ION INDIE MAGAZINE June 2017, Volume 37 | Page 22

Story and Photography by Mark Myers • www.markmyersphotography.com With a stellar lineup, including headliners DEF LEPPARD, SOUNDGARDEN, and AVENGED SEVENFOLD, DANNY WIMMER PRESENTS and AEG LIVE brought their 7 th annual hard rock and metal festival to CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY in Concord, NC. Skeptical at first about driving 14 hours from New Hampshire to Concord NC for my first CAROLINA REBELLION--this live music fan definitely was not disappointed. Weather did seem to be a factor for all the southerners in attendance, which I’m guessing was the majority. Most grumbled a bit because of the cooler temps. Speaking as someone who made the jaunt from the usually much cooler New Hampshire area, the temps were just fine with me. We did manage to dodge a few raindrops on Friday, but in my opinion, Saturday and Sunday were stellar. Great timing and coordination kept the metal head masses happy. The Black, Gold, Carolina and Rebellion stages all ran like a well-oiled machine to stagger sets and keep the music playing between the two main and two smaller stages. As a concert and live music photographer, I learned early on that sometimes the real show is behind you. And that it is optimum while in the pit to turn around to see the show. Crowd surfers, LOTS of crowd surfers, entertained between and during the shows of Carolina Rebellion 2017. Evil clowns, Power Rangers and even a banana were seen surfing to the waiting arms of security personnel--with some returning to the back of the crowds to do it all again. Kudos to the security staff--they literally had their hands full, but were ultra professional. As a veteran of some of the best festivals and even some of the not so great festivals--I rank this one up with the best. Having no doubt that there will be an 8 th annual Carolina Rebellion; I’ve already cleared my calendar for the next trip down south. www.carolinarebellion.com • www.facebook.com/carolinarebellion