After a wonderful and successful day at the HeartSupport Fest at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, I was back for Day 2. It was hot at the start of the day, but you could see the fans’ energy was strong. Attendees walked in with large grins, laughing, and ready to throw down in the mosh pits or rock out in the crowd. The unfortunate part is I noticed a significant decline in the number of people there early during the opening. Saturday’s opening was very strong with tons of people already there before the first band took the stage. Sunday was not as strong that early afternoon.
Opening up the fest at the Hot Topic Foundation was the metal band known as Prison. The Florida band opened up heavy for the early afternoon and the crowd was all over it. Mosh pits were running hard early as they performed on stage. The interesting piece I loved about them was they used two bass guitarists. I’m a fan of lots of bass in metal so I truly enjoyed their songs. They were phenomenal. Keep an eye out for this band.
Next at the betterhelp Stage was Silent Planet. This band has received a lot of good buzz over the past few months for the messages in their songs and their talent. I’ve been wanting to see them live for a while and I was not disappointed. Vocalist Garrett Russell has such an amazing voice and talked to the crowd about their songs covering everything from PTSD to the end of the world. I truly loved their performance. The cadence of their songs isn’t like standard metal, but it is definitely memorable. Check them out if they come to your city.
We then had the hardcore punk band Harms Way. I wasn’t as much of a fan of their performance. While James Pliggie has a very powerful vocal, I could barely understand anything he was singing. Musically, they were definitely hardcore and the crowd was moshing hard as they played.
Back to the betterhelp Stage we had the rock duo of ’68. Consisting of only a guitarist/vocalist and a drummer, this band not only had great moves on the stage, but they knew how to rock and were entertainers. I really loved this band’s music and their humor too. At one point, the media photographers started walking out thinking they performed three songs. Josh Scogin, guitarist/vocalist, asked where we were going as they hadn’t plain 3 songs yet. So the photographers went back into the pit to shoot another song. Overall, ’68 is a lot of fun and I highly recommend checking them out.
Four Year Strong was having a great time on stage with their pop punk sound. The fans were really enjoying their music moshing and jumping around as they played. The crowd surfers were coming over the barricade quick and security was getting to them fast. The fans crowd surfing in looked so happy and having a blast.
Hawthorne Heights on the betterhelp Stage was ready to rock with the fans. They came out and got the crowd moving again. You can tell the band was having a lot of fun on stage and they ensured the crowd was having fun too. They did have one of the best merch shirts that day. They had a shirt with an alligator on it stating “Florida is for Lovers” as a play on their single titled “Ohio is for Lovers”.
Before the next band, I walked around for a bit and noticed a sticker on a support beam. When I looked closer it was from the ICON Pit Crew who had apparently made their mark at the HeartSupport Fest.
As I headed back from the Hot Topic Foundation Stage, I ran into Jake Luhrs and told him how much I was enjoying this festival and hoped they’d bring it back for next year. On that stage, one of my favorite bands, Senses Fail, gave the fans a great performance. They opened it with a guitar solo of the National Anthem. Then, the post-hardcore band gave it everything on stage and they seriously had that crowd jumping, moshing, and crowd surfing in waves. The harder the fans moved, the harder the band performed. They’re one of my favorite bands for live performances as they never disappoint. At the end of their set, they did a mashup of “Chop Suey”, “Down With The Sickness”, “Break Stuff”, and “Bulls on Parade”.
Canadian rockers Silverstein rocked out over at the betterhelp Stage. They always have so much fun on stage and love getting the crowd moving. I’ve always enjoyed their performances, but that day they were at the top of their game. Between “Infinite” to “Smile in Your Sleep” to “Vices”, Silverstein was having such a good time. The crowd was also having a great time and cheering Silverstein on with every song.
When we got back to the Hot Topic Foundation Stage, all bets were off. Spiritbox was coming onto the stage to perform and the crowd and media photographers were packed in tight to capture every moment. They opened with “Circle With Me” and the crowd went ballistic. But, you could tell something was wrong from Courtney LaPlante‘s face. It ended up that her in-ear monitors weren’t working properly. She got them replaced and all was well. Their performance was fantastic performing songs “Hurt You”, “Yellowjackets”, “Holy Roller” and more. I absolutely love Spiritbox and it was a thrill to see and photograph them once again.
We were nearly done with the festival with co-headliners The Ghost Inside performing on the betterhelp Stage. The metalcore band has been more active on the scene performing at so many festivals over the past year and it was so awesome to see them performing at HeartSupport Fest. They threw down the gauntlet and wanted the crowd moving and moshing to their music. The band’s sound is so full of energy and excitement you can’t help but feel the desire to move around. They played some great songs like “Outcast”, “Pressure Point”, and “Greater Distance”. But, it was the surprise of having Jake Luhrs of August Burns Red join them on stage to perform “Between the Lines” that really capped off their performance. The Ghost Inside is truly amazing and can’t wait to see them again.
Closing out the show was the punk rock band Rise Against. The crowd was definitely excited to see them on stage and starting their set with “Re-Education (Through Labor)”. The band was definitely having fun with the HeartSupport Fest crowd and the fans were crowd-surfing throughout their set. It was a great set with “Architects”, “Satellite”, and closing the show out with “Prayer of the Refugee”.
Day 2 was another successful day for the HeartSupport Fest, even though the crowd was much lighter that day. HeartSupport Fest showed that a multi-day festival could be done the right way in Orlando, FL, and can throw out a banger of a lineup over two days. I was thrilled to get to cover this festival and I hope to see this back again in 2024.
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