Returning Weenie Roast rocks rain away

Rain threatened tomire 106.5 WEND The End’s returning End of Summer Weenie Roast Sunday, but thefine spray of sprinkles subsided just as Anberlin was leaving the stage around 2:30making way for a pleasant, thankfully comfortably cool, stylistically diverseday. After side stage sets from Vess and Drop D, Foxy Shazamgreeted concert goers at the gate with its charmingly over-the-top set, which was one of the best of the day.
Foxy isenormously fun to watch with its Queen-like grandeur, but they aren’t beyond theatricalstunts. The animated Sky White, for instance, removes his keyboard from itsstand at one point in the show and plays it atop fans outstretched arms (pictured above). Frontman Eric Sean Nallyended the show by requesting “a bunch of cigarettes,” stuffing at least sixin his mouth, lighting them, then eating them before letting the drummer usehis head as a cymbal stand.
You get the sense that Foxy tries to outdo every other band onthe bill no matter who it’s paired with.
The sound was actuallystrongest on the side stage earlier in the day. The main stage was a bitmuffled for Our Lady Peace (pictured above), but that didn’t stop fans from singing along with the Canadian rock band. An early staple of WEND, OurLady Peace continued the `90s rock resurgence kicked off by Eve 6’s setearlier with hits like 1998’s “Clumsy” and 1995’s “Starseed.” The group’s stringof alternative rock hits, including the crowd favorite “Somewhere Out There,”extends well into the 2000s as well.
Though also fromToronto, hard rock act Evans Blue represented the flipside both sonically and chronologicallywith their biggest hits striking the rock chart in 2011 and 2012. It drew anample crowd to the side stage for a testosterone-fueled set of Tool and post-hardcore-tinged modern rock. But neither Canadiangroup matched the excitement of Christian rock’s biggest crossover artist Switchfoot,whose set of hits like “Meant to Live” and “Mess of Me” escalated with arousing cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” What better way to get non-fanson their feet? 
Frontman Jon Foreman charged all the way to thefront of the lawn and performed the next song from the audience where he teetered on the metal barrier that divided the pit from the seats (pictured above).
Hometown breakout PaperTongues closed the side stage filling the fenced parking lot area. Althoughthe mix was uneven, the band charged through its eclectic set with heart-on-sleeveenthusiasm. Having already made it outside of Charlotte, Paper Tongues alwaysplays like it’s proving itself and though musically a pop-rock unit at its corethe group hits on everything from reggae to gospel-like backing vocals to aLatin-tinged beat to a Chuck Berry solo. It somehow all works together. Maybeit was due to the sound issue, but its set seemed less polished, more raw andvisceral than on record. That may be an indication of wherethe  now independent act is heading.
The stylistic moodshifted again as the heaviest band of the day, Coheed and Cambria, took themainstage with its high concept, theatrical brand of math-metal. FrontmanClaudio Sanchez is a revelation with his six string shredding, soaring vocals,and massive hair (which he unleashed the same time as the white double neck heended the set with - pictured above). 
Although Coheed’s grand, complicated arrangements translated wellon the big stage as with any festivalyou have pockets of intense appreciation next to faces of boredindifference. Such was the case for both C&C and Flogging Molly, whoseenthusiastic fans made up for the seat dwellers. Flogging Molly actuallyignited the best crowd of the day with the Irish-American folk-punkensemble leading many in fist-pumping anthems and dances that bridged straightedge, skanking, and Irish jigs. One fan dressed as Luigi from Super Mario Bros.led what almost looked like a kickline of revelers in the pit.
The sound was oftenpummeling though with banjo, mandolin, fiddle and more traditional rock instruments blending on stage. It was hard to hear the nuancesof individual instruments and the sound was even muddier from the lawn. 
Band leaderDave King dedicated one song to the families of those that died at the AmericanEmbassy in Libya this week and thanked soldiers serving in the military. Itsraucous set exuded unabashed patriotism. It’s somehow fitting that an immigrant from Ireland whose bandhas literally climbed from a Warped Tour stage smaller than my living room toselling out venues like The Fillmore can inspire such chants of freedom.
Garbage, who disbanded for seven years in2005 and hadn’t played Charlotte for over five years before that, made a welcome return. I never saw Garbage inCharlotte, but the mid `90s concert I witnessed at Virginia Tech remains on myshort list of shows I’d travel back in time to. 
Led by the apparently agelessShirley Manson, who at 46 looks better than many thirty year olds I know, Garbagedelivered a set of mostly hits like “Blood for Poppies,” “StupidGirl,” and “I Think I’m Paranoid.” There were a few surprises though. The early B-side“#1 Crush” (which actually went to #1 when it was included on the “Romeo &Juliet” soundtrack) was a pleasant inclusion while “Cherry Lips” and the minorsingle “Push It” also made the cut.
Though shestruggled with her in-ear monitor, fiddling with her belt pack through much of the set, Manson never let italter the quality of her vocals or her pacing, posing, prancing, bendy performance.
Although some in thecrowd pondered the placement of the Offspring as headliner, the Southern California group hastechnically had twice the number of alternative rock charting singles as Garbage. For anyone only sticking around for its arguably biggest - “Come Outand Play” - Dexter Holland and company delivered it as the second song in its set. Those hungry for Offspring’s other biggieswould wait until the end where “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” and “Self-Esteem”helped close the resurrected Weenie down though some concertgoers had already vacated their seats. 
Empty seats were visible through the day, an issue WEND’s Jack Daniels addressed while introducing Flogging Molly: “If you see an empty seatnext to you - or 12…” He asked those in attendance to bring friends next year signaling that this might not be the final Weenie. 
Here’s hoping the station decides to do it again. Given the overall quality of acts and the weather (compared to sweltering July Warped Tours), the festival made for a fun Sunday.