Happy Birthday Earth Day 26th
Words by Justin Cox
This year, WJRR’s Earth Day Birthday was back for its 26thiteration, and it did not disappoint. Being held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, which now also includes the brand-new Orlando Amphitheatre, there was plenty of room for the 15 bands to perform today, as well as have a lot of interesting action. All around the grounds, there were interesting booths and demonstrations being held by different companies. There were tattoo booths, vacation cruise giveaways, and even a BMX show and a local wrestling performance. The crowds were from all over too and were a sight to behold, with lots of body paint for the girls and costumes for moshing for the guys.
The first band I got a chance to see was Badflower. They are a new band out of Los Angeles, California, who really busted onto the scene last year with their hit single “Ghost”. I didn’t know what to expect from them, as I liked their music but knew they were brand new, but they did not disappoint. Their set in the heat of the day was very reminiscent of a young Green Day when they played at Woodstock.
The next band I had to catch was Atreyu. Despite being put pretty far down in the bill, they are veterans of the metal scene who have been rocking out for large audiences since their breakthrough debut album in 2007, Lead Sails Paper Anchor. Sprinkling a few new songs in with their classic hits, they put on a truly electric show that produced the first mosh pits of the day. The highlight of their set was in one of these pits during their metalcore classic “Ex’s and Oh’s” when bassist Marc McKnight jumped into the middle of the pit and continued playing with the moshers going in a circle around him. Despite going to a ton of concerts over the years, that was the first time I’d ever seen anything like that, and it was memorable.
The first band I wanted to catch on the main stage was immediately after Atreyu, Motionless in White. The kings of the emo scene, MIW has been around for years but has recently started getting more mainstream success with their latest album Graveyard Shift, which features hits such as Voices and Loud. While I’ve never been a big fan of them personally, they still put on a very good show, with frontman Chris Motionless showing full control over the crowd. Outside of the top two bands of the day, they had the largest fan base and produced the first crowd surfers of the day. The highlight of their set was performing a brand-new song called Disguise, that I think has the potential to be another big hit for them.
After Motionless, I went back over to the second stage to catch the penultimate band there, P.O.D. The nu metal legends were supposed to have an acoustic set at 1:00 but had to cancel due to rapper Sonny Sandoval being sick. However, once they hit the stage for their main show, you never would have known it, as they completely brought the house down from the first note of Boom all the way through the end of Youth of the Nation. It was an absolute party for thirty minutes, and everyone there wanted them to get even more time, including the band themselves.
Back over at the main stage, the third to last band of the day was Pop Evil. I’ve been a Pop Evil fan since day one, and seen them live three times, but this was the best show I have seen from them. They definitely showed why they deserved to be so high on the bill, as they perfectly mixed older deep cuts with their newer hits. Right off the bat, they played Last Man Standing, which then led into a cover of the Survivor classic “Eye of the Tiger”, which really got the crowd going. However, they knew how to take the crowd back down for their slower hits like 100 in a 55, but then built it back up for a ruckus ending with Trenches. They were on fire from the first note on and had a real rollercoaster of a set that left everyone blown away.
In the secondary stage, Underoath was closer. The Tampa, Florida-based Christian rock titans came on as the sun was coming down but really brought the heat. After their first two songs, vocalist Spencer Chamberlain made the comment that it was their first show out of the snow in months and they were glad to be back in Florida, which was very apparent in a high-octane set. Despite not coming into the show as a fan of theirs, I was thoroughly impressed and could see why they have the following they do, which now includes me as a fan.
At the main stage, the co-headliner of the evening was Three Days Grace. Their breakout album One-X was the first album I ever bought with my own money, but it wasn’t just me who was excited to see them. They have the most number one hits in Billboard rock chart history, and over their hour-long set, they brought a lot of them out. The crowd knew every word of every song, and following lead singer Matt Waist’s directions opened up pits at the beginning with The Mountain that did not close back up until the end of their last song, Riot. The crowd knew every word of every song and was singing along, which brought out the intensity as the set progressed. While most of their hits were rocking, the true highlight of their performance was Waist’s speech before Never Too Late, their original breakthrough hit, when he discussed how we should never give in and never give up, because truly, just as the song says, it’s never too late. It was a phenomenal set that really pumped up the crowd for what was about to come.
Finally, after all the bands earlier, the main event of the evening came on stage at 9:30 sharp, Godsmack. The hard rock titans have sold out venues all over the world and consistently been headliners at major music festivals across the United States for years, and with their 90-minute set, they showed exactly why they have had such prolonged success. Admittedly, they did come out a little bit slow with their opening song “When Legends Rise”, the title track off their latest album from last year. However, they immediately picked the intensity up afterward with “1000hp”, which led to a bunch of vicious mosh pits that continued for most of their set. Despite not having any theatrics, not even screens or pyrotechnics, they did not need them as it allowed their musicians to truly shine. Singer Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin have been together without breaking up since the 2002 album Faceless, which produced their most iconic hit “I Stand Alone”, and their chemistry with each other was noticeable for the entirety of the performance.
Midway through their set, Godsmack decided to start really bringing out the bigger show aspects of their performance, when Sully took over the mic before “Something Different” and instructed everyone to put up their lighters and put the girls in the crowd up on all the guys’ shoulders. A few songs later, they brought out the second set of drums for “Batalla de los Tambores”, the drum battle between Shannon Larkin and Sully that has been a mainstay in their set since day one. Tossing their drum sticks in the air as they rocked through classics like “Enter Sandman”, it was a fantastic drum battle that picked back up the intensity for the rest of the night. Right after “Batalla”, they went into their first major hit of their careers, “Whatever”, which brought the pits back to life. Sully noticed this and gave those of us in the pit on stage right a few shout outs, which really brought out even more insanity than what we had managed so far. This uncontrollable fire continued to burn throughout the end of their main set, which was closed off with “I Stand Alone”.
While everyone thought that was the end of the set, Sully still had one more surprise in store. He said that earlier he had promised three songs at the end, and the band had only done two “Bulletproof” and “I Stand Alone”. So, looking back to his band, he said he was going to let them pick something, but said: “it has to be something they (the crowd) knows, it has to be something I know, and it has to be in the key of A”. What was completely unexpected though was that this led to a phenomenal cover of the AC/DC classic “Highway to Hell” which they rocked out to end the set, which was probably my favorite moment of the whole day.
In summary, WJRR’s Earth Day Birthday was a full day of phenomenal performances in the heat of Orlando. The Central Florida Fairgrounds were rocked to their core for the better part of 12 hours, and everyone left with a smile on their face and memories for years to come. While always seeing classic hits that everyone knows is enjoyable, it was the extra moments that really made EDBD a success in its 26th year.
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