Concert Review: Edgefest 15

by Caroline North

To whoever did something to irritate the bands that performed at Edgefest 15: you might want to watch your back, they’re not too happy. In fact, you might call anger the theme of the day. Anger over love turned sour, anger over... actually, that pretty much covers it.

To be fair, their audience was equally bitter. The crowd at Evans Blue, for example, pumped fists enthusiastically as lead singer Matisyn sang/screamed: “Time will kill us after all, now can you feel its second hand wrapped around your neck.” It was easy to pick out Evans Blue’s single, “Cold (But I’m Still Here),” from their set (even if, like me, you hadn’t heard it before) because the crowd went nuts when they played it and then promptly filtered out, en route to the next show, once it was over.

When it comes to commenting on BuckCherry’s performance, I should probably retract my statement that all of the bands at Edgefest were angry. In fact, BuckCherry’s Josh Todd had so much love to give, that at times I felt like I was watching Barry White if he were reincarnated as a metalhead with a foul mouth on crack. BuckCherry was so ridiculous that they were refreshing. Someone clearly forgot to tell them that 80’s arena rock is over (which explains why they recently toured with Motley Crue), and I couldn’t have been gladder.

Note: I’d love to say something about Drowning Pool, who I saw next, but the continuous screaming (on part of both the crowd and the vocalist) made it difficult to decipher one song from the next. So, on to 30 Seconds To Mars. If you’re familiar with this band, it’s probably because you’re familiar with frontman Jared Leto, of My So Called Life/ American Psycho/ Requiem for a Dream fame. I almost feel sorry for his band-mates, because any way you slice it, Jared is the sole attraction. His voice is strong, his range impressive, he’s an excellent showman, and his boyish good looks don’t hurt (which explains their sizeable female fan base). The only disappointment was that 30 Seconds To Mars played on the comparatively puny Second Stage. Eight other bands, including Evans Blue, performed there.

It was clear by the abundance of Toadies shirts that everyone was looking forward to the performance by the quintessential 90’s band. Toadies certainly held up their end of the bargain, and once they got around to well known “Possum Kingdom,” they had all of Pizza Hut Park joyfully screaming, “Do you wanna die?” (Although I think the only thing that made anyone want to die on Sunday was the oppressive heat, which was only just letting up by the time Toadies performed.)

According to 102.1, Edgefest 15 was the biggest and most successful in its history. That seems strange to me, because in my opinion, this year’s lineup wasn’t particularly strong and you would think that Pizza Hut Park in Frisco (which reminds me of the Cotton Bowl) is a much more inconvenient location than Smirnoff. But if what The Edge says is true, I guess that only proves how far the average Dallas concertgoer will go to release a little anger.