The Uproar Festival 2010: the Hard Rock Summerfest

Created by John Reese and sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink a new annual festival featuring hard rock/heavy metal acts from within the industry get to strut their stuff on this year's first installment of the Uproar Festival. John Oakes, Darryl Eaton and Ryan Harlacher from the Creative Artists Agency, and Perry Lavoisne from Live Nation also helped in creating this festive event in becoming such a success. Reese not only created this festival but was responsible for creating the Mayhem Festival and the Taste of Chaos tour. This Uproar Festival is the replacement to the Taste of Chaos tour, he says he was "running out of bands that fit within the profile of what Taste of Chaos was." So with that said, let me welcome you to the Uproar Festival.

The Uproar Festival is not only showcasing the best within the music industry but has to offer a variety of other activities as well. One includes a wrestling tournament being presented by Blue Collar Wrestling Alliance as well as Metal Mulisha, THQ, Sennheiser, Skullcandy, Bleeding Star Clothing line, Best Buy's Musical Instruments, Schecter Guitars, D'Addario Guitar Strings/Evans Drumheads/Planet Waves, plush much much more! Now depending on your venue of choice you'll get offered what they can give and when it came down to September 17, 2010 Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheater was given the chance of nothing but booths, booths, and more booths.

Now don't get me wrong this venue is quite a journey to get to first off, next the venue is decently sized but not quite big enough to withstand what Metal Mulisha and Blue Collar Wrestling Alliance who specialize in the more aggressive side of what the festival has to offer its attendants. So that was a minus in the books. So the layout was just booths which included the band’s merchandising tables to the Jägermeister USA booth having somewhat fun for the ones who were qualified to join in. Speaking of which Jägermeister USA had their own stage set-up having a handful of various acts giving it all they got. Some of the acts worth mentioning included, Eyes Set to Kill, New Medicine, Airbourne and Hellyeah!

Eyes Set to Kill

New Medicine

Eyes Set to Kill presented a bouncy yet dramatic performance with upbeat guitar riffs and overused vocal tones that tended to just drown out the music. New Medicine managed to kick it up a beat or two with their over progressive attitude with hard hitting filling riffs with over powerful vocal tones that kept the music energetically fresh. Heading down under you get thrown head first with Australia’s very own AC/DC similarities Airbourne! Who promise nothing more but pure rock n’ roll! Leading vocalist/guitarist Joel O'Keeffe did nothing but run up and down the stage constantly interacting with the crowd getting their pulses racing over and over again. While their set was short but true, their song list comprised of “Diamonds in the Rough”, "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast", and "Runnin Wild". In which “Runnin Wild”, had Joel jumping atop of an amplifier grasping not just one but two cans of bud light and started smashing the can into the side of his head, having it explode! If that’s not a enough for you then Hellyeah may get your fist pumping keeping your blood rushing in and out like no tomorrow. Hellyeah is made up of hard rock blended well into the heavy metal department that ends up becoming nothing but an absolute eyesore for those not knowing it. Their music builds up the energy and keeps it coming long into the night.

Airbourne

Whilst the main stage located a little further away, since the Jägermeister USA stage was set in the parking lot aligned with the row of booths set-up kept the crowd occupied for the time being. When the parking lot was drawing to its closing point everybody was asked to head towards the main stage section and see what lay behind its grassy plains. As soon as you arrive through the archway you get thrown with yet another handful of booths set-up some with food and drinks while others were filled with more merchandise and other memorabilia. As for the main stage it had to offer four various acts as did the parking lot section. There people were treated with heavy metal act Halestorm who gave it their all delivering a hard but heavy filling dimension of guitars with snarling vocal tactics. While Stone Sour tended to take the music down a couple of notches on their somewhat hard rock attics.

A7X

Rounding off the night included some local go getters straight out of Orange County, known to many as Avenged Sevenfold or A7X for short. If you haven’t heard of these guys before then you haven’t heard anything yet! After the passing of former drummer The Rev who passed away on December 28, 2009 Avenged Sevenfold had gone off to finish their fifth studio album to date "Nightmare" in remembrance of The Rev's memory. Frontman M. Shadows has said that he and the rest of the band will continue to create and perform their music for as long as they live and it will all be done for the fans and the remembrance of their loyal and beloved "brother" so they say The Rev. With that said, Avenged Sevenfold opened up with a gentlemen dressed in a tie, black buttoned down black shirt and blue jeans who walked atop the lightning structure and fell off ending his life somewhat – minus the bungee cords tied behind his back.

A7X

After that incident A7X went on to perform a solid set including the old and the new material from all the albums that they have managed to dish out. Some of the songs within their set included "Nightmare" "Beast and the Harlot" "Afterlife", "Unholy Confessions", and "Almost Easy" among others that kept the crowd quite pleased for the remainder of the night. After their set was said and done there was only one band left behind, Disturbed.

Disturbed

Based out of Chicago, Illinois hard rock act Disturbed has delivered an assortment of albums along with a variety of singles to top it all off. So as soon as Avenged Sevenfold were over with Disturbed hit the stage hard and heavy delivering a song list of mind-blowing hits one after the next, "The Game", "Sticken", "Stupify" "Ten Thousand Fists" "Indestruitble", and much newer hits off their latest release "Asylum" that included the title track and "Remants". Who could forget their one hit wonder, "Down With The Sickness", that rounded off the night of nothing but hard rock!

Disturbed

All in all it was a night of fun and excitement for all in attendance and will surely be a successor for many years to come.