Locobazooka, A Huge Sucess!

August 13, 2006

The reunited Alice in Chains certainly ranked up there with the best of the Loco bookings, but the festival also stayed true to its spirit of promoting local, independent and rising talent. A total of 63 bands were part of the show. Bands from the Worcester circuit such as 12 Step Program and Skulltoboggan caused a stir, and this year the festival tapped Bay State rock heritage by having The Neighborhoods, The Fools and Charlie Farren on the bill. And the last act in the festivals’ stage in the Tweeter’s wooded grove was a red-hot jam session led by former J. Geils Band and current StoneCazy bassist Danny Klein.

The Neighborhoods stormed Locobazooka’s main stage with a set of pure and easy power-pop-punk that sounded as fresh today as it did years ago when Dave Minehan and crew crafted Boston’s answer to The Ramones in the late ’70s and ruled the Boston rock scene through the ’80s.

In the grove stage sandwiched between the parking lot and main stage (a midpoint oasis of sorts) the schedule was the day’s most eclectic. Travis Meeks from Days of the New played a riveting solo acoustic set. Seis Pistos delivered Mexican punk rock. The Fools offered its irreverent pop gems. Black Stone Cherry packed new-breed Southern rock. And as mentioned above, the grove closed to the strains of Geils Band-style groove. 

© Worcester Telegram
Scott McLennan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

We would like to give special thanks to James Holmes of JP Productions for doing a bang-up job orchestrating stage lights for the day!