Uproar Festival Blasts Apart PNC Arts Center

The New York region’s summer of heavy metal came to a close last night at the PNC Arts Center, as Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold headlined the first ever Uproar Festival for thousands of local fans.

Between July’s Mayhem Festival, last week’s Ozzfest, and American Carnage earlier in the month, the tri-state area has had a summer of metal on a scale like never before. It was therefore appropriate that some of the best-selling metal bands wrapped up the season at Sunday’s Uproar Festival, which like Mayhem, was sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink.

The PNC Art Center was swarmed by fans early in the day, who skewed noticeably younger than the aforementioned festivals for the newer bands that made up the bulk of this concert’s bill. 100 degree weather in summer’s last gasp heatwave made the open air second stage a heatstroke waiting to happen, and venue security regularly sprayed down the crowd with water, in addition to the super-soaker-armed merchandise booth operators, who mostly targeted girls in tight white shirts. Fans also lined up for meet & greets with several bands such as Halestorm and Stone Sour, undeterred by the beating sun for a chance to meet their rock idols.

In contrast to Mayhem and Ozzfest’s death metal and hardcore opening acts, Uproar’s second stage featured more radio-friendly fare with New Medicine, Hail The Villain, Airbourne, and supergroup Hellyeah. While much of the crowd huddled in the shade or waited on line for meet & greets during most of the sets, Hellyeah, featuring Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul as well as Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, brought out a roaring audience and full-sized mosh pits. Vinnie Paul tossed drum sticks into the crowd while bandmembers chugged beers on stage, easily proving their heavy metal veterancy with a combination of crushing songs and badass stage presence.

The female-fronted Halestorm opened the main stage for the day, quickly pulling fans from the second stage area as singer Lzzy Hale demonstrated her astounding vocal range right from the get-go. The group has a swagger that belies their overall young age, especially guitarist Joe Hottinger, who took his solos with the attitude of a true rock star. Drummer Arejay Hale, younger brother of Lzzy, also pounded out a drum solo before being joined by the rest of the band for a brief drum circle. The band truly shone on their final song, I Get Off, as Lzzy howled through the suggestive vocals with an earnestness and raw talent which firmly insists Halestorm has a bright future ahead.

Next up was Stone Sour, one of two bands fronted by Slipknot singer Corey Taylor. Taylor often goes to great lengths keeping his bands separate, and while the unmasked, slower songs certainly differ from typical Slipknot fare, the frontman’s intensity and command of the crowd never changes. While Halestorm generated genuine interest, the crowd was much fiercer for Stone Sour’s set, with fans in the seated amphitheater crowding the aisles to get pictures and video.

Out on the lawn, mosh pits broke out in earnest. Most summer amphitheaters share a fatal flaw when it comes to metal shows, in that the general admission lawn is in the rear of the venue, putting mosh pits on dangerous slopes and leaving the fans up front unable to jump around. PNC is perhaps one of the worst offenders in that regard, with a lawn even more sloped than most, but that didn’t stop rabid fans from starting several pits as Stone Sour debuted new songs in between old favorites. Giant clouds of dust rose in the air from the kicked up dirt, and in a highlight of the entire night, occupants of the biggest mosh pit suddenly broke and charged across the lawn directly into a second pit comprised of much younger and smaller fans, sending surprised teens flying in every directions as they played ‘conquer-the-pit.’

Taylor was his usual loquacious self, screaming at the crowd to keep moving and sing along, veins popping out in his forehead as he screamed through the heavier songs. Curiously, the band did not play even a single track from their first record, instead sticking strictly to the second album with a handful of new songs from their soon-to-be-released third record. But between the soulful Through Glass and the hard-hitting 30/30/150, with especially epic moments on Reborn, the band easily delivered in their short allotment of time, setting the stage for the two headlining bands of the night.

T-shirts are a staple of rock concerts, and while the day saw no lack of shirts from Metallica, Pantera, and all the usual metal favorites, the most popular shirt by far was Avenged Sevenfold’s tour shirt, reading “It’s your f*cking nightmare” on the back, the chorus of incredibly popular and catchy single “Nightmare.” Even though Disturbed was the top-billed act, judging strictly by apparel, fans of Avenged Sevenfold outnumbered every other band on the tour ten to one, and as darkness fell, the excitement throughout the venue reached a new peak for the night.

Avenged Sevenfold’s set was a mock cemetery, with intricate details put into the backdrop and iron gates. As the crowd waited for the band to appear on stage, a body on a noose suddenly dropped from the rigging, where it would dangle and sway for the entire first song, the much-heralded Nightmare. Pyro blasted from every conceivable nook and cranny as the five man band tore through the track, vocalist M. Shadows bellowing through his lyrics and echoed by the crowd on each final “nightmare” line. Watch fan video of the intro and Nightmare at the bottom of this page.

While the more melodic Avenged Sevenfold is rarely mentioned in the company of traditional contemporary thrash and hardcore metal bands such as Lamb of God and Shadows Fall, the California act threw down the gauntlet last night when it came to heavy metal showmanship and performance. The heavily tattooed band ran through shrieking solos, crushing breakdowns, and viciously sung vocals against a highly polished stage show which proved that there’s no such thing as too much fire and explosions. Security forces had to aim their high-powered flashlights at the roiling mosh pits in the back to prevent injuries, as fanatical fans jumped about almost blindly on the dark and sloped lawn.

Halfway through their set, the band stopped to dedicate So Far Away to their recently deceased drummer, the Rev, who was found dead of an overdose back in December. Lighters and cell phones lit up the night as fans paid tribute during the slow, moving song, easily the most touching moment of the night. Taking the Rev’s place is legendary Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who recorded already-written portions of the band’s latest record, and agreed to tour with the group as well. Referencing New Jersey as Portnoy’s home, which the Long Island native shrugged off as close enough, Shadows ended the night by demanding massive pits for Portnoy for the final song, spawning no less than four massive, dusty circles across the open ground.

After Avenged Sevenfold’s monstrous performance, any band would be hard-pressed to even match, let alone top it, but Chicago veterans Disturbed surely did their best. The venue noticeably emptied during soundcheck, with many of the Avenged fans calling it a night after a very satisfying performance, but that only served to whittle the crowd down to true Disturbed fanatics. It’s now been a decade since The Sickness first introduced fans to the Disturbed’s unique brand of metal, and the band is preparing to release their fifth album, Asylum, on Tuesday. While subsequent albums featured much more melody and much less violent rhetoric than The Sickness, Disturbed still commands a hefty metal crowd, and shorn of many of Avenged Sevenfold’s teenage girls and anorexic boys, the Uproar Festival quickly got much more hard-edged.

The four musicians of Disturbed entered the stage one at a time while a video played out on a massive, jagged, high definition video screen, telling a story of frontman David Draiman escaping from some sort of mental asylum. The singer ran onto stage in personal as his video self escaped, and the group debuted new song Asylum for the cheering crowd.

The night’s setlist was well varied, hitting songs from every record with The Game, Liberate, Inside the Fire, and a great cover of Genesis’s Land of Confusion. Draimen is often an outspoken frontman, practically orative at times as he demanded the crowds’ complete attention and energy, but the amphitheater full of fans was more than happy to oblige. Guitarist Dan Donegan had time to shine as well, shredding through thrashy guitar solos in more recent songs such as Stricken while blasts of pyro lit up the stage. The large video screens also added a dramatic element to the performance, as psychedelic art and shots of the musicians melded for an intense backdrop.

In tribute to The Sickness and its unique sound even as compared to later Disturbed records, the band also ran through a four song medley featuring Fear, Meaning of Life, Numb, and album opener Voices. Fans responded vigorously to the music, and even more so as the band wrapped up with breakout hit Stupify and the anthemic Ten Thousands Fists.

But even as the crowd enjoyed the varied setlist, there was only one track on everyone’s mind, and Down With the Sickness was to be the night’s final hurrah. Few metal songs are as instantly recognizable and fiercely loved as Down With the Sickness, and the roar of the crowd echoed across the Jersey night as the iconic drum intro blasted out from the amplifiers. While Avenged Sevenfold’s set had seemingly exhausted most moshers, the pits started up again in earnest for what still stands as one of the decade’s greatest metal hits. Clouds of dust rose above the crowd for the final time of the night, and it seemed as if every fan in the audience dredged up their deep-seated mother issues for the notorious “abuse” rant in the song’s breakdown. Before shutting down for the night, Draimen encouraged fans to buy Asylum when it comes out on Tuesday, and “kick Eminem off the charts!”

As fans trudged into the parking lots, most seemed to agree that Disturbed had put on the best show of the night, but even those who disliked Avenged Sevenfold had to admit that the California band had put on an impressive show, regardless of the quality of the songs. Both bands certainly brought their A-game, and although Avenged might have brought more pyro, Disturbed brought a more significant catalog of songs. To that end, the omission of breakout hit Bat Country in Avenged Sevenfold’s set seemed inexplicable and disappointing to both casual and die-hard fans.

Nonetheless, the inaugural Uproar Festival, which one can only hope will return in subsequent years, proved to be a satisfying bookend to the Mayhem Festival and summer metal shows in general. Rockstar made a smart move in creating a second festival and neatly splitting the broad world of heavy metal between the heavier, thrashier bands and the lighter, more radio-friendly acts, ensuring that fans got their favorite brands of music over the course of two unique shows. In the meantime, New York fans will get another crack at Disturbed this October, when the band plays the relatively small Roseland Ballroom in what is sure to be a hot, packed, and violent concert.

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