As the Labor Day weekend came to a close, so did my summer festival experiment. Not a scientific experiment, but just an attempt to keep an open mind and see what all the fuss was about. Over the past few months, I’ve managed to squeeze in time at the Vans Warped Tour, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival and this past weekend’s Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Tour. Oddly enough, I still haven’t been able to bring myself to actually taste a Rockstar Energy Drink, although they do offer some great canned water. [All photos by Tracy May.]

Based on my summer experiment I’ve decided that festivals serve as a great promotional tool, helping spotlight up-abd-coming bands or push new releases. But, I also feel that sometimes the music gets lost in the mist of the carnival-like atmosphere, vendor booths, band autograph signings, multiple stages and extremely short performance slots. Most of the younger festival attendees probably don’t realize it, but these festivals are the music business equivalent of other industry trade shows, such as Comdex, the Home & Garden Show or even Comic-Con. It’s not a bad thing, I guess, but just too much advertising and not enough music for me. I’d rather spend the money to see one or two bands play for 1 ½ -2 hour sets instead of running between muddy outdoor stages to catch a few songs of each band.

The Uproar Festival kicked off around 3 p.m. and as seems to be the norm for festivals in Tampa lately, a healthy dose of rain soaked the field, stage and everyone in attendance right from the start. The lawn quickly turned to mud, making any attempt at getting around the festival a muddy, wet adventure. The afternoon music lineup included Hail The Villain, New Medicine [pictured left], Airbourne and HELLYEAH performing extremely short sets on the outdoor Jagermeister Stage. Although limited to as little as 25 minutes each, several bands still managed to turn in great performances. Among the best performances of the afternoon were New Medicine and HELLYEAH, both currently touring to promote new albums.

This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2010.