. Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis (Pre-Party) — Electricity is in the air when Tracii and Phil reunite.
03. Stephen Pearcy (Day Three) — Stryper who? Pearcy clearly demonstrates why he is a worthy headliner.
04. Babylon A.D. (Day One) — Veteran act lives up to its reputation as one of the best live acts around.
05. Ammunition (Day One) — Where would Ammunition have landed if I had known their songs in advance of their set?
06. Pretty Boy Floyd (Day Two) — Glam metal rockers confirm reputation as great live act.
07. Jack Russell’s Great White (Day Two) — Russell and company put on spirited set containing all the Great White hits.
08. L.A. Guns (Day One) — Round two has L.A. Guns racing against the clock while playing almost the same set of songs.
09. American Bombshell (Day Three) — Round two proves to be even better for the hard hitting rockers.
10. Tango Down (Day Three) — Tango Down deliver headlining set with their star power and great songs.
11. Junkyard (Day Three) — No frills pedal to the metal set from veteran act lives up to expectations.
12. Anthony Corder, the voice of Tora Tora (Day One) — Tora Tora songs live, even unplugged, prove to be a real treat.
13. American Bombshell (Day One) — Hard hitting set from Indiana rockers opens the official Rock N Skull festivities.
14. Johnny Gioeli, the voice of Hardline (Pre-Party) — Karaoke Johnny’s voice alone can conquer anything.
15. Jetboy (Day One) — Rock N Skull feels the shake as Jetboy put on spirited performance.
16. The Fifth (Day One) — North Carolina sleaze rockers end set with terrific Black Sabbath cover.
17. Johnny Lima (Day One) — Melodic Mafia fans make sure that Lima is part of Rock N Skull festivities. 
18. The Radio Sun (Day Two) — Australian melodic rockers make trip extra special for two Mexican fans.
19. Danger Danger (Day Two) — Melodic rockers have the fans singing along to all the hits.
20. Enuff Z’Nuff (Pre-Party) — Long-time bassist Chip Z’Nuff handles the lead vocals with ease.
21. Inner Siege (Day Three) — Power metal at its finest with some major headbanging from bassist Ravn.
22. Brian Howe, the voice of Bad Company (Day Two) — Howe proves age does not matter while delivering the hits.
23. Tuff (Day Two) — Rachelle confirms reputation as entertaining frontman while Tuff have hard act to follow.
24. Martina Edoff (Day Two) — Edoff overcomes initial sound issues with backing cast that includes 3 H.E.A.T members.
25. King Of The Hill (Day Three) — Funky outfit led by flamboyant frontman ends set with awesome Alice Cooper cover.
26. Drivin’ Rain (Pre-Party) — It’s always tough to open a festival but Drivin’ Rain bring out the intensity.
27. Keith St. John, the voice of Montrose (Pre-Party) — St. John is all smiles despite constantly tuning his guitar.
28. PJ Farley (Day Three) — Farley chooses to focus on solo material rather than throw in a few Trixter songs.
29. House Of Shakira (Day One) — Swedish band brings twenty five years of history to the USA.
30. Livesay (Day Two) — Entire set focuses on new material with nine songs played from new album ‘Frozen Hell.’
31. Todd Poole, the voice of Roxy Blue (Day One) — Too many out of the box covers delivered in an unplugged format.