“Rockstar Uproar Festival”
Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind, Adelitas Way, Fozzy, In This Moment, Duece, Candlelight Red, Mindset Evolution, Cruz
Date: Saturday, August 25th 2012
Venue: New York State Fair Grand Stand, Syracuse, NY
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
The Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival came to the Great New York State Fair on Saturday August 25th and despite a few band cancelations the festival was quite enjoyable. The day’s festivities kicked off on dueling side stages sponsored by Jagermeister and Ernie Ball. Due to the venue layout all three of the festival stages were side by side making it very easy to watch all of the performances. Besides not missing one note of music the rotating stages allowed for a very mini lag time between groups. This not only kept the energy of the crowd up but gave the show a great flow and feel. Despite the absence of P.O.D and the recent cancelation of Papa Roach each of the bands on the smaller stages did a great job filling in the time and the afternoon was capped off by energetic performances from In This Moments and Fozzy which features WWE Superstar Chris Jericho on vocals.
Prior to the start of the main stage performances fans we made to clear the venue which did cause quite a bit of confusion and chaos as fans were shuffled through various small openings leading under the grandstand viewing area. After a 40 minute wait fans were finally allowed to re-enter and take their seats for the rest of the evenings events. Up and coming hard rock band Adelitas Way opened the night and gave the fans a brief but energy packed set which came to a close with lead singer Rick DeJesus jumping in to the crowd for some quality time where he remained signing autographs and posing for photos for some time after the rest of the band left the stage. Staind would follow with a surprisingly energetic set which featured hits like “It’s Been Awhile”, “Mudshovel” and “Outside”. Despite singer Aaron Lewis preparing to take some time away from the band to promote his upcoming country album band moral seemed high and it really showed in the group’s performance. Hard rock heavy weights Godsmack would be next playing a greatest hits set consisting of songs from each of the bands albums. Highlights of the set were “Keep Away”, “Bad Religion” and of course the dueling drum solo’s between Shannon Larken and Sully Erna. Having seen the band several times now it would have been great to see something different from the band as this set was almost identical to the set performed by the band on this past springs “Mass Chaos Tour”. Shinedown closed out the night with a pyro packed performance featuring songs off the band latest album “Amaryllis”. Though the bands stage show featured a number of cool effects and a guest appearance by In This Moment front woman Maria Brink I felt the performance by the band was a bit boring. Singer Brent Smith very rarely left his podium and spent little to no time interacting with the crowd. At times the sound of the band seemed very produced and digital which I felt hurt the performance more than helped it. I am all for bands embracing technology however you have to know when enough is enough.
Though the “Rockstar Uproar Festival” is a bit smaller and doesn’t have as many big names artists as Rockstar’s other traveling tour “Mayhem Festival”. The smaller set ups gave each performance a more intimate feel. Having attended both festivals the “Uproar Festival” featured a wider variety of musical styles, better stage set up and a far better sound production. If Uproar is coming to your town be sure to grab a ticket and get to the show early to check out some really great talent.
Shinedown Set List:
1.) Sound of Madness
2.) Diamond Eyes
3.) Enemies
4.) If You Only Knew
5.) Devour feat. Maria Brink
7.) I’ll Follow You
8.) Unity
9.) .45
10.) Simple Man
11.) Second Chance
12.) Fly From the Inside
Godsmack Set List:
1.) Enemy
2.) Keep Away
3.) Cryin’ Like a Bitch
4.) Straight Out of Line
5.) Awake
6.) Bad Religion
7.) Speak
8.) Voodoo
9.) Drum Solo
10.) Whatever
11.) I Stand Alone
Staind Set List:
1.) Eyes Wide Open
2.) Right Here
3.) Now
4.) For You
5.) Paper Wings
6.) It’s Been Awhile
7.) Not Again
8.) Outside
9.) Mudshovel
10.) Something to Remind You
Adelitas Way Set List:
1.) The Collapse
2.) Hurt
3.) Alive
4.) Cage the Beast
5.) Criticize
6.) Sick
7.) Invincible
