Uproar Festival @ Darien Lake, Darien, NY
Saturday, September 10, 2011
By: J.Ritz
As the summer concert season winds down, the biggest heavy metal show of the year rolled into the Buffalo, NY area. The RockStar Energy Uproar Festival features an impressive lineup, from the newest names in metal like Escape The Fate, to seasoned veteran thrashers, Sevendust.
The B stage at Darien Lake set the tone early for the festival. Starting off with Hell Or High Water. These guys did a great job priming the crowd, and getting everybody's blood flowing for Art Of Dying, unfortunately they were a little late arriving. So, to keep the energy and the metal flowing, Black Tide jumped into their slot.
The headliner of the B stage was Sevendust. Lajon Witherspoon and the boys flat out killed it. These guys are what heavy metal should be, the passion and emotion Lajon conveys is amazing, and the feverish crowd fed off of it. There was a conveyor belt of crowd surfing over the sea of head bangers for the entire set.
Opening the mainstage was Escape The Fate. Their set time just about overlapped with Sevendust's performance, so most of the crowd was filtering in as they played. This didn't stop them from throwing down a high energy set, filling the mosh pit by the time they were done.
One of the crowd favorites, Bullet For My Valentine, took the stage next, they opened with "Your Betrayal". As the crowd sang along, lead singer Matt Tuck, and lead guitarist Michael "Padge" Paget stood side by side head banging in unison as their fingers danced up and down there fret boards while Michael "Moose" Thomas pounded out the heavy metal hit on drums. Jason James covered every inch of the stage filling in the bottom end with his bass. These guys are really starting to draw a big following.
Seether was next up, their blend of grunge and metal appeals to a lot of people, and those people were in attendance. As they opened with "Gasoline", the fans again sang every word. They slowed things down with lead guitarist Pat Callahan sitting at a table for two with his acoustic guitar as they performed "Broken". I wasn't sure if this was meant to convey that Shaun Morgan is still not over Amy Lee of Evanescence, but it sure came across that way. They closed their set with "Remedy" to a roaring ovation from the crowd.
Three Days Grace followed, opening with their hit "The Good Life". Leadman Adam Gontier had the crowd involved from the first note to the last. They played all their biggest hits, much to the delight of the "hometown" fans. Three Days Grace, being from Ontario, Canada, is often thought of as a local band. The fans were delighted to see there was no shortage of souvenir guitar picks as Adam continually flung them from his mic stand throughout the entire set. As they wrapped up, priming the fans for Avenged Sevenfold, they did so with their biggest hit "Animal I Have Become".
As Avenged Sevenfold's set started, the stage was draped in a black curtain. You could see balls of fire shooting from the silhouette of a giant Death Bat stage piece. As the curtain dropped and the intro to "Nightmare" began, the crowd erupted. The band walked out one at a time with lead guitarist Synyster Gates taking center stage under a spotlight. Lead singer M. Shadows joined him as he shouted "Nightmare" to open the song. The frantic fans on hand sang along so loud, they just about drowned him out.
Playing through their setlist, which included some lesser known fan favorites including "A Little Piece Of Heaven", I was paying attention to how their new drummer Arin Ilejay fit in. This kid is the real deal. I was extremely impressed with his precision and skill, as well as how the band fed off him as every tight band should. There's a reason A7X was chosen to headline this show, they are absolutely amazing, and the fans love them. M. Shadows could've taken the night off and let the crowd sing in his place. It was astonishing to watch.
As I was leaving the venue, I reflected on what I had experienced that day. An amazing day filled with incredible heavy metal music, played by some of the best bands, in front of the most insane fans in the world. It was by far my most enjoyed concert to date. I cant wait for Uproar 2012!!!
Bullet for my Valentine Set List:
Your Betrayal
Pleasure and Pain
Waking the Demon
The Last Fight
Guitar Solo
Scream Aim Fire
Tears Don't Fall
Alone
Seether Set List:
Gasoline
Fine Again
Broken
Tonight
Country Song
Rise Above This
Fake It
Remedy
Three Days Grace Set List:
The Good Life
Break
Pain
I Hate Everything About You
Home/Lose Yourself
Never Too Late
Riot
Animal I Have Become
Avenged Sevenfold Set List:
Nightmare
Critical Acclaim
Beast and the Harlot
Welcome to the Family
I Won't See You Tonight Part 1
Afterlife
Not Ready to Die
Scream
A Little Piece of Heaven
Bat Country
Unholy Confessions
We would like to thank Kristine Ashton-Magnuson from Ashton-Magnuson Media for allowing Backstageaxxess.com to review the show.
