Avenged Sevenfold + More Bring Energy to the Rockstar Uproar Festival

Hurricane Irene may have roared in to New England like a lion but it was the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival that left chaos in its wake. The one day mega-rock extravaganza took over the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., on Tuesday, Aug. 30 (after being postponed two days because of Irene), for what would be an all-you-could-eat-buffet of riffs, licks, and devil horns.

Doubling your rock 'n’ roll pleasure with two stages, the music kicked off early in the day with side stage action on the Best Buy Music Gear Stage. Throughout the afternoon this stage would take a beating from Hell or High Water, Art of Dying, Black Tide and Sevendust. With bands that are worthy main stage acts in their own right, the second stage action lived up to the hype and provided some of the best music of the day giving fans more than a good reason to get there early.

If one were to base performance on crowd surfers alone, Sevendust would probably come out on top, but Art of Dying definitely gained a few points when Canadian frontman Jonny Hetherington came out sporting a Boston Bruins t-shirt and offered up a toast of Jack Daniels to the Stanley Cup winning team. While it may seem like playing dirty, rooting for the home team will always get you far in Boston. Black Tide shredded through their set, showcasing songs from their latest release ‘Post Mortem’ and proving how far they’ve come over the last few years.

The main stage action kicked off before the sun went down with Vegas bad boys Escape the Fate. While this was a tricky time slot to play with people still watching Sevendust on the second stage and fans just starting to trickle in to the main stage, Escape the Fate played as if the place was packed and left it all out there on the stage.

Next up were Bullet for My Valentine, arguably the most metal act on the bill. Bullet for My Valentine put on a punishing set that likely left fans wishing they had a little longer to play, seemingly the only downfall to festivals like these. Frontman Matt Tuck and lead guitarist Michael Paget put on quite a hair-whipping shred show as the sun set on the audience in front of them.

Seether took to the stage next, a stark contrast to the guitar solos and head-banging that came before them, as their sound harkens back to when grunge was king. Seether are definitely keeping that sound alive with a modern twist. The trio's set included the singles 'Tonight' and 'Country Song' off their latest album, ‘Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray.'

With the festival now in full throttle, Three Days Grace hit the stage. Probably the most mainstream rock act on the bill, these hard rockers have been churning our arena-ready hits since their debut self-titled album in 2003.  Frontman Adam Gontier knows how to charm a crowd and did so throughout their set running from one side of the stage to the other, engaging fans and leading sing-a-long choruses. While they may not have played the most groundbreaking music heard all night, they are good at what they do, and that’s good ol' rock 'n’ roll.

The culmination of the evening was when Avenged Sevenfold took the stage. The band has a newly revamped set that boasts a larger than life looming deathbat with flaming eyes and pyrotechnics flying out of every orifice, talk about making an entrance. Avenged Sevenfold know how to put on a rock show and don’t cut corners when it comes to the details, that’s just one of many reasons that their fervent fans keep on coming back year after year. Avenged Sevenfold announced something very unique for Uproar Festival, the band has committed to playing a different set list each night, making it all that more special. A7X played new song ‘Not Ready To Die’ live for the first time in Mansfield, Mass. And judging by the overwhelming screams, screeches and applause, fans approved!

Overall, Uproar Festival takes an eclectic group of bands from all genres of rock and metal and combines them for a show that beat all expectations. A steal for any rock fan, it’s not just quantity, its quality -- combining some of rock’s heavyweights with the hottest up and comers to give fans a full frontal face melting experience!  Uproar Festival continues through mid-October. Check out the remaining dates here and view our photos from the show below:

Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival Tour Photos: