Different artists will perform at the various venues, including Shawn Mendes, Cardi B, Calvin Harris, Khalid, Dua Lipa, 5 Seconds of Summer, Camila Cabello, Marshmello, The Chainsmokers and many more.

Chicago, Ill. – Wednesday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m. CST – 103.5 KISS FM’s Jingle Ball 2018 Presented by Capital One at Allstate Arena

The star-studded lineup features: Shawn Mendes, Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa, Alessia Cara, Bebe Rexha, Bazzi and Sabrina Carpenter

If you miss it you can catch up to the tour this Saturday
Z100’s Jingle Ball in New York on Friday, Dec. 7, will be carried live on 100 iHeartRadio CHR stations. The CW Network will also exclusively live-stream Z100’s Jingle Ball via CWTV.com and The CW App and broadcast the event as an exclusive nationwide television special on Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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By Rich Kwasniewski

The Scorpions

They’ve been around for 50+ yrs.,, how many bands can say that and still sell out an arena? Not only that, play their classics with the same power and force that made them superstars to begin with. The Scorpions proved they can at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

Calling their current tour “Crazy World” sure seemed like the right name considering our current political climate, but forget politics and other nonsense… they came to rock! Starting their set with “Going out With A Bang” seemed a little ominous… perhaps a final tour? Hope not. “Make it Real” and “The Zoo” followed with lead singer Klaus Meine tossing dozens of drumsticks to the audience. Going back to the 70s for a bit, a medley of “Top of the Bill,” “Steamrock Fever,”  “Speedy’s Coming” and “Catch Your Train” followed.

Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs powered through song after song, hamming it up like you’d expect, running around the stage in true rock guitar god style any chance they got. Rock wasn’t all the Scorps were handing out tonight… ballads such as “Send Me an Angel” and “Still Loving You” showed the power of Klaus’s voice, still an amazing thing at age 69. “Wind of Change” surely their biggest hit, had the entire audience singing along.

On drums was ex-Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee, adding a noticeable powerful beat all night long. A special moment came during a tribute to his former and recently deceased bandmate Lemmy Kilmister… a cover of the Motorhead song “Overkill” featured various images of Lemmy on all the video screens .  Drum solo?? Taken to new heights, literally, as a 5 minute solo had Mikkey rise 20 feet above the stage on a platform.

Thundering hits “Blackout” and “Big City lights” ended the set… for now… setting things up for encores. Coming back with their monster hits “No One Like You”, “Still Loving You” and “Rock You Like a Hurricane” gave you all the reasons needed to see why the Scorpions have lasted as long as they have… echoed strongly by one the first things Klaus said when the band first came out, proclaiming  “I’m in a rock ‘n roll band”. So true!

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Megadeth

American Thrash/Speed Metal heroes Megadeth was the supporting act, but easily could have been the headliner tonight or any night.

Spearheaded by the unstoppable Dave Mustaine, they started their set with “Hanger 18” from the classic Rust in Peace LP. Dwarfed by gigantic video walls flashing animation and video snippets depicting drones, war and death video, Mustaine’s growling vocals and searing guitar demonstrated why they have lasted nearly 35 years  now. The band performed  just 2 songs from their latest album “Dystopia”  – “The Threat Is Real” and the LP’s title track, preferring to stay focused on what made them heavy metal superstars.

Classic Megadeth favorites “Mechanix,” “Sweating Bullets” and “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due” continued the onslaught to everyones musical senses. Ending their hour long set with the one of their heaviest and well known songs “Symphony Of Destruction”, Mustaine, Dave Ellefson (bass) Kiko Loureiro (guitar) and Chris Adler (drums) left the stage.

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Forty years ago Foreigner released their self titled album “Foreigner” and Cheap Trick released “Cheap Trick”. Foreigner hit it big almost instantly with their hit “Feels like the First Time” while Cheap Trick thrilled its fans with a collection of songs capturing the raw rock and roll fierceness of their live performances. I actually saw both bands perform when they toured together back in 1977, but that’s ancient history, well sort of…

It’s 2017, Foreigner and Cheap Trick once again team up for a 40th anniversary tour. Have they changed in 40 years? Well, everyone gets older, but the power and excitement of their live performances is still very much intact.

Foreigner

Starting their set with “Double Vision”, Mick Jones (the only original member) and Kelly Hansen played many of the bands hits with few surprises, but that’s exactly what the crowd wanted. “Head Games”, “Cold as Ice”, “Dirty White Boy”, “Juke Box Hero”…. you forgot just how many hits Foreigner had over the years.

Mick Jones still plays guitar and keyboards with the same passion as he did way back in ’77. Kelly Hansen, lead singer and front man, has a voice nearly identical to Lou Gramm. He never seemed to stop dancing and moving around the stage while hitting all the right notes on all the classic hits.

Call them antics, call them whatever you want, but the crowd loved it when Kelly ran into the audience halfway thru one of their opening numbers and then later appeared in a Cubs jersey singing from the top of a post by the soundboard.

The night of hits ended with the Chesterton Sandpipers Choir appearing on stage singing the backing vocals to “I Want To Know What Love Is”.

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Cheap Trick

Playing in front of their signature checkerboard stage backdrop, “Hello There” began a 14 song set of classic favorites, some new tunes from the latest album “We’re All Alright” and even Tom Peterson taking the lead vocals on “I’m Waiting for the Man”, a Velvet Underground song.

Rick Nielsen might move a little slower than he did 40 years ago, but he’s still fun to watch. Switching guitars on each and every song, jumping on top of his signature riser, flinging guitar pics at the audience, his stage antics add a fun characteristic to the chords and solos that define the music of Cheap Trick.

Robin Zander, dressed in white, (similar to what he typically wore back in ’77) showed he still has that powerful voice. Not many singers can perform songs with the same depth and range 40 years later, but Robin sure can. From the smooth and melodic “Heaven Tonight” to “Surrender” and “Dream Police”, he shows he’s still got it, and will for a lot longer!

Tom Petersen, looking quite mysterious dressed in black, sporting a hat and bandana covering his neck, played his custom 12 string bass with power and fury, making those massive power chords. Tom always looks like he’s having so much fun playing up on stage. Nice work if you can get it LOL. Rick’s son Daxx took over the role as drummer a few years ago, and he does an outstanding job. Listen closely and you’ll realize just how important that drum sound is to Cheap Trick’s Music.

“Goodnight” (which only appeared on the B side of the single “Surrender”) and the appearance of Rick’s famous 5 neck Hamer custom guitar ended their set.

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Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience

Close your eyes and you’d swear it was Led Zeppelin performing…
Lead singer James Dylan, who Jason Bonham discovered on YouTube, may not look like Robert Plant, but sounded just like the 1977 version did, hitting every note pitch-perfect. On the drums of course was Jason Bonham, playing with the same intensity his dad did. Adding personal anecdotes about his dad between songs, their short set got as many of the classics in as they could – “Immigrant Song”, “Rock and Roll”, “Ramble On”… the audience wished they’d played a whole lotta more…

Somerset Amphitheater, Somerset, WI

This was the 3rd year Northwest Wisconsin experienced an “Invasion” by some the biggest bands in rock, metalcore, grunge and rap rock. Growing from a single day event in 2015 to its current 2 day format, this year’s event was  sure to please a wide variety of musical tastes. If you’re a fan of good old american rock, metalcore influenced rock, melodic death metal, grunge, pop punk, even rap rock, there was plenty to see and hear during these 2 days.

Held at the spacious Somerset Amphitheater Music and Event Center in Somerset WI, 2 day passes and campground packages were available and each day the crowd was at capacity. An abundance of various food and drink fed your primal instincts, and t-shirts and other memorabilia made sure you didn’t forget where you were. A “Meet and Greet” area was set up so avid fans could get a chance to chat with some of their idols. Selfies anyone?? This year mother nature even shined down on all of us “literally LOL”. Last year temperatures were c-o-o-l in the high 40s. Nothing like that this time around, plenty of sun and warm temps for 2 days and 12 hours of music on 3 different stages.

Saturday, May 13th

Day one had a little of every music genre. Bruce Dickinson and AS Lions started the day on the Stillwater Stage, while Sleep Signals, EveryTime I Die and In Flames had metal fans headbanging and raising their fists in unison. Godsmack and Soundgarden closed out the night over at the Monster Energy Main Stage, and little did we know we were witnessing one of the last performances by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, who sadly died a few days later on May 18th.

St Croix Stage
Sleep Signals, Wage War, Citizen Zero, Volumes. Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan, In Flames

Stillwater Stage
As Lions, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Dorothy, I Prevail, The Story So Far, Sum 41, Pierce The Veil

Monster Energy Main Stage
Rival Sons, Of Mice & Men, The Struts, The Pretty Reckless, Bush, Godsmack, Soundgarden

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Sunday,  May 14th

Day two continued with the same energy and musical onslaught that started on Saturday. Heavy metal sounds from Fozzy and Gojira kept the St. Croix stage crowds thrusting their arms high in the air. Radkey and their garage punk energy pleased everyone hanging out at the Stillwater Stage, and the epic Amon Amarth, a viking metal band from Sweden, showed what raw energy might’ve been like in the era of Vikings. Motionless in White energized the Sunday crowd over at the main stage with their gothic metalcore and Papa Roach made sure there was plenty of body surfing during his set. Kid Rock successfully completed the 2017 “Invasion” with his rap-meets-rock-meets-country hybrid style of music. As the night fell, we all slowly drove off into the night, wondering who would be invading us next year…..

St Croix Stage
Cold Kingdom, Badflower, Sylar, Bleeker, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Fozzy, Gojira

Stillwater Stage
The Charm The Fury, Goodbye June, Radkey, Attila, Opeth, Amon Amarth

Monster Energy Main Stage
Starset, Motionless In White, Nothing More, Alter Bridge, Papa Roach, The Offspring, Kid Rock

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