Rock and roll with the Blue Ridge Rock Festival

September 14, 2022

Close your eyes and imagine - the piercing sounds of ecstatic, shrieking fans and boisterous laughter. You see the smiles on people, and you feel the rhythm of a bass flowing beneath your feet. Everyone around you is united regardless of religion, political views, and sexuality. Music brings the hearts and souls of everyone together.

This is exactly what the people and fans of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival (BRRF) felt as they walked through the gates to see iconic metal and rock bands of the 21st century. A few of the highly anticipated bands include Black Veil Brides, Disturbed, Alice Cooper, Theory of a Deadman, and many more.

BRRF is a famous festival this year hosted in near Halifax County in the Americas Automotive Resort Stadium. A breathtaking sight, with about 1,370 acres that typically host world class sports cars, motorcycles, vintage, and club racing.

The stadium had turned into an extraordinary venue last weekend. Going on their 5th year of hosting the festival, they had more than 40,000 fans come from all over to enjoy a weekend of “electrifying” parties and hard-core metal bands.

Out of those 40,000 fans, we can also expect some fellow Galileo Falcons enjoying their own BRRF experience. Lee Carter, science teacher at Galileo, spoke with me regarding his time at the festival. He enjoyed his favorite band there, Theory of a Deadman.

He would leave around ten in the morning each day and stay up till eleven o’clock at night. Enjoying the music and those around him, Carter stated his reason for going was because of his love for music and the people: “I love the people that it brings together and you get to become friends with people that you would probably never talk to in a normal day and it is an awesome time to escape from reality.”

However, going to a festival as big as this one takes a lot of preparation: scheduling, buying tickets, packing the right essentials, and staying hydrated. For Carter, the number one advice he had for people going was to, “Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.'' Carter also stated, “No one realizes how much they are going to be on their feet. It is a lot of walking.” Finally, an important thing that Carter also wanted to emphasize was, “Bring your own toilet paper, there is not always toilet paper."

Carter’s favorite moment was being able to be right in the middle of the chaos of Lamb of the God, where Carter states his favorite memory as “Being up in the middle of all of the chaos in the Lamb of God’s set list. It was very wild and energetic.”

In the end, the BRRF was a place for many people to feel and express themselves in any way they needed to. “Music is a way to express yourself regardless of how you're feeling. If you're in a bad mood I have plenty of hard angry rock music the kind that helps you rock yourself out and make yourself feel better. If you're in more of a sentimental mood, there's plenty of bands that can help with that to playing a different types of music. So really no matter how you're feeling there's a band a song or a genre of music that can help you express yourself so that you can feel happy with who you are.” Carter said.

After the end of the amazing weekend, Carter, as well as those 40,000 people, went back to the comfort of their homes, truly feeling the after effect of the fun they had shared with those around them. Even if their ears were ringing for hours on end afterward!