M3 Festival – Day 3
Pearcy & DeMartini, Ace Frehley, Warrant, Lita Ford, Vixen & Spread Eagle
Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
Sunday – May 4th, 2025
Coverage: Jody Wilk
Day 3 of the 16th annual M3 Rock Festival got off to a slow start, as is usual for the last day of the festival. Many people slept in late for what turned out to be a beautiful Sunday for a day filled with music. What was once forecast to be a rainy day from start to finish ended up being partly sunny by around noon.
Kill The Darkness 12:45-1:15p
Soundcheck Rock Academy band Kill The Darkness once again opened day 2 of the festival, however, this time they did it with a set of cover tunes. With the unmistakable riff of Pantera’s “Cowboy’s From Hell“, the day began loud and heavy and didn’t let up until 10:45 pm. Fans seemed to be content hearing some familiar tunes to start off their morning.
Spread Eagle 1:15-1:55
Next up was Spread Eagle. They are a hard rock band formed in the late 1980’s in New York City. Currently comprised of Rik and Rob DeLuca, Ray West and “Jommy” Puledda. They played a mix of songs from their 3 albums including “Switchblade Serenade“, a song that my daughter introduced me to quite a few years ago.
This hard-working group of musicians known for their style of music they call NYC Street Metal, have been playing relentlessly in promotion of the 35th anniversary of their self-titled debut album. This was the first time they played at M3, and they definitely made a bunch of new fans.
Setlist:
Vixen 2:10-3-10p
The 80’s most notorious all female rock band is still alive and well and playing shows regularly with other bands from the era. The Vixen lineup includes original drummer Roxy Petrucci, Britt Lightning, who has been on guitar with them since 2017, Julia Lage on bass and the most recent addition, vocalist Rosa Laricchiuta. Rosa has also been the lead singer of the West Coast Trans-Siberian Orchestra since 2016.
With the fitting intro song of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Foxy Lady” playing in the background, this stacked group of bad ass musicians hit the stage. They kicked it off with “Rev It Up“, from the 1990 album of the same name. They cruised on through an hour long set which included all of the fan favorites as well as the medley they play with “I Want You To Rock Me“, which also included snippets from “War Pigs” and “Still of The Night“.
Also, you can’t have a Vixen show without mentioning their multi-talented musician and keyboard player, Tyson Leslie. Tyson is known around Nashville and on The Monsters of Rock Cruise for his Rare Hare production that he puts on. These ladies show no signs of slowing down and always put on a stellar performance with a smile.
Lita Ford 3:30-4:30p
Lita Ford was one of the original women of metal. She was a member of The Runaways back in the 70s alongside Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. Lita hit the stage at 3:30 with her new Neal Moser B.C. Rich custom guitar, decked out in a red, one-piece leather outfit.
Most casual fans know Lita for her duet with Ozzy Osbourne on their hit “Close My Eyes Forever“. Guitarist, Patrick Kennison always does a fantastic version of this song with Lita. I heard many fans giving rave reviews of their performance on this song. Bobby Rock is an absolutely amazing drummer and is given a small chance to show off with a solo during “Can’t Catch Me“. Newest addition to the band is Marten Andersson, who is probably best known for his time in Lizzy Borden. In addition to their hits, they also played covers of Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back“, The Runaways “Cherry Bomb“, and of course Alice Cooper’ “Only Women Bleed“. They closed the set with “Kiss Me Deadly“, a crowd favorite off of her 1988 album simply entitled, Lita.
Setlist:
Great White 4:50-5:50p
Great White is the bluesy hard rock band from the 80’s that brought us the hits “Once Bitten, Twice Shy“, and “Rock Me“. Today’s lineup consists of Mark Kendall on lead guitar, Audie Desbrow on drums, Michael Lardie on guitar and keys, Scott Snyder on bass guitar, and most recent addition, Brett Carlisle on vocals.
Brett is a young singing sensation who comes from the band All Or Nothing and brings his powerful vocals to the table with Great White. These guys brought a powerful set of blues inspired rock that had the fans singing along and pumping their fists to songs like “Rock Me” and “Lady Red Light“. Great White has a bunch of tour dates through the rest of the year and are also booked on The Monsters of Rock Cruise in April of 2026
Setlist:
Warrant 6:10-7:10p
Warrant was the big surprise of the day for me. I’ve seen them a few times over the last few years and don’t really remember the shows. However, this time the show was a standout. These guys played the songs like I remembered them from the 80’s. Robert Mason belted out the vocals with a vengeance. Mostly OGs, Erik Turner (guitarist), Jerry Dixon (bass) and Steven Sweet (drums) have been with the band since the early years. Robert, joined in 2008. James Kloeppel was also with the band tonight on keyboards.
Their set included 7 songs off of Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (DRFSR) and 6 off of Cherry Pie. Every song was amazing from “Down Boys” through “Cherry Pie“. Erik Turner and Jerry Dixon rocked the songs with precision and kept the fans attention while utilizing the whole stage during their performance.
Setlist:
Ace Frehley 7:35-8:45p
I always love how Ace keeps the same intro as Kiss used over the years. A live MC announced them to the stage in a deep voice like you would expect at a wrestling event; “All right Columbia… Everybody get out of your seats, let’s make…. some… noise!!!!! Let me hear you. You guys wanted him, you got him… from the Bronx, New York… the one, the only… Ace Frehley!!!!“
They started the set with the 1977’s “Shock Me“, off of Kiss’s Love Gun album. All the Ace fans and Kiss fans alike were on their feet from the first note to the last. Ace said to the crowd, “Where are we? We’re in Maryland?? At the M3 fuckin’ festival!”. Ace and his stout band of talent were here, at least I thought, in support of his 10,000 Volts album, as could be seen by the big logo behind the band, however, they didn’t play any songs off that album. Usually they at least play “Cherry Medicine”.
Ace played the obligatory “Rock Soldiers” off of his first solo album. Kick ass drummer Scot Coogan, who just recently got married before their show in Connecticut, always puts on a show for the crowd. With Ryan Cook on bass and Jeremy Asbrock on guitar, both sporting cool Fairfield Guitar straps, these guys will keep you entertained, all taking turns at various times on lead vocals. Ace did his guitar solo which partially consisted of some riffs from some rock classics along with his own unique bits and ended it with his smoking guitar. As you might expect, the final song was “Rock And Roll All Nite“.
Setlist:
Pearcy / DeMartini 9:15-10:45p
Next was what the crowd came for. Tonight was only the second show that Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini have played together in seven years. Also joined by Carlos Cavazo who was a member of Ratt from 2008-2018 and is also currently a member of King Kobra and Hurricane. On bass was Matt Thorne who co-wrote “Back For More” and currently plays with Stephen’s solo band. Ex-Slaughter Drummer Blas Elias, who is also a part of Stephen’s solo band, had the guys talking about his killer performance and the women talking about his great hair.
It was nice to see that they changed up the set a little from their previous show together. They added “Body Talk” and ” Never Use Love” and removed “Morning After” from the set they played a few weeks ago at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. The fans always seem to love when they play “Givin’ Yourself Away“. It was great to see these guys all on stage together performing the Ratt classics that we grew up listening to and love.
Setlist:
Highlights of this year’s M3 for me were:
1. Watching Accept put on a stellar performance musically and with a stage presence that is hard to match.
2. Getting to see David Lee Roth back on stage doing what he loves to do while having the time of his life.
3. Listening to all of my Warrant favorites performed flawlessly.
4. Lita Ford and Patrick Kennison performing “Don’t Close Your Eyes“.
5. Steven Adler performing all the GNR hits with an ear to ear smile the entire show. There were lots more, but there is only so much space to write about it.
With the sixteenth M3 Rock Festival in the books, I was wondering if there would be an announcement regarding next year. Well, we are in luck, M3 has posted on social media “See You in 2026”. Can’t wait to see the rock n roll family again.
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