Central Florida Fairgrounds with Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Pop Evil, Atreyu, P.O.D., Underoath, Motionless In White, Rival Sons, Shim, Badflower, Glorious Sons, Blue Stones, Colours Couture Tattoo & Music Show & more!
In the 1990s, WJRR started a live music festival known as “Earthday Birthday”, a small local concert meant to attract local hard rockers and fans alike to Tinker Field baseball stadium. To accommodate the rising attendance over the years, the festival moved from its long-time home of Tinker Field to the more spacious Central Florida Fairgrounds in West Orlando. Today, EDBD has grown into one of Florida’s largest single-day music festivals that is attracting rock fans from all over the states.
This year featured 4 stages including the WJRR Unplugged Acoustic Stage and Chill Zone which allowed fans to escape the heat, The Mel’s Bad Girls Club Art Walk and Charity Row, 2 VIP areas and multiple food and vendor tents. Helicopter rides were one of the highlights allowing fans an aerial view of the festival and several large screens to view the performances so fans could relax in the myriad of blow up furniture seen around the grounds.
The National Anthem kicked off the annual event at 11:30 and Thunderjack who is an AC/DC tribute band, opened the show. Next up was Rivethead, Blue Stones, Eve to Adam, Glorious Sons, Badflower, Rival Sons, and Atreyu. Motionless in White, who played their new unreleased song ‘Disguise’ for the first time requested fans keep their cellphones down so it didn’t end up on YouTube or social media and many fans simply enjoyed the music.
Rotating stages kept the fans on the move and next up was P.O.D., Pop Evil and then Underoath with the announcement of their upcoming North American tour with Korn and Alice in Chains. The final acts as the sun set and the breeze cooled all the fans at Earthday Birthday 26 were Three Days Grace and Godsmack.
This years heat index rose to almost 100 degrees and fans were reminded to take care of each other and to stay hydrated. As always, a wide range of musical tastes are satisfied during the festival each year, and 2018 was as diverse as any previous years, offering something for every fan’s delight. It’s going to be a long year until next years festival but I can’t wait to see what they have lined up for the fans in 2020.
Headliner Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, Tony Rombola [guitar], Robbie Merrill [bass], and Shannon Larkin [drums]. The multiplatinum four-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated Boston bastion of hard rock raises its voice louder than ever on their first album in four years “When Legends Rise"
POP EVIL smashes through the odds like a battering ram, weathering the trials and tribulations of paying dues with a steadfast resilience owing much to their blue collar and middle class backgrounds, and building a worldwide audience one fan at a time. Simply put, POP EVIL is a larger-than-life true rock n’ roll band.
Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1997. The Ontario, Canada quartet—Matt Walst [lead vocals], Barry Stock [lead guitar], Brad Walst [bass], and Neil Sanderson [drums, percussion, keyboards, programming]—continue to blaze that trail on their sixth full-length album, the aptly titled "Outsider".
Motionless in White, often abbreviated MIW, is an American metal band from Scranton, Pennsylvania. For their fourth full-length album and first for Roadrunner Records Graveyard Shift, Motionless In White—Chris Motionless [Vocals], Ricky Horror [Guitar], Ryan Sitkowski [Guitar], Ghost [Bass], and Vinny Mauro [Drums]—dug into the roots of their hometown’s pervasive attitude. An industrial city situated in Northeastern Pennsylvania, you could say Scranton quietly prides itself on a tried-and-true Rust Belt blue-collar work ethic.
Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Orange County, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of unclean vocalist Alex Varkatzas, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist Marc "Porter" McKnight, and drummer/clean vocalist Brandon Saller. They have released seven studio albums: Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses (2002), The Curse (2004), A Death-Grip On Yesterday (2006), Lead Sails Paper Anchor (2007), Congregation of the Damned (2009), Long Live (2015) and In Our Wake (2018)
Badflower is an American rock band founded in Los Angeles, California. After years of playing music together, singer/guitarist Josh Katz and guitarist Joey Morrow formed Badflower after writing a few songs together. They met because they lived in the same apartment complex and both dropped out of music school. The name "Badflower" came out of a random conversation the two were having with a family member. On November 1, Badflower announced their debut album OK, I'M SICK, which was released on February 22, 2019
Payable on Death (abbreviated P.O.D.) is an American Christian nu metal band formed in 1992 and based in San Diego, California. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer and rhythm guitarist Wuv Bernardo, lead guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. They have sold over 12 million records worldwide. Over the course of their career, the band has received three Grammy Award nominations, contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks and toured internationally.
Underoath is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. Founded by Dallas Taylor and Luke Morton on November 30, 1997 in Ocala, Florida; subsequently its additional members were from Tampa as well. They have received three Grammy nominations in 2007, 2010 and 2019 respectively. On February 22, 2018, Underoath announced their eighth studio album, Erase Me, would be released on April 6, 2018; their first album in 8 years and their first in 10 years with founding drummer Aaron Gillespie. The first single was "On My Teeth."
Eve To Adam is a hard rock band formed in New York City in 1997. They have released 5 albums and had three songs reach the top 40 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart and 1 song, Immortal, that broke the Top 15 at Active Rock in 2014.
RIVETHEAD, a metal band from Dallas, TX....Heavy and driving metal riffs thrown into a musical carburetor, mixed with electronics and angst-filled vocals, creating a perfect blend of heavy music!
