ROCKINGHAM — The Epicenter Festival had a bipolar inaugural weekend, with extreme frustration at the traffic and parking issues on the first day, cancellation Saturday evening due to weather, but headbanging fun when fans got to see their favorite bands.
Sunday went off without a hitch, but social media was on fire with scorn Friday afternoon as attendees reported up to 4-hour waits on U.S. 1 to get into the venue. The peak of the traffic was between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, according to Trooper Ray Pierce, public information officer for the Highway Patrol.
Epicenter was forced to issue an apology via its Instagram page Friday evening, acknowledging miscalculations in the planning for the level of traffic.
“We want to thank everyone for enduring absolutely terrible traffic today. As a first year festival, we expected traffic could be bad but this year’s learning curve was worse than we imagined,” the post read. “We underestimated the effect of the local Friday afternoon business traffic. Additionally, we thought more campers would check in on Thursday but far more checked in today.”
At about 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, the festival issued a code yellow weather warning, pausing the concerts, and by 8:10 p.m. the day’s festivities were cancelled and fans were informed the festival would reopen at noon Sunday. Performances that were cancelled included Bush, Yelawolf, The Cult, Judas Priest, and Tool.
For the fans who made it inside, the bands put on quite the show. During Korn’s headline performance Friday, there were waves of crowd surfers over a sea of headbanging fans. Behind the VIP stage, about a dozen fans formed a mosh pit, a phenomenon typical of metal shows in which fans form a circle and charge into each other, swinging their limbs with reckless abandon as the music blares.
Some said Epicenter was as good if not better than the organization of Carolina Rebellion. Shawn Linton, a chef, and Lorie Hinton, a hospice nurse, who both live 5 miles from the festival grounds, said they went to Carolina Rebellion last year and while parking was difficult, the organization within was top notch.
The couple said after Korn’s headlining performance Friday that they “partied our a**es off” that day.
“It was much smoother (than Rebellion),” Linton said. “You weren’t running from state to stage in the VIP sections, you had a great vantage point no matter where you were in VIP.”
Linton said they prepared for a month, expecting a “dust bowl” like there was at Rebellion — even going as far as to pack respirators — put there was no need because of the quality of the grounds. They have been attending music festivals for more than 15 years, and Epicenter was their “vacation.” Linton was wearing a “My Little Pony” t-shirt and had the Epicenter horn strapped to his head, calling himself the “chubby unicorn” — or, as he tried to say after one too many drinks, a “ri-noo-seroos” (rhinoceros).
Nathan Neblett, 21, of Monroe came dressed in a chicken suit, after finding that too many people come to big events in banana costumes. Neblett said he’s been attending Rebellion since 2012, and when asked who he came to see last weekend, he said “everything.”
“I came here to mosh,” Neblett said. “I went from (mosh) pit to pit to pit. Wherever I see dust that’s where I’m headed.”
Neblett said that Saturday’s traffic and organization showed significant improvement from Friday.
Tyler Hammer, 19, Colby Whaley, 18, and Alexander Kalisiewecz, 18, made a day trip to see Crobot and Tool. Hammer said he bought his ticket off of Craigslist Saturday morning and said he was “lucky” to be there.
After the warning was issued Saturday that lightening was expected, a fan shouted while evacuating, “I want to get struck by lightening watching Judas Priest!”
Bruce Morey, of Moristown, Tennessee, brought — or “dragged,” he joked — his family to his favorite hobby: seeing his favorite bands live. Morey said he was “having a great time” up until the weather cancellation Saturday, which made him miss the main band he came to see, which was Tool.
His son remarked after the cancellation that, “Tool comes with the thunder.” The Morey family got in early Saturday with little traffic. They were able to see Badflower and Motionless in White, among others.
Other fans called the festival a lost cause by Saturday. Carol M., from upstate New York, said she has traveled to Rebellion for the last five years because her daughter lives in the area and they’re big rock music fans. They only got to see one of the five bands they came down to see, Motionless in White, but the others were cancelled due to weather.
She said upstate New York has metal concerts constantly from spring to summer, and with the way Epicenter went, she might not make the trip next time.
“Upstate New York is the metal capitol of the world, I’m not going to come down here again,” said M. at the peak of Saturday’s frustration.
Saturday night, it took Daily Journal reporters two hours to get out of the general parking area, finally getting on the road at 10:30 p.m., though many people were there later.
Pauline Juhle and Indy Webb, of Morehead City, said that in order to get out of the parking lot Friday night, after a similar struggle, that fans opened a barricade themselves which Webb said “finally” got the line moving.
“After (Friday) we did not want to come back,” Juhle said. And with the weather, she added, “We shouldn’t have bothered.”
Webb said that traffic was “way better” Saturday, and that no one is responsible for the weather.
“It was a disaster (on Friday),” Webb said. “I’ve been to large concerts where its much more well organized … how did they not factor in (the amount of traffic) to an event of this magnitude? It’s insane.”
