Show: Rockstar Uproar Fest. Montreal

Rockstar Uproar Montreal: Rain didn’t stop the Montrealers

After the success of last year’s uproar around the United States and only date in Canada (in Toronto, which we attended then too), the Rockstar Uproar tour was back again with several dates in our country, including one in Montreal at Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Running a bit late, we decided to go on the site by car, ready to see a lot of traffic: surprisingly, everything went smoothly (to get in and get out!).  The organization did a good job on this!

We arrived in time to see the first performance on the main stage, which was Escape the Fate; true to form, their performance was energetic and pleased fans of every bands, a feat considering there were different type of bands playing that night.  After opening with Choose your fate, the band played mainly songs from their most recent album (Self-titled Escape the Fate) including Issues, Gorgeous Nightmare and Massacre, led by a singer in full possession of his means, not hesitating to jump into the crowd to stand on the hands of fans.  When he finally got out (not before letting himself fall in the crowd), it was to ask the fans for a wall of death.

Right after them was Bullet for my valentine, starting the show on a flying with songs like Your Betraying, Waking the demon, scream aim fire and Tears don’t fall.  The veterans didn’t talk a lot, seeing the threatening clouds coming our way.  They thanked the fans for coming and left the stage, a cue for a torrential downpour on the site, forcing thousands of fans to find a place to stay (a bit) dry.  As fans were hiding under Jaggermeister’s tents, the direction announced that the show might be postponed a bit later since thunderstorms and winds were coming our way.  Thanks to the amazing Ashley, the tour manager of Hell or Highwater’s tour manager (an interview with them will soon be on here), we managed to sneak backstage and go hide under a tent.

Seether had unfortunately to cancel their set, after an hour non-stop of rain.  It didn’t stop the ardor of the crowd, mainly the hardcore fans of Three Days Grace and Avenged Sevenfold who stayed there the whole time.

Running late of 30 minutes on the set, Three Days Grace finally took the stage with O Fortuna, followed by Good life and Break.  The rain finally stopped in time for I hate everything about you, “a love song”, as Adam Gontier said.  The show didn’t slow down a bit, as the band played Home, cutting mid-song as Gontier started rapping Eminem’s Lose yourself.  Verdict?  Lose yourself sounds really good in this rock version and Gontier knows how to rap!  They continued with Never too late and a song that was asked by the promoters to not be played, Riot.  The crowd was really hype and even if there was a moshpit, no real riot disturbed the show.  They closed their set with one of their biggest success, the very bass-full Animal I’ve become, as Gontier passed a good 2 minutes talking with his mic stand.  We’ll blame the rain for this weird moment.

The headliners were next, as a big black curtain was dropped in front of the stage.  A lot of questions were floating around since rain could have changed their plans for the setting.  As of last time I saw their show, they opened their set with a guy hanging himself in front of the stage.  When the curtain finally dropped, it revealed an immense deathbat (their logo) on the back of the stage, and lots of pyrotechnic effects, from simple fire to balls of fire and even fireworks!  The setlist was also different because the fans could vote for the songs they wanted them to play; after the first single of their most recent album Nightmare, they played their big success Afterlife (with a break from M Shadows, the lead singer, to rant about the mosquitoes) and Welcome to the family.  The show continued with Second heartbeat, from their album Waking the fallen, much to the long time fans joy.  M Shadows then apologized for not talking much since the curfew for the shows are 11PM and it was already 10:30PM after the 7 minutes long Buried Alive.  They continued with A little piece of heaven, the opera-rock like 8 minutes long song about zombie lovers.  With only time for one last song, they made the public choose between beast and the harlot or Bat country.  It’s under screams of joys that M Shadows recited Samuel Johnson’s quote (“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”) that appears at the start of the Bat country video and in Hunter S. Thompson’s book, Fear and loathing in Las Vegas.  They gave their public a last shot with the success that got them known, Unholy Confessions, before leaving the stage.