Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar 2010
Main Stage: DISTURBED (Live Photos), AVENGED SEVENFOLD (Live Photos ), STONE SOUR (Live photos), HALESTORM (Live Photos)
Second Stage: HELLYEAH (Live Photos), AIRBOURNE (Live Photos), HAIL THE VILLIAN (Live Photos), NEW MEDICINE, FIGHT THE LION
August 31, 2010
Jiffy Lube Live
Bristow, Virginia
By GREG MAKI
In a lot of ways, the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival felt like the younger brother of the Mayhem Festival (also brought to you by Rockstar): fewer stages; fewer bands, most of which veer more toward hard rock than metal; and, at this stop of the tour at least, fewer people in attendance.
I don’t mean this in a negative way. This year, I’ve been to Rock on the Range, the M3 Rock Festival, Warped Tour, Mayhem, Carnival of Madness and Ozzfest, and the most fun I had at a concert all summer was at Uproar. I enjoyed its relaxed, scaled-back nature, and maybe due to the bill, maybe due to it being on a Tuesday after most schools were back in session, there was different vibe than I’m used to among the crowd—everyone seemed to be there for the love of the music instead of using it as an excuse to party.
Musically, the two highlights were on the second stage. Hail the Villain, which hails from Canada, stole the show, playing infectious hard rock and led by electric frontman Bryan Crouch. Evidently, they have been getting noticed in the area, and crowd participation was high on both the single “Take Back the Fear” and the set closer, “Runaway.” The second stage also was the perfect setting for headliners HellYeah, who whipped up the crowd with a mix of songs from their two albums, closing with their biggest hit, the country-tinged “Alcohaulin’ Ass.”
Earlier in the day, I had an opportunity to interview HellYeah guitarist Greg Tribbett, as well as all four members of Fight the Lion, a Virginia-based band that opened the second stage.
The main stage, of course, featured most of the big guns, starting with Halestorm. Led by dynamic frontwoman Lzzy Hale (sporting a new, shorter haircut), the band put on an enjoyable show as always. I have gotten to the point where I’ve seen them so many times that I’m ready for them to do something new. But hey, if it ain’t broke…
Speaking of new, Stone Sour threw a few selections from its new album, Audio Secrecy (which frontman Corey Taylor emphatically made sure we all knew was coming out a week later), into its set. What wasn’t played was even more noteworthy—“Bother” and, to a lesser extent, “Get Inside,” both from the band’s debut album.
Avenged Sevenfold was the most anticipated band of the day for a large portion of the crowd, and though I recognize the talent, something about them has never worked for me. The start of their show, which featured the “hanging” of one of their crew members, put a sour taste in my mouth that didn’t leave me until they left the stage an hour later. Someone please tell me if I’m missing something and I’ll gladly stand corrected, but a simulated suicide onstage seems to be in exceptionally bad taste when a band member (drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan) died less than a year ago. That completely overshadowed a stage show that featured a set recreating the cover of their latest album, Nightmare, and a whole lot of flames.
Disturbed was the festival’s true headliner and showed why with a hits-laden set that also mixed in a few selections from their new album, Asylum. Disturbed isn’t a band that pushes any envelopes, and that is part of their appeal. You know what to expect and they deliver—anthems of empowerment and healthy dose of production, which on this tour included several large video screens as the backdrop and much pyro.
The late-summer/early-fall timing might not be the best for a festival tour, but I think there is a place for Uproar. The mainstream bands made it feel like a radio festival run by people who know how to keep something of this magnitude organized and on schedule. All in all, it was an impressive first outing for the Uproar Festival, and I look forward to future installments. |
