Day 2 of Blue Ridge Rock Festival started out as a gorgeous day. It was going to be warm, no clouds in the sky, and no chance of rain at all. I met up with one of my media friends at the on-site parking lot and we made the trek to the festival entrance and to the media tent. They jokingly called the area the “magical forest” but there was nothing magical about the media area. It was a place to sit and get out gear ready. On this day, I was preparing to get my face melted off with one of the heaviest lineups of the festival down by the URW stage. I remember an attendee referred to that block of bands at URW as the “Headbangers Hall” and they were spot on.
Friday started off with a really difficult decision. The four opening bands were all bands I wanted to see and photograph. Danny (my Livestream partner) and I discussed for months that overlaps would happen. But, when the lineups dropped I was heartbroken seeing Fridays opening bands. On the Zyn stage we had the rock band Blacktop Mojo performing. On the URW stage was the rock band Frame 42. Over at the HeartSupport stage were our friends and heavy metal band Dying Oath. And on the Fan Driven stage was the rock band Small Town Titans. I have never seen Blacktop Mojo or Small Town Titans before nor had I seen Frame 42 and I of course always want to see Dying Oath. I made the call to go see Frame 42 perform because we just had them on the Livestream show and I was really curious about this very young band who was put together by their music school teacher (no joke). I was glad to be able to run into members of Dying Oath throughout the weekend to get to chat with them again. Go check them out if you haven’t already, Dying Oath is seriously something special.
I trekked my way down the hill to the URW stage and found an opening in the fence so I could squeeze in and get to the photo pit. I forgot to mention this in Day 1’s review, but once we learned how to get into the URW stage we had so much inconsistency with where to leave the area to head back up the hill. The gate where we were supposed to enter and exit got locked so we were literally trapped and had to exit via the bar by moving their trash can (I can’t make this stuff up). Another time when we had a space in the fence to enter, the fencing company closed all the fencing leaving us no way in or out. It was absolutely ludicrous and the security and fencing workers didn’t seem to know what was supposed to stay open or closed.
Danny and I were the only ones who decided to cover Frame 42 and we were in for a treat. The moment I heard that first long note from their vocalist Ava Morris I said to myself, “Holy shit!” Her vocals were truly incredible and she commands the stage like a seasoned pro. She has a voice like Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless and the moves of Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac. Michael wails on the guitar like Lenny Kravitz and Ben plays guitar with flair and style. Brock rocks hard on that bass and Lucas is a machine behind those drums. It blows my mind that a band this young plays like seasoned veterans. And they rocked that stage. After the first three, I stepped into GA and stayed for the rest of the set. Frame 42 just has it all together. The music, the stage presence, and the fan interaction. Their song “Intervention” was emotionally charged and hits you hard. I absolutely loved seeing them perform and see great things coming their way.
I headed over to the Fan Driven stage next door to check out the metal band Vended. But, they weren’t on stage because Small Town Titans started late and instead of ended early, they ran over into Vended’s time. And then Vended had sound issues so they were getting a late start too. But, they were absolutely worth the wait. Griffin Taylor (vocals) son of Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and Simon Crahan (drums), son of Shawn “Clown” Crahan of Slipknot formed the band and immediately found their own path. And their performance that day was nothing short of spectacular. They were heavy, intense, and they drew a HUGE crowd for the early part of the day and that crowd cheered hard. Thank God we didn’t have any crowd surfers because that stage’s pit was too small to fit all the photographers there and security to catch crowd surfers! Vended was truly impressive.
I was going to go back up to the main stages to catch Saving Able and Buckcherry, but it was so hot I decided to stay down at URW for the next couple of bands and get in with the heavy. First up was the deathcore band from New Jersey Fit For An Autopsy. And damn they were seriously heavy and threw it down on stage. The mosh pits were flying fast down at URW and the crowd surfers were coming across fast. Vocalist Joe Badolato looked happy on stage and that made me smile.
Following them on the same stage was one of the most anticipated bands of the festival if you followed all the comments and hype that was being said on the Blue Ridge Rock Festival Fan Zone Facebook group. The artist was the Russian band Slaughter To Prevail. The doom metal band with their infamous masks immediately had the crowd going wild the moment they stepped onto the stage before they even played a single note. And when they did play those first notes and vocalist Aleksandr Shikolai let out those guttural lyrics it was game on for the mosh pits and crowd surfers. Never in my life have a heard a band that played and sang with such passion and intensity. Slaughter To Prevail was there to leave their mark on Blue Ridge Rock Festival and they absolutely did. Their set was filled with power and passion. They were everything I hoped they would be and so much more. My only criticism was I wish they had played on a bigger stage.
It was at some point during their set that someone pointed out to me that the ICoN Pit Crew was at the guard rail catching crowd surfers. At the time, I thought these were members of security who were a part of ICoN. I later learned members of ICoN decided to volunteer to help security catch crowd surfers. I was informed, recently during the live stream, they were not acting as security nor licensed to do so and were told not to take security actions. I give major kudos to those who volunteered to assist security with the crowd surfers at all the stages. It does raise the question on why did they need the help? Why weren’t there enough resources to handle the crowd surfers at all the stages? ICoN members paid good money to attend and enjoy this festival. It was selfless of them to give him their time to work at the festival, but that shouldn’t have happened.
Staying down at URW (and trying not to melt in the heat, which is ironic to say living in Florida), was another of my favorite bands in Whitechapel. The band from Knoxville, TN are masters of playing heavy and setting the tone for the mosh pits to go nuts. And that’s exactly what they did. Opening up with “Brimstone” and including “Black Bear” and “Hickory Creek” all from The Valley made this set nothing but intensity and a chance for the fans to absolutely let loose and have fun. Whitechapel always leaves their fans wanting more.
Of course, during all of this I once again ran into a bunch of fans dressed up in costume, crowd surfing, and all around having fun. My favorite was the crowd surfer with the “No Crowd Surfing” sign—pure hilarity.
Checking the time, I realized I could potentially make it back up to the Zyn stage to catch the ever-popular fan favorite in Badflower. Last year, they played opposite Megadeth and I have no regrets covering their performance as it was something special. Josh Katz had laryngitis at that time and decided to sing that evening. This day Josh was in full form and his voice sounded absolutely fantastic. He was full-out letting loose on the vocals and looked absolutely thrilled to be back at the festival. I’m always impressed by guitarist Joey Morrow. His playing is amazing and his smile is infectious with his constant motion getting the fans moving too.
Across on the Monster stage was another of my favorites, and a band I’ve been a long-time fan of in Sevendust. The band also played last year, but I missed their set. I wasn’t making the same mistake twice. The band is on tour for the 21st (20th) anniversary of Animosity. Since they weren’t touring during the pandemic, this is a late celebration of the 20th anniversary of their 3rd album. When the band stepped out on stage the crowd went insane. They are attendee fan favorites and they ripped it up right away playing all songs (except for “Pieces” as their closer) from Animosity. I was ready to go nuts the moment “Praise” started and was probably singing along with every lyric. Lajon‘s voice is something special the way he delivers the songs. Morgan, besides being a beast on the drums, delivers that screaming vocals that leaves you with goosebumps. Throw in Clint and John with their guitar riffs and Vince with bass drops you have a complete rock package.
Back over to the Zyn stage to see the rock band Underoath from Tampa, FL. The band is known for their fast pace and intensity and this day was no different. It blows my mind to see keyboardist Christopher Dudley bouncing and stomping around on stage during their set. Fans loved Underoath’s passion on stage. Back on the Monster stage was another of my favorites in Theory of a Deadman. I’ve also followed them from their start and loved the evolution of the band. They performed some really fun songs to keep the fans engaged like “Lowlife”, “So Happy”, and “Hate My Life”, which had a great sing-a-long and lots of middle fingers at the end. While they also perform serious songs like “History of Violence” and “Rx (Medicate)”. They also threw in the hard-rocking “Bad Girlfriend” that truly got the fans rocking.
Once again it was back to the Zyn stage to see the kick-ass rock band Halestorm. The band’s popularity blew up with Lzzy Hale‘s stupendous vocals and her brother Arejay Hale‘s crazy drumming. It seems everything they do is gold and one of the reasons they were a returning performer from 2021. And performing songs like “Love Bites (So Do I)”, “Love Bites”, and “I Miss the Misery” rocked the crowd hard, and I wouldn’t have expected anything less. Back over to Monster stage was the French metal band of Gojira. I don’t know how else to explain their brand of metal but hard, thundering, loud, and energizing. You can feel their music wash over you and how hard they perform for the fans. I love their music, love their lighting, and know I’m in for a ride every time I see one of their shows. Their performance at Blue Ridge Rock Festival was nothing short of perfect.
At this point, I had the choice between A Day To Remember, Alice Cooper, or Insane Clown Posse to cover. It was an easy choice for me, Alice Cooper. The legendary rock star closing out the URW stage was going to leave the fans with a night to remember. With costuming, a beautiful stage set, and his music, there was no way I was going to miss this performance. Alice Cooper performed like the rock star fans know and love and his band supported him well during their performance. Cranking out a 12 song set list that included “Feed My Frankenstein” (with a large-scale Frankenstein costumed performer on stage), “Bed of Nails”, “Poison”, “House of Fire” and closing it off with the popular “School’s Out”, Alice Cooper was a master frontman and singer that night. Such a memorable performance. The unfortunate part about that set was once again dealing with non-media people inside the middle of the photo pit while we’re trying to capture images and avoid crowd surfers. That was even harder to do than at the Zyn or Monster stage as that is a smaller photo pit than the main stages.
And finally, the headliner for the evening was the metal band Mudvayne. After taking a hiatus in 2010, the band formed a reunion in 2021 and tore up the festival scene. And before performing at Blue Ridge Rock Festival, the band was on the Freaks on Parade Tour with Rob Zombie, Static-X, and Powerman 5000. So securing them as a headliner for 2022 was a huge deal. And the band showed why they were a headliner for the festival. They performed a 13-song set that included “Dig”, “-1”, “Not Falling”, “World So Cold”, and “Happy?” And yet once again, even though our media liaison informed security about letting guests into the pit while we were photographing, we were dodging and weaving our way around non-media during our photography time. It was frustrating as we were trying to focus on capturing shots for our reviews and at times catching a guest’s phone, arm, or head in our line of sight. I can say that Mudyave was absolutely fantastic that evening and was an excellent choice as a festival headliner.
And if you were wondering about the Will Call and bus scenario, Will Call from what I saw was wrapped up by Thursday. The bus lines that evening were still long, but the festival did get the vendor to provide a lot more buses than they had on Thursday. Overall, even with the issues and heat, it was a solid day of good music.
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