FROM THE PIT TO THE CROWD: BLUE RIDGE ROCK FESTIVAL DAY 1 REVIEW – VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY – ALTON VA – SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

Papa Emeritus IV of Ghost

After Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2021 was hosted in Danville, VA, there was questions and concerns. Did attendees have a blast? They absolutely did. But, they also dealt with issues from camping check-in, buses, food lines and other such things. Purpose Driven Events promised the fans things would be better in 2022. The first improvement was moving the festival to the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA. A new grounds with a large amount of space. The festival cut down to five stages and 179 artists on the lineup. The final count based on the set time lists was 176. And Purpose Driven Events was being as open and transparent as possible with camping, wristband passes, and logistics. The festival brought back the VIP, but also added a Rockstar Pass that included Meet and Greets with various artists and a private lounge. Finally, they also included a stage for acoustics. So far, it was shaping up to be a great festival.

When camping check-in rolled around on September 7th, reports were coming in that camping check-in was going smoothly. Though, one section of RV lost power. That evening, the Camping Pre-Party with headliners Puddle of Mudd started late, but was going well. There was a stoppage due to a downpour of rain, but things resumed and finished off well. And the campers were definitely excited for Day 1 to get running.

On Thursday, September 8th, it was an overcast day, but the temperature was nice. And you could feel the energy at the Virginia International Raceway was buzzing. Media was provided with on-site parking this year, though it was a hike to get to the festival entrance. The line of attendees was long and you could see the excitement on their faces, ready to rock out that day. But, that was only for some. Others were stuck at off-site parking waiting for buses to come to pick them up. Some were waiting at huge Will Call lines for hours. It was a rough start for those festival attendees.

The media attendees weren’t pleased either. We arrived at the Media Lounge with no tables, no chairs, or Wifi access. And while this was quickly remedied, it was disappointing. Unlike last year, we had a festival representative as our media contact, who was constantly running around the festival grounds leaving no one to watch our bags. Last year a private publicity company was hired to manage press releases and the media attending always had someone there to oversee the media area. And while these were inconveniences, it started to feel like things really didn’t change at Blue Ridge Rock Festival.

Walking the grounds there was a definite change of scenery. The land used for the festival was absolutely massive. The two main stages were indeed side by side and huge. It was a beautiful sight to behold. And they sat at the bottom of a small hill, allowing fans to camp out on the hill and look down on the show, much like last year with the Monster stage. Not too far from the media area was the Monster viewing area for attendees to get free Monster drinks and have a wonderful view of the two main stages from their viewing area. The HeartSupport Stage was the closest stage to the media area and in a perfect location. But, then there were the Fan Driven and URW stages. Both of these were down at the bottom of a steep hill. The ground wasn’t level, filled with tall grass, weeds, rocks, and holes in the ground. If you weren’t watching your step, you could find yourself off balance quite easily. And while URW was a straight walk down the hill and far back to the stage, the Fan Driven was down the hill and then way out to the far left. If you attended this festival, you were certainly getting your cardio those four days. And I had no idea how any ADA attendee got down and up that hill if they couldn’t catch one of the ADA golf carts.

To kick off the day, I walked my way down to the URW Stage to see The Lonely Ones. Vocalist Marty McCoy and guitarist Jymmy Tolland were guests on The Photo Pit Livestream so I wanted to go down to support them. And I’m glad I did. The Lonely Ones completely rocked out on stage, as they always do. Their energy and stage presence was great and their rock music was even better. They go all out and really know how to jumpstart a party and get the festival vibe going. It was great to see them play again. It was then up the infamous hill to head over to the Monster stage to see A Skylit Drive. This was a special reunion as the original lineup from 2006 was re-forming to celebrate the anniversary of the their debut EP She Watched The Sky. It unfortunately was a rough performance with Jordan Blake sounding off-key numerous times during the performance, but the fans cheered for them hard. It was then next door to Zyn, the other main stage, to see Fire From The Gods. It was my first time seeing the rap metal band and it was worth the wait. AJ Channer is an amazing vocalist and he knew how to get the crowd moving. Their live performance is truly amazing. I truly recommend seeing them if you can.

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It was then my first visit to the HeartSupport stage. I loved the smaller lower stage as you felt every note played and being that close gave it a much different perspective to the artist. Texas rockers Kingdom Collapse made the most of the small stage, throwing down hard, and trying to melt your face off. I was very impressed by their performance. Solid vocals, great music, and they really worked the stage and had the Blue Ridge Rock Festival attendees rocking out. Another band I highly recommend seeing live. I then headed back down the hill and over to the far left to check out Afterlife at the Fan Driven stage. Unfortunately, my Livestream partner Danny and I found out Afterlife had started early so we missed our opportunity to photo them from the pit. Also, we couldn’t find our way into the photo pit as we weren’t informed how to enter that area because the normal means to enter the photo pit was fenced off!

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I will say one of the major things I did enjoy about this first day was getting to meet people. Last year, I didn’t walk the grounds because it was easier for us to walk backstage to get from stage to stage. This year that wasn’t possible so we had to walk the grounds to get to the stages. In doing so, I had the opportunity to meet a bunch of people I became friends with from the Blue Ridge Rock Festival Fan Zone Facegroup group. At the Afterlife set, I ran into large group of the ICoN Pit Crew. We had their founder Spoon on our Livestream show to discuss moshing. It was truly a special moment to meet people I’ve spoken to for months face to face for the first time. I think that’s one of the best parts of festivals; meeting new friends and reuniting with old friends who all share the love of music. Also, getting to see so many people in costumes was awesome and sometimes downright hilarious.

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But, it was back up the hill again to the Zyn stage for the heavy metal band Shadows Fall. The band that formed back in 1996 played until 2014 before going on hiatus. I had always known about the band but never had the opportunity to see them perform live. In fact, they were one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come out to cover the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. There was a massive crowd at the Zyn stage and the moment they stepped out on stage, the roar of the crowd was overwhelming. I felt goosebumps on my arms as the first words of “The Light That Blinds” off The War WithinBrian Fair‘s vocals were perfect and Jon Donais, who would be doing double duty performing with Anthrax later that night, was letting it rip on stage. The band had a reunion performance back in December 2021 and they hadn’t missed a beat since. They were awesome. Brian said how much he missed the stage and was thrilled to have the opportunity to perform for the Blue Ridge crowd. I had the chance to meet Brian after Anthrax’s set later that evening and he was so humbled by all the compliments he had received that day.

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I hopped over to the Monster stage to see the rockers Pop Evil perform. They were a huge fan favorite at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in 2021 and no surprise they were invited back to perform again. And it was no surprise that they completely rocked it once again. Performing their new single “Eye of the Storm” and other hits “Trenches” and “Waking Lions”, Pop Evil showed why they are one of the best live performance bands out there today. They know how to connect with the crowd and get them moving to their music. They were so much fun to see. Back over to the Zyn stage was the blazing Spiritbox. They hit the scene with their single “Circle With Me” off their debut album Eternal Blue. Vocalist Courtney LaPlante displayed her incredible singing range between “Circle With Me”, “Holy Roller”, and “Rotoscope”. 

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Over at the Monster stage were rockers Bad Wolves with new vocalist Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz (former guitarist of The Acacia Strain). I wanted to see if the band had that same spark they did with Tommy Vext at the helm. Sadly, they didn’t. The songs may be the same, but the vibe just wasn’t the same. It was then over to the HeartSupport stage to see another band for the first time, Norma Jean. The metalcore band out of Atlanta, GA is everything I expected them to be; hard, loud, blood-pumping, and killer. Intensity and energy dripped from them with every song and they made such an impact on the crowd watching them. I was definitely impressed with their performance.

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It was back down the hill for a “Do Not Miss” performance of the reunion of the Canadian heavy metal band Kittie. I never had the opportunity to see them, though I did interview vocalist and rhythm guitarist Morgan Lander when the band released the Kittie: Origins/Evolution documentary in 2018. I was absolutely excited and thrilled to see and photograph their set and it was absolutely worth the wait. The band was top notch. Morgan’s vocals are beyond incredible, her sister Mercedes was a killer on the drums, Tara McLeod on lead guitar was mind-blowing, and Ivy Vujic on bass was superb. Their performance is everything the fans wanted and needed to hear and it was such a special reunion set. I hope this wasn’t the last we hear of Kittie.

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There was supposed to be a band playing on the Monster stage as TBA, but that band was pushed to 2023, and a replacement was never made. But, there was no communication to the media no one would be there at that stage. I don’t even think attendees were informed. So I waited for the next artist at the Zyn stage, who was one of my favorites, Daughtry. The former American Idol contest made waves through the season with his rock sound and while he didn’t win, he’s definitely been one of the most successful artists to come out of that season. I was hopeful his rock sound would go well with the festival attendees and it did. There was a huge crowd for him that evening and he sounded amazing. I was quite surprised by how many attendees were singing along with him through his songs.

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At this point, I have to call out something that can’t be ignored. The photographers immediately noticed there were no security guards there at Daughtry’s set. In fact, there were none to be seen between the Zyn or Monster stages! It was completely empty. One of the photographers ran over to a backstage entrance looking for anyone to inform them on what was happening and it wasn’t until halfway through Daughtry’s set that security showed up. This was completely unacceptable. You can’t have an artist go out on stage at a festival without security to look out for their safety. This was a huge ball drop. But, this was just the start.

Following over at the Monster stage was the legendary thrash band Anthrax. The band is currently on tour celebrating their 40 years together. 40 years is quite an accomplishment and to continue to perform at the level they do is just incredible. Ever since I started following them, I try not to miss a show when they come to Florida. And while Ice Cube was performing down at the URW stage around the same time, I just couldn’t bring myself the opportunity to miss Anthrax. And I’m glad I didn’t. Opening up with “Caught in a Mosh” and “Madhouse” had the crowd surfers coming over in droves and had the crowd rocking and moshing. But, playing “I Am the Law” had the crowd going crazy and singing loudly with the chorus. You can tell the band was loving the attendee interaction. The more the fans get into their set, the harder Anthrax plays. They closed out with “Indians” which really had the crowd amped up. It was truly an awesome set that night.

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With that said, I have to point out the disappointment, no, the disgust from Scott Ian of Anthrax of the setup of fans at the Monster stage. If you weren’t by the railing in GA, you wouldn’t have seen that Rockstar passholders not only had a lounge that was to the right of the Monster stage but also had their own viewing area. An area that was pretty much the length of the photo pit. It was massive. It was also very empty. The Rockstar passholders that did use it were usually congregated to the far left because they could also see the Zyn stage from there. That left the entire middle and right side completely empty. So from Scott’s view, he was performing before the photographers, a big empty barricade space, and then an area full of GA fans far away from the stage. He called this out wondering why he was playing to an empty space and why the fans who were there to see them were so far back. I honestly don’t blame him for his comments. This Rockstar viewing area looked like a Golden Circle 2.0 except there was security in place to prevent people from jumping the barricade.

Before the headliner, fans had a choice between In This Moment on the Zyn stage or Stone Temple Pilots down at URW. I chose In This Moment as it’s been a while since I’ve seen them. As usual, the rock band brought out all the stops for their theatrical performances with lights, fog, dancers, and costumes. Though it literally was hard to see them at times, the music was great and they put on a great show. I did learn the photographers that went to cover Stone Temple Pilots were turned away by security saying the band said no photographers. Once again, there was no communication from our media liaison informing us of this in advance. To be fair, our media liaison said they were never informed of this either and was ensuring the festival booking team was reviewing the contracts to ensure there were no surprises this weekend (there would be).

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And the last band of the evening and Thursday night’s headliner was the Swedish rock back Ghost. This was their first U.S. festival they ever headlined and the band is on such a hot streak after the release of their current album Impera. I’ve been a fan of Ghost ever since being introduced to their music and loved seeing them as a headliner for the festival. They were another reason I wanted to cover this festival. And they did not disappoint. Kicking it off with one of my favorite songs “Kaisarion” from the new album. Throw in “Rats” and “Faith” from Prequelle and the crowd was really loving their music. It was a 14 song set that night that included some of my favorites such as “Spillways”, “Hunter’s Moon”, “Cirice”, “Call Me Little Sunshine”, the ever-so-heavy “Mummy Dust” and closing with the 1 billion plus streamed song “Square Hammer”. Fantastic set and selection of songs.

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The media’s biggest problem with photographing Ghost that night was the photo pit was overcrowded. Why? First, anyone who was approved with a media band was allowed into the photo pit as well as anyone with a photographer pass. This is not industry standard at festivals. The standard is photographers received both a media and photo pass so we can use the media area and enter the photo pits. Those just doing interviews at festivals are only given a media band and are not allowed into the photo pits. So, now we had double the amount of people we normally should have in the pit. The “funnier” part was photographers were told we couldn’t use the media area because we didn’t have a media band so a few of us either had ours switched from photo to media (since media would let you in the photo pits) or the credentials person checking us in gave photographers an additional media band. I learned some media gave that extra media band away to other people so they could come into the photo pit with us. Since no one was manning the media area, it didn’t matter what band you had to be in there. Heck, anyone could have been in there at any time.

Second, security did not stop those with artists or production passes from entering the photo pit during the photographer’s first three songs. In most cases, security never lets anyone into the photo pit except for photographers, a festival production person, or the band’s tour manager for their band on stage at that time or the band’s photographer (who has a photo pass for that day only). If someone with an artist or production badge wanted to watch the set from the photo pit area, they are usually kept to the sides of the pit. This allows security to keep that area clear for the artist’s safety and room for security to catch crowdsurfers. Also, the security members watching the pit who were trying to take selfies while Ghost was performing. It was a mess.

Day 1 of Blue Ridge Rock Festival was fantastic for the music and I really did enjoy myself getting to photograph and watch the bands that day. But, I couldn’t overlook all of the issues I saw. It only left me wondering what the next 3 days would bring.

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