Epicenter 2011

The 3rd annual Epicenter Festival took place on September 24th 2011 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in CA. With 15 bands, all sorts of genres and two stages, people were sure to enjoy their favorite bands as well as check out some others. Doors opened at 11:00am and in was drizzling.

Toward 11:45 the drizzling luckily stopped and people got to watch the first act of the day, on the Monster energy drink stage, Drive A, who recently toured with bands such as Bullet for my Valentine! Next up was Crossfade, and Middle Class Rut. More and more people were entering the venue and the California sun was starting to shine bright; luckily though, Scion was there handing out towels which they soaked in ice water, as well as handing out glasses! At around 1:50- 2:00, Redlight King hit the stage and after them at 2:40, Asking Alexandria. The energy was insane for Asking Alexandria, them being one of the only screamo bands performing and fans came with families, the mom, dad and the 15 year old daughter; all singing along and day dreaming about the band members.

P.O.D. was the last act to perform on the side Monster stage and they really brought in the crowd. Surprisingly, they had the most amount of crowd surfers, more than Asking Alexandria, which was strange considering they have more of a rock and rap type of sound. The singer stood on the barricade during the second song, and extended his microphone while fans grabbed hold of him. Security rushed toward him to make sure he didn’t get pulled into the crowd but singer, Sonny Sandoval propped himself up and dove into the crowd. They put on a high energy performance which was a great way to close the Monster Stage acts for the night.

As P.O.D. finished their set, the doors to the Main Stage opened and people scurried to their seats to watch the first few bands including Red, Everlast and Skillet. After each performance more and more people went to their seats. Each of the performances got longer and longer with each band, and the crowd got excited each time. After Puddle of Mudd and Buckcherry performed, many of the seats were filled and the sun was down.

At 7:15, the stage turned clockwise and Five Finger Death Punch began. The crows cheered and the red stage lights filled the venue. Five Finger Death Punch was a big change from Buckcherry but the crowd didn’t mind one bit. Toward the middle of their set, singer Ivan Moody, took a U.S. Army backpack and held it up. He then dedicated the next song to all the soldiers fighting in the army. After a few more songs, the crowd was going crazy and mid song, Moody, stops. He tells his band mates to stop playing and starts to talk to someone in the pit, telling them to get on stage. He points to a woman with a blue shirt, in the pit, getting ushered away by 3 security guards. Moody says, “Hey! If you don’t get that girl in the blue shirt back into the pit, I’m not singing one more song.” The security pays no attention and take her out the pit, up the stairs of the Orchestra seats while the crowd Boo’s. Moody throws his microphone to the floor and sits down near the drum set and waits. Head of security runs after the security who were taking the woman up and they all walk back down to the pit. The crowd cheers and the woman with the blue shirt is let back into the pit. Moody gets up, lightly hits his chest and points to the woman. The band continues the song from where they left off and end the set. Even if people did not enjoy the band’s music, most of the people in the venue appreciated how much Moody cares about his fans.

The stage rotated clockwise once again for Papa Roach. It was approximately 8:15 as the silhouettes of Papa Roach members walked onto the stage. Everyone stood up from their seats and Papa Roach burst into their set with their high energy song, “Getting Away With Murder”, everyone singing along while singer Jacoby Shaddix ran around the stage and while Jerry Horton jumped and spun in circles. Throughout their set, they were all constantly running around the stage, talking to the crowd and they were all having a great time. With only a few songs to go, before they finished their set, midway through a song, Shaddix jumped off stage and walked through the mosh pit, high fiving fans on the way. He went up through the orchestra seats all the way to the stairs of the Lodge section. As the song finished he told his band mates to play something as he walked back to the stage. “Hold on guys, I need to get back to work!” He said as he made his way back to the stage. The band finished with their hit Last Resort, everyone singing along.

Staind performed next and Limp Bizkit closed the night and the 3rd annual Epicenter came to a end.

Redlight King

Asking Alexandria

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P.O.D.

Puddle of Mudd

Buckcherry

Five Finger Death Punch

Papa Roach

Bands Posing