Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival Concert Review!

PCM recently had the opportunity to attend the massive rock show known as the Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival in Camden, NJ. This year’s tour featured bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate on the maln stage, and the talents of Sevendust, Black Tide, Art Of Dying, and Hell or Highwater on the second stage. It was a day of face-melting hard rock with some of the biggest and baddest bands out there today!

We were able to catch up with quite a few of the bands such as Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, Black Tide, Art of Dying, and Hell or Highwater to discuss Uproar Festival, future plans, and more! Check out the interview in the video playlist below:

The second stage this year packed just as much talent as the main stage. Highlights included the gritty hard rocking sounds of Hell or Highwater, a band founded by Atreyu drummer Brandon Saller, and Art of Dying who knew just how to amp up the crowd playing their hits such as “Get Thru This” and “Best I Can”.

A stand-out performance came from Black  Tide, who tore up the stage despite having a short set time. I was certainly excited to hear songs such as “Warriors Of Time” and “Bury Me”, the latter being from the band’s recently released album “Post Mortem”.

Rockers Sevendust closed out the second stage and their performance packed such a punch that I was almost questioning why they were not main stage at this year’s festival.  The side stage area was packed wall-to-wall with people and witnessing all those people rocking out to “Pieces” and  “Face To Face” was a truly memorable experience.

The main stage got off to a great start with solid set from Escape The Fate. The band is still currently promoting their latest self-titled release which garnered them a #4 debut spot on the Billboard Rock chart and over 2 million fans on Facebook.  It was amazing to watch the crowd belt out every lyric to the band’s single “Gorgeous Nightmare” and the band could not have looked any more into their set and seemed very excited to kick-off the Uproar tour.

I think I may have underestimated the popularity of Bullet For My Valentine. Once they took to the stage fans began flocking into the venue from all angles and the way in which the band commandeered the stage they demanded the attention of anyone who was within the listening radius. Majority of their set consisted of songs from their latest album “Fever”, however it was great to hear songs such as “Scream Aim Fire” (my personal favorite) as well!

I have been a big Seether fan for quite some time, so their set was one that I had been looking forward to for most of the day. Despite a seemingly short set, I was still thrilled with Seether’s performance. Opening with “Gasoline” and playing through most of their singles such as “Fake It” and “Remedy” Seether seemed at home on the stage and I could listen to singer Shaun Morgan all day.  The crowd went wild when they broke into the opening notes of their current single “Country Song” and I think the band was the perfect way to slow things down bit (in a good way).

As usual I am never disappointed by Three Days Grace in the live setting.  This is a band that knows how to produce hits and we certainly heard all of their great ones while out at this show. I was so impressed to see that at one point during their set singer Adam Gontier lept off the stage and ran through the crowd never missing a beat of singing “Animal I’ve Become”.  To see an artist that is not afraid to come down off the stage and get in the face of the crowd always gains them some  respect points in my eyes, as it is truly bridging the gap between fan and artist and is simply amazing to witness. Also, lucky for us in Camden, we heard the not often played cover of Apocalyptica’s “I Don’t Care” and a wonderful rendition of “Home” that featured  a portion of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in the middle, which suprisingly blended together quite nicely.

Finally I could think of no better band to follow the incredible performance from Three Days Grace than Avenged Sevenfold who are always capable of taking things up a notch. This time the band rolled out a new stage design, which looked fantastic, and allowed fans to vote on which songs they wanted to hear during their set.  In Camden we were thrilled to hear songs such as “Second Heartbeat” “Chapter Four” and “A Little Piece Of Heaven” which the band has not played live for quite some time.  I think that every time I see Avenged Sevenfold that they could not possibly top the last show, but each and every time they never cease to amaze me. Phenomenal performance filled with everything that makes a rock show great: searing guitars, incredible pyrotechincs, heart-pounding drums, and of course the vocal prowlness of singer M. Shadows.

We had a fantastic time out at this year’s Uproar Festival and absolutely can’t wait to see what they will have in store for next year!