The sun shone brightly on the early morning of June 10th. On that Friday morning, a van was packed outside an old church – Rock to the Future’s Headquarters – in the Fishtown / Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. Inside the van? All the makings of a rock & roll show—electric guitars, basses, keyboards and drums and seven young rockers from the Rock to the Future student house band eager to play.
Over the course of the day, the van carried these young rock stars across new terrain, 440 miles to rock & roll’s greatest monument: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall represents one of the highest achievements a modern musician can obtain. After a seven hour trek, the seven rockers arrived at the Hall’s gates, ready to immortalize themselves in their own way.
Rock to the Future’s House Band was a featured guest at the showcase, the lone representative of Philadelphia amongst a series of acts from all across the country. The set (listed below) spanned fifty years of rock and pop, taking the audience all the way from Barret Strong’s 1959 hit “Money” to The Black Keys 2012 jam “Gold on the Ceiling. By the end of the set, the house band stepped off stage satisfied—they had made themselves, Rock to the Future and Philadelphia proud before the massive Cleveland monument.
The trip to Cleveland was highlighted by the house band’s participation in the Hungry for Music Showcase and instrument drive on June 11th. Hungry for Music, a Washington D.C.-based organization that provides musical instruments to those in need, has supported Rock to the Future since 2014, providing musical equipment like guitars, drums, keyboards, bass guitars and amps for the MusiCore after-school program, summer camps, and in-school electric guitar classes. Rock to the Future would like to personally thank Hungry for Music and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the incredible opportunity!
RTTF House Band Setlist:
Money by Barret Strong (1959)
I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles (1963)
My Girl by The Temptations (1965)
Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones (1966)
I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 (1969)
Walk This Way by Aerosmith (1975)
One Way or Another by Blondie (1978)
I Love Rock & Roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (1981)
Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie (1981)
Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger the Silver Bullet Band (1978)
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana (1991)
Gold On the Ceiling by The Black Keys (2012)