UpRoar Tour

LC Pavilion/Nationwide Area

Columbus, Oh

August 24^th, 2010

             Nationwide might be on your side, but who’s on their side? I hope that those folks that have the Nationwide protection don’t see their premiums go up. Why might you ask, well last night I watched the roof get blown off by Avenged Sevenfold, the crowd, and the rest of the line up. The first annual (and I hope annual) Rockstar Energy Drink UpRoar Tour rolled through Columbus, Ohio. The first set of bands (which I sadly couldn’t make) rocked out at the LC Pavilion. A couple of local bands hit spots to get things started. XFactor1 got things started at the early start time of 3:15. Jackie (which I have seen once and they kick major ass) hit the stage second while New Medicine saw the stage as the middle band of the Jager stage. Then up and coming bands Hail the Villain and Airbourne (from downunder) rounded out the first set of acts and location number 1. The crowd then had to head over to the Nationwide arena to finish getting their faces melted off. Now how to you go from a standing room only venue to one that has seats? Well the first 2000 folks that reach the LC Pavilion got bands for the floor, the rest…first come first serve. A little disappointing at first, but we visited a few spots around arena and there wasn’t a bad place in there. Now to the show and the festivities, the vibe was incredible and Halestorm opened up the main stage with a loud bolstering note from Lzzy. Their set was pretty impressive with loud vocals that were very clear. The drum solo was also loud and not distorted at all. The guitars did hit a bad note here and there, but for the most part they were spot on. Next up was Stone Sour. With a new album hitting stores in the next couple of weeks they played some new stuff which is always sweet. Mr. Taylor was all over the stage like a little kid with ADD. Their vocals were a bit hard to hear, but the lighting was really good. They got it right in that aspect of the show. Avenged Sevenfold is where it got hairy. I’m glad it wasn’t raining at that time or we would have got soaked as they blew the roof off the place. Their stage was one of the best I’ve ever seen. They had pyro out the ass, changing backdrops, and amazing lights. The stage itself looked like the gates of a cemetery or we were all about to go to hell. They opened the show with someone “hanging” themselves as they fell off a catwalk. The guy continued to hang there as they ripped through their lead single “Nightmare” from their new album. the entire set was spectacular with the superb lighting mixed with the bright fire. They really stole the show and could very well headline this annual tour next year. Disturbed wasn’t bad by any stretch off the imagination, but they just got upstaged that night. There stage was equally impressive with panels playing videos the entire time. They switched from live people to animations to fire. They also did have a little bit of pyro, but not nearly as much as Avenged. They rattled off so many huge tracks and a few new tracks from their upcoming album. those new songs sounded really good too. Their lighting wasn’t that impressive, but I have to say the live tracks sound so much like the album is scary. I’ve only heard on other band that sounds so much like the CD version. Overall this tour was phenomenal. It was set up really well and 9 bands are hard to beat. The star power at the second stage of the show was tremendous. If they can continue to get that type of lineup going this might replace Ozzfest. The lighting was great and the sounds were increadible. There were spots that the vocals were hard to hear, but other than that the show sounded great. I would defiantly go to this show next year. I’d like to see them expand the show route more and make sure they aren’t going to change venues.

Rating: 8.5/10

Best Part: Lineup

Worst: The changing of venues