Pointfest Kicked Off The Summer Concert Season with a Fresh Lineup Saturday

 

–by Valerie Helton

–photos by Greg Artime / Artimeg.com

 

The Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Saint Louis kicked off their busy summer season on May 18, 2024 with their first show, Pointfest. It was one of the hottest days of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 86 degrees, and the sun in full force.

Pointfest had a total of 4 stages: Pop’s Local Stage, Point Black Stage, Point White Stage, and the Main Stage. Point Black Stage and Point White Stage were set up right next to each other, which allowed for bands to alternate back and forth, with no more than 5 minutes to wait between sets.

Hard Handed kicked off the day at 1:00pm on Pop’s Local Stage. Other bands that played on the local stage included Intrusive Minds, Message From A Raven, Impressions, White Rose, and Ignore The Lights.

Facing Infamy played first on the Point Black Stage, and The Doubted followed on the Point White Stage. Both are local bands that were finalists in the Road To Pointfest competition at Pop’s Concert Venue in Sauget.

Another local band that played on the Point Black stage included Inimical Drive. I think it’s great that local bands open the side stages, and that 105.7 The Point supports bands in the local area. All three bands sounded great, and I can see why they were chosen to represent the local music scene.

Two other bands that played on the Point Black and Point White stages were Oxymorrons and New Years Day. I had never listened to either of them before, so I was not sure what to expect.

Vocalists Dave and Ashmy Bellevue came out wearing outfits consisting of bunny ears, trench coat, soccer shin guards, fuzzy boots, and a Beavis and Butt-Head t-shirt. As you can tell, they had a lot of fun on stage and the crowd loved it. At the end, they even threw carrots out into the crowd.

New Years Day followed them on the Point White Stage. I had a lot of fun watching them, and vocalist Ashley Costello had a great scream live. This was the last stop on their tour, so Costello took photos of the crowd and band members with a disposable camera at the end.

What I really like about the side stages is you get to experience bands you had never listened to before and find new music.

I was most excited to see Letdown. and Sleep Theory on the Point Black and Point White Stages. I had listened to both a little bit before on YouTube, so I was excited to see them live. Letdown kept the crowd energized by going down into the crowd while singing and throwing out their shirts, drum sticks, and paper set lists to fans during the last song.

Sleep Theory closed out the side stages. Vocalist Cullen Moore had a strong voice live. I will definitely keep listening to both of them more.

Opening the Main Stage was Avatar, all the way from Sweden. They started off their set by placing a large yellow present on stage. Once opened, a red balloon popped out, and a few seconds later, vocalist Johannes Eckerström jumped up from the box.

Eckerström then grabbed the red balloon and popped it with his hands. Everything from the opening and their outfits gave me circus vibes. They definitely have that heavy metal sound, and were really fun to watch, especially during the last song when Eckerström drank from what looked like a gasoline container.

Up next was Grandson. During the entire set, Grandson had a photo of Trump kissing Biden on the screen above them. Towards the beginning, the guitarist seemed to have technical difficulties, but had it figured out after a couple songs. I found the set pretty comical and fun, while also talking about serious political issues going on in the world today. For example, vocalist Jordan Edward Benjamin (Grandson) talked about how people were upset about the lineup for Pointfest this year, since it’s not the same bands that have been playing year after year, and said something along the lines of “it must have been bingo night at the old folks home”. He also brought up issues happening specifically in Missouri like women’s rights and school funding. During the last song, “Blood // Water”, which is one of my favorites, Grandson jumped off stage and ran around the reserved seats while singing.

After Grandson, was Wage War. I had seen Wage War once before, so I was excited to see them again. They sounded so good live as always, and the crowd definitely loved it. It seems like Wage War woke the crowd up, because this was the first band everyone was actually standing for during the Main Stage. They also had a circle pit going while playing “Death Roll”.

They played some of their older songs, and a newer song called “Tombstone” that had just been released the day before. The song will be included in their new album, Stigma, that drops June 21st. I loved seeing Wage War live again, and think they were a great addition to the lineup.

Closing out Pointfest was Bad Omens. Honestly, all I really want to say is WOW! I knew it was going to be a great set after seeing them last year, but they really took it up a notch this year. Bad Omens is all about the visual effects, taking advantage of all the screens around them. Before each song, they had short clips that would show on the screens before they would play. They also had confetti, fog, fire balls, crazy lights, etc. Usually I take notes on my phone during sets of things I found interesting, but I was afraid to look away from the stage in case I missed something. They sound SO good live, and definitely kept everyone awake with how long of a day it was. 105.7 The Point really picked a good band to close out Pointfest. If you have a chance to see Bad Omens live, then I definitely recommend it.

Overall, after all of the sweat and sunburns, I really enjoyed my time at Pointfest. I think the change in lineup this year was needed, the same bands playing over and over again can get pretty boring and deter people from attending. It gave me Warped Tour vibes, and I am totally here for it.

Check out the rest of the photos in the gallery after the setlists below:

Avatar setlist:

Dance Devil Dance

Let It Burn

Valley of Disease

The Eagle Has Landed

The Dirt I’m Buried In

Bloody Angel

Smells Like A Freakshow

Hail The Apocalypse

 

Grandson setlist:

Drones

6:00

Oh No!!!

Overdose

Stigmata

We Dit It!!!

Riptide

Blood // Water

 

Wage War setlist:

Stitch

Low

Gravity

High Horse

Godspeed

Magnetic

The River

Tombstone

Death Roll

Nail5

Circle The Drain

Manic

 

Bad Omens setlist:

Artificial Suicide

Like A Villain

Glass Houses

The Grey

What Do You Want From Me?

Limits

IDWT$

Take Me First

Nowhere To Go

V.A.N.

Broken Youth

The Drain

The Death Of Peace Of Mind

Just Pretend

Concrete Jungle

Dethrone