Comstock, NE - Media Reviews

Comstock rocks countryside all night long By Custer County Chief

Def Leppard closed out the Comstock Rock Festival Sunday with one question, "Do you wanna get rocked?"

And the answer from the estimated 10,000 fans in attendance was a resounding yes as the mega-hit band closed out the four-day festival with their hugely popular Let's Get Rocked. "It's like a city out there," Henry Nuxoll said, co-organizer of the Comstock festivals.

Def Leppard had the crowd already electrified while playing such hits as Rocket, Pour Some Sugar on Me and Photograph. Co-organizer Roland Shafer was thrilled to see the turnout for the second annual event.

"It's as perfect as can be. A definite increase from last year," Shafer said of the estimated 35,000-40,000 fans who braved the heat to watch their favorite bands play for the four-day event. The estimates indicate a 25 percent increase over last year's inaugural festival.

Despite temps that rose to triple digits by noon on Saturday and Sunday, Shafer said the weather was perfect and everyone was having a great time. Joe Elliott of Def Leppard joked with the crowd, "Someone is smoking something very illegal and I don't mean Cuban cigars. So if I forget the words it's your fault." While in jest, Elliott's comments reflected many fears of illegal drug use during the festival, but that notion was never realized as extra security this year prevented things from getting out of hand.

"Roland and Henry are really trying to make this a family-oriented event," said Bugsy Perry of Columbus. " And so far, things have went perfect."

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Custer County Sheriff's Office helped keep the peace during the festival. The Grand Island based Blue Knight Security and Tri-City Security of Kearney were also on-site for the entire festival.

Though no numbers were available as of press time, Nebraska State Patrol Sergeant Lynn Williams said felony drug arrests were down from last year, while minor in possession (MIP) citations increased.

County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Spanel concurred, saying the number of methamphetamine cases were down. There were a larger number of MIPs, marijuana and driving while intoxicated cases. Several assaults were also reported and investigations are ongoing, Spanel said.

The England-based Def Leppard was preceded on stage by a truly American band in Grand Funk Railroad.

Grand Funk recently reformed and released an anthology of their songs and hit the tour trail again and performed their trademark songs Locomotion, Some Kind of Wonderful and We're an American Band.

Max Carl, a member of Grand Funk and formerly of .38 Special, is the band's local connection and the Nebraska native received a huge introduction.

Grand Funk kept their "American Band" theme as the band placed the national flag on stage and played a guitar solo of The Star Spangled Banner to the thrill of the crowd. The Australian group, The Little River Band took the stage for the 5 p.m. show and delighted the audience with some of their trademark songs and later signed autographs in the merchandise tent in the main area, one of the few weekend bands to do so.

Opening the final day were smaller groups like Walter Trout and the Radicals and the Nebraska-based band, The Smoke Ring. In toll, the festival continues to grow and the focus for people to travel to Central Nebraska and enjoy themselves remain intact. "It was nice and warm and everyone is enjoying themselves. It was perfect," Shafer said. Nuxoll echoed Shafer's thoughts.

"When you get an international group like Def Leppard to come here and say they want to return again, again, again and again, it says something is going right." Nuxoll said some fine tuning will be done so fans don't overlook some opportunities at Comstock and that every festival is becoming better than the one before it. "We'll continue the tradition in giving people more than they expect in a place that noboby expected it to happen in," Nuxoll said. "Where else can you go?" Shafer added.

By Custer County Chief 2003.

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