Sleaze Roxx predicts the bands that will be playing the M3 Rock Festival’s 12th edition from May 1 to 3, 2020

Sleaze Roxx predicts the bands that will be playing the M3 Rock Festival’s 12th edition from May 1 to 3, 2020

The M3 Rock Festival will be returning for its 12th edition from May 1 to 3, 2020 and will take place once again at the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Sleaze Roxx covered the M3 Rock Festival in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019, and will be covering it once again in 2020.

As tradition goes, the M3 Rock Festival has yet to announce its line-up but that has never stopped Sleaze Roxx and the M3 concert attendees from speculating on which bands will be playing the festival each year.

The following are Sleaze Roxx‘s picks on who will be playing the 12th edition of the M3 Rock Festival. Of note, Sleaze Roxx is simply speculating and has not confirmed this information with any of the bands listed below and/or the festival itself.

Accept — The German metal rockers have never played the M3 Rock Festival but have a lone US date scheduled at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, USA on April 30, 2020. The distance from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania to Columbia, Maryland is less than three hours. Enough said…

Bang Tango — With the recent announcement that Bang Tango‘s original line-up of singer Joe Lesté, guitarists Mark Knight and Kyle Stevens, bassist Kyle Kyle and drummer Tigg Ketler will be reuniting for select shows in 2020, it seems a no brainer that one of those select shows will be at the M3 Rock Festival.

Faster Pussycat — Faster Pussycat have played the M3 Rock Festival three of the last four years so it seems likely that they will be back again in 2020. If the L.A. Guns version spearheaded by Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns also plays the M3‘s 12th edition, guitarist Ace Von Johnson could see double duty playing for each band.

Great White — With Mitch Malloy now fronting Great White, it makes sense for the band to return to the M3 Rock Festival for a fourth time. Great White would have the distinction of having played the festival with three different singers given that they played in 2011 and 2012 with Jack Russell fronting the band, in 2018 with Terry Ilous handling the lead vocals and in 2020, it would be with Malloy assuming that he stays with the band up to the M3 Rock Festival.

Kickin Valentina — If one band deserves a shot at the M3 Rock Festival (now that Station played the festival back in 2017), it has to be Atlanta, Georgia, USA sleaze rockers Kickin Valentina. There’s even a Facebook group called We want KV at M3. It seems that the demand is there and it would be nice to have a little bit of new blood / a newer band at the festival.

Killer Dwarfs — Despite putting on a short but killer set at the M3 Rock Festival back in 2015, the Killer Dwarfs have sadly never seemingly been invited back. It’s time to right that wrong and have the Canadian hard rockers thrill the M3 crowd one more time.

KIX — The hometown favourites will surely be playing again. Sleaze Roxx ranked KIX‘s M3 performance in 2019 as the top one for the festival. Will any artist or band be able to top KIX in 2020? Time will tell but we do know that it will not be an easy task.

L.A. Guns (feat. Steve Riley and Kelly Nickels) — The band that faced the most pressure going into last year’s M3 Rock Festival was surely the L.A. Guns version spearheaded by classic line-up members Steve Riley (drums) and Kelly Nickels (bass) along with alumni Scott Griffin (on lead guitar rather than bass) and new lead vocalist Kurt Frohlich. The group answered the call as Sleaze Roxx ranked its performance at #5 out of 21 artists / bands. Riley has only had wonderful things to say about the M3 Rock Festival and seems to have a great relationship with festival organizer Eric Baker so why wouldn’t the drummer’s version of L.A. Guns not return to M3 in 2020? Of note, the group should have a brand new studio album out in the spring of 2020 via Golden Robot Records.

L.A. Guns (feat. Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns) — A few days prior to last year’s M3 Rock Festival, festival organizer Eric Baker mentioned in an interview that he wanted to “make it right” with Lewis and Guns. Making it right would seem to be getting Lewis and Guns to play at the M3 Rock Festival once again after a few missteps including the band suddenly dropping out from the line-up back in 2018. Of note, Lewis seemingly stopped making disparaging comments towards the other L.A. Guns‘ band members and the M3 Rock Festival around that time. It would not be the first time that both L.A. Guns entities found themselves at the same rock festival as Lewis pulled double duty for the two L.A. Guns factions at Rock N Skull in 2016. Of course, if both L.A. Guns entities are playing at M3, how cool would it be to have a full-fledged classic line-up reunion with Lewis, Guns, Riley, Nickels and who knows, Mick Cripps, even if it was just for one song? If that were to happen, that would most likely be the highlight of M3‘s 12th edition. You read it here first.

Lita Ford — It was nice to have Lita co-host the M3 Rock Festival last year but it would have been even better to have her play at the festival. The M3 Rock Festival usually has one band fronted by a female singer each year and it should be Lita‘s turn in 2020. Lita is also on tour in the States from April 3 to 22, 2020 opening up for the one and only Alice Cooper.

Mr. Big — It’s been nine years since Mr. Big last played the M3 Rock Festival. Yes, drummer Pat Torpey sadly passed away back in February 2018 and it’s unclear whether the group will really continue without him but one can only hope.

Queensrÿche — Despite replacing frontman Geoff Tate with Todd La Torre, Queensrÿche have steadily moved up the ranks to the point of being the headlining act at M3 in 2018. The band has been a mainstay at the M3 Rock Festival in recent years having previously played in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018. Given that the group has played the festival every even year since 2012, it seems almost a given that it will be back in 2020. Queensrÿche also have a concert booked at the Turning Point Casino Resort in Verona, New York, USA on May 1, 2020, which is less than six hours away from the M3 Rock Festival location.

Quiet Riot — Quiet Riot‘s band leader and long-time drummer Frankie Banali was seemingly handed a death sentence within the next five years when he received his stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis back in April of this year. While Banali was getting treatments and trying to overcome his unfortunate cancer diagnosis, September saw the welcomed return of frontman Jizzy Pearl in the band’s line-up. If Banali can be in the Quiet Riot line-up at M3 in 2020, you can expect that there will be more than a few misty eyed concert attendees when the band performs one more time.

Ratt — Sleaze Roxx projects Ratt as the M3 headliner in 2020. After the litigation dust settled, only singer Stephen Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier were left standing from Ratt‘s remaining classic line-up members. The good news is that the duo has forged ahead with their new breed line-up consisting of veteran Black ‘N Blue drummer Pete Holmes along with guitarists Jordan Ziff (King Kobra) and Chris Sanders (Britny Fox). Sure, Sleaze Roxx would love for Warren DeMartini to still be in the Ratt line-up but if the guitarist does not want to tour, it’s better for Pearcy and Croucier to forge ahead as Ratt and along the way come back to the M3 Rock Festival in 2020.

Roxy Blue — The M3 Rock Festival caters to hard rock and heavy metal bands from the ’80s era. It’s time for Roxy Blue to make their debut appearance at the festival. Roxy Blue spearheaded by frontman Todd Poole released a brand new self-titled studio album earlier this year and deserve a shot.

Sebastian Bach — Since Skid Row played the M3 Rock Festival last year, it seems like it’s Bach‘s turn to play the festival. With the singer playing Skid Row‘s debut album in its entirety to celebrate the 30th year anniversary of its release, one can only hope that Bach will extend the celebrations all the way to the time of the M3 Rock Festival. It’s worth noting that Bach was Sleaze Roxx‘s overall pick for best performance the last time that the singer played M3 in 2019.

Slaughter — Since 2014, Slaughter have appeared on every even year at M3 so it is expected that they will make their return to the festival in 2020 for their sixth time in 12 years.

Spread Eagle — Just Like Roxy Blue, Spread Eagle have released a brand new studio album (Subway To The Stars) and they have never played the M3 Rock Festival. Some new blood is desperately needed at M3 and what better than another late ’80s / early ’90s era band that has never played the festival before?

Tesla — It’s been a while since Tesla have played the M3 Rock Festival and with their new album Shock released earlier this year, it makes sense for the band to be back in M3‘s line-up.

Tom Keifer — With a new studio album Rise to promote and tour behind, it seems a no brainer that Keifer will be back at the M3 Rock Festival for his fifth time in the last six years.

Warrant — It seems that the M3 Rock Festival really likes Warrant because the band has played the last three editions and six prior times overall. Assuming that Warrant will be back in 2020, you can expect them to bring some stage props while most of the other bands seem to stick with the large screen provided by M3.