Feel the burn ~ sunburn, that is ~ as you walk through a wide open parking lot in brutal heat, ready to soak up the sounds of music from every angle you learned about in geometry class. After what had seemed like the longest line ever, you’re in, you’ve got a beer and you’ve found your friends. You fumble to check the schedule to be sure you don’t miss your favorite acts. Multiple stages suddenly come alive with energy and the roar of the amps begins.

Xfinity Center in Mansfield (which I will always think of as Great Woods) plays host to some of the biggest and best music festivals and concerts in the summer. If you didn’t get to a show yet, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for; there are plenty more in the next few months to see. Here’s the DL on a few that Pulse attended this year.

Warped Tour
The Vans Warped Tour is a combination of complete chaos and overall relaxed atmosphere. It is diversity at its finest, with many different genres of music playing on stages simultaneously and attracts fans from every walk of life. The fashion choices are … um … eclectic, and true to its sponsor, Vans shoes were everywhere.

Let me say it is absolutely impossible to see every band on this bill; there are more than 100 bands and artists that perform each year at Warped across many stages, which are not all right next to each other. I can only be in so many places. What I did see, though, was spectacular.

Let’s start with Mayday Parade. A friend of mine brought her daughter, who went absolutely ballistic over this band, and with good reason. These guys are really good, delivering a high-energy performance that welcomed the audience in to take part in its commotion. Bowling for Soup was a great show, and Scare Don’t Fear was another performance worth calling out, the up and comers meshing their hip-hop and metal vibes into a perfect recipe for moshing.

For those that like the more relaxed acoustic vibe, Front Porch Step is worth looking into if you didn’t catch this performance. I caught up with singer Jake Mcelfresh in the press tent and asked him about his new album Aware. He said the album is an emotional album that some might find offensive in its explicit nature, but that it’s an honest take on real life. Story-telling in nature, I asked him if he could write a song about anything, what would it be and (with no hesitation whatsoever), he said, “peanut butter.” I want to hear that song…just sayin’. Mcelfresh, who was raised by a single mom, also strongly supports women’s charities such as battered women’s organizations and single-mother support causes.

Another acoustic performer, Rob Lynch, traveled all the way from the United Kingdom to share his talents. I asked Lynch flat out if he needs to have tea every day, and he said since he’d been on tour, he hasn’t had a “proper cup of English tea.” Lynch’s new album (due out in September), All These Nights in Bars will Somehow Save my Soul, has a theme of life and death. He said the fan-favorite song on the album is “My Friends and I,” which he said he has been playing live for years and inspires sing-alongs. Listening to him play, his music sounded like a combination of beach-rock and pint-waving, with sincere emotion as its backdrop. I enjoyed it.

Shiragirl was a fun act to watch. It was like watching a concert, a Broadway production and a strip show (without the bare ta-tas) all in one. She and her backup dancers know how to get attention from passersby, and they had an instant fan club. Shooting water guns and glitter bombs at the crowd, Shiragirl conducted herself as the queen of the moment. It was a good time.

Speaking of female empowerment, Pvris was a favorite with the crowd. This is a beautiful and talented girl clearly has a great following and is nearing the top of the proverbial ladder.

Of course I have to include Vanna (one of my favorite metal bands) did as it always does ~ put on a show that is technically spotless and feeding the hungry crowd a gluttonous portion of delicious musical munchies. Chelsea Grin was another band that came in roaring, bringing crowds to the air with hair flying.

I really liked local boys Four Year Strong. No showy and gimmicky antics necessary; they are just really awesome performers and are very tight musically speaking. I found it really difficult not to sing along with them at the top of my lungs. The band’s new album (released July 22), Go Down in History, is an apt name. This band will certainly do so, no doubt in my mind.

For Today is always on my list of bands to see when it is in town, and it didn’t disappoint me. I’ve watched this band blossom in the last couple of years to really own what it is doing ~ commanding the stage and becoming even more individual as it blasts through cookie-cutter sound for something that is completely its own. I asked singer Mattie (who, incidentally, loves Five Guys burgers) about the new album, Fight the Silence, and he said the song “Pariah” was written about a man who died for his faith in the Middle East. It’s a true account, and it’s a story worth telling. Mattie said in former albums he “lyrically hid behind grand concepts…but it wasn’t personal. I wasn’t being vulnerable. In this album, I feel I finally got to a point where I was brave enough to bear my heart…in a way hopefully people can relate to.”

Though I am not really a hip-hop lover, I do have to give some love to Wax. I happened to walk by during his set, and the guy is at the top of his game with a sing-rap kind of style that is so lyrically sound I couldn’t help but notice him. He isn’t “trendy” and that is a compliment.

Let Rock Rule Tour/ZLX Anniversary: Slash & Aerosmith
Good God. Whether it was a tactical business decision or a happy accident or a couple buddies deciding over lunch that this was a great musical pair up, it was heaven on earth to see two renowned and embraced acts hit the same stage in the same night.

Slash came out from behind his famous mane with his guitar blazin’ fire, supporting the vocal stylings of Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators. Kennedy really impressed me with his range and clear passion for performing. The guy’s smile is infectious, honestly. What really made me happy was the fact that they did such a great array of songs, even doing some GNR tunes, which they absolutely nailed (sorry Axl, but I think Sweet Child O’Mine was actually better at this show). The chemistry between the members of the band is very apparent.

And, of course, there was Aerosmith. Honestly, I don’t believe it is possible for this band to lack anything in the entertainment department. Steven Tyler seems to fly out onto the stage in a decorative white shirt and kaleidoscope colored scarf, sunglasses, porn-stache of the moment and mic in hand to go right into Back in the Saddle. With the vast array of songs these guys can pull from their hit library, I thought they chose well. Love in an Elevator, Livin’ on the Edge, Rag Doll, Mama Kin (featuring Slash), Walk this Way ~ they were all there.

And now, let us discuss what is now one of the greatest regrets of my entire life. I had to head out as I was a little under the weather…only to find out that there was an encore that included Dream On and Sweet Emotion and a Tiny Bradshaw cover, which featured none other than Johnny Depp, who is currently filming in town. Two of my favorite of the male species on one stage, and I missed it. Color me a sad, sad girl. I might never forgive myself.

Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest
This has always been one of my favorite shows to attend in the summer. I just love the energy and the irony of a bunch of hard-ass people covered in ink, piercings, grizzly beards and what-have-you coming together and showing the world that, in most cases, its assumptions are wrong. I also love the line of custom bikes (mostly Harleys) parked outside in the parking lot at this show. In addition to the great crowd and great music, this tour supports Metal of Honor, an organization that provides help and benefits to the veterans’ community.

Korn was a headliner at this show. The set was phenomenal. Jonathan Davis really was everything we love him for, and the band easily proved why it has the longevity it has. I spoke drummer Ray Luzier before the show and asked him about the latest album, The Paradigm Shift, and he said, “We wanted to make sure it sounded current, and Jonathan is adamant about adding other influences other than metal into the album; it really modernized what the original heart and soul of Korn was. I love being in a band that isn’t afraid to be different.” I asked him if band members feel any pressure from the expectations of fans and the industry now that they are a household name, and Luzier said the band really follows its own beat (pun intended).

“It keeps you creative and keeps you on your toes when you do something different,” Luzier said. “For me as a drummer, Path of Totality was the wackiest thing I’ve ever done. Branching out challenges all of us. We write for our own souls, not just to write a hit song.”

For the set list, the band combined old songs and new with its signature funky flow and hooks that grab even the most elusive music fan. Fans roared with approval as the first few notes of “Blind” rang out, and I was momentarily transported to the time I first heard it played.

Let me rewind to earlier in the day now. As soon as the gates opened, Headbang for the Highway winners Thurkills Vision took the Sumerian stage. This is a band out of Lowell that is truly headed towards greatness. (You may know them for winning best metal and hardcore act WMAs for three years in a row now.) Thurkills Vision gave us a pumped-up show with a little singing, a little screaming and a whole lot of passion. The other opening band, Erimha, played the Victory stage at the same time, pulling people in with its unique brand of melodic-metal with an ancient theme. Band members shared with me later that day that their stage clothing and makeup choices are a “state of mind and a consciousness and a character deep within ourselves that we want to bring out.” King 810 followed, with a stage covered in yellow police tape and repeated bursts from the fog machine.

Islander, I must admit, is a band that I wasn’t very familiar with. After hitting it off with singer Mikey backstage, though, and listening to the band’s music on repeat after the fest, I became an instant fan. If you don’t know Islander, find out and check out its song, “Coconut Dracula.” Your ears will thank you.

Mushroomhead was one of the day’s highlights for me. These guys just put on one hell of a theatrical show. Between hugely detailedface masks, LED-lit drums that make water droplets jump and dance to the beat and serious instrumental and vocal chops, this is another band that has been around forever and for good reason. Mushroomhead even covered a Pink Floyd song, putting its own spin on it. Before the show, I had a chance to speak to J Mann, who said, “this era of the band right now, especially with the new guys on board, is closer to the band that we started and formed. This record is even closer to that ~ even before the Universal stuff. I think the biggest goal of this record was to get back to the roots of what we initially started; to be a band that wasn’t really pigeon-holed…to be eclectic and do a variety of stuff.”

Suicide Silence took the cake for me as far as spurring the crowd into a frenzy out on the open stages. Eddie Hermida said he’s been “shown there is a lot of love and compassion in the music industry. We are underground death metal, not the typical Top 40-writing musicians. I thought the industry was much harsher than it is, and there are a lot of bands that I idolized growing up that help bands like ours.” The band’s album, You Can’t Stop Me, hit shelves in July.

Bodycount, featuring Ice-T, has stage presence that cannot be ignored. Even if you were in route to the Rockstar tent for some shade and refreshment like I was, you’d have felt compelled to just wait till the set was over.

Trivium hit the main stage and blew everyone away. The more time that goes by, the better this band gets. It really is thrash metal at its absolute best. The guitar riffs that it blasts out are basically flawless, reminding me why it’s on my favorites list. Asking Alexandria’s industrial style of metal fueled the fire, as it had the entire crowd in its hand before the first song even ended. In the press tent, I asked band members how they feel about bands who wear their own merch, and the response was a smile and a laugh with “I don’t mind that at all, especially if you don’t have any clean clothes!” The band’s latest album, From Death to Destiny, came out last year and is a must to own.

Capping off the night was Avenged Sevenfold. With a stage set up that could make any film-maker cry and tons of pyro, the band wowed its fans. What I love about this band personally is that even though it has all the bells and whistles, the show would be just as great without them. The only negative thing I can say is not about these guys at all, was that the chick behind me singing every word to “Bat Country” in my ear ~ very, very badly.

By Jennifer Russo