A Day to Remember + More Make 'Self Help' Festival a Success

A Day to Remember have to be all smiles after a very successful first year for their 'Self Help' festival. The band staged the event at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, Calif., giving music lovers both an indoor and outdoor stage full of great bands to enjoy. And what a crowd it was as there were people lined up for blocks waiting to check out the lineup of bands.

As the headlining act, A Day to Remember pulled out all the stops, bombing the audience with confetti during 'All I Want,' the opening song of their set. Frontman Jeremy McKinnon directed the audience to launch as many circle pits as possible during their performance of 'Homesick' and offered their first sign of pyro during '2nd Sucks.' Later in their set, McKinnon invited fans to try "crowdsurfing the crowdsurfer" where one person acts as the board while the other tries to ride them like a surfer. A few audience members managed to stay upright for a few seconds.

Their performance also offered a showcase of such 'Common Courtesy' songs as 'Right Back At It Again,' 'City of Ocala,' 'Sometimes You're the Hammer, Sometimes You're the Nail,' 'I'm Already Gone,' 'Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way' and the encore favorite, 'Violence (Enough Is Enough).'

As the indoor stage concluded, the entire audience filed out to catch Of Mice & Men and Bring Me the Horizon, who served as the openers for A Day to Remember. Of Mice & Men got the house rocking with their recent hit 'Bones Exposed' from the 'Restoring Force' album and the band is definitely hitting their stride with the blend of Austin Carlile and clean vocalist Aaron Pauley. As for Bring Me the Horizon, Oli Sykes continually riled up the audience, urging for circle pits, commanding the crowd to take a seat and launch into a full pogo, and leading the crowd in the powerful call and response of 'Shadow Moses.' Bring Me the Horizon also welcomed letlive's Jason Aalon Butler on 'Antivist.'

Earlier in the day, The Word Alive played one of the more adrenaline-fueled sets of 'Self Help.' Frontman Telle Smith was welcomed with a sea of hands from the audience while the band rocked 'Life Cycles' from their album of the same name. A Skylit Drive's Michael Jagmin whipped their crowd into a frenzy during their performance, and Hands Like Houses, Beartooth and Hundredth also provided early day highlights on the outdoor stage.

Indoors, Issues were one of the more fun bands of the day, with boundless energy and a great stage presence. Their set definitely hit a high note during the performance of 'The Settlement' from their new album. Memphis May Fire finished off the indoor stage with a heavy set. Frontman Matty Mullins, guitarist Kellen McGregor and bassist Cory Elder played to the crowd from their risers, with Mullins really connecting on 'Alive in the Lights' among other tracks.

All in all, it was a pretty great day of music and one that A Day to Remember and their fans were thrilled with. Prior to their set, ADTR bassist Josh Woodard told us, "This year has blown us away. We didn't know this many people were going to come out and support it and it has been incredible. So we definitely know we're going to have it again next year." So there you have it -- after setting such a good precedent with year one, fans should be sure to keep an eye out for info on the 'Self Help' festival's year two.

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A Day to Remember

Kathy Flynn, Wicked Goddess Photography