Festivals, Music
Sep 4, 2012

UPROAR FESTIVAL HITS THE MIDWEST

The Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival has crisscrossed the nation all summer bringing Shinedown, Godsmack, Papa Roach and Adelita’s way to name a few bands to the waiting throngs of rock fans. With so many bands touring this summer and so many different festivals gathering for multiple days to rock everyone’s faces off, the Uproar Tour really sets itself apart by being a traveling one day festival.

“It really combines all of the great aspects of the summer concert series into one event, and I was lucky enough to live near one of its many stops”, said Jon Jacobs of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, when Uproar arrived at the Blossom Music Center for its September 9th tour date. Sadly, it was announced just two weeks prior that Papa Roach had to withdraw from the tour due to Jacoby Shaddix being diagnosed with a nodule on his left vocal cord. Although this was a sad development for the tour, the bands adjusted their lineups rather than finding a replacement band. Concertgoers hardly noticed the change on concert day. With three stages and bands playing all day long there was enough music and energy at the festival to make up for the absence of Papa Roach.

The concert utilized a three stage setup with the two smaller stages for the bands performing earlier in the day. These stages were set up side by side (a rarity for a big festival) which allowed concertgoers to go back and forth between the stages and between sets very easily. The close proximity to the storage area for the bands’ stage equipment also helped with the ease of setup and the sets all started close to being on time, if not on time. The close proximity of the two stages also created another appreciated difference from other festivals. The band performance times didn’t overlap. Usually concertgoers have to pick between two bands, or have to hurry between stages to see part of one performance or another. Not only did this setup allow for ease of relocating between sets, it also gave people the opportunity to explore the many tents that were set up around Blossom. People looking to take a rest or fill the downtime between bands had an opportunity to get away from the music to a separate area filled with non-band affiliated merchandise tents close to the main stage, and just relax or browse the different tents.

As with most concerts, the opening bands tried their best to get the crowd excited by putting on an energetic performance. As concertgoers trickled in, the buildup of energy was like a snowball effect. When Trevor McNevan, lead singer for Thousand Foot Krutch (TFK), was informed that TFK’s performance had the first crowd surfers of the day he commented, “That’s really something special. There are so many great bands here and many amazing performers, that I feel really honored”. From that first crowd surfer on, the crowd got more intense as the time for the main headliners ticked closer.

As the main stage was being set up in the pavilion, there were commercials on the big screens along with the normal canned music that plays while concertgoers wait for the show to start. One commercial that stood out was an advertisement for Candlelight Red’s (CR) new album, which was produced by Morgan Rose of Sevendust. Ryan Hoke, lead singer for CR stated, “Rhodes was a great producer to work with. He really knew how to build a song from the ground up and get the best performance possible from the band members. He’s worked with tons of producers himself and it was like he took all the things he personally liked from all of them and compiled it into his own style. It was an amazing experience”. CR released the video for their new single, Deamons off of their self-titled album, on September 13th, 2012 on YouTube.

The main headliners each put on an amazing show, getting the crowd increasingly energized for the main headliner Shinedown. This is no easy task when the crowd has been standing around for hours before even getting to the first of the four main headliners. Even though all of the bands put on a solid show, the highlight of the evening definitely was a drum battle during Godsmack’s performance. After playing a few songs Shannon Larkin’s drum platform moved mechanically on its own to stage right, while another drum platform appeared and moved to face Larkin on stage left with Sully Ema playing the bongos. The band went on to perform a medley complete with drum tricks, a guitar solo, and a drum battle. Although this wasn’t the last performance of the night, it definitely was a great way to get the crowd amped up for Shinedown.

Uproar is a great tour with a few unique aspects that will definitely bring people back next year!

Check out the full photo gallery here.