With the legendary Vans Warped Tour closing it’s doors the need for a new summer tour was apparent. With the slot for the ‘Next Greatest Summer Tour’ up for grabs 2 new festivals put their name into running – Sad Summer Fest [which kicked off last week] and Rockstar Energy’s Disrupt Fest. Disrupt Fest was first to the North East so let’s walk through this Diet Warped Tour.

In similar Warped Tour fashion it was an all day event — with gates at 1pm and the final act hitting the stage at 10:15pm, we were in for a long one but so ready. With the 25th anniversary celebration of the Vans Warped Tour having just happened the previous weekend, fans were still on a festival high and stoked to see their favorite bands they may have missed at Atlantic City. The way Disrupt put together the day’s setlist allowed fans to catch every act without having to choose between two favorites, which is something to be respected. The line up itself featured some of the biggest names in the scene — from Circa Survive and The Used to Sleeping With Sirens and The Story So Far [and with a few things in between], this tour saw a market to corner and tried it’s damnedest to claim it as their own.

Starting off our afternoon was Hyro The Hero – this Houston, TX native woke CT the hell up. With an intimidating level of energy, killer tracks and even taking it upon himself to immerse himself within the crowd to create his own personal mosh pit — Hyro The Hero may have entered as one of the ‘lesser known’ acts on the bill, but he left being unforgettable.

Following the kind of performance that Hyro just gave would make other young bucks a bit nervous before their set – fortunately for the next artist this wasn’t her first festival in this styling. Juliet Simms is no stranger to the Warped Tour scene, having had her former musical act, Automatic Loveletter, played the tour in the past before taking it on solo. Fans of Simms remember her as a higher octave front-woman for a pop band, but for those who caught back up with her in recent years see her tremendous growth. Gone are the days of Automatic Loveletter, but damn if we don’t have something cooler now. With a voice that begs to be apart of something big — Juliet Simms deserves to be featured on the soundtracks of not only box office hits but critically acclaimed shows. To be honest, Juliet Simms is the missing voice from Sons Of Anarchy — but since that can’t happen, hopefully she’ll get the chance to have a track or two featured in Mayans M.C. [the next chapter in the SOA saga].

Trophy Eyes quickly followed keeping pace — an Australian punk rock group that always puts on a solid performance and is never afraid to call out some bullshit. The bullshit of the day being the crowd seemed a bit tired and needed a boost — so in proper Trophy Eyes fashion they amped up the energy ten-fold and the crowd soon perked up.

Riding off the electric high from Trophy Eyes, Memphis May Fire made their way out onto the Festival Stage to the biggest crowd of the day thus far. With plenty of crowd surfers and good vibes for all, front-man, Matty Mullins, exclaimed, “This is my favorite Disrupt Fest day of the summer and I’m not just sayin’ that.” With the previous date in Massachusetts having a much smaller turn out — fans could see why the guys were so attracted to their CT fans’ energy.

Four Year Strong and Sleeping With Sirens closed out the Festival Stage with both of their sets featuring a healthy mix of old and new tracks for fans to vibe with. As the fans starting piling in, it became clear that 2019 is in fact the year of the scene as the festival grounds becoming more packed by the minute.

With the Festival Stage wrapped up for the day, it was time for fans to head inside the arena for the Main Stage. The Main Stage featured Atreyu, The Story So Far, Circa Survive, The Used and closed out with Thrice — not only was each artist was allotted a 45 minute set, but each of them were able to bring whatever production they saw fit to make their set the most memorable for their fans.

Atreyu kicked off the Main Stage and for die hard fans — we needed this. Atreyu had previously been on an indefinite hiatus before announcing their return in 2014, but it wouldn’t be until their latest album release, In Our Wake, that fans would rest easy knowing their favorite hardcore legends were here to stay. The In Our Wake cover art hung behind them and a custom drum lift that featured 2 attached side stages sat dead center of the stage — scene fans were ready to become the bull. While Atreyu had taken their time in fulling inserting themselves within the scene again, they certainly haven’t missed a beat — with frontman, Alex Varkatzas, saying, “This pit is like an old school Atreyu show right now.” They may have gotten older but their stage presence is better than ever. Atreyu, though, are crowd-pleasers through and through, so for those familiar with Atreyu, they broke into a hardcore cover of Bon Jovi’s “Shot Through The Heart” — a sure fire way to instantly win over a new listener.

As Atreyu wrapped up their set with some tracks off their critically acclaimed 2007 release, Lead Sails Paper Anchor, it was time to bring out the most pop-punk act of the night — The Story So Far. Now, first glance at the bill, TSSF seems out of place amongst the more post-hardcore acts, but had Sum 41 been at the CT date, it would have rounded out the lineup. Regardless, The Story So Far always brings in a massive crowd and a ridiculous number of crowd surfers.

Yet as The Story So Far wrapped up their set their wasn’t much time to rest as Circa Survive made their way to the stage. For anyone that has seen Circa Survive, Saosin or Anthony Green [solo] live, you know Anthony Green wastes no time in making his way right into the crowd to sing the first song of the set in the faces of their fans. Having been open about his sobriety and the love he has for his family, it’s become evident that Anthony uses that clarity and love to fuel his entire performance — and it is a performance every time. With his 7 year old son watching his dad from side stage, Green took a quick moment to have the crowd shout “Hi Lukey” — giving him the perfect amount of energy to finish the set stronger than any previous show.

As the stage crew broke down Circa’s set, former and current emos alike anxiously waited for none other than, The Used. With a giant LED display and graphics to match, fans were not disappointed. The Used did do something unique that fans haven’t experienced before — in between each song frontman, Bert McCrackin, would recite a bit of poetry that would compliment the track that would follow. Their set featured mostly classic Used tracks like, “Take It Away”, “Taste Of Ink”, “Box Of Sharp Objects” and “Buried Myself Alive“, even a brief cover of “Wonderwall” by Oasis — of course that quickly followed with Bert exclaiming, “I fucking hate Oasis.“ After hearing “Blood On My Hands” live for the first time in years, the only rational thought to be had was how incredible a re-recorded live version of this song would be featured in the upcoming Zombieland 2 movie — so, The Used, if y’all could get on that, that would be great. With production seemingly being left up entirely to bands, The Used of course brought out their iconic In Love and Death giant pulsating heart that hung over them as they played.

Unfortunately, anyone that follows the scene knows that while The Used brings in a huge CT/NY crowd, Thrice just doesn’t match up for fans that far up the coast. Which is honestly a real shame since Thrice is one of the best live acts around. Between the vocals and their performance as a whole, they create an experience that many artists now a day can never measure up to. Had they had The Story So Far kick off the Main Stage followed by Atreyu, Circa Survive, Thrice and had The Used close out the night, the crowd would have not only been consistent, but the lineup would have also exposed new comers to bands they previously wouldn’t be jamming to. While some fans thought the night was over with The Used, the power of the bass drum brought back a fair amount of those who were unaware there was just one more act.

Overall this tour was a blast, but there were a few elements that made it obvious that this was their first year in production. The first [and biggest] being that there was no medical tent — while there were several EMTs on site, when you put on an outdoor festival to this caliber you need to think about the safety of your guests first and foremost. Without a medical tent for kids to know exactly where to seek help, they are left to wander and hopefully stumble upon an EMT on their own. Additionally there were no shade tents and the refillable water station was all but impossible to locate without asking several security guards for clues. However, these are things that can be fixed and with so many iconic tours that have come before Disrupt Fest, it makes fixing these issues and spotting the things to avoid that much easier.

With one contending festival in the books and one more to go, there’s only one question fans will be asking at the end of it all — is Disrupt Fest the Next Greatest Summer Tour?