Epicenter Part Deux

Well, the Epicenter Music Festival was so epic, I split it into 2 posts.

If you saw my previous post on Thursday and Friday, you’ll notice it’s mostly images. My words cannot express the complexities and sheer depth of my experiences at these shows. Not even the photos or videos can fully convey the intensity or dimensions of the shows.

Saturday morning I decided to cook some scrambled eggs in a foil pan. I tried to make it so I had no dishes to clean for the whole weekend. My goal was to watch shows, wander, eat, and sleep. No time in there to waste cooking elaborate meals or clean up after them. I only used a few paper plates and a couple of foil pans.

Saturday’s shows started with 2 new-to-me bands, Alien Weaponry and Tetrarch. They were absolutely fantastic! They had great energy, great music, and put on great shows.

I headed over to the Music Experience Meet & Greet tent and met with Unicorn Dave. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Alien Weaponry, Tetrarch, and John Tempesta.

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Dave and got split up and went to opposite sides of the middle barrier, to see our first Black Label Society show. The set started off wonderfully. Great view at the middle rail loving it! Then, mid-song, dead silence hit the crowd followed by the announcement to evacuate the venue. With a bit of reluctance and dilly-dallying, we wandered back to my camp site.

As we got back to the site, the rain dropped, and the wind began. There are no pictures at this point…Dave and I jumped into the car, the wind pulled my 8 canopy stakes from the ground. We rolled the windows down and attempted to hold the canopy down. Dave’s side was ripped from his hands, we jumped out, tore off the canopy top, and all of the tarps so the wind couldn’t send it flying across the campground.

After the first round of storms took a break, we broke down the crushed canopy skeleton and headed over to Dave’s site. We spent 10+ minutes looking for his canopy. His canopy went flying, dented up his car roof, hit 3 cars, and the metal legs had been sheered from the wind.

Eventually the nights’ shows were completely canceled, due to worse storms forecasted through the night.

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After a semi-early night, and much needed rest, I setup a much smaller, simpler, and more wind resistant tarp-shelter on the side of the car. Dave and I had coffee and got a little bit of time to hang out. The forecast was a bit dismal, and Dave’s trip home could be more than doubled if Sunday’s shows were canceled and everyone exited at the same time. So, he had a tough choice of heading back to Atlanta, Sunday morning.

After Dave headed out, I prepped and went to the venue (with a poncho and spare clothes in my bag). As soon as I got in, the rain started pouring. I found shelter and stayed fairly dry.

The rain slowed and I headed to the Monster Stage. After experiencing Friday’s crowds, trying to find a spot to get closer to the front, I decided to pick a stage and stay there. I stayed there from 145 till 1254. I met some nice folks who made it possible to take a quick bathroom break and come back to the front.

Fever 333 put on a great set. It far exceeded my expectations. a few of us sat at the front while there was space to do so. Sitting for about an hour was a life saver. Live was delayed getting to the venue, but they were able to play a handful of their top songs before the stage was prepped for Bring Me the Horizon.

BMtH very different experience. They put on a great set. I’m sad I missed seeing a lot of it, due to the rivers of crowd surfers over-head. The mosh pits and crowd surfing created a huge push toward the front. By the end of their show, if the crowd started jumping up and down dancing, you better jump too, or else your backpack/clothes might get ripped apart! At this point, I had to breathe in fresh air by looking straight up to the sky, rather than sucking in someone else’s exhalation. If you plan to see one of their shows, I hope you’re not claustrophobic or afraid of people accidentally getting a little to friendly!

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After the steamy BMtH set, a handful of people left at the front, making it possible to breathe and move. The crowd watched bits and pieces of the 311 set on the large video screens. Then, Foo Fighters came on.

As expected, Foo Fighters put on a spectacle of almost 3 hours of fantastic music. It was interesting to see the difference in their setup at the Concrete and Gold Greensboro Coliseum show. To top off the great day and night of shows, I was able to catch one of the drum sticks Taylor Hawkins tossed from the stage. .

Slowly wandering back to my campsite, soaking in the last bits of the event decided to break everything down and head home. I made it home for a shower and bed just before 430 AM, to get up at 7AM.

After the festival, I experienced something unexpected…major withdrawal. 3 solid days of adrenaline dumping music suddenly stopped. It didn’t take but a few days until I ran across, the Blue Ridge Rock Festival, in Lynchburg VA. My fantastic, patient, and wonderful wife gave me permission to go!