Last weekend is likely to be remembered as one of the most rocking weekends presented to our community. Friday afternoon, I stopped by the Dfest media tent to pick-up our staff writers’ press badges and related materials. Later, we arrived downtown to begin capturing the moments from some extremely marvelous bands.

The night immediately began with a killer performance by Paramore; however, we missed the amazing show (so-we-heard) from Danelle Phillips’s band Congress of a Crow. Although we missed Congress of a Crow’s performance, we did not miss the opportunity to socially network and have a chat with Danelle Phillips, their lead singer. We even persuaded her to throw up the 918, in support of both our website and the local community she represents. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed as we presented her with a memory card for her digital camera so she could capture the moments herself.

Given the opportunity to sit backstage and converse with the bands and the other members of press was more than a great experience; it was an opportunity for us to show our wealth to the community. Even something small and generous like giving away AA batteries to a random fan backstage of Paramore or giving Danelle a memory card was our chance to be positive. This feeling was more than reciprocated throughout the event. All of the bands were generous with their time and words.

The All American Rejects blasted fans away with a pretty long performance with all their current and previous hits. We met a few great fans and captured some pretty sick shots of the group. Throughout the night we continued to snap photos, take names, and try to mentally note the performances and performers. We did a pretty decent job, from talking to Doug, a 12 year old fan who was leaning against the railing jamming out to “Move Along,” to four random guys we met while picking up refreshments.

Meeting up with Anthony a.k.a. PDA Friday night and being personally invited to his show Saturday at the Blank Slate stage was a great feeling. He has read our website (thistulsa.com) before and was more than supportive of our small-time publication here. Friday night ended with a small party at Brad’s house with some friends and family of PDA and ourselves.

We continued to rock out Dfest Saturday with Sworn Against, PDA, The Roots, Zappa Plays Zappa, Colourmusic, and the crowds backstage.

The parties were great, crowds polite, people awesome, performers excellent, and overall left a definite hole after it was said and done. More about each individual band and their performance soon!

For those who missed out on Pryor, Oklahoma’s Rocklahoma last year; you better not miss it this year! If you are a fan of traditionally kick-butt rock-n-roll, find your way out to hang out.

The classic Triumph line-up of Rik Emmett, Mike Levine and Gil Moore could not have selected a better way to reunite after a two-decade absence in North America with what will undoubtedly be a show-stopping headline appearance at Rocklahoma 2008 on Friday, July 11, 2008.

“Triumph is very excited to be performing at Rocklahoma this summer and I am really looking forward to being on stage with Gil and Rik again” bassist Mike Levine said.

We have received most of the line-up — but there are a few spots still to be filled. When we hear who the remaining bands are, we’ll let you know.

Thursday, July 10^th

• Bret Michaels
• Sebastian Bach
• LA Guns
• Enuf Znuff
• Vain
• House of Lords
• Jet Boy

Friday, July 11^th

• Triumph
• Extreme
• Lita Ford
• Night Ranger
• Living Colour
• Kingdome Come
• Armored Saint
• XYZ

Saturday, July 12^th

• Cinderella
• Warrant
• KIX
• Lynch Mob
• Trixter
• Black N Blue
• Tora Tora
• Every Mothers Nightmare
• Pretty Boy Floyd
• Tesla
• Beautiful Creatures
• Zebra
• AXE
• and more to be announced!