The hard-driving festival returned to Belknap Park on Friday amid sunny skies that drew throngs of hyper-energetic metal fans cheering bands on three stages. The recap, photos and video.
Night-Ending Romp: Rob Zombie closing out the opening day of Upheaval Festival at Belknap Park. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
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If this is an “uprising,” as the slogan for this year’s Upheaval Festival suggests, then Friday’s opening salvo of the heavy metal celebration in Grand Rapids lived up to the billing with a rebellious-yet-upbeat spirit.
Headlined by veteran metal-meister (and horror filmmaker) Rob Zombie, Day 1 of the 2025 Upheaval Festival kept hyper-kinetic fans in fist-pumping glory for much of the sun-splashed day, with 15 acts on three stages rattling Belknap Park from early afternoon until late evening.
“Are you ready to party?” roared Josh Harrington, lead singer for the Michigan-bred Horizon Theory, which drew a sizable crowd to the Rising Stage early Friday evening. The answer from fans, of course, was a rousing “Yes!”
Discp Inferno: New York’s Scene Queen. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
In a world where compassion and empathy often seem as radical acts, “Upheaval” proves to be an appropriate title for a festival that promotes and values those ideals. Despite its rowdy appearance, the heavy metal festival is rooted in positivity and gratitude from artists eager to make a statement and incite change through their art.
On Friday, bands also were committed to fostering a fun, high-energy environment for fans — at one point even providing an unusual twist for a metal fest: New York “bimbocore” act Scene Queen actually rolled out a disco song, her latest single, “L-Shaped Couch,” while imploring the crowd to turn the packed Lookout Stage venue into a dance club.
U.K. metalcore band Architects, who recently kicked off their U.S. tour, balanced melodic choruses with aggressive, guttural vocals and intense instrumental breakdowns, with lead singer Sam Carter urging fans to mosh and crowd-surf during nearly every song.
“When we’re up here, it’s so good that people are just crowd-surfing with no music playing,” he said from the stage, later dedicating the final song in the set to “animals in the crowd,” then launching into the band’s biggest hit, “Animals.”
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Upheaval also showcases local and regional acts on its Rising Stage, with Lansing’s Mr. Denton on Doomsday adding shifting time signatures and a funky twist to their hard rock on Friday.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 13 and didn’t think I’d ever get here,” singer Josie Taylor told Local Spins. “Everybody has been really cool and all of these bands together have created a really great environment.”
Sun-Splashed: The crowd on Friday. (Photo/Local Spins)
The sunny and not-as-humid-as-it-will-be weather certainly kept most fans in an upbeat mood, despite sound issues that marred the beginning of post-grunge band Crossfade’s sunset performance on the Lookout Stage at the top of Belknap Hill.
An all-ages affair, Friday’s crowd — which didn’t seem quite s massive as 2024’s Day 1 — boasted everything from veteran rockers to brand new metalheads who could be seen headbanging atop parents’ shoulders.
Friday night’s headliner, Rob Zombie, drew a relatively tame crowd, but the band’s animated on-stage antics made up for it. Despite a few comments about putting the phones down and enjoying the moment, the band didn’t seem fazed by the lack of wild energy that had been present earlier in the day.
Accompanied by several screens that were constantly flashing with alien or horror themed imagery and a couple of larger-than-life mascots on stage, Rob Zombie and his band looked as if they were having the time of their lives.
“We haven’t been together or rehearsed together in awhile, but we said ‘F—- yeah, we’re gonna go to Grand Rapids and see what happens,’” Rob Zombie said of reconnecting with his band.
Dressed for the Occasion: A couple at Upheaval. (Photo/Local Spins)
The rhythm section kept a constant groove going that allowed both dancing and headbanging to be viable options during the career-spanning set. Some fan favorites that got the crowd moving included “Living Dead Girl,” “More Human Than Human,” and, of course, “Dragula.”
It put a flashy stamp on the end of a day aptly described by Carter, lead vocalist for Britain’s Architects: “This is absolutely f—ing beautiful. We’re so glad you’re here.”
The two-day festival continues today (July 19) with 15 more sets, starting with Michigan’s own Delato on the Upheaval Stage at 1:10 p.m. The main stage on Saturday will also feature Falling in Reverse, Wage War, Yelawolf, Bodysnatcher and A Killer’s Confession, with Dead Poet Society, Vended, Royale Lynn and much more on tap. View the Saturday schedule below, with Local Spins’ festival preview here.
Single-day tickets are still available for $159.27, available online here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Upheaval Festival 2025 at Belknap Park
Photos by Anthony Norkus
VIDEO: Upheaval Festival – Day 1
UPHEAVAL FESTIVAL: SATURDAY SCHEDULE
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