Kevin Bronson on September 23rd, 2010

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Tape magazine photos of three decades’ worth of rock radio hitmakers to a wall. Throw darts. Book bands.

That’s the only plausible explanation for the lineup at this weekend’s Epicenter Festival at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which features (among a boatload of artists that critics consider a pox on the land) a Saturday night main-stage sequence of Bush, Eminem and KISS.

I suppose I’m most curious about Bush (yep, I liked ’em, guilty as charged), whom Gavin Rossdale has re-formed with original drummer Robin Goodridge and newbies Chris Traynor and Corey Britz, apparently with the blessing of founding members Nigel Pulsford and Dave Parsons. The new album “Everything Always Now” started off as a solo project, but, Rossdale tells the Riverside Press-Enterprise, “I began writing the record and I was really into and I was thinking, ‘This is going really well,’ and then I thought, ‘What’s the weak link in the chain here?’ and I was like, ‘Oh man, this solo career is like dragging a bag of rocks up a mountain. I’ve always been trying to Bush. Every time I’ve made a new record, I’ve tried to make it a Bush record. Each time, it didn’t seem the right time.”

After the jump, the lineup and set times:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

Main Stage:
KISS: 9:35
EMINEM: 7:45
BUSH: 6:05
PAPA ROACH: 4:45
BIG BOI: 3:40
CRASH KINGS: 2:30
DEUCE: 1:30

Stage 2:
HOUSE OF PAIN: 7:05
BIG B w/ Scott Russo: 5:30
THE KNUX: 4:15
SMILE EMPTY SOUL: 3:05
KINDA MAJOR: 2:05
THE ENVY: 1:00

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

Main Stage:
BLINK-182: 9:20
RISE AGAINST: 7:40
THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS: 6:05
BAD RELIGION: 4:35
AGAINST ME!: 3:25
A DAY TO REMEMBER: 2:15
THE ACADEMY IS: 1:05

Stage 2:
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: 7:00
THE BLACK PACIFIC: 5:30
NEW POLITICS: 4:00
BLACK VEIL BRIDES: 2:50
BIFFY CLYRO: 1:40

Photo by Charley Gallay