Some On the Waterfront festival-goers have complained that the bands being booked for the downtown Rockford Labor Day weekend bash the past few years aren’t as good as ones that have appeared in the past.
I’m not seeing much of a difference. Here’s a list from 1984 to 2008 for you to check out.
Register Star photo of Ted Nugent in 2006 at OTW.
Related posts:
1996 to 2002 was much better compared to the last few years. The headliners don’t appear much different, but there is a vast difference on the side stages. My guess is they pay the 2-3 headliners a bigger share now and the organizers don’t want to risk losing additional tickets sales (vs button only) with competition from a good side stage.
Your list of past acts is actually not very complete.
For instance, in 1984 you only have “Michael Jackson impersonator”.
Here is the actual list of 1984 OTW performers:
Greek Festival Dancers
Hmong Association Dancers
Irish Marching Society Dancers
Italian Music Band
Jim Gill, Magician
Juan Flowers, Michael Jackson Impersonator
Jump ‘N The Saddle Band
Keith and Kay, Folk Singers
Lao / Indo Chinese Dancers
Moonlight Jazz Orchestra
Philippine Dancers
Polish Folk Dancers
Scottish Highland Dancers
Sharon Nesbit Davis, Mime Artist
Southside Master Minds
Tom Doman, Folk Tales and Storyteller
Traidwind Band
The other years are all missing many acts as well.
LD: good observations.
OTW Fan: Thanks for the added info. A colleague of mine who likes to collect lists said he got this info from On the Waterfront. If you have any more bands to add, please do, and we’ll check again with Waterfront to make sure we get a completed list.
Hi Geo,
I don’t have all years (yet!) but I do have complete lists for 1984 (see above), 1986 (see below), 1991 and all years from 1993 on. The 1991 and 1993 on lists all come from the official OTW guides that were handed out at the festival. If you would like to see them, let me know. I’d be glad to let you borrow them.
Here are the 1986 Performers
——————————————-
Association, The
Bad Boy
Big Twist and the Mellow fellows
Booze Brothers Revue, The
Bun E. Carlos Experience, The
Dan Voll and Betsy Kaske Jazz Band
Dave Mason
Dell Shannon, Freddie Cannon, Hot Rod Chevy Kevy and Flashback Band
Deluxury
Derek St. Holmes
Dorothy Paige Turner and the Rockford Jazz Musicians
Eddy Clearwater
EIEIO
Eight Day, The
Ellen Mcllwaine
Elvis Brothers, The
Explosonic Rockers
Famous Vacationers
Forester Sisters, The
Fury, The
Green River
In Crowd, The
Jamie O’Reilly and the Rouges
Jelly Soldiers
Jim Post
John Hunter
Juggular
Jump in the Saddle
L.P.
Limited Warranty
Lonnie Brooks
Mark Weiss
Men of Our Times
Mickey and the Memories
Mike Mongi
Mike Jordan and the Rockamatics
Monday Morning Dixieland Jazz Band
Mr. Meyers
Nicholas Tremulis
NIU Jazz Ensemble
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Panama
Paul Smith Band
Pee Wee and the Wristers
Piper Road Spring Band
ReBop
Right Mind
Rock Valley College Old Towne Band
Ron Pederson Trio
Stardust
State Street Station Dance Contest
Tom Stein Quintet, The
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
Tony Brown Band
T. R. Loon
Wallets, The
Wild Blue
I didn’t see ‘em, but did the listing include:
Tish Hinojosa
California Guitar Trio
America
Hugh Masekela
Peter Lang, Charlie Parr & Dakokta Dave Hull (The Minnesota Guitar Wizards)
OTW fan: Wow, thanks for what you posted, and yes, I would like to borrow them so we can make a complete list to have on hand. Maybe I can get ‘em later next weekish? e-mail me at gbraun@rrstar.com and let me know how, when and how.
And Hoke: As usual, keep us on our toes.
Quite an impressive list of the glory days of OWTF.
I reminds me of the Charlotte’s Web T-Shirt with all the performers that played there over the years. And, it always brings a tear to my eye when I notice how many of the “greats” I missed that performed at “The Web” – sometimes out of laziness, and sometimes ’cause of the lack of a babysitter.
hokumboy
You are correct. None of the bands you listed are on the RRS list. I did a real quick scan through my old OTW guides and found a couple:
California Guitar Trio played OTW in 1995, 2001 and 2002.
Minnesota Guitar Wizards played OTW in 2005.
If I find more I’ll post them.
Geo,
Watch for an email.
Not to mention The Fabulous Janes – always a crowd pleaser
And, for the life of me I can’t remember their name, that great cover band from Milwaukee that was such a great festival band that would out draw some of the headliners .
OTW Fan, can you remember their name?
hokumboy,
Milwaukee cover band? The only one the immediately comes to mind is “Streetlife”. They played around 2002 – 2003(?) I think, on the stage southeast of State and Madison streets. Excellent band. Jazz / R&B style music. They are the house band for the Milwaukee Bucks, and put on a *great* show.
Nothing else comes to mind right now, but there’s been SO MANY bands these past 25 years!!! I’ll ask / look around and see what else comes up. If you have any more info (year played, music genre, etc.) to help narrow it down, let me know.
They were a regular for quite a few years – pre FabJanes. A big production – horn section – costume changes – routines. They sorta lost favor when they started dropping the oldies and began leaning towards the disco. They usually played at the stage in the Gas & Electric parking lot.
Hey Hokumboy,
Still not quite sure what band you’re remembering. Did see another great Wisconsin band this weekend. Although they’re from LaCrosse, not Milwaukee. The band was “Three Beers Till Dubuque”. Tight musicians. Great horn section. Huge crowd pleaser. They were at the Left Bank stage this year.
Like you, all of my favorite bands this year were at stages other than Great Lawn. Dot Dot Dot put on an incredible show at Stage Right. Adam and the rest of the gang have more energy than I’ve seen in any band in a long time. The band Catfight played at Bar 3 after OTW on Sunday night. Rose (guitarist) and Little Lisa (bass) from Dot Dot Dot are ex-Catfight alum. Little Lisa stopped by the bar after OTW and I had a chance to chat with her.
The Sensations were at the Oasis stage early Friday night. Holland Zander is an extremely talented singer.
Brother (Center Stage, Friday) and Eastern Bloc (Left Bank, Sunday) were a couple more of my favs.
All in all, a TREMENDOUS weekend. Bought my OTW ticket in June so it only cost $12.00. So 12 bucks divided by 80 bands comes out to exactly 15 cents a band. I dare anyone to find a better deal anywhere.
Hope you enjoyed the fest and I’ll keep trying to come up with the “band you can’t remember”!
I got it !!!!
Barry’s Truckers !
Funny how someting will just plop into the brain every once in a while. I’ve hit the age, regretfully, where most thoughts seem to plop out of the brain rather than in.
I didn’t go to OWTF again this year – not one band interested me enough to make the 2 mile trip.
But, I can’t understand the folks who whine about the price of the Festival. If you do find one band that’s good you’ve gotten your money’s worth. Twice over. Try and find a concert for under $40 for a name or under $15 for an unknown. It just don’t happen! Where I went over the weekend it was $15 a day for each day and there wasn’t a band or individual that probably l 1 in a 1,000 Rockfordian’s ever even heard of. I got $5 off the entrance fee ’cause I’m an old fart but between the admission, a brat, and a CD I ended up spending $30 bucks. Still not a bad day for something I enjoy. I always include the cost ofa CD or two in my day’s expenses. It’s a way to support the little groups I like and have a “souvenir d’un moment”.