Z-100 SHOWCASES THE BEST OF ROCK TURNED POP

Z-100 Zootopia took place this past Friday featuring the best of both the rock and Pop world.

Z-100’s Zootopia hit the Nassau Coliseum, just outside of New York City, on Friday night, May 18, and it looks like rockers have taken over the charts and the hearts of the kids. Rockers like Dashboard Confessional, Hinder, Daughtry, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Maroon 5, were along side pop performers Rihanna, Fergie, and Katharine McPhee.

Hinder, didn’t really care they were playing to mostly pre-teen and teenage girls, and frontman Austin Winkler gave his usual profanity filled between song banter, which some of the parents of the concert goers didn’t appreciate. We asked Hinder in the pressroom if there was anything said to them.

“I guess. I guess I got a little flak, but we’re a rock band, and I really don’t care. I just go up there and do my thing and if it comes out, it comes out.”

Daughtry didn’t win during his run on American Idol, however his self-titled album is one of the best selling by any Idol contestant. We asked him about being a rocker in a sea of pop at events like Zootopia.

[John Steely of Daughtry] “It’s excellent, and it’s great for us and it’s great for careers for kids to be…everyone’s learning to play guitar when they hear some rock music on the radio in the pop culture it just helps more musicians.” [Chris Daughtry] “I think it’s great because there’s very few rock stations out there. Very few bands get heard because the population of the people that listen to pop radio is a lot bigger than the one that listens to rock radio and most of it is because there is just not as many stations. It’s great that we’re able to be on both.”

Fergie, the sexy siren of Black Eyed Peas, is just motoring up her touring in support of her solo debut, and she talked about the biggest challenge of doing a solo set.

“The biggest challenge is — for me going out as a solo artist — is wearing heels on stage. That’s a big one for me. I’m trying to get away from that as much as possible, but I am a girl artist and we do wear a lot of heels. That’s a harder one for me, and also the choreography. Because I don’t have the three guys on stage with me, I have dancers. They’re so amazing but there are points where I get into choreography mode. That’s a little different for me becuase I’m used to running around the stage doing whatever I want.”

Zootopia also featured performances by Omarion, Audio Club, Gym Class Heroes, Robin Thicke, and Hillary Duff. Fans also were treated to rainy, but entertaining pre show performances outside the venue in the Z Village by Gym Class Heroes, Audio Club, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Tarzan the Musical.