Fan Review: Rockstar Uproar Festival in Englewood, CO

First of all thanks to Nikki for being so patient with me. She wrote this review in early October, but I had some problems in my private life in addition to my final exams at University and couldn’t post the review until now.

Review of Rockstar Uproar Festival in Englewood, Colorado, October 5, 2011 by Nichole Portales

I attended Rockstar Uproar Festival in Englewood, CO last Wednesday. I had an all access pass but didn’t go backstage or go to the signings because I would have to miss one of the other band’s sets and this show had such an amazing lineup that I didn’t want to miss anything. I got there around 4pm when the doors opened and they had a bunch of booths set up, including a slushy stand but I had a pit pass so I pretty much went directly to the pit and when I got there it was already filling up because it is a very small section in front of the stage but I ended up standing in the 3rd row so I was still really close.

Escape The Fate was the first band to take the main stage. I didn’t know much about them as this was my first time seeing them but they were pretty decent. They had good vocals and strong stage presence. They also had good eye contact and tried for crowd interaction although there wasn’t much of a crowd at this point.

Next, they held a short Miss Uproar Contest on the main stage which consisted of 6 finalists. This was the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. They narrowed it down to four finalists and then chose one, who I think was only chosen because she liked to show off her body. But frankly she had enough visible stretch marks on her stomach. It was enough to make a person sick but I guess she doesn’t mind showing that off. I was so relieved when that was over.

Next, Bullet for My Valentine took the stage. There was just a plain backdrop and then when they came out it dropped down to reveal their band logo which was a fist clutching the band name. I thought it was pretty cool. They had a great performance. They played a lot of their new songs from their fever album and yet a few older songs, such as, tears don’t fall. Besides the main band, they were the only band to maintain the circle pit which was pretty cool. They had great crowd control and thanked everybody for watching them.

Seether came on next. They had an overall strange stage appearance. They had 2 HUGE amps in the middle of the stage and on both sides, an appearance of old broken TVs that actually played videos throughout the set. They also did a great job but set a little bit of a different mood. They have a lot of emotion in their songs but the vocalist doesn’t move much and keeps everything pretty mellow. They played mostly older songs, such as Fake it, which the crowd enjoyed and closed with Remedy. During Rise Above This, Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace came out and sang a duet with Shawn Morgan. It was pretty awesome. At first I didn’t recognize who he was because he came out with a hoodie over his head but then I noticed it was indeed Adam. Overall, it was a fun set.

Three Days Grace was next and had an amazing performance. They had amazing energy, running back and forth between both sides of the stage. They played a lot of variety of hit songs and the crowd loved them. Everyone was once again pumped and the circle pits weren’t as intense but existed slightly, while everyone was singing along.

Finally, the headliner was Avenged Sevenfold. They put on an incredible performance as always. There was a black curtain covering the set. When they entered the stage, it dropped down and behind them was an enormous Deathbat that took up almost the entire stage and the drum set was in the mouth of the bat. As they opened with nightmare, flames shot out of the top. There was so much pyrotechnics that you could feel the heat from the crowd. Every song was packed with energy and crowd interaction and enthusiasm as they played many crowd favorites.

Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance rocked out many amazing solos and duel guitar parts like it was nothing. They played a song called “not ready to die” which was featured on the 2010 video game, “Call of Duty”. That also had some amazing guitar parts that were brilliantly executed. Also, a friend of the band, “Birdman” from the Denver Nuggets basketball team came out on the stage and grabbed the mic and said he was going to sing. M. Shadows looked like he was going to laugh but just smiled as he knew he wouldn’t be singing. He gave back the mic to Shadows and exited the stage while Shadows stated he used to be a Lakers fan but now is a Nuggets fan. I don’t know how much truth is in that but the crowd loved it.

They closed with Unholy Confessions which is their most poplar song from their first album. Before the end, they did a contest to see who had the biggest circle pit; so far they said the lead was Texas. Even though Shadows said we won, somehow it didn’t seem as big as it could have been. They ended the song with flames coming out of the bat again and extreme crowd satisfaction.


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