The Tampa Bay area hosted tons of concerts this summer that ranged from sugar coated pop and twangy country to obscure metal. Some of the biggest shows included British pop sensation One Direction, country stars Lady Antebellum, Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest and the Vans Warped Tour.
We kick off our summer concert review on June 29th at the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheater where thousands of teenage girls packed the sold-out venue to watch Harry, Niall, Liam, Zayn, and Louis of One Direction serenade them throughout the evening.
“There were a lot of fourteen and fifteen year old girls there and a lot of parents with their little kids,” senior Sienna Davis said.
One Direction made sure to play all the crowd favorites such as “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Up All Night” while interacting with the audience as well.
“They had such a cool stage. There this fake snowball fight that they had on stage. They were throwing Styrofoam balls at the crowd and the crowd threw them back. It was awesome!” Davis said.
Davis also went to the Lady Antebellum concert earlier on in May. Another country star, Darrius Rucker, opened for them as well as the band Thompson Square. The show started at about seven pm and lasted until about eleven. The band played all of their hit songs and even covered a few famous country songs. Yet again, the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheater held another sold-out show.
“They showed the crowd and got them really involved. There were also a lot of cool effects. It was a cool experience,” Davis said.
The nation’s biggest metal show happened to be on Friday the thirteenth this year. As gates began to open around noon, thousands of die-hard metal heads found themselves braving the bad luck and bipolar July weather for the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest.
Congregating in a field just outside of the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheater, the opening bands would tear up the Jagermeister side stage. The bands on this stage included Asking Alexandria, The Devil Wears Prada, and Whitechapel, while the headliner of the Jager stage was thrash metal legend, Anthrax.
Six o’clock rolled around and the main stage at the amp was finally opened. Fans young and old jammed into the pit area to watch their idols in Motorhead rock out, Slayer set their amp stack on fire, and finally Slipknot to play their very first tour since the death of bassist Paul Gray (RIP) in 2010.
Our summer review ends with one of the most anticipated tours out there: the Vans Warped Tour.
“It was so freakin’ hot,” senior Tristan Chandra said.
Warped Tour is an all-day music fest with eight stages and 50+ bands. There’s something for everyone at Warped Tour since the genres include metal, pop-punk, alternative, reggae, ska, hip-hop, and acoustic singer-songwriter.
From lesser known bands such as New Found Glory to household names like All Time Low, each band played for about an hour on each of the eight stages, sometimes overlapping others.
When asked who put on the best set of the whole show Chandra responded, “New Found Glory definitely. They had the best set of the entire day. Their stage presence was awesome and their set up was so cool.”