Godsmack rules as Riff Fest rocks Pine Knob

Nine bands rocked Pine Knob for nearly nine hours on Saturday, Sept. 28, as part of radio station WRIF-FM's annual Riff Fest.

But there was no question that Godsmack ruled the day.

That's no surprise, of course. As the closing act, the Massachusetts-formed quartet has been a rock radio and chart staple since the release of its debut album 26 years ago and has a body of work that makes it a leader — creatively as well as commercially — in the genre. And with a set that was more than twice as long as any of the others on the bill — even Seether, another rock stalwart that was limited to a mere eight of its more than two dozen Top 10 singles on Saturday — Godsmack had ample opportunity to lay some metal-leaning waste on the 12,000 or so who braved rainy weather to be there.

It was, fortunately, one of the most interesting shows conceptually that Godsmack has presented. When the group played at Pine Knob last year, it was promoting its new — and, its members claim, final — album, "Lighting Up the Sky." On Saturday, however, the troupe was celebrating its history, on a broad scale and with the Detroit metro area, over the course of 15 songs and nearly 100 minutes.

The show opened with a short historical video that included fresh interviews with the four band members as well as the record company executives who signed Godsmack to a deal. The group then launched into a reverse chronological order recitation of favorites, starting with "Surrender" and "You and I" from "Lighting Up the Sky" and working back to "Keep Away," "Voodoo" and "Whatever" from its debut albums — all with appropriate accompanying video. Godsmack did not employ any of the pyrotechnics that had been a regular part of previous shows, instead using the sheer energy of its performance to keep fans on their feet from start to finish — no small feat in the wake of seven hours of music that came before.

And there was no question that Godsmack perhaps valued these fans more than some in other markets. Frontman Sully Erna declared early on that "this is one of my favorites states in the (expletive) country," later, and correctly, pointing out that "this was one of the first cities and states to light up for Godsmack." At another juncture proclaimed that "this (expletive) state. this (expletive) city, you got something going on. The energy you bring here in Michigan is unlike any other place we play."

Erna and company clearly fed off that response throughout the show, tearing through the likes of "1000hp," "Straight out of Line" and a voracious call-and-response during "Speak." The "Batalla de los Tambores" instrumental was its usual highlight, with Erna and Shannon Larkin dueling on drums and had percussion, ending with licks (and accompany video) of AC/DC's "Back in Black," Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," Metallica's "Enter Sandman," Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" and Rush's "Tom Sawyer."

For "Whatever, meanwhile, Erna brought five young fans on stage — "The future of rock 'n' roll," he proclaimed, "The next Godsmack Generation" — to help the band lead another singalong that closed the main set.

The band quieted things only for its customary first encore, "Under Your Scars" and a pitch for Godsmack's six-year-old Scars Foundation, which deals with panoply of mental health issues. Erna called for the stage lights to be turned down while fans lit up the venue with their cell phone flashlights, and the group also paid tribute to a cadre of late rock stars from Chris Cornell to Pantera's Abbott brothers, with many more in between.

"Bulletproof" (with Erna in a Detroit Lions jersey and a shower of blue-and-white confetti) and "I Stand Alone" — the latter from "The Scorpion King" soundtrack in 2002 — brought the show to a high-octane close, however, with a promise that we have not seen the last of Godsmack. And that was certainly good news after a definitive performance that, unintentionally but not surprisingly, will be the lasting highlight from this year's Riff Fest.