Rock Lotto: The Astra’s wildcard show returns

This article was written in partnership with Visit Dubois County.

You can never really tell who will win the Rock Lotto.

“I feel like a lot of us will make guesses about who’s going to win, but I don’t feel like we’re ever really consistent about actually being able to pick who’s going to win,” said Eddie Luegers, one of the founding members of The Next Act, the nonprofit that operates The Astra Theatre.

“The biggest thing that I’ve always noticed is that whoever can draw the most of their friends and family out has a shot,” Eddie explained.

Crowd participation is a huge part of the show, likely why it is one of the biggest events at The Astra each season and their largest fundraiser, usually covering 50 percent of their budget for booked performances.

Now in its eighth year, the format is straightforward. Three bands are assembled by random drawing, each consisting of a drummer, a bassist, and two or more guitarists or other musicians. Bands then have approximately six weeks to rehearse before performing 30-minute sets on the Astra stage.

Eddie came up with the concept himself, loosely inspired by a similar event he’d seen in Louisville. He reshaped it to fit what he thought would work locally, building it on covers rather than original songs so musicians wouldn’t feel pressured to write something from scratch on a short timeline.

Audience members vote for their favorite band by dropping money into the bucket for that band — dollars equal votes. Admission also comes with tickets that count as votes, so everyone gets a chance to help choose the winning band. 

Kyle Lueken, who is serving as vice president of The Next Act, personally knows how much fun it is for the bands. He’s competed in the contest himself.

“I was in the Rock Lotto the first year that they had it, and we won, which was awesome,” Kyle said.

Eddie remembers how Kyle had some special help in winning.

“Kyle’s son kept coming up between songs putting tickets in their bucket,” Eddie said.

And the audience kept feeding him tickets to give. 

“Kyle would stop in the middle of a song and yell, ‘Get that kid some more tickets,'” Eddie laughed. “So they kept giving the kid money to go donate the whole time, and that paid off for him.”

The crowd is central to Rock Lotto’s energy and outcome. The nearly sold?out, tightly packed room and enthusiastic sing?alongs amplify the live experience of great performances by local musicians. Adding the excitement of last-minute donations turns the night into electric memories for all involved.

One contest came down to a $40 difference between the winner and runner-up.

The crowd participation, the great music, and the surprising outcomes make the Rock Lotto Eddie’s favorite event of the year. It’s likely why it has built a solid fanbase in the community.

“I get a lot of questions about it across the year,” Eddie said.

Kyle sees the appeal rooted in who’s on stage. While the Astra brings in touring acts throughout the year, Rock Lotto is built entirely on community musicians — people audiences see around town constantly — stepping into a spotlight they don’t normally occupy.

They are usually invited to participate, but sometimes it is difficult to find musicians to fill every slot due to life events and other commitments. Last-minute issues arise as well, but they’ve managed to pull off the event every year with three bands and great performances, which speaks to the quality of the musicians invited to compete.

Even after eight years of watching it come together, Kyle said the level of polish still catches him off guard. Bands that have only had six weeks together often look and sound like they’ve been playing for years, simply because the competition pushes them to take it seriously.

“It shocks me every time,” Kyle said. “When the show’s over every year, we always say, ‘That was the best Rock Lotto we’ve ever had.”

The event has also almost outgrown its own trophy. The winning band’s name goes on a guitar — Kyle calls it their Stanley Cup — that hangs in the green room, signed by the winning band members since the contest began. They’re nearly out of room for new signatures and may need to build a second one.

Being on the guitar is a point of pride for the bands.

“Getting your name on the Rock Lotto guitar is a big deal,” Kyle affirmed, adding that if he were to win again, he was definitely going to sign it again, or maybe just add a “2X” next to his original signature.

For Eddie, the lasting value runs beyond that night and the money raised to support The Next Act’s efforts to showcase great talent. Musicians who’d never played together before, and sometimes had never even met, have gone on to keep performing together long after their Rock Lotto run ends.

That’s become as much a part of the mission as the fundraising itself, pulling together musicians who already share a town, sometimes already share friends, but had simply never shared a stage.

“I want musicians to kind of know that they’re not alone out there,” Eddie said. “I want to build up that network of talent that we have here, which is something that’s really cool to see. That talent is kind of almost hidden if you don’t know about it.”

Three bands, 15 musicians, and an exuberant crowd will fill the Astra Theatre with energy and great music on Saturday, July 18 — and once again, it’s anyone’s guess who will be signing the Rock Lotto guitar.