If you missed Earthday Birthday 26, you missed one hell of an amazing time! Fans lined up in the wee hours of the morning to be the first festival-goers to make their way into the Central Florida Fairgrounds for a day in the sun featuring incredible food vendors, thousands of music fans, and TONS of amazing local and national talent playing throughout the day. The first band took the stage around 11:30 am and the last band left the stage at 11:00 pm, making for almost 12 hours of good ol’ music. A huge shout out to 101.1 WJRR, Bud Light, and Hard Rock Live Orlando for making EDBD26 another memorable event.
This years event presented fans with three outdoor stages and a “chill zone” which was an air-conditioned indoor stage for bands to perform acoustic sets. Definitely a perk for fans looking to cool down between main stage acts. Each area of the fairgrounds was dedicated to different themed activities. I watched a few rounds of wrestling, a few BMX riders perform some rad tricks on their bikes, lovely ladies walking around with spectacular body painting, outrageously beautiful stilt walkers, to go along with an extremely impressive variety of vendors. Being my second year of covering this event, I unquestionably enjoyed meeting the artists who put their heart, sweat, and tears into their commissioned work, and it showed!
Orlando loves to support the local music scene, and the festival featured some of the areas finest local acts. One local band that really caught my attention was Breathing Theory, they performed on the indoor “Chill Zone” stage and the room was packed with fans as they sang along. They are definitely a band to check out in the future. Additionally, each outdoor stage had local acts performing as the festival kicked into high gear. On the main stage, we caught the tail end of Thunderstruck, an AC/DC tribute band. The lead singer had a unique voice similar to that of Brian Johnson of AC/DC. Next up was Rivethead from Texas who were made up of 3/4 male and 1/4 female.
As the festival picked up, the custom costumes came out to play. A few that caught my eye were the artists on stilts. One particular walker appeared to be an evil spawn as well two malevolent ladies who looked like his helpers. These costumes were eccentric and exquisitely put together as perfect pieces of art and were a great addition to the festival. Another attraction that always makes for interesting sights was body painting. There is something to be said for women expressing themselves through the arts and that includes body painting. It was a beautiful sight to see, as fans gathered to compliment their work as well as posing for a quick photo with these beautiful ladies.
As the afternoon sun started to beat down, more bands took to the stages at EDBD26. Another Florida act, Eve to Adam hit the Amp Stage as lead singer Taki took the stage engulfed in a straight jacket. Throughout the day WJRR radio hosts would introduce upcoming bands as beautiful ladies would reward fans by launching random gifts into the crowd. As the day progressed the list of bands intensified with acts such as The Glorious Sons, Badflower, Rival Sons, Atreyu, Motionless In White, P.O.D, Pop Evil, Underoath, and Three Day Grace made their way across the stage before giving way to the evenings headliner. One of the days highlights were the musicians that made their way into the crowd to interact and sing with the crowd.
As the days festivities began to wind down, all eyes turned to the evening’s headliner…Godsmack. The Boston natives have been entertaining fans for over 20 years, and just released their 7th full-length album, When Legends Rise. The festival stage did not allow for Godsmack’s typical pyro; however, the legendary drum-off between drummer Shannon Larkin and the band’s frontman Sully Erna did indeed take place. The crowd beaten down from the days heat had plenty left in the tank as they joined Erna delivering each and every word sung throughout the band’s set. The band mixed it up choosing a few songs from each album during their 1 hour and 15-minute performance. Starting off the set with the newly released “When Legends Rise”, followed by hits that included “1000hp”, “Voodoo”, “Cryin’ Like a Bitch”, “Bulletproof” and ending the night with the cover of AC/DC’s classic “Highway to Hell”.
Once again, thank you to the staff at WJRR 101.1, the crew from Bud Light, Hard Rock Live Orlando and all of the vendors that made EDBD26 as huge success.
Photos and review by Jessi Brothers