Festival Republic Presents:
Orlando Calling 2011
Citrus Bowl Park, Orlando FL
November 12-13, 2011
Our Score: 2 out of 5 stars
This music festival feels like they were trying to capture the look and feel of Woodstock but unfortunately failed. This was the first year for this two-day music festival at the 
Citrus Bowl, it may also be the last. When arriving the event, I saw that the attendance was very poor but I figured that they were possibly waiting for the night’s main attractions but no such luck. The venue itself did not seem prepared for sure an event. The cumulative feelings from the events attendees was that the event was very unorganized. Besides the main stage, the additional stages were almost hard to find and too far to trek in between each act.
Day one was seemed to aim at a younger audience with bands like The Killers and Kid Cudi. Our coverage focuses on Sunday’s bands which definitely trumped the acts from Saturday. Kid Rock and Blake Shelton are a big enough draw even without, the recently MIA, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. “The Doobie Brothers proved they definitely can still rock the house and sounded fantastic. Blake Shelton was honestly not a good as I hoped he would be. I do not think that it was the fact that he was one of the only 
country acts at the festival but he just didn’t really bring it all to the stage, presence-wise. Kid Rock easily stole the show with his amazing performance. His full set was packed with all of his great hits and was super high energy. His songs “Fucking 40” and mash-up of “Picture/Bawitaba” with a little help from “Beavis and Butt-head” where a major highlight. Unfortunately then he was followed by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Normally I think that Bob Seger would have been fantastic but his act cannot follow Kid Rock and brought more “Night Snooze” than “Night Moves”.
I think that this event had major potential but was definitely disappointing. Maybe with a different venue this could have honed-in on its potential. Maybe it was just the lack of a audience because my section 226 had less than 20 people total, though even the GA area was less than 1/3 full. I would have loved to post some video for you from these great acts but both Kid Rock and Bob Seger did not allow any video at the event. In fact Seger didn’t even allow photos, which was quite disappointing. Not sure if there will be a next time but if there is I hope they try and improve it.
Kid Rock set list:
1. Devil Without a Cause
2. It Feels Good To Me
3. Tom Sawyer/Forever
4. Cocky
5. So Hott
6. I Got One for Ya’
7. Wasting Time
8. Purple Sky
9. Cowboy
10. Lay it on Me/Cowboy (Reprise)
11. Care
12. Fucking 40
13. What’s My Name?
14. Cat Scratch Fever/God Bless Saturday
15. Picture/Bawitaba
16. All Summer Long
Encore:
17. Rock N Roll Jesus
18. Only God Knows Why
19. Born Free
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band set list:
1.Roll Me Away
2. Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You
3. The Fire Down Below
4. Mainstreet
5. Old Time Rock & Roll
6. Going Back To Birmingham
7. Travelin’ Man
8. Beautiful Loser
9. We’ve Got Tonight
10. Nutbush City Limits
11. Come to Poppa
12. Her Strut
13. Turn the Page
14. Sunspot Baby
15. Real Mean Bottle (w/ Kid Rock) (Vince Gill cover)
16. Against the Wind
Encore:
17. Hollywood Nights
18. Night Moves
19. Rock and Roll Never Forgets