Blue Ridge Rock Festival caught my attention many months ago with the artist announcements that were occurring. I remember seeing it come across my Facebook feed and then having friends talking about it. The buzz was all about “Did you see who just got added” almost daily. When I checked it out for myself I was blown away. No festival I’ve seen ever had a lineup that pretty much had all of my favorite artists. I ended up following the page, I joined the Blue Ridge Rock Festival Fan Zone group, I intereacted….A LOT, I made new friends and knew I HAD to be at this festival. I did 13 interviews with artists from the Rising Talent group and was exposed to a ton of fantastic music. I wrote up a pre-review and submitted my application getting my approval back almost immediately. I was elated!
Since the festival was being held in a smaller town, hotels were pretty much gone by the time I had booked, so I ended up staying out in South Boston, about 30 minutes away. I didn’t think this would be a huge impact since I stayed 45 minutes away when I did the EXIT 111 festival in TN in 2019 and had no issues getting there and back. On Wednesday, September 8th I made the drive to Virginia listening to a Blue Ridge Rock Festival playlist to help get amped up for the next four days. When I finally made it to my hotel I grabbed some dinner, prepped my gear, and got a good night’s sleep waiting to tackle the oncoming day. Little did I know how badly I would need that rest.
Thursday morning’s drive to the festival was a straight drive from Route 58 to Route 29. There was barely any traffic until I hit close to the parking area. A member of the Fan Zone (thank you Krys!) was kind enough to give me their four-day parking pass since they, unfortunately, couldn’t make it at the last minute. When I came upon the Blue parking lot, which was pretty much a grass empty field, I was lucky enough to get a spot upfront. I approached the attendant ready to have the pass scanned and they just waved me over to a spot. I thought that was odd but rolled with it. After parking, I grabbed my gear and headed over to the line waiting for the bus. I had seen one bus already come and go as we were waiting for the next one. It wouldn’t be until 40 minutes later that another one would arrive. With the bus loaded up, we U-turned our way down 29 and into traffic heading to Carson Lane. Due to campers who were still trying to check in from the night before, traffic down the road was heavy. It would be about an hour before the bus gave up trying to get down and dropped us off. Most of the riders decided to get off much earlier and walk the rest of the way themselves.
I had been chatting with a few people on the bus and one of them decided to scout ahead when we saw the tremendous line of people waiting to get into the festival. With a sold-out 40,000 person event, I wasn’t shocked by the lines, but it was a sight to actually see the mass of people ready to rock. Fortunately, the person said Will Call was empty, where I had to pick up my media credentials. After zipping up to the Will Call tent, I was directed to the Media Will Call tent right next door. That was a quick check-in to get my credentials, but I still needed to get to the media tent to sign my photo release so I could actually get into the photo pits. Unfortunately, the staff member assisting me wasn’t quite sure where this was only saying it was across from the Monster Energy tower. I was getting concerned as one of the bands I interviewed and wanted to photograph, Nail Bite, was coming up soon. I zipped through the VIP line to get my bag checked and made my way onto the grounds.
I didn’t think about how big the festival grounds would actually be until I saw it for myself. 6 stages and tons of space for people to walk. I liked the setup I saw walking the grounds. I made my way from one side to the other hoping for some inkling that looked liked the media area. I had found the tower but couldn’t see anything that looked like the media area. I tried reaching out to the publicity reps who were on-site for the festival, but my cell signals, like many others, were spotty at best. I reached out to my fellow Floridian photographers (there were 5 of us from Central Florida covering this event) and someone gave me clear directions and where it was hidden. After finally reaching it, I realized I had missed Nail Bite, and got my form signed and gear set up so I could get ready to get to cover the rest of the festival.
My first stop was over to the Monster Energy Stage to see Texas Hippie Coalition. I interviewed the band at another festival in 2018, but never had the chance to see them. “Big Dad Ritch” came to the stage with a bandana on his face, cowboy hat on his head, and the American flag outstretched on his shoulders, drawing a cheer from the crowd. He proceeded to talk about being the American outlaw interjected with political statements against the current administration, which drew another cheer from the crowd before starting off their set. Their style of southern rock was grooving over the crowd with songs like “Hands Up”, “Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll”, and “Moonshine”. Bassist Larado Romo was giving the ladies in the crowd a show with his movements across the stage. Though it was a short set the attendees truly enjoyed their performance.
I quickly made my way over to the StayLit Stage for the band I truly came to see during this festival, Spritbox! The Canadian metal band from British Columbia has been buzzing the radio and streaming waves for the past few months and I couldn’t wait to see them perform live. And apparently, the Blue Ridge Rock Festival attendees felt the same. They had a huge crowd waiting for them and the moment they took the stage that crowd erupted in cheers. With their heavy sound and Courtney LaPlante‘s deep guttural vocals they were as amazing as I hoped. Courtney addressed the crowd after the second song saying how happy they were to be performing for an audience that day and she started tearing up on stage. I started tearing up with her because I was overjoyed to see them. But, I nearly lost it when they started “Circle With Me” while we were still photographing. Spiritbox had an amazing performance and look forward to the release of their album Eternal Blue on September 17th.
It was then a run up the hill (screw that hill) to the Monster Energy stage again for my favorite thrash metal band in the mighty Testament. Unfortunately, they didn’t start on time from what seemed to be sound issues. But, when they did get it fixed, they came out hard and heavy and rocking all the way. It’s one of the things I love best about Testament is their ability to keep the energy high and the crowd moshing and moving with their music. I was sad they didn’t play anything off of Brotherhood of the Snake, but did rock it with songs “The New Order”, “The Haunting”, and “Into The Pit”. Fantastic performance as always.
With the sun beating down, I headed back to the media area for a quick rest and some water. It’s been a while since I covered a festival and it was hitting me already on day 1. After getting my second wind, I headed back to Monster Energy to see one of my favorite European metal bands in Sabaton. The band that writes all of their music based on historical events was able to make it into the U.S. to perform at Blue Ridge Rock Festival and to our surprise they allowed the photographers to photo their entire set. For those who don’t know, the standard rule is always the first three songs and then we have to leave the photo pit. There are a few bands who regularly give us the opportunity to photo their entire performance like In This Moment and Nothing More, but those opportunities are very rare. Unfortunately, the stage was running behind again with sound issues which gave them a late start. When they did come to the stage, the crowd roared and the smiles on Sabaton‘s faces showed how much they appreciated it. And their performance showed it just as much with their fast pace energy and crowd interaction. Songs such as “Ghost Division”, “The Attack of the Dead Men”, and “The Red Baron” were on their list that day.
Due to the fact they started late and gave us a full set, it gave me the opportunity to run over next door to the URW Stage to photo From Ashes To New. This band never fails to deliver on a performance of high-paced music and vocals. If you have never seen them before, you absolutely should. They had the crowd bouncing throughout their set and included “Panic”, “Broken”, “My Fight”, and more during their 11 song performance. I loved Lance Dowdle‘s new look with Asian style face mask and his movement and energy was incredible. I ran back to the Monster Stage to photo a few more songs from Sabaton before they took a bow and thanked the crowd.
Next on my list was going to be Waking The Sleeper as I interviewed them, but I had my schedule mixed up and realized I missed their performance. After them on my list was the metalcore band The Ghost Inside. When I heard about the announcement via the festival’s Facebook page the reaction was unprecedented. And sadly, I had no idea why because I had never heard of them until that announcement. After doing some research and listening to some of their music, there was no doubt I needed to be at that set over at StayLit Stage. And it was worth every moment. The crowd was large and the moment they hit the stage you could see the band’s eyes light up in amazement of all the people who came to see them. And they were going to ensure those fans had an amazing time and so The Ghost Inside threw down hard and left it all on that stage. They absolutely made a fan out of me.
As the day was winding down I headed back to media for another quick breather and refreshments (thank you Blue Ridge Rock Festival for supplying the waters, sodas, and Monster Energy drinks!) before heading back to the Monster Energy stage for one of my favorite rock bands in Skillet. They provide such a good live performance and overall nice people. I interviewed John Cooper back in May 2019 and when I saw him again in October 2019 he actually remembered me. Lou Brutus was on stage to introduce them before joining us in the photo pit. And as expected, Skillet gave the crowd a spectacular show. John‘s energy is always high and Katy always performs with such intensity to get the crowd going. And there was no doubt when they opened with “Feel Invincible” it was going to be a great show. They also included “Awake and Alive”, “Hero”, and “Monster”.
With very little time, I sprinted over to the StayLit Stage to catch the rock band from Ocala, FL, A Day To Remember. The first time I got to photograph them was at a House of Blues Orlando show and they showed the photographers a lot of love and it was such a fun show. There was no doubt this would be the same, and it was. Beach balls, toilet paper rolls, and great rock music and energy. And some fantastic lighting to top it all off. They had a 16 song set that included “Paranoia”, “All Signs Point to Lauderdale”, “Resentment”, and “The Downfall of Us All”. It was definitely worth the trek down and up that hill to see them perform again.
From there it was straight over to the URW Stage to see the ever-popular Halestorm. The crowd was packed in tight waiting for them to take the stage and when they did the roar was deafening. Lzzy Hale was all smiles when she stepped front and center when they opened with “Freak Like Me” and then straight into “Love Bites (So Do I)”. She paused and spoke to the crowd telling the ladies that she likes to get freaky before performing “I Get Off”. Every performance from them never disappoints and that night was no different.
And last and definitely far from least, was the rock band everyone knows and loves, Breaking Benjamin. This was a very special appearance as it was their only festival appearance in 2021. And they made it special from the moment they stepped out on stage performing “Dark”. The crowd packed in front of the Monster Energy Stage and all the way up the hill watching their stellar performance. Ben looked happy performing in front of a festival crowd and if you name the single they probably played it that night; “Run Cold River”, “I Will Not Bow”, “So Cold”, “The Diary of Jane”, and so many more. It was a fantastic way to close out Thursday night and they left the fans wanting more.
Unfortunately for fans, they weren’t expecting a long dark walk back to the parking lots as there were no shuttles running that evening. Myself and two other media members made the trek as we listened and laughed at some of the conversations around us. Someone had a massive boom box with them who was playing Volbeat as we trudged down the road trying to keep us all energized. Eventually, we made it back to my friend’s car who dropped me off at the Blue parking lot and then head back to my hotel remembering the performances.
Though there were issues with transportation, Thursday was a solid day of music by awesome bands and I couldn’t wait for Friday’s lineup.
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