Rock the City 2012 headliners: Guns N' Roses, Ugly Kid Joe, Within Temptation, The Cult, Godsmack and more

Heavy-weights such as Guns N’ Roses, The Cult, Godsmack, Ugly Kid Joe and Within Temptation are headliners of the Rock the City 2012 festival which will take place this year between June 29 and July 1 at Romexpo, announced promoters D&D East Entertainment.

The lineup of the festival is completed by Machine Head, Black Label Society, Saxon, Pentagram, Sweet Savage and Lostprophets. Other 2-3 bands are pending confirmation soon.

Guns N’ Roses have played before in Romania, but the crowd can never get enough of Axl Rose’s coarse yells on famous hits such as Welcome to the Jungle or Sweet Child O’ Mine. Even though not in the original lineup which included Slash or Duff McKagan, the band can still rock, as Axl recorded the new album Chinese Democracy alongside new colleagues: Dizzy Reed (keyboards, piano, synth, backing vocals), Tommy Stinson (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chris Pitman (keyboards, backing vocals), Richard Fortus (guitar), Frank Ferrer (percussion), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (guitar) and DJ Ashba (guitar).Guns N’ Roses have sold over 100 million albums, and their albums have landed in the Billboard chart. Some of their most impressive hits are November Rain, Paradise City, Don’t Cry or Welcome to the Jungle.

The Cult, founded in 1983, broke as a post-punk band on the British scene with songs such as She Sells Sanctuary and Rain. It comprises Ian Astbury (frontman), Billy Duffy (guitar), Chris Wyse (bass guitar) and John Tempesta (drums). However, in the last 1980s the band adopted a more hard- rock oriented stance with their third album Electric, while their fourth studio effort Sonic Temple was their entry on the North-American market. By the end of the 1990s the band was falling apart with drug-addiction and alcohol-abuse issues, and they split in 1995. Four years later, they reunited and recorded the album Beyond Good and Evil. While in July 2009, Astbury announced The Cult would not record any more studio albums, he eventually changed his mind. The Cult’s upcoming ninth studio album, entitled Choice of Weapon, will be released on May 22, 2012.

Heavy-metal band Godsmack was founded in 1995 by frontman and composer Sully Erna, guitar player Tony Rombola, bass player Robbie Merrill and drummer Shannon Larkin. The band has had three consecutive number one albums (Faceless, IV, and The Oracle) on the Billboard 200. Their latest album, The Oracle, hit the streets on May 4, 2010. Godsmack has sold over 20 million records in just over a decade, being one of the highest-grossing artists in the United States.

Originating from California, Ugly Kid Joe is an American hard-rock band that plays rock, grunge hard rock and heavy-metal, that broke onto the music scene in the 1990s when they launched three albums- America’s Least Wanted, Menace to Sobriety and Motel California. The members of the band tok a break in 1997 only to reunite in mid-2010. Ugly Kid Joe are well-known for hits such as Everything About You and Cats in the Cradle.

Dutch rock/symphonic metal band Within Temptation was founded in 1996 by guitar player Robert Westerholt and singer Sharon den Adel, already having launched five albums and sold 3 million records all over the world. Last year, Within Temptation played at Peninsula Festival in Targu-Mures.
Otilia Haraga