By this point and time, every music fan has caught wind of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. If you haven’t heard of it by now, I’d honestly be shocked. The festival that started back in 2017 with a 3,500 attendance is now delivering their fourth outing on September 9-12, 2021 with a sold out show of around 160,000. The festival is being held in Danvilla, VA this year at a new site known as the Blue Ridge Amphitheater and will bring some of the hottest acts in rock and metal to blow off the roof over 4 days. This event is something special and want to delve in as to why.
Let’s start off with the most important thing about this festival: Purpose Driven Events. This is the organization led by CEO Jonathan Slye that not only bring Blue Ridge Rock Festival every year, but now a number of additional festivals as well. This will include Blue Ridge Country Festival from October 1-3, 2021 and the Blue Ridge BBQ & Bourbon Festival with dates still TBA. Jonathan has been organizing and promoting events in the since he was a teenager and the formation of Purpose Driven Events will continue to grow the music scene in the Southwest Virginia area. The addition of the new Blue Ridge Amphitheater and the new venue called The Ridge (a 31,000 square foot venue formerly known as Phase 2 and Cattle Annies) will be able to bring more music events they couldn’t host before. The Ridge will also be able to host non-music events such as comedy acts, car shows, MMA, and more.
When it comes to the Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Purpose Driven Events has only one focus: their fans. Jonathan‘s goal since the inaugural year in 2017 was to deliver “The Fan Driven Rock Experience”. So how exactly do they do it? By literally asking their fans who they want to see at the festival. The Blue Ridge Rock Festival social media accounts are heavily used during their planning to see who the fans want to see. Literally polls are posted asking fans which bands they’d rather see that year. And the buzz around the lineup before it was announced was massive. There wasn’t a day where fans were potentially guessing headliners and comparing band’s tour schedules and theories on who would be there. And the other unique piece the Blue Ridge Rock Festival did was piecemeal their announcements throughout the year. 169 Artist Announcements were made on the Facebook page before the final line up was revealed on June 30th, which added 3 additional artists. Needless to say the buzz around each of these announcements was tremendous.
Before we get into the actual lineup, we need to point out the other huge aspect of the festival: the fans. Being my first time hearing about this festival, I quickly learned the community supporting this festival are more than fans; they’re family. The majority of my interaction with them has been through a Facebook group known as Blue Ridge Rock Festival Fan Zone. The group is 18,000+ members strong and a number of the Purpose Driven Events staff members follow discussions and conversations there. Jonathan himself has been known to comment and post in the group as well. The moderators are a fantastic group of people who ensure conversations are kept on track while also keeping it fun and lively. The moderators are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to FAQs on the festival, about the area, and festival advice in general. The fans in the group are exactly the same. Any time a member has a question, the fans are quick to respond with their advice and information. But, the part where this is a true festival family is when there are true calls for help. Fans who run into unexpected issues regarding their travel plans, tickets, or other things and how fast these members come to the rescue. One day a woman posted how she lost her ride to go to the festival and suddenly had no way to attend. She was heartbroken. Tons of members from her area were all posting their assistance to ensure she could get to the festival and get home safely. One person was willing to go an hour of their way to ensure she had a ride. It was seriously an amazing thing to see.
The festival is being hosted by Steve-O of Jackass and radio personality Lou Brutus. I’m sure both will be excellent hosts and I’m curious if we’ll see some crazy stunt antics from Steve-O.
Let’s get to the nitty gritty of the festival; the musicians! According to the Blue Ridge Rock Festival website there are 180 musical performers over 4 days. 180 musical performers over 4 days. That’s insanity! I can’t even fathom how they will fit all of this in over 4 days let alone trying to make the decision on who to see each day. I’m looking forward to seeing the time slots for the bands. As for the bands, they are two separate groups of musical acts. The Rising Talent and the national acts.
Who are the Rising Talent? These are acts from all over the U.S. who have performed on local stages, national stages, and in general are independent artists. Some have released EPs, some full studio albums, and others just singles. Some of these bands have already gone on big tours with national acts and others tours on their own. What’s important to know is the Rising Talent may one day be one of the national acts headlining a tour or even a festival! These are also the bands we’ve been interviewing over the past month including Misty Eyed, Nameless Anonymous, Awesome Ray Ray, Dying Oath, Nail Bite, SevenStones, Waking the Sleeper, State of Illusion, To Begin Anew, Fate DeStroyed, Friends In Hell, Gravebound, and Inner Image.
Let’s take a look at a day by day breakdown:
Thursday, September 9th:
Headlining that night will be Breaking Benjamin for their only festival appearance in 2021, A Day To Remember who came off a huge tour in 2019, Halestorm one of the hottest rock bands out there right now, and Skillet one of my personal favorite performers for their high energy and stage presence. But, the big story for this night is the reunion and special appearance of The Ghost Inside. This band has been the biggest buzz for headliners in the Blue Ridge Rock Festival Fan Zone and I’m expecting that stage to be mobbed.
So who should you see that day besides the headliners? My personal picks would be Black Label Society, Testament, Sabaton, Hatebreed, From Ashes to New, and Miss May I. From Ashes to New never disappoints in a performance with their high energy and they absolutely feed off the crowd. The more you cheer, the harder they go. Hatebreed was a late add and they will expect a massive mosh pit during their set. And let’s not forget P.O.D. who will be performing Satellite in it’s entirety. As for the Rising Talents see our friends in Nail Bite as they will throw you for a loop and Nameless Anonymous.
The show stealer for that day is going to be Spiritbox. This rock band is already blowing up the airwaves and streams without a debut album even being out yet. If you haven’t heard any of their music yet go search for “Circle With Me”, “Secret Garden”, and “Constance” both the normal and acoustic versions.
Friday, September 10th:
The headliners are Rob Zombie who will have the crowd moving hard, Rise Against who is currently on tour for their new album, Chevelle who will rock the stage, and Limp Bizkit who just killed it at Lollapalooza. And my favorite headliner this night, making their only 2021 appearance is I Prevail. Do not miss any of these headliners that night.
My picks for the rest of day would be too many! Sevendust, one of my all time favorites, will have the circle pits going strong. Motionless In White, Atreyu, Light The Torch, and Saul will absolutely bring performances you won’t forget. Our friends in Nonpoint will be “Ruthless” in their performance and always give a show to remember. And of course the legendary Anthrax will bring the thrash metal celebrating their 40th anniversary. And for another special performance the fans will see the return of D.R.U.G.S. In the Rising Talent group check out Fate DeStroyed, Misty Eyed, To Begin Anew, Dark Summer, SevenStones, Nameless Anonymous, and one of the heaviest bands we interviewed Dying Oath.
The show stealer with no doubt that day will be Fever 333. Their hardcore music, intensity, and passion spills over the crowd. And vocalist Jason Aalon Butler is guaranteed to do something absolutely insane during their performance. That’s a promise, don’t miss them!
Saturday, September 11th:
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a somber moment for all Americans. And I couldn’t think of a better band to be headlining that night than Five Finger Death Punch. They support our troops and will absolutely bring a spectacular performance on stage. Also that night will be Seether who is always a fun show. The killer part about this evening is having the Metal Tour of the Year performing that day with co-headliners Megadeth and Lamb of God.
My personal picks on this day are way too many to choose. Cypress Hill is legendary and someone that can’t be missed. Theory of a Deadman has been a favorite of mine since they started and their live performances are spectacular. Trivium will have a huge mosh pit for their set and Beartooth‘s passion is going to ripple through the crowd. And with Body Count (featuring Ice-T), Avatar, Wage War, All That Remains, and 10 Years all on the same day, it’s going to get nuts. The Rising Talent lineup is just as solid with Inner Image, Waking the Sleeper, Awesome Ray Ray, Breathing Theory, and Gravebound.
And we should pretty much all know the show stealer for this day is going to be Badflower. They are the hot item right now and their stage performances are going to drive the crowd nuts.
Sunday, September 12th:
No one is going to want the festival to end. Hell, I know I won’t. But, the festival ends on a high note with Shinedown. They will absolutely light up the festival grounds that night with their performances from one of their many #1 singles. One of my favorite bands to see live and can’t wait to see them again. But the four other headliners are just as good! Papa Roach will be performing their album Infest from cover to cover. Falling In Reverse will be a fan favorite having them get back on the lineup after they fell off. Gojira is going to drive the fans crazy with their brand of heavy metal. And recent addition Bush is going to rock the night away.
Once again, I don’t even know where to start with my personal picks. I’m seriously looking forward to seeing Fit For a King and Killswitch Engage. Mastodon will have the fans rocking and Ice Nine Kills will have the fans crazy in the pit. Phil Anselmo & The Illegals performing A Vulgar Display of Pantera will be a memorable performance. And Underoath and Pop Evil will continue to get the fans moving around. In the Rising Talent group we have State of Illusion, a band from my current hometown in F.I.L.T.H. (love them!), the Matt Irie Band, and Roachzilla.
I’m calling out two show stealers for Sunday night. The first is Ayron Jones. His guitar playing and vocals are absolutely superb and fans are going to love him. The second is the Mongolian rockers The Hu. They will absolutely blow people’s minds that day with their metal.
And there’s still one more thing we need to discuss; the On-Site Club Experience! Blue Ridge Rock Festival will be hosting a literal nightclub on the festival grounds. It will be a separate structure and tickets were sold separately. Unfortunately, those went fast! The nightclub will be hosting Lil Jon on Thursday, T-Pain on Friday, Ludacris and Rev Run of Run DMC on Saturday.
If you weren’t able to get a ticket to the festival, you can go check out the website Lyte to see if anyone is selling their tickets. Overall, this is one of the hottest festivals of the year based on all the artists and experiences they can offer. Don’t miss out!
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