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Monsters On The Mountain, now rebranded as the The Mountain Music Festival, held their third edition of the fest in Gatlinburg, TN in the Great Smoky Mountains on August 23-25. 

The festival runs in association with the Monsters Of Rock cruise, and has contained many of those event posters and past lineups at The Mountain festival. Yes, the convention center is in in the mountains, and hotels are walking distance away. The location is 3+ hours away from Nashville and 30 minutes away from Dollywood, which we passed through on the way in. 

Gatlinburg is a tourist town, all the blocks surrounding the convention center are themed restaurants, events, and activities like Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Dude's Daiquiris, Dick's Last Resort, barbeque spots, arcades, pizzerias, and of course a Starbucks.

The setup in the convention hall (lower level) was two stages side by side. When one band was playing, the other was setting up. It was only a 5-10 minute wait for the acts to start. Lower level also had several venders selling CDs, clothing, and artwork, including photographer Mark Weiss selling his book The Decade That Rocked (also hosting a photo clinic). 

DAY 1
Friday's kickoff activities started late afternoon with Eddie Trunk before the first band started playing, Soto/Bieler on the upper level at 5PM having fun with acoustic renditions of covers including the Saigon Kick hit "Love Is On The Way", Stoney Curtis after. Mac Sabbath were one of my favorites of the weekend. They are three guys dressed like McDonald’s characters that play Ozzy-era Black Sabbath songs, but with song titles and lyrics about fast food. Lots of fun and hysterical to watch. They even had blowup hamburgers thrown out to the crowd like beach balls. 

Tennessee rockers Tora Tora were next with all original members and their hits "Walkin Shoes" and "Phantom Rider", while Norway’s Wig Wam received a warm response. Great White headlined Friday with DJ Eddie Trunk recognizing the recent passing of original singer Jack Russell. New singer singer Brett Carlisle fit in well. It was good to hear harder rockers have been like "Stick It" off the debut, "Gonna Getcha", "Mista Bone", and "Big Goodbye". 

DAY 2
Day 2 was a series of activities, starting off around 11AM, first band was newer hard rock act Stone Whiskey, followed by new melodic rock / AOR rockers No Love Lost new melodic AOR rockers who were great, and then 3/5ths original members in Babylon AD ("Bang Go The Bells", "Hammer Swings Down"). 

Dangerous Toys, who I never saw live, were another favorite of the weekend. All original members from the self-titled debut in 1989, "Teasin Pleasin", "Scared" were the hits. Cold Sweat featuring Marc Ferrari (Keel) played next. Quiet Riot has had bassist Rudy Sarzo back in the band for a few years, guitarist Alex Grossi now 20 years, with Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative) on drums, and Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate) singing. Musically it is tight, but Pearl's voice does not fit. He's very different to DuBrow, and I keep hearing "Black Out In The Red Room", which they played amongst the QR hits. 

Hoekstra/Gibbs did a set of acoustic songs, a break from all the hard rock, including of course the Whitesnake hits "Love Ain’t No Stranger" and "Hear I Go Again". Slaughter used the video screen behind the drums for some graphics and lyrics to go with several songs. Frontman Mark Slaughter has his good and bad days live, and I have always enjoyed his voice, the highs and mid-range. When he favors his mid-range, like today, not pushing the highs and screams, he sounds great, like for songs "Spend My Life", "Days Gone By", and "Real Love". 

The night closed with some classic rock from Foghat and .38 Special who's clean guitars and melodies stood out surrounded by glam metal; I forgot how many radio hits they have. And did you know Joan Jett's setlist includes nine covers? Hits too, including "Light Of Day" from the movie. 

DAY 3
Day 3, first band up Bad Marriage featuring former Tesla guitarist Tommy Skeoch, George Lynch had some technical issues during the Lynch Mob set (Dokken opener "Lightning Strikes Again"), but soldiered through until the sound was fixed. And Aldo Nova ("Fantasy") who hasn't toured in 30 years got a rousing response, his backing band full of energy. 

Faster Pussycat played to a packed house on the second floor, perfect for them as it was like a sweaty LA club in the ‘80s. Vixen, who were on the same stage as Lynch Mob also had some technical issues, but it worked itself out by the time they did a sterling medley of VH's "Running With The Devil” / “I Want You To Rock” me with Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers". Georgia southern rockers Jackyl and singer Jesse James Dupree broke out the chainsaw and cut into a stool, did a whisky toast with Eddie Trunk and comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine, for "The Lumberjack". 

Night Ranger, man, I have seen them many times and singer Jack Blades never misses a beat, nor does guitarist Brad Gillis. Full stage show and lights. Of course you can still, and should always, "Rock In America". Plus, they did the two Damn Yankees hits. 

Headliners Tesla also brought their full stage show for the current tour. Video screen includes all the graphics, lights. Opened the set with "Cumin Atcha live" and a new song "All About Love".

Special thanks to: Aldo Nova and his guitarist Jack Frost for the exclusive backstage access and photo pass, Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice for setting up the onsite Facebook live interviews with Aldo Nova, and all the musicians who I met and spoke with which includes: Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot), Frank Hannon (Tesla), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, TSO), Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum (Slaughter), Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys), the Aldo Nova band, singer for Mac Sabbath, comedian Don Jamieson, Roy Cathey (Cold Sweat), and Metal DJ Will (Total Rock). I was also able to check out Vixen’s two song soundcheck and the girls were awesome. New singer Rosa Laricchiuta (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) just killed it.