Day one of Upheaval Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan was a hot one and also had the unexpected wrench of poor air quality and smokey conditions thrown into the mix! The smoke got pulled into the jet stream and made its way down into the states. That did not stop the bands and fans from coming out and supporting live music for this 2 day music festival.

Upheaval Fest is held at Belknap Park, nestled on the edge of downtown and was a fairly short walk from my hotel. Upon reaching the entrance, fans were already gathered and spread out all over in lines and groups, hanging out and enjoying the comradery of like-minded people! I gathered my credentials, headed into the empty venue and conducted a few band interviews before starting my day capturing as many bands as I could.

The lineup on the Upheaval Stage (main) of day one was made up of Thousand Below, LANDMVRKS, Story Of The Year, Poppy and Gojira. I was able to catch every band except Thousand Below. 

My first band of the fest (and my first fest that I have ever captured), was LANDMVRKS. The crowd was pretty fired up at this point and it was a fun set. The band was formed in France in 2014. The band is made up of Florent Salfati [vocals], Rudy Purkart [bass], Nicolas Exposito [guitar],Paul Cordebard [rhythm guitar] and Kévin D’Agostino [drums]. I loved their energy and hard-hitting breakdowns.

Next up was Story Of The Year! The band formed in the mid-late 90s under a couple of different names and eventually landed on their current sound and name in 2002. SOTY is not my typical sound but I knew they had a big following and I had heard nothing but good things about them. I was excited to check them out and they did not disappoint! The lineup consists of Dan Marsala [vocals], Ryan Phillips [guitar], Adam Russell [bass] and Josh Wills [drums]. My favorite part of their set was when they did a little mash-up that included a bit of Korn and Deftones. 

Poppy (band only) came out on the main stage next and played a completely instrumental set without actually Poppy. Her band is a talented group of musicians and the crowd took it surprisingly well that she did not come out to sing any songs.

The headliner closing out day 1 was the mighty French heavy metal band Gojira. They formed in the mid nineties under another name and came to be Gojira in 2001. The band is made up of Joe Duplantier [vocals/guitar], Mario Duplantier [drums], Christian Andreu [guitar] and Jean-Michel Lambadie [drums]. Drummer Mario had some trouble getting into the United States so Paleface Swiss drummer Luigi Paraventi stepped in on very short notice and absolutely crushed it! I was blown away by their performance and enjoyed them very much. They had lots of pyro and streamers were also shot out into the audience which made for a cool photo!