Blue Ridge

 So in the end I guess the most important thing is the friends we made along the way. I'm getting ahead of myself.

My friend Phil likes a lot of music. All types. I think it's safe to say that metalcore is his favorite. Well, metalcore is not my favorite. Matter of fact, I hadn't really listened to any metalcore until I started hanging out the big guy. I'm still ahead of myself.

Phil and I met through jiujitsu. As it turns out, he is a big guy at 6'6" 275 or so and as you can guess, was the biggest guy to walk through the jiujitsu gym. At 6'3" 240 or so I was the biggest guy in the gym and with a little experience under my belt I was paired with Phil a lot. 

As things normally go the person you spent time with a lot at the gym is the person you become friends with outside of the gym and I'm certainly no different here. Phil is twenty years younger than I am. Twenty. TWENTY. XX, if you're old school Italian. I can honestly say that while I have never placed an age limit on friendship I also would not have thought that I would have wanted the friendship of someone 20 years younger. Or that I would be old enough to have a friend 20 years younger who's also an adult. Anyway, as we became friends we discuss stuff and music counts as stuff, right? Right. 

I listen to all sorts of music myself. Grew up listening to the same top 40 stuff anyone else did. Evolved to rap and R&B, then rock/alternative...eventually got to a point where I will listen to anything at least once. Music is awesome. You can learn a ton from it and I've learned that when someone shares what they prefer in music they're sharing with you a piece of their soul. Before I get too far off track here, just know that at some point Phil A) shared with me his love for metal and metalcore and Phil being Phil B) invited me to a metalcore show which C) I went to. What did I think?

I understood maybe 8 words of it but, at this is the big thing, I got to enjoy something with my friend and I also gained an appreciation for music he likes. Metalcore is...emotional. It's very much in your face and very much unapologetic about being emotional. When done well it ASSAILS your senses. Songs are usually screamed and not sung, meaning there is an implied sense of urgency in the songs you're hearing. I may not understand it fully, but I feel that I do get it (and why my friend like it so much, but that's another story).

Seeing as how I was receptive to listening to metalcore Phil told me about and invited me to Blue Ridge Rock Festival: a huge show that brings together a lot of rock, metal, and metalcore acts. A four day festival full of fans and...well, anything you might expect at a rock festival. Oh yeah, this was September 2021. And while I was strongly tempted, I couldn't go. You see, I had a comic book convention in Atlanta to go to and a podcast crew to hang out with (the podcast is Longbox Crusade, by the way) and told Phil as much. As a result, no Blue Ridge 2021. But boy did I hear about it.

Bands playing out of their butts. An RV that ran out of electricity and water. Sun. Mud. Girls. Booze. More music. Just absolute insanity. Clearly, I had to get a piece of this action and so when tickets came up for sale for Blue Ridge 2022? I was in.

I can't even tell you how worried I was in the months leading up to the trip. I had disaster scenarios all planned out: the festival would be canceled. Phil and I would have some dumb falling out somehow. I would go to the damn thing but forget something important. I would go to the damn thing and just look like some out of place old guy. It's that level of thinking that really does no one any good, I know. But I did think it.

But as I prepacked all of the stuff in Phil's RV and drove up with Jeremy and Jason (more jiujitsu guys, of course) to meet Phil and his girlfriend Malin, the time for imagined scenarios were over and the reality of the situation was hitting me right in the face and I felt...excited. I was really looking forward to this leap into the unknown and what lay ahead.

I've done well keeping things in a coherent fashion but now, I'm going to go all stream of consciousness on you with my thoughts on any and everything Blue Ridge:

1. I found out about the group Sleep Token shortly before I came to the festival...they put on a good show and I will be looking out for more of their music in the future. They remind me of Bastille if Bastille decided to abandon pop/EDM and instead went in a more metal direction. I dig it.

2. I applaud ANYBODY who camped out to be at Blue Ridge. I would have to go back and be raised an entirely different way in order to sleep close to the ground for four days straight PLUS walk a rock festival for those same four days. You would have to bury me right where I tried to camp. That said, Phil's RV was cash money.  I was worried about space to sleep and once that was cleared up I was way good to go.

3. I was also good to go because my boy Jeremy could cook his behind off. I already knew this as he used to have a kitchen I bought food from and hated badly when he closed it down. Having good food to eat makes any task better and with Jeremy at the helm, the whole crew was good to go. I also appreciated the advice Phil and Jeremy gave me about being out in the sun that long, walking the different terrain, etc. I did sunburn but not nearly as bad as I could have; I kept hydrated the entire time and kept up on my protein and electrolytes...maybe some other supplements I won't go into 😂

4. Lest I forget about music, I love my group came together to see some bands and split apart for others. One band most of us were there for? Alpha Wolf from somewhere Australia. Wow. They brought. It. They got an early time spot and they absolutely made the crowd who gathered as well as passers by BELIEVE in what they were screaming. It was an early day crazy ass scene complete with a wall of death and circle pits. I think both are batshit crazy by the way, in the best way. I absolutely LOVE that everyone looks out for each other in those crazy scenes so the worst you get is a little bit of bruising and a lot of sweat (for the most part). It's crazy what roles you fall into. Phil and Jeremy were in the mix like two madman and I found myself instinctively looking out for them to protect them, even though Phil is 30lbs and 3 inches taller and Jeremy is just a hair shorter and more muscular than I am...go figure.

5. While most of the group went to see Tenacious D, I went to see one of my favorite groups, Starset. I think that everyone should attend a festival with friends. But I think everyone should go see a band they like in that festival by themselves. I let go at Starset. I'm not the type to just let loose a ton. Maybe it's my nature. Maybe it's my nurture. But I absolutely let go. I sang. I SCREAMED. I danced...I showed joy. Joy in a way where it was just a pure adrenaline rush but also just a release where you're clearly being yourself in your own element with people who share a similar love. That purity has to be a large part of what any festival is about.

6. Craziest pit I was a part of? A Day to Remember. I was warned it was going to be a scene. It was a scene scene, y'all. Until this festival, I'm not sure if I have ever helped people body surf. I had quite a few people come to me (cuz I'm a big guy) saying "I wanna go up!" which means they want to surf, or you simply wind up in an alley where people are body surfing over. If you don't want to be in that alley, you don't have to be. And early on that's what I chose to do. But as the festival went on my DGAF meter started pinging and I needed to be a part of the mix somehow. So I helped people crowd surf and once I started I never looked back. Very fun helping folks live out their rock dreams. I don't think I'll ever go up to surf, I'm too big, but helping other people out is hella fun.

7. I applaud ANY band that went there and laid it out there and didn't phone it in. I have one band in mind who phoned it in but I won't disturb you with who that is. What I'll instead do is pivot to a rant Phil/Jeremy started that I agree with: if you have a 30 minute set play your biggest hits. If I'm sitting in front of your stage rocking out with you, I already like you. You don't have to sell me on a new album. Play your most rockingest shit and then I'll remember you and go buy your shit. Playing new songs risks zoning a crowd out.

8. I loved that Blue Ridge had acts from the 90s and 2000s as well as acts from today. If you like rock at all there is no way you could go to Blue Ridge and not be entertained. I have been a fan of 3 Doors Down for over 20 years and never got to see them. Couldn't have been more delighted and impressed. Exact same with Seether. Exact same with Saliva; them bringing out Josey Scott (their old singer) was such a class touch by the band.

9. I absolutely loved the overall sense of community there. I didn't see a single fight or even dust up. Given the amount of alcohol and other party favors being thrown around I find that amazing. Maybe everyone just let it go in the pits. For that matter, I didn't smell too many funky mofos there either and that was an absolute relief. Port-o-potties were mostly well maintained but let me tell you...having to go #2 in a port-o-john is a religious experience. You gotta do your business there, there ain't no way around that. But when I got home and could do the do on my own toilet I swear I hear angels singing.

I have probably missed any number of things that I loved or experienced about Blue Ridge but it has been well over a week since I came from the place and I'm still buzzing about it. I have found new music to listen to and I have grown closer bonds with my friends because of it. Core memories have been put into place and for this dude, that's really what it's all about. Rock on!