Rockin’ The Island at Treasure Island Ampitheater Was Full of Energy!
Howdy y’all!
Treasure Island Amphitheater hosted its first-ever Rockin' The Island festival on Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27, with ten bands across two days, and three nights of camping for anyone who wanted to make a full weekend of it. For a brand new festival, the lineup leaned heavily into 2000s rock radio staples with a few newer and heavier names mixed in, and the whole thing came together as a strong first outing.
Super fun and wild band SIIN opened up the festival at 2:30, and while it was pretty hot, and the crowds weren’t fully there yet, they put up an AWESOME set, clearly uncaring of how big the crowds were or not! Full 80s hair rock energy and an absolute blast from start to finish. Frontman summed up the whole vibe pretty well himself: "In it for the alcohol and hot chicks!" Super fun blend of camaraderie between the band and the crowd right from the first slot of the weekend.
4:00 came around, pulling Black Stone Cherry to the stage, and man, one of their guitarists was insanely lively all set right from the get go, it was kind of nuts! The whole band looked locked in with each other, a solid rhythm section the entire time. There were some technical issues along the way, but it didn't slow them down much. People were fully out of their seats to watch by the end, and they had a good draw from the crowd as well.
5:30’s set was none other than Hoobastank, and admittedly it felt kind of odd to have them at this time slot, especially with these summer days, people just were not active or around for this set as much as i think they would have been were it a 7:00 or even 8:30 showing of their set. However, they were clearly having a great time on stage, and the singer kept asking the crowd to energize him, trying to get people jumping and clapping along. The crowd wasn't fully amped up yet, probably some combination of the time of day and the sun still being out, but the band gave it everything regardless and kept working the crowd. At one point, the singer just went off on a tangent mid jam, "one thing they may not tell you, you're not invincible, all this touring, I feel like shit," which got some laughs. They also played their new song "How Do You Sleep," which is noticeably more upbeat than the rest of their catalogue. Once "The Reason" hit, the crowd finally came alive, everyone up and singing along, which was a nice payoff after a slower start. Looking around at everyone, i didn’t see a single person who didn’t know the words, which was fun!
Once 7:00 came around, people were starting to really settle into their seats, and Crossfade was coming up. The vocalist had some CRAZY energy this set and definitely gave it his all, which is always great to see. I honestly didn’t have anything super notable for this set; it wasn’t insanely memorable in my eyes, but it was an overall solid rock performance that fit right into the event itself, and people clearly had a good time.
The headliner for day one, though, was a super fun blast. Stone Temple Pilots came on, and the crowd was VERY ready for them at this point (though, wildly, the sun was not ready.)
The energy was immediate, a full crowd with hands up from the first song, everybody blasting along to a genuinely great rock set. The setlist leaned hard into the Weiland era: Wicked Garden, Vasoline, Big Bang Baby, Down, Unglued, Silvergun Superman, Big Empty, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Meatplow, Crackerman, Dead & Bloated, Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Piece of Pie, and Sex Type Thing to close. Six off Core, six off Purple, two off Tiny Music, and "Down" off No. 4. Almost nothing from the back half of their catalogue, just a full dive into the first three records.
Overall, day one was pretty successful, but I think the combo of super sunny, hot, and heavy days made it not so energized right away, but later into the nights, people were having a great time regardless!
(all of day 1’s photos are below, in order from starting act to headliner!)
Day Two, Saturday the 27th
Same timing as the day before, started off right at 2:30, but day two had a great touch right out of the gate, every single band got a full wrestling style introduction over the mic, "introducing... " before they walked out, from different members of day one’s opening band, SIIN. Small thing, but it set a different tone for the whole day and got people locked in before a note was even played.
Royale Lynn opened the day, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this performance as I had not heard of her prior, but she put on a pretty fun, bouncy metalcore adjacent set, with some pop punk elements mixed in, but she was clearly happy to be there and put on a set for a pretty decent crowd right at the start!
Buckcherry followed after at that 4:00 slot, and man, they came out to rock! Their lead vocalist came out topless with his crazy, vibrant tattoos showing, and immediately livened the place up. Fans were clearly happy to see them come on stage. Both guitarists on stage also rocked the hell out, and were super interactive with their fans, both during set and after, where I saw them taking photos and chatting with them. This was an energy-filled set that honestly kind of left the space feeling a bit empty afterwards!!
5:30’s set came with Hinder taking the stage, and I think my favorite thing from this show was watching how insane the drummer looked with his crazy curly hair! The dude did not stop jamming once throughout the whole set, practically, and was a blur of orange curls! Their set was more fun than heavy in my opinion, but they did put on a solid show. They threw in a cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" that was a lot of fun, and the set had a real bounce to it throughout, got the crowd moving a lot more after that, too. The biggest thing through some of these sets is that they just felt like they needed more crowd there to really amp it up even more, or be in an indoor venue, in all honesty!
7:00 came pretty quickly, as many people were excited for the next band, and co-headliner, Skillet!
Jen Ledger took the stage first, heading to the drum kit, and in all honesty, she was the highlight of the show for me as well. Insanely talented drummer, and watching her just blast through everything was a ton of fun, but she was also super clearly happy to be up there and showed it. The lead vocalist and the rest of the band came on quickly after tons of cheering and applause, and their whole set from start to finish was pretty electric. At one point, the vocalist got this, machine i cant even name, and was blasting smoke out into the sky with it just for literal fun, and it was fun to watch! I was saddened that I had set my camera down for the moment and missed it by seconds trying to get it taken
Their set was a lot of their classic songs, combing through songs like Feel Invincible, Whispers in the Dark, Psycho in my Head, and of course Monster and others. Super fun set, and the crowd was absolutely pumped at this point.
Night two’s co-headliner, Theory of a Deadman, was absolutely nuts in terms of crowd, lighting, and just pace. They took the stage and you could already tell that the crowd at this point was fully warmed up and ready, and with the level of lighting that was taking the stage, this was going to be a fun set.
And it was! I had a few gripes with the vocalist as a photographer (move the mic away from your face LOL! Of course kidding), but it was honestly a great show to end the night with. Tons of smoke blasting, really good moody lighting, and of course, the music came through just great. I will say, I honestly don’t know enough about the band to really get into the nitty-gritty of the setlist, style, or much else, but I can report that the crowd was super satisfied and happy with how things went down! I did enjoy watching their interactions on stage, particularly between the lead guitarist and the drummer; you could clearly tell the band likes to have fun on stage together!
Rockin the Island was a pretty fun fest overall, and yeah i have small gripes with timing and just general spaced outness and activities outside of the bands, but for year one, this was good! I’m looking forward to seeing how the next year shapes up, and seeing who’s on the bill. I’m not typically a mega fan of seated events, but this one did well in getting the crowd to eventually fully stand and warmed up for the closing acts of the night, and getting energy pumping throughout. Overall, solid festival, and a lot of fun bands to watch!
(day two photos below, in order!)
