Blue Ridge Rock Fest 2023: Good, Bad, and Extreme
The video below is a live stream discussing
our experience at Blue Ridge Rock Fest 2023
as well as going over video footage
and photos of what happened.
Scroll below the video for
a written recap with photos and more.
Day One – Sept 7th, 2023
Hours before the main entrance gates opened, the shuttles and buses were working to bring attendees in. This was always an issue with Blue Ridge over the years but the festival and staff made sure to have enough people to get everyone from the parking lot. It was a noticeable difference for everyone and the happiness from most people showed.
The heat was brutal until roughly 5:30PM. There was little shade and water stations were hard to reach, but people stuck it out while watching The Ghost Inside, Highly Suspect, Vended, Psychostick, and Stitched-Up Heart perform throughout the festival grounds. With sunburn covering many over the hours, the festival was going along (outside of Vince Neal going over his set time by 13 minutes – jerk move).
Then came a light rain. It was the perfect relief from the heat. Then came the showers. Then the wind picked up along with a massive downpour and hail. A full evacuation was ordered and tens of thousands were forced to retreat to either the flooding campgrounds or to their vehicle. Blue Ridge has had issues in past years, but the significant issues for day one of the festival were bad luck and an incorrect weather forecast going into the day. They cannot control the weather.
What Blue Ridge Rock Fest can control is having an escape plan for inclement weather. The venue had attendees far from parking. Meaning that people who were forced from the grounds by the thousands were also forced to wait in hale and a downpour in the middle of nowhere. That’s not even mentioning the massive damage to the campers and vendors that suffered greatly in the camping lots. This was a dangerous scene where thousands were stuck in the elements with nowhere to go for shelter.
It was around 8:40PM when messages from BRRF socials came in saying band gear was damaged due to the storm and sadly, day one ended early. You hate to see it, but I understand why people could not be let back in. The muddy festival grounds became a mudslide and it would have been clearly unsafe to return at full speed to the barricade for the final bands.
With the short time I had, I was able to meet with Caskets who are promoting their new album Reflections. They also told me a terrible joke about Taylor Swift.
I was able to shoot a song of Highly Suspect. This was the first time I had seen the band since before the pandemic. After the song, Terrible Johnny said to the Blue Ridge crowd that he hoped everyone would do drugs and have sex that night.
I was fortunate to see The Ghost Inside on their return at Blue Ridge Rock Fest in 2021. Seeing them two years later was fantastic and they sounded great. The problem was that before their set, Vince Neil went 13 minutes over his set time and that ate into The Ghost Inside’s set. Screw you, Vince Neil.
I was finally able to see Vended live after hearing several of their songs and playing them on our New Music Night streams. Seeing Slipknot prodigies and hungry young musicians working together to give an aggressive performance made me confident that Vended was going to do well.
Psychostick was a fantastic choice to have at a festival. You want a band that can make people sing along and have fun on Day One. Having the comedy band sing about counting, beer, and a sombrero is how you can make sure people get something light-hearted out of a festival experience.
This was also my first time seeing Stitched-Up Heart live. I met the band back in 2016 in New York City and have enjoyed their music, but never got to see them perform. I’m happy they made it to the main stage. Mixi also had line of the day when she asked the crowd “You all hot out there? **yeeaaahhhh** Well try wearing all this $#1+!” She had a good point.
After the evacuation and cancelation of the rest of Day One’s schedule, we returned to our car and then the hotel. We were hoping Mother Nature would somehow ease up on everyone.
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Day Two – September 8th, 2023:
The heat returned but the rain did not. While many campers and attendees did not return due to the damage from the weather on Day One (it really was that bad), there was still a massive crowd of over 40K that saw a complete day of music. Getting people shuttled in became a problem as so many people needed transportation from the car lots to the venue at roughly the same time.
Most of the bands were able to keep to their schedule. The heat was exhausting and the massive crowd for the main stage made getting around the festival grounds near impossible. The overflowing trash and port-o-potty situation for the public was as nightmarish as you can imagine. Unfortunately, the price-gouging situation at festivals continued at BRRF where everything was outrageously priced.
Conquer Divide stopped by to tell us their best pick-up line and talk about their new album Slow Burn. We apologize to all Mississippians.
Slipknot made the perfect exclamation point for Day Two. This was a significantly smaller stage than the band was used to performing on, but it somehow made everyone more in sync. The performance was fantastic and the crowd stayed for it all. Of the many things that can go wrong at Blue Ridge, Slipknot made sure something went right.
Sleep Token performed their largest North American show ever at Virginia International Raceway. Seeing the backup singers and hearing songs from Take Me Back To Eden performed live for the first time made for a great sunset experience. This performance also made a new fan out of my wife who now has an appreciation for Vessel and company.
I’ve covered several festivals that had Knocked Loose on the line-up but never was able to see them perform. I’m happy this was the first time I experienced Knocked Loose with tens of thousands behind me. I now understand the hype for this band live.
I was supposed to talk with members of Of Mice & Men before their set, but the extreme heat forced them to cancel all timeslots with the media. BRRF ’23 was the band’s first performance together in years and the crowd loved it. New music is supposedly on the way and the new song “Castaway” is solid.
I finally saw an Electric Callboy party live. Seeing thousands jump to “Tekkno Train” was an experience I won’t soon forget. I thought 2022’s Tekkno was great and hearing some of the songs live proved that the band isn’t just studio magic. Even if the set was delayed 20 minutes, I still am happy I saw it in person.
Crown The Empire made it to the main stage in the heat and helped open the day. I understand they are from Texas but they can keep that Texas heat where they came from. The crowd loved their set and one crowd surfer came to the front on an inflatable raft. That’s gutsy.
As unbearably hot as the day got, most things went according to plan. This might have been the most successful single day in Blue Ridge Rock Fest history. The shame of this single-day success is that it might be the last full-day Blue Ridge ever sees.
Day Three & Four – September 9-10, 2023
With massive storms through Southern Virginia on the radar, we woke up expecting a late opening for the park. We were informed by festival staff that no one was being allowed in besides production until the all-clear was given. Staff, vendors, etc., were not allowed on site. Mother Nature again attacked Virginia International Raceway causing more damage to the festival and camping grounds.
We were informed in the early afternoon that Day Three had been canceled. It was just after 5PM EST that we saw the post from Blue Ridge Rock Fest socials that Day Four would be canceled as well.
Below is a marked lineup of the bands that were able to perform at Blue Ridge Rock Fest 2023. As I said in the live stream, I was treated well by staff and security, but I also know I was in a unique position there. Many people worked massive hours over months to make this festival a true event and it indeed crashed out hard. I’m not here to spread rumors, but I wanted to point out everything that I saw or that there was footage of. We will see if Blue Ridge Rock Fest 2024 can come to fruition.
Aftermath:
As time has gone on, more footage on TikTok and other socials has proven the destruction caused at Blue Ridge Rock Fest and the unsafe/unsanitary conditions on festival grounds and campsites. Some of the scenes were quite chaotic. We don’t want to spread rumors that have no proof. The above TikToks help show actual footage and photos of what was going on. We aren’t sure if Blue Ridge Rock Fest will return at this point and are awaiting information about refunds. Below are several more TikToks not shown on our live stream to help confirm what happened at Blue Ridge.
