Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival 2013 Recap

The 2013 Rockstar Energy Uproar festival took a stop in The Woodlands, TX to rock the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on a hot August afternoon....
Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival 2013 Recap

Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival 2013 Recap

The 2013 Rockstar Energy Uproar festival took a stop in The Woodlands, TX to rock the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on a hot August afternoon, Thursday the 29th.  Every rock band that travels through Texas will tell you the same thing, “The Texas crowd is unlike any other crowd.”  These words rang true as the fans began to pack out the lines of The Pavilion in anticipation of another year’s Uproar.  The Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival has been going on since 2010, and while the festival is usually one to encompass heavier acts, this year’s lineup went with a different approach.  Progressive rock made a big impression on this year’s festival beginning with Circa Survive (Holmdel photos) and Coheed & Cambria (Holmdel photos), two familiar acts in the world of prog-rock.

Coheed & Cambria

Claudio SanchezAlthough I would have loved to have seen both acts of the progressive rock spectrum, time only permitted one band… Coheed & Cambria.  Coheed & Cambria consisted of lead singer Claudio Sanchez, bassist Zach Cooper, drummer Josh Eppard and lead guitarist Travis Sterner.  Although the crowd seemed to be less packed this go around for Coheed, they definitely had a presence felt throughout the venue.  The band walked out to an intro song entitled “Keeping the Blade” from the album Good Apollo, Vol.  1.  The band began to take their places and they were off, jumping into a song from their latest album The Afterman: Descension entitled “Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry The Defiant”.  The fans began to rage as Sanchez flailed his flailing his giant mane for all to see.  The fans definitely kept the show alive, as they began to sing the words to other favorites such as “Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood and Burial)” and “Welcome Home”.  The highlight of the set had to be the solo of “Welcome Home”, where Sanchez on lead guitar threw his double neck Gibson SG behind his neck and began to shred on some scales.  After a nine-song set, the band embarked to the buses to make way for Jane’s Addiction, the next act up.

Jane’s Addiction

Unless you’ve been living under rock, you’ve heard of the name Jane’s Addiction at least once or twice.  They first formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, California, made a pretty big impact on the world of alternative rock in the ‘90s and even ‘00s.  Though the band has had many lineup changes, the current lineup that was present for this year’s festival was lead singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Chris Chaney.  The lights began to dim and out walked a 6’2”, strikingly handsome Farrell.  At 54 years of age, Farrell performed seemingly perfect, as if it were 1985 again.  Farrell was followed closely by Navarro, whose presence was felt all the way to the lawn.  The band exploded right into “Underground”, a song off their latest album, The Great Escape Artist.  After touching on the present, it was time for a step into the past with “Mountain Song” from the classic 1987 record, Nothing’s Shocking.  All eras of the Jane’s Addiction catalogue were touched upon with the ten-song set list, including “Stop” and “Ocean Size” all the way to “Chip Away”.  My personal favorite was the band’s infamous live version of “Jane Says”, with the haunting melodic intro.

Jane’s Addiction

Jane’s AddictionThough the crowd was digging Jane’s energy, an event began to take place that would perturb the people of Houston for quite some time.  Jane’s has always been known for their stage antics, but they took it to a whole other level on this night.  Prior to “Jane Says”, two female stage performers began to make their way to the stage… followed closely by two suspended hooks.  The crowd, looking in confusion, began to wonder what was about to take place.  The hooks were thereby fastened to the back skin of the female performers as they were pulled into the air.  Everyone, including myself, started to look away as they began to swing side by side while the band starting playing a ritual number.  Here in lies the essence of a Jane’s Addiction show… beautiful, disturbing, sexy or just plain wrong.  The crowd definitely got a show that night as Jane’s began to depart to make way for the headliners, Alice In Chains.

Alice In Chains

Alice In Chains, a band nearing 24 years of music, did not disappoint on this Thursday’s evening.  If one thing is for sure with Alice In Chains it’s that they have not skipped a beat since they first began in 1987.  The road has not been paved of gold, having to say goodbye to two members Mike Starr and Layne Staley in the past decade.  Taking a step away from the past, Alice In Chains began to make their way to the stage.  The lineup consisted of founding member Jerry Cantrell on lead guitar, former bassist Mike Inez, Sean Kinney on drums and William Duvall taking over lead vocals.  The Alice In Chains sound was full on as Inez began the bass line into “Them Bones”, followed shortly by their newest single “Hollow”.  I, as many others have grown to appreciate Duvall and the new heights he has taken the band into.  You could really feel it on the new tracks, as they had sketches of old and new sounds etched into them.  Though there are the naysayers, I did not see a single one on this night.  The crowd consisted of new and old fans, all of which come together as one to play tracks such as “Down in a Hole” off of the 1992 album Dirt all the way to “Stone”, and then another new single off of the latest Chains album entitled, “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here”.

William DuvallJerry CantrellThough a rock band, Alice In Chains have always had a touch of comedy with their shows.  Sure enough, Cantrell would be the first to embark on a prank.  The prank had to deal with a new tattoo sleeve Jerry had received, or at least we thought.  Cantrell pointed to the sleeve as he asked the crowd, “Hey, do you guys like my new art?”  Immediately after he rolled down what seemed to be a real tattoo and launched it into the crowd.  Hilarity, rock and roll and unity were all felt as Alice began to carry on the set.  Some of my favorites on this night were “Man In the box” and “Would?”.  The crowd’s energy was the heaviest it had been all night, as fans began to help Duvall carry on each song.  Ending on a crowd favorite “Rooster”, the band commenced as Jerry let out the final words “Thank you, Houston!”  The fans descended as another successful night of rock had come to an end.

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