FESTIVAL REVIEW: 101WRIF Brings In Heavy Hitters For Riff Fest 2024

Godsmack-20 — Godsmack at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan on Saturday, September 28, 2024. [Photo credit: Pam Whisenhunt]

PAM WHISENHUNT | Go Venue Magazine

On September 28, 2024, radio station 101 WRIF presented Riff Fest 2024 at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. It was a cloudy, overcast day with a very good chance of rain. Fans started gathering in the parking lot around 9:00-9:30am and began tailgating, blaring a variety of heavy metal from their vehicles and began priming for the long day ahead.

101 WRIF DJ’s Nate and Jade took the stage to welcome everyone and introduce the first band. Nate talked about a spot they do on the radio “Motor City Riffs” where local bands can submit their songs to be featured on the show. Stormstress was one of those bands. Nate was blown away when he heard them and kept their name in his back pocket. When a spot opened up for Riff Fest 2024 he said to Jade “Hey, remember that band?” The rest was history and Stormstress was tagged to kick off the festival. Stormstress hit the second “festival” stage shortly after 2:00pm and did a righteous job setting the tone for the rest of the day.

Concurrently running opposite the festival stage were autograph signings and meet and greats rotating through Fame on Fire, Stormstress, Flat Black, Sleep Theory and Royale Lynn. The lines were long, but fortunately patrons could still see and hear the bands on stage so didn’t have to worry about missing a set.

Royale Lynn brought the country-rock cross-over sound that’s been so popular lately. Love it or hate it, she’s an up-and-coming face of the movement and the hard rock radio stations are playing it. Royale Lynn did a song she considers “disco metal” and a Fly Leaf cover “All Around Me” which was a perfect fit for her voice. She finished the set with “Death Wish”, bringing Asking Alexandria’s Danny Worsnop up on stage to join in the duet, and lastly closed the set with her biggest hit “Six Feet Deep”.

Fame on Fire was next on the festival stage. Fame on Fire is currently touring with Wage War on their “The Stigma Tour” and were fully ready up for this show. They brought the energy and sounded fantastic. Their set included their biggest songs “Welcome to the Chaos”, “Nightmare” “Chains” and “Plastic Heart”.

Next, everyone I talked to before the show mentioned Flat Black. They were a part of everyone’s conversation and was quite a buzz around ‘em, especially their guitarist Jason Hook. If you didn’t know, Hook is the former guitarist of Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP) and is the one who assembled Flat Black in 2023. All the hype was real. Flat Black closed out the festival stage with a heavy set including original hits “A Little Bit Of Lightning” and “It’s Your Lack of Respect” as well as two FFDP covers “Wash It All Away” and “Burn MF”. Flat Black is currently on tour with Godsmack through the end of October. Take in a show, it’ll be worth it.

Just after 5:00 p.m., we made our way over to the “main” stage to finish out the night.

Sleep Theory, originally set for the festival stage, were moved up to the main stage. It was a well-earned move. Sleep Theory has really blown up lately, touring the better part of the last year with some big names and getting heavy play on streaming services and radio stations. Sleep Theory included three of those big songs in this set, “Fallout”, “Stuck In My Head”, and “Another Way”.

Wage War, a recent favorite of mine and one of the heaviest bands on the festival lineup, was next. This crew always bring the energy, today was no different. Wage War thrilled us with confetti blasts and cryo effects. The set was stacked with a variety of songs, mixing heavy hitters “Low”, “Stitch”, “Nail5” and “Tombstone” in with some radio favorites “Circle the Drain”, “Magnetic” and “Manic”. Wage War is currently on tour supporting their newest album, Stigma. Hit up the tour before they head to Europe in January.

English metalcore veterans, Asking Alexandria came in with a shortened set including “Into the Fire”, “Dark Void”, “Moving On”, “The Final Episode” and “Alone In A Room”. Danny Worsnop’s (lead vocals) voice was strong and both Sam Bettley (Bass) and Cameron Liddell (Guitar) paced back and forth, swapping spots on the stage, making sure the crowd felt all the energy. Worsnop wanted to get a pit going, but with venue seating, it really wasn’t conducive for it. The crowd on the knoll took on the challenge.

Seether coming off a two-year United States hiatus, have finally made it back, touring in support of their new album The Surface Seems So Far just released on September 20th, 2024. The stage lighting was a lot better than expected. I’ve seen them in the past, and it’s typically very dark and smoky. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Corey Lowery (guitar) and Dale Stewart (Bass) working the stage. The crowd participated heavily, chanting and singing along to every song. Seether’s set consisted of all old hits “Let You Down”, “Dangerous”, “Country Song”, “Wasteland”, “Rise Above This”, “Fake It” and “Remedy”. They only played one new song, “Judas Mind”. I guess we’ll have to wait to see them on their current headlining tour for an expanded setlist. Regardless, it was great to have them back in the states and performing.

Heavy metal veterans, Godsmack finally took the stage and finished the night. First, I have to say it, Godsmack had the worst curtain drop I’ve ever seen. Typically, a band will put up the curtain to build anticipation and excitement. We were all ready for the band to come out and start jamming as soon as the curtain dropped, but they weren’t there. They played a 3-minute video recapping the last 25 years of the band. It was the most anticlimactic show starter I’ve seen. But with that aside, once Godsmack came out, it was game on. Sully and crew sounded fantastic and really know how to play to the crowd. Their set consisted of some of their biggest hits from the last 25 years “Surrender”, “You and I”, “When Legends Rise”, “1000hp”, “Cryin’ Like a Bitch”, “Speak”, “Straight Out Of Line”, “Awake”, and “Keep Away”. Towards the end of their set, Shannon Larkin (Drums) and Sully Erna (vocals) performed the “Batalla de los tambores” or battle of the drums. This is a staple at all Godsmack shows, giving Erna the opportunity to show off his drumming chops. For the final song of the set, “Whatever”, Erna brought some kids onto the stage and acknowledged them as the next generation. Erna had them lead a call and response with the crowd. It took a few times, but the crowd finally called well enough for Erna to let them be.

Godsmack came back out for a three-song encore. Erna reentered the stage playing a piano, talking about mental health and his Scars foundation. Erna thanked Detroit for being there since the beginning and for supporting them for the past 26 years.

Thank you, 313 Presents and 101 WRIF for giving Go Venue Magazine the opportunity to be a part of Riff Fest 2024. You really know how to stack a line-up. Pine Knob Theatre, 101 WRIF staff and fellow photographers were outstanding and really made a girl feel at home. It was a blast. I can’t wait for the next show.