Blue Ridge Rock Festival Set to Tear Up Virginia International Raceway's Track in a New Way
One of my personal highlights of 2021 was being able to attend Blue Ridge Rock Festival as a photographer. The lineup was absolutely insane and the fact that it was driven by fan votes made it all the more intriguing. The team behind the festival seemed to have found a way to accomplish a near impossible task, reaching across genre lines to appeal to fans of rock music as a whole. The festival grounds in Danville, Virginia, set amongst picturesque tobacco fields was a four-day event to remember.
This year, the festival has reloaded. They’ve changed venues to NASCAR’s Virginia International Raceway. The goal here is to make the festival a smoother event for all parties involved. The tradition of a fan driven lineup continues this year and, arguably, the fans and the powers behind the festival have converged to create a lineup that already appears to be just as good as, if not better than last year (we say better but who are we to judge.)
This year the festival mixes some new faces with some artists returning from last year to create a killer setup of artists. One of the biggest returning artists this year is Ocala, Florida’s own A Day to Remember. Last year, their set was one of the most fun to take in. Apart from their incredible music library, the band bought props like beach balls and inflatable pool floats that was sent out amongst the crowd. It was a cool juxtaposition to hear the “disrespect your surroundings” screamed by everyone in unison as a pink flamingo pool float hovers nearby.
Legends of metal, Lamb of God make their return to the festival this year as well. A small aside, if you would be so kind to indulge me, but I’m highly biased when it comes to Lamb of God. I know first-hand how impactful their music can be, in a period when I was dealing with depression and suicidal ideations, their song “Descending” turned out to be one of my saving graces. So, for me personally, seeing Lamb of God live is likely as close as I’ll ever come to a spiritual experience. But even for those not as involved in the Lamb of God fandom, their stage show is impressive, there’s plenty of pyro and smoke. Plus, it’s a bucket list item to see vocalist Randy Blythe jump from about 12 feet off of the back of the stage as his dreads swirl around him.
Blue Ridge doesn’t stop there though with bringing back legends to perform at this year’s festival. Anthrax, who are enshrined as one of metal’s “big four” in the hallowed halls of metal godhood are making a return. Last year’s performance was incredible and it was such a pleasure to get to see these titans perform from the photo pit. We are so excited they are back.
One of the bands that is a force of nature and who has found great success, thanks in no small part due to YouTube on this year’s lineup is Ukraine’s Jinjer. Nothing can quite prepare you for the experience that is hearing Tatiana Shmayluk for the first time as she effortless transitions from beautiful and melodic clean vocals to guttural screams that are strong enough to melt your face off. All of this is amplified to an even higher magnitude when you get to witness the raw power that is Jinjer in person. Virginia is in for a treat.
Another artist not making an appearance at last year’s festival that is set to perform this year is Apocalyptica who recently kicked off a tour with another group that will be at the festival this year, Lacuna Coil. Amidst all of the wall-to-wall guitar at the festival, Apocalyptica should be an interesting dichotomy. Three cellos and a set of drums were all they needed aside from a few microphone stands to put on an incredible show when we recently attended the tour. The festival should be in for a good time, complete with windmill headbangs.
Australia’s The Amity Affliction will also be at this year’s festival. We’ve had the privilege of covering their shows on a couple of different occasions here at ConcertHopper and we have always been thoroughly impressed with their live shows. They recently came off of their first US headlining tour since COVID and opted to go for intimate shows in smaller venues with smaller crowds which worked out beautifully as a way for fans who were lucky enough to get a ticket to be able to see the band in a unique environment.
And to round out artists that we are so stoked to get to see at Blue Bridge this year is Dayseeker. Fresh off of a completely sold out for every show, US-headlining tour, many have already been privy to the power that is the music that Dayseeker puts out. Effortlessly blending heavy and punchy guitar riffs with touching and haunting, emotionally charged lyrics. Dayseeker is force to be reckoned with and we are excited to see how the crowd at Blue Ridge deals with seeing them live, many likely for the first time.
Blue Ridge Rock Festival brands itself as the “Fan Driven Experience” and looking at the updates to the festival this year, it seems to not just be an empty tagline made for good PR. The band has addressed concerns that arose due to last year’s festival and made changes to improve those. They took last year’s lineup which was already incredibly impressive and, at the risk of overusing a Spinal Tap cliche, turned it up to 11. We cannot wait for the festival this year and to experience all of the fun and incredible music for a long weekend in picturesque Virginia.
You can purchase your tickets for Blue Ridge Rock Festival at FESTIVAL PASSES - Blue Ridge Rock Fest. You can follow this link and check out the entire line up too!
The festival is September 8th-11th and we hope to see you there.
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