10 bands kept Bullard Park rocking over 2 days
7th Heaven closes out annual Albion music festival
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The band 7th Heaven fired up the crowd to close out the 10th Rock the Park music festival at Bullard Park.
This was the third year the event expanded to two days. There were 10 musical groups that played over the two days.
The crowd was rocking for the concert. The organizers gave away 500 glow sticks to the attendees.
Performers at the festival included three band son Friday – Triple Play, V3 and Bad Sign.
On Saturday, the performers included Carson and Sam, Shotgun Pauly, Stanton, Mixed Experience, driven, BeatleMagic and 7th Heaven.
7th Heaven opened its set with “There’s Never Been Any Reason” by Head East, followed by Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell,” “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, and “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi.
The band includes from left: Albion native Michael Giarrizzo, guitarist and singer for the band; Terry K., lead singer; Phil LaTona, the drummer; Dave Quick, the bass player from Kendall; and Eddie Krysinski on keyboards.
BeatleMagic made its debut at Rock the Park. The band had the crowd dancing to “Twist and Shout.”
BeatleMagic has been performing popular Beatles songs since 1999. The band includes Russ Thomas as John Lennon, Nelson Starr as Paul McCartney, Mike Kiel as George Harrison and Chris Mattioli as Ringo Starr.
Dylan DeSmit sings “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. DeSmit and driVen performed for nearly two hours. The drummer is Travis Mackie. DeSmit has been part of Rock the Park since its earliest days.
Mike “Thunder” Warren, guitarist for driVen, enjoys getting the crowd going at concerts. DriVen played a four-hour concert the day earlier at Back Porch 585 Tavern in Brockport, a concert that included a lengthy tribute of music by Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy, the frontman for Black Sabbath, died at age 76 on July 22.
Warren, who plays in the band Savage Cabbage, said Osbourne has long been a musical inspiration for him.
Jake Stinson of the Albion Lions Club works the grill and gets a hot dog ready for June Persia of the Lions. There were several food vendors at the event.
Jim Doyle attended Rock the Park for the first time on Saturday. He was pleased to see several hundred people enjoying the music under the main tent, with many others on the main grounds near the amphitheater.
Doyle is a music teacher and coordinates a concert series at Hoag Library. The next concert there is Aug. 16.
Doyle said the Albion community has embraced musicians of all types. A Wednesday concert series in the summer has been drawing several hundred people, too.
“Music has the power to bring people together of all ages,” Doyle said. “There is something magical about music.”
Dave Quick, 7th Heaven’s bass player, gave a high-energy performance during the band’s two-hour concert to close out the music festival.
Rock the Park has been a fundraiser for Bullard with proceeds helping to push for many improvements at the park in the past decade, including the amphitheater.
7th Heaven has performed at Rock the Park before, including as the closer of the 2019 event back when there wasn’t an amphitheater and a stage needed to be set up for the concerts. Saturday, the band got the prime slot on the new stage. The amphitheater has been steadily used since its first concert on June 19, 2021.
