Screaming voices, pounding drums and the blare of the guitars were the sounds that persisted from morning to the night. The Aftershock festival was the place to be last weekend for anyone who loves metal and awesome shows.

With gates first opening at 11a.m. Saturday, crowds of metal-heads stormed in, some crazed to purchase exclusive merchandise from each featured band, while others ran off to the stage area to reserve a close-up spot for the performances.

There were different tickets to the Aftershock festival, a normal ticket which was the basic two-day pass, and if you wanted to be a bit cheaper or cared for a few bands on a particular day, they had day passes for both Saturday and Sunday. Then there was the more pricey V.I.P passes, which meant shorter lines, access to the V.I.P. area which had more merchandise, places to sit and shade. However, there was a fair amount of shade throughout the whole festival grounds, so those without V.I.P. didn’t exactly have to dry up in the sun.

There were three stages, so bands could play right after one finishes, which was extremely smooth and spared the audience of having dull moments. “Menden Hall Experiment” was the very first band to kick off the show, and the crowd prepares for 11 hours of sweet and glorious metal.

Steel Panther performed at 1:25 p.m. Saturday, giving the show some comedy as they told hilarious jokes, played humorous songs, as well as made fun of each other in between each song. They were the only band to actually have a comedy skit. Performing right after them was P.O.D in which got the ground pumped back up, then they played their classic song, “Youth of the Nation” which got almost the entire stage grounds to sing along to the lyrics.

Papa Roach took over the show at 5:25 p.m. vocalist impressing the crowd as a performer, for he was the only one out of any band that had actually ran across to multiple stages, so he could interact with more audience. Ready to play their last song, the vocalist also pauses and introduces the band’s former drummer, which has been out of the band for about seven years to play their first famous hit, “Last Resort.”

After Papa Roach’s performance Megadeth’s show lit up the stage–literally. Their performance might be a concern for those with epilepsy. Shinedown’s performance wasn’t very stage light heavy, but the band played their songs with all heart.

Though Shinedown gave everyone’s eyes a rest from the penetrating light of Megadeth’s show, Korn finally came on to end Saturday night, and they weren’t shy about lighting whatsoever. At this point, the crowd was crazed screeching, jumping, fist pumping metal-heads eager to see this band that’s been around for awhile play. They played popular songs such as “Freak on a Leash”, “Coming Undone” and “Falling Away From Me.” When the night finally finished, it was almost unreal to think that there’s still another day of extreme and awesome Metal.

Sunday rolled around, and those who wanted to be there early again, had to get out of bed sore from rocking out the night before and get to the entrance. Due to Filter not showing up to play at the concert, and new band “Nothing More” had performed, despite of also performing on Saturday. However, with the energy they brought to their show, it’s almost like they had a week of preparation to perform on Sunday. The vocalist was very friendly, and he did numerous tricks on stage with a drum set, as his other members would occasional hold or throw up drums to which he’d hit while singing. At the end of their show, he stepped onto the grounds and to meet anyone that wanted to talk to him.

One of the best stage performances ever came from A Day to Remember, and the crowd pitched in to make the show even wilder. The leader singer disappears while they begin a song, but comes back in a giant hamster ball and runs over the the confused, amazed crowd. But the crowd in return amazed the band.

A Day to Remember wasn’t going to make that the only time they interacted with the crowd though. One of their members changes into a banana suit, and one of the festival staff members brings him a blow-up boat. He steps in and tries to sail over the crowd in a plastic boat, laughing at himself and the crowd around him.

The band was performing on the South stage. In the North stage area however, a group of people thought it’d be a magnificent idea to bring a trampoline and started to launch people in the air.

The band paused and the vocalist says into the microphone, “In my 10 years of performing, I have never seen someone get thrown up over ten feet into the air. That is AWESOME.” and the audience cheered at their success of pleasing the artist.

Unbelievably, the craziness doesn’t end there. Someone took a high-tech remote control helicopter and attached their camera to it. During songs, people could look up at see this mini helicopter flying over the crowd and onto the stage. Some people were hurling objects such as shirts, water bottles, shoes, and underwear trying to hit it. If the bands at a Metal concert don’t entertain, just rely on the fans.

When A Day to Remember had to leave the stage, attention turned towards the North stage when Five Finger Death Punch took over. Their songs started to incite a giant mosh pit on both sides, as if there was a contest to see which side could create the biggest mosh pit. Drums and guitars just exploded into hard metal solos, which kept people on their toes. The vocalist with his intense metal voice and rough attire conflicted his appearance with his actions of pulling children ages 10 and under with their parents from the crowd. It was a very nice experience to see these kids experience something that’s once in a lifetime.

Now, it all comes down to the finale with the most popular and desired band to see, Avenged Sevenfold. Instead of a super short transition from the previous band, which was Five Finger Death Punch, it took 15 minutes for lead singer M. Shadows to walk onto stage followed by his crew. Perhaps the suspension was necessary, for when the stage lit up and M Shadows picked up the mic, the crowd screamed with delight. Almost everyone crowded in as much as possible, those standing in the back were on their tiptoes to see this legendary of a band about to play.

They kicked off the show with a song from their new album “Shepherd of Fire”. As soon as the guitars started the intro, the crowds lost their minds. Everyone in the staging area had their fists held high, many were furiously headbanging. If the music wasn’t good enough, then the tons of pyro material they brought was sure to help. “Hail to the King” came on next, and the band actually had a skeletal king model as a prop onstage, so during the chorus everyone had thrown their fists in rhythm with the song to hail to that king. The best song of the night was most likely “Nightmare” because when the music box intro began to play, the audience began screaming uncontrollably. Then the dual guitars started to kick off with the drums, which ended the stillness of the crowd. But when the vocalist began his part by screaming “Nightmare!” into the microphone, metal-heads left and right were thrown into a frenzy that didn’t die down till moments after the song. For the last band to perform, Avenged Sevenfold ended it with a bang.

Aftershock Festival was a well organized, fun and amazing experience for any metal-head. There wasn’t any awkward transitions between bands, and it was enjoyable for all ages, and with the results of this concert, it may get ever more interest next year.

by KALEEN SINGH