Rock The Bayou was a four-day rock festival celebrating the 1980s rock scene. From

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

the inaugural show took place from Labor Day weekend, August 29–September 1, 2008 on the former location of Houston's AstroWorld theme park and featured a variety of musical acts from genres such as hard rock, heavy metal,

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ...

, and

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

. The festival had more than 100 bands confirmed, contrary to initial estimates that 40 bands would be playing.

2008 main stage lineup

Over 100 bands appeared on four stages during the 4 days of Rock the Bayou. The headliners for the 2008 Rock the Bayou Concert were

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, and Bret Michaels. Besides the main stage, there were a second and third stage of other bands. The following bands have performed for the main stage from the Rock the Bayou website: ; Friday, August 29 — “Day 1” *

Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...

Skid Row A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...

* Y & T * Lynch Mob *

Faster Pussycat Faster Pussycat is an American hard rock/glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985 by vocalist Taime Downe, guitarists Brent Muscat and Greg Steele and bassist Kelly Nickels. The group has since gone through numerous lineup changes lea ...

* Gilby Clarke *

Jetboy This is a list of characters from the ''Wild Cards'' book series. Astronomer The Astronomer is a character from the ''Wild Cards'' series of books. He first appeared in the short story "Pennies from Hell" by Lewis Shiner in ''Aces High (book), ...

* The Barfuss Boys ; Saturday, August 30 — “Day 2” *

Lita Ford Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal sol ...

Dokken Dokken is an American glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and " Burn ...

* Great White * Enuff Z'Nuff *

Bullet Boys BulletBoys is an American hard rock/ glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1986. The group's original lineup was composed of singer Marq Torien (formerly of Ratt, King Kobra, and Kagny & the Dirty Rats), guitarist Mick Sweda, bassist Lonnie ...

with Steven Adler * Britny Fox * Little Caesar ; Sunday, August 31 — “Day 3” *

* Warrant *

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...

* Slaughter *

L.A. Guns L.A. Guns is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Martin (bass, backing vo ...

Dangerous Toys Dangerous Toys is an American, Austin, Texas-based rock band, with often humorous lyrics. Founded in 1987, Dangerous Toys released four full-length albums and one live album before unofficially disbanding at the turn of the millennium. The band ...

Lillian Axe Lillian Axe is an American hard rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known for its major label albums, ''Lillian Axe'', ''Love + War'', ''Poetic Justice'' and ''Psychoschizophrenia''. Originally formed in 1983, the group is still active ...

Black 'N Blue Black 'N Blue is an American heavy metal band from Portland, Oregon, United States. The current members are lead vocalist Jaime St. James, bassist Patrick Young, drummer Pete Holmes, and guitarists Brandon Cook and Doug Rappoport . The band ...

; Monday, September 1 — Day 4 * Bret Michaels from Poison *

Gypsy Pistoleros The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with si ...

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with ...

Jackyl Jackyl is an American rock band formed in 1991. Their sound has also been described as heavy metal and southern metal. Their self-titled debut album has sold more than a million copies in the United States with hit singles like "Down on Me ...

* KiX *

Firehouse __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

Pretty Boy Floyd Charles Arthur Floyd (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934), nicknamed Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. He operated in the West and Central states, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. He was s ...

Bang Tango Bang Tango is an American hard rock band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to MCA Records the same year. History Formation (1988) Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 1 ...

* Broken Teeth

References

External links

* 2008 in music Heavy metal festivals in the United States Music venues in Houston Music festivals established in 2008 Rock festivals in the United States {{music-festival-stub