As I drove to day 2 of Epicenter in Fontana, I was excited. I was bringing my camera which I didn’t bring on day 1 of Epicenter and I was also excited about the line up. I was not excited that is was 111 degrees. 8 more than Saturday! But I knew that the car company Scion, would come to our rescue and cool us down. They had a kiddy pool and were giving out ice cold towels which people had either around their neck or dripping from the top of their heads.
Soundcheck411.com
It was burning hot when Bad Religion took the stage. As many times as I’ve seen them, I still can’t get used to the awesome rock sound that comes out of Greg Graffin, who looks like a bank teller, or a substitute teacher.After about 5 songs I couldn’t take the heat anymore, went backstage and got onto the stage that they were performing on. Ahhh, it was a lot cooler and more shady there! It was very coincidental that when Bad Religion were performing a miniature airplane was flying around with a banner advertising the new Bad Religion album, “The Dissent of Man.”
Next up on the main stage, 30 Seconds to Mars. I was on the stage again because it was still scorching hot and sunny outside. During the performance Jared cooled down the thousands of fans with a fire hose.
As I rocked out to their songs I got some great shots of them. Since I was on the right side of the stage, the guitarist Tomo Miličević, kept looking back straight into my camera. Knowing how much Jared Leto loves his fans, it didn’t shock me that during the closing song “Kings and Queens” he invited the crowd up on stage with him. People had to crowd surf their way up on the stage and we all sung along and danced. The drummer, Shannon Leto had a little boy, around 9 years old, go up to the drums and had him help with the beat to the song. After the song, Shannon high fived him and gave him the drum sticks to keep. We were then ushered off stage by the security.
As if dancing and singing with Jared Leto wasn’t enough, during the Rise Against performance in between snap shots, I glanced back to find Jared on the stage, enjoying their performance.
As Rise Against left the stage I saw someone who looked very much like the bass player of AFI, Hunter Burgan. He was also on the stage watching Rise Against! As far as I know, they’re friends.
Blink 182 were the headliners. I noticed many photographers couldn’t shoot them so I was extremely lucky to be on stage to get some photos of them. Before they came on stage Tom DeLonge smiled and told our side of the stage, “Ya, my side is better anyways!” We were on the left side of the stage looking out toward the crowd. That was the side he was going to perform on. Yes, finally the long awaited band was on! Looking out, all I can see is an endless sea of people. Hundreds of thousands of them singing the lyrics, crowd surfing, passing out from too much drinking and just enjoying the final minutes of Epicenter 2010. See ya next year!
Find the gallery of photos on Facebook.com
Search: Sound Check 411
Or go to Lifeabove11.com
