As soon as As I Lay Dying ended their set, the next band began theirs. That band was, I learned right at the end of the set, The Confession. I'd never heard of them, and I'm probably better off. It's not that they were bad, but there really wasn't anything defining about them. If there was one thing they had going for them, it would be the energy. They kept the energy high and the music going for their brief 15-minute set. During their set, I started to make my way through the thick of the crowd from my earlier spot on the right side, to the side stage area on the left.

Before going any further, I must give some props to the stage and production crew working the tour. Throughout the whole night, they kept the mix consistent and were very quick in keeping the music going. There were no breaks, it was sort of like a tennis match going from band to band; there was about five hours of nearly continuous music from the moment I stepped in. Also, props to the lighting guys; for the five main stage acts, they used different lighting. Each band had their own lighting design to differentiate themselves. That can't be easy for so many different bands and one set lighting setup. These unsung heroes of the tour did a fantastic job. Now back to the show...

I made my way part way across the meat of the pit, before I hit a block. There I stood to watch The Confession. The problem was that I was unprepared for the quickness with which they left and Atreyu began, and I found myself in the middle of a raging, surging pit. I'm no kid that can take a lot of bashing any more, so I quickly found my way out to the fringes, while simultaneously trying to stay close to the stage. Atreyu had the craziest reactions. They were pretty good, high energy, loud music, and they kept switching it up. They had a blend of screams and singing, rough riffs and speedy lead breaks. They were considerably better than the last time I saw them a few years back opening for CKY.

Keeping the show going, we move back to the side stage, which was a small corner on the left side of the stage. Greeley Estates was next up. They were pretty good, and definitely had a following in the crowd. The following was small, but incredibly vocal, singing along and getting a few small pits going. They were not bad, again nothing terribly distinct, but they were young. My experience with the younger acts is that they can improve their performances by leaps and bounds in short periods of time with regular crowd exposure. They will probably be considerably better by the end of the tour.