Rock in Rio USA became fully functional on its second day.
The key component to Rock in Rio’s theme park of music — the completed theme park — was finally in slow rotation about 5 p.m. today. La Grande Wheel, the 150-foot-high Ferris wheel in the middle of the 50-acre MGM Resorts Festival Grounds, wasn’t operating during Friday’s opening day and night of Rock Weekend.
The first, official explanation was that high winds forced the attraction to be shut down. But by this afternoon, it was evident at the wheel that engineers were inside the cabins and reviewing and inspecting the attraction (reportedly there was a computer glitch).
Long before Hollywood Undead took the Main Stage at 5:30 p.m., a line thick with fans had formed leading to the big wheel.
Two riders who had spun slowly on La Grand Wheel said that they had are having a fine time on and off the wheel.
“You can see everything from up there,” said Alex Gutierrez of San Diego, a software developer who purchased his festival tickets in March. “We’ve been to a lot of festivals, and this is a really big space.”
Gutierrez’s festival sidekick, Rita Ramirez, a registered nurse from Tijuana, said she was in Las Vegas expressly for Rock Weekend.
“No Doubt, Mana, Linkin Park, Metallica,” she said. “That’s why we’re here. We will not be here next week. We’ve heard of Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift, and that’s it.”
The afternoon and early evening sets were predictably high-amperage, with Hollywood Undead and Rise Against on the Main Stage, and Coheed and Cambria and Sepultura featuring guitar great Steve Vai on the Mercedes-Benz Stage. Hollywood Undead was a treat for the uninitiated, wearing masks and happily swearing at the masses during and between songs.
“Who is seeing us for the first time and thinks we suck?” longtime band member J-Dog crowed to the crowd. When there was a seemingly sarcastic cheer, he answered, “Well, (expletive) you!” And everyone cheered.
Sepultura, celebrating its 30th anniversary, tilted the grounds toward the side auxiliary stage, its bass-heavy sound rolling over the festival. As was the case on the first day, the programming on Rock Street was topnotch and well-paced. The Academy of Villains dance crew were among a host of acts to draw a healthy crowd at Rock Street USA, and Spok Frevo Orquestra at Rock Street Brazil toggled with Stone the Beetles at Rock Street U.K.
The EDM stage stayed busy with Alok among the star DJs, and the action was ceaseless at the festival’s zip line high above the Main Stage.
The festival ticket sales were put into sharper focus earlier by founder Roberto Medina, who told the Associated Press that 130,000 tickets have been sold over both weekends, nearly split evenly over Rock and Pop weekends. “Pretty good,” he said, as the grounds can take per-night crowds of as many as 85,000.
Medina reiterated, “This is a theme park of music.” Now it has the operating attractions to make it so.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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