Grand Rapids…Upheaval Is Your Rock Festival

Yes promoters own festivals, but what makes a festival aside from the bands is, the people who attend them.

I am very excited that there is a rock festival that is being held here in Grand Rapids. I went to Rock on the Range and Chicago's Open Air Festival for years and it was a great working experience.

So I'm glad I no longer have to travel across state lines or go across the state to get to a rock festival. From the festivals I have been to, yes the bands are the draw and the better the lineup the bigger the show usually is. But each festival has to start somewhere with a lineup and an audience.

Of all the shows and festivals I have been to and that is a number I couldn't tell you because there has been so many I've lost count over the years. I will tell you one thing at all great shows and festivals have in common...they are only as good as the people who attend them.

Bands feed off the audience. If you and your friends are pumped along with everybody else at the festival, then so are the bands. I can tell you from experience that the more the crowd is it to it, the harder I worked and the better I played. It is no different with Korn, Rob Zombie, Staind, Chevelle, Pop Evil, Skillet, Nonpoint and more who are playing at Upheaval.

The lineup for a first time two festival is very good and can only get better if a couple things happen:

• A ton of tickets get sold for the event.
• The crowd embraces the event and gets others to come.

There are still some single day tickets left for Upheaval and you can get those here.

Tickets have been selling well but there are still some left. The best way to make a festival return each year is to sell it out. Even if you are not stoked about the line up. I say that because not every year a lineup can be perfect but if you want it to grow, you as a consumer need to get tickets so the show sells out, even if you give them away. If a festival sells out each year, guess what? It will continue to happen for years to come and the lineup will get stronger and stronger.

Grand Rapids and all of Southwest Michigan, we have something special with the Upheaval Festival, let's do our part to make this happen so we have this amazing event to attend for years to come.

Remember, Upheaval is your festival and it will be only as good as you decide it will. I hope to see you there.