What do you get when you combine a bunch of metal heads flocking into a baseball field and an enormous amount of alcohol tents?
Upheaval Festival at Belknap Park in Grand Rapids, Mich.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this festival. Some good. Some bad. I will start with some of the good.
Positives
The very first thing I noticed when I entered the festival grounds was multiple alcohol tents. That’s always good to have at any festival, right? Very rarely did I see a ‘long’ line for any of those lines. Heck, even the ones on top of ‘The Hill’ where they had a second stage barely had long lines. I’ll dive more into ‘The Hill’ later.
The layout isn’t the greatest. I mean, it was all general admission, with one section of VIP, but overall, I just wasn’t a fan. It wasn’t all bad because they do allow chairs into the festival. They have signs on the field marking where chairs are allowed, and I did find that very cool and helpful to a lot of people. The VIP section did not seem enticing to me. It seemed like it was such a sharp angle to view the stage, that it was just not a good spot to be in. I also did not see any type of bathroom situation for them, but they could have been in an area I couldn’t see.
What I did like was the bathroom situation. They had such a large amount of porta johns, and they were at the farthest point away from stages and food, that you weren’t smelling anything foul. They also cleaned them over night which is sometimes a rare occurrence at festivals. There was also a good amount of food choices in what I called the ‘Diagon Alley’ of food. Everything from hotdogs and nachos to pizza and a BBQ truck with brisket, chicken and more. This weekend was also very warm and humid, so having a water refill station was a major plus. It was a small area, but it never got too crowded. Even if you didn’t bring an empty bottle, bottles of water were only $3 so you could buy one, then just refill that one for the day.
Now back to some negatives.
Negatives
Let’s talk about the famous ‘Hill.’ I hated it. Not just for how steep it is, but from a fan standpoint and someone who covers a lot of concerts and festivals, this is a stupid decision to have your second stage at the top of this giant hill. Once you make the hike to the top, you’re greeted with a small area to pile fans in. They set the second stage up in a small parking lot, plus they have the sound board at the back end of the lot, so that takes away even more space. Then you throw in the beer tents and random things, even less space for fans.
Day One had Memphis May Fire play the Lookout Stage and that was insane. They packed the hill making it almost impossible to see or move anywhere. Not only is that a safety issue, but for diehard fans wanting to see, you really couldn’t. There was also only a handful of restroom options which always had a long line. They could easily fit 2 or 3 more to help ease the people waiting. One positive about ‘The Hill’ is they do have a beer and water tent located at the halfway point and believe it or not, that line was never long. They also offer golf cart rides up but it was mostly a negative thing. The line to wait was always long and they only had two. On top of that, you add in the fact people are constantly walking, its only a matter of time before something happens, if it hasn’t in the years of the festival. What I think could help this, is sectioning off the pathway. One side for carts only and the other side people only. The drivers should not have to weave in and out of pedestrians to get up and down and risk hitting someone.
Day One Review
Alright, enough negative talk — lets jump into the Day One lineup, which was incredibly stacked.
News broke a couple of days before Day One that Asking Alexandria and New Years Day had to pull off for various reasons. So they announced Flyleaf and Lacey Sturm and Until I Wake would take their spots. I got in a little late, so I missed the first few artists. Once I got in, I spent a lot of time on the hill.
First act I caught was Dayseeker, who I honestly just started listening to back in April and this was my third time seeing them since May. Incredible performance by an incredibly talented band. I watched a little bit of Dorothy, from on top of the hill and I will say, it’s a really cool view from up there to the main stage.
Speaking of main stage, I was really pumped about checking out In This Moment however, while I was waiting, I noticed there was no drums, and they were setting up a DJ table, so I knew something was up. Five minutes before they were set to take the stage, a local radio DJ came out and announced that In This Moment will not be performing. I broke the news right away and the band cited that it was due to a contract breach by the festival. So instead of In This Moment, we got some DJ whose name I can’t remember.
I watched for a minute then worked my way back to the hill for Memphis May Fire, who as I said earlier, packed the area and sounded fantastic.
It was more back and fourth as Lamb of God was next followed by The Ghost Inside closing out the Lookout Stage. I thought the crowd was going to be more hype and loud, but I was disappointed. The band themselves were incredible and they were my most sought after of the weekend.
I had to work my way back to mainstage to prepare myself for headliners, Bring Me The Horizon. Anybody who really knows me knows my love for the band and lead singer, Oli Sykes. Incredible is an understatement. They brought the fire, literally. It was a great way to finish off the first day.
Day Two Review
Day Two started off very strong.
I walked in just as they were letting fans in and we were immediately greeted with Of Virtue. I quickly became a fan of these dudes. When you’re waiting in a line for hours, these are the kind of folks you want kicking off a festival.
Day Two, I stayed in the main stage area most of the day. Next on my list, was Fame on Fire. Again, another extremely solid, high-energy band. So far, I’m 2-for-2 on main stage.
Next up, the band I was most stoked for on Day Two, We Came As Romans. I have not been able to see them since releasing new material and since the passing of Kyle Pavone, so this was going to be an emotional set for me. It was. It seems like the band just gives so much more live in honor of their brother. Dave Stephens absolutely crushes it up there. I had chills in all the right places during their entire set.
Other acts to follow were Ice Nine Kills, Halestorm, Suicide Silence, Flyleaf and the headlining act. I managed to catch a little bit of Flyleaf because I’m a big fan of Lacey Sturm, but to me, she didn’t sound all that great. There were times where she did but other times she sounded out of key. I left halfway through their set so I could make my way over to The Intersection for the after-party show featuring A Thousand Below and Wage War.
This was my first-time attending Upheaval and I plan to return. It was a fun experience despite what my opinions may say. The layout could change and make it more assessable for fans for a second stage. I don’t know the logistics or reasoning behind it, but there is a second baseball field that they could potentially utilize, but again, I don’t know any behind the scenes reasoning as to why they haven’t. If they want to continue to grow and become a bigger, better festival, it needs to change.
This years line up was extremely stacked and I cant imagine them keeping it the way it is if they continue to grow.
