WEEDSPORT - You wouldn't know the temperature was only 75 degrees at the 12th annual KRockathon.

The crowd of close to 10,000 rock fans was rife with shirtless men and belly-baring women at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway Saturday. When concert staff broke out a fire hose between the bands' sets, many fans scrambled to get soaked.

Bands like Syracuse's own Brand New Sin and Black Light Burns provided the chugging soundtrack as the audience worked up a sweat moshing, surfing the crowd and getting crunched against the barrier.

“It's pretty crazy, a lot of people are going all out,” said Cody Compau, of Phoenix.

Foam flying discs from sponsor AmeriCU and wood chips from the concert floor were routinely tossed through the air all day long.

“I think they're dangerous,” said concert-goer Courtney Roberts, of Bridgeport.

Face-painted Black Light Burns singer Wes Borland even encouraged the audience to hit him with any debris they could toss when an equipment problem stalled his band's set. He counted three hits amid the storm of objects sailing toward the stage.

And all this happened before the show's headliners had started.

Drowning Pool, Deftones, Social Distortion and headliner Chris Cornell each attracted fans of a unique niche of rock and roll. Social Distortion fan Ben Robicheau, of Liverpool, turned out to see the veteran punk band but found little else to enjoy about the show.

J.P. Brennan, of Auburn, a veteran of six KRockathons, showed up to see the straightforward rock of Cornell and the heavier stylings of Drowning Pool. As he waited for their sets, he found the speedway a much more accommodating venue than in previous years.

“They opened up one building for food and a second set of stairways, they're nice improvements,” Brennan said.

Few concert-goers encountered the type of traffic problem that plagued last year's KRockathon and even prevented band Evans Blue from making their set time. The band returned this year.

“I left at 10:30 and there wasn't much traffic, but the parking was kind of hectic,” Compau said.

Also unlike last year's show, dry weather kept the speedway grounds from turning into mud. But Nicole Lum, of Mattydale, found it just as difficult to find her footing on the wood chips covering the concert floor.

“You can stumble way too easily,” she said.

Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net