April 20th, 2024 marked the date for the annual 36th Earthday Birthday Festival Hosted by Orlando, Florida’s radio station, WJRR. Music lovers experience, Multiple stages, Food Trucks, a Vendor Village, an Art Walk & More! The Central Florida Fair Grounds transforms into a carnival atmosphere with up to 15,000 festival goers flooding into the grounds. This year, temperatures rose to the mid-90s as summer is on its way. Water was the most thought-after community as the crowd stayed hydrated in the Central Florida sun. It was a blessing as the humidity stayed under 50% throughout the day.
Love Child Set Time 11:30 am – 11:50 am
The first band of the day on the amphitheater stage was a local band, Love Child who won a battle of the bands competition in March for the opportunity to kick off the festival and get the party started. Gated opened at 11:00 am so their crowd was sparse as people were making their way back to the amphitheater stage. They received a warm welcome as they are now on the radar of Central Florida’s Live Music Lovers!
Love Child Band Members
Elijah Cruzada – Vocals/Guitar
Joseph Cinque – Bass
Isaac Poler – Drums
Erras Set Time 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Erras is a band fronted by Orlando local artist Nicholas Hildyard who is known for performing classic albums live with a variety of concerts in different cities like Melbourne, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Coral Springs, and Lakeland, in Florida. While also performing in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Dallas, and Houston. The band came out and started the show with Led Zeppelin classics, it was really great as Hildyard performed as the perfect Robert Plant!
Sleep Theory Set Time 12:40 pm – 1:00 pm
Sleep Theory was the second band of the day on the Amphitheater stage. They played a short five-song set and it was announced by Suppa Dave from WJRR that they needed to get immediately on the road after their set as they had to drive to Denver, Colorado, and be on stage within 48 hours. Even with the limitations, the set was short but full of energy and enjoyed by the slowly growing crowd that had filled the lawn in the Amphitheater.
Sleep Theory Band Members:
Cullen Moore – Vocals
Daniel Pruitt – Guitar
Paolo Vergara – Bass
Ben Pruitt – Drums
Setlist:
1.Fallout
2. Enough
3. Gone or Staying
4. Stuck in My Head
5. Numb
Tim Montana Set Time 1:10 pm – 1:40 pm
Over on the main stage, Tim Montana came on like he was shot from a cannon and got the audience rocking from the start. Tim Montana has collaborated with artists ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Kid Rock, and most recently with Mac McAnally formulating his genre as country rock and roll.
Austin Meade Set Time 1:50 pm – 2:25 pm
In front of the crowd on the lawn in the amphitheater Texan Austin Meade’s band played pure rock and roll and the band lineup for Earthday Birthday 2024 was now starting to heat up along with the temperatures in Central Florida. Hydration was advised by all of the MCs of the event.
Austin Meade Band Members:
Austin Meade – Lead Vocal – Guitar
David Willie – Lead Guitar – Harmony Vocals
Seth Foster – Bass – Harmony Vocals
Brandon Turner – Drums
Jimmie’s Chicken Shack Set Time 2:35 pm – 3:10 pm
On the main stage, Jimmie Chicken Shack, an alternative rock band from Annapolis, Maryland thrilled the fans that were grouped up front along the barrier. Lead singer Jimi Haha commented that he has been to a few Earthday Birthday Festivals over the years and thanked the crowd for coming out to their show. The band rocked out blends of funk-metal with elements of ska and reggae. It was evident the members had been together for a while as they were very tight.
Jimmie’s Chicken Shack Band Members:
Jimi Haha – Vocals – Guitar
Island Styles – Guitar
Christian Valiente – Bass
Jerome Maffeo – Drums
Matt Jones – Guitar
Soil Set Time 3:20 pm – 4:05 pm
The crowd shifted from the main stage to the amphitheater grass for Soil. The size of the crowd had grown exponentially and was now moving from stage to stage so as to not miss any of the artists performing on either stage from here forward. Formed in 1997, Soil got their claim to fame with the 2001 release of the album Scars. The core of the band Zadel, King, and McCombs are original members with drummer T.J. Taylor joining the trio in 2017.
Soil Band Members:
Adam Zadel – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Tim King – Bass, Backing Vocals
Ryan McCombs – Lead Vocals
T.J. Taylor – Drums
Fozzy Set Time 4:15 pm – 4:50 pm
The party at EDBD 2024 was definitely underway when Fozzy stormed the stage with frontman, the larger-than-life, Chris Jericho climbing atop the Fozzy riser that was on stage front and center. Fozzy had just returned from Europe a month and a half ago and appeared well-rested and showed no sign of travel fatigue. A Fozzy show is pure turmoil as the musicians churn from one side of the stage to the other, with their energy uncorked and such a pleasure to watch and experience. Fozzy always puts on a great show and the band holds nothing back in the tank. The petal is to the metal.
Fozzy Band Members:
Chris Jericho/Chris Irvine – Lead Vocals
Rich Ward – Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Programming, Backing Vocals
Billy Grey – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
PJ. Farley– Bass, Backing Vocals
Grant Brooks – Drums
Ayron Jones Set Time 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
At the amphitheater once again was one of the best upcoming bands in the country. Ayron Jones is an extremely talented guitar player and he is backed by great musicians and showmen making a great performance for the audience. With his grunge/blues style, he sounds similar to Gary Clark Jr. and Stevie Ray Vaughan. This is a great band and I believe the rock world needs to take notice!
Ayron Jones Band Members:
Ayron Jones – Guitar – Vocals
Matthew Jacquette – Guitar
Bob Lovelace – Bass Guitar
Unknown – Drums
Dayseeker Set Time 5:55 pm – 6:40 pm
Dayseeker was formed in 2012 and was one of the fan favorites of the festival. Dayseeker has released five albums with Dark Sun, which was released in 2022 reaching 13 on the US Heatseekers Chart along with two top 25 singles. The vibe and the attitude really seemed to change with this artist as there was finally some emotion radiating from the crowd and the mood was upbeat and fun. It didn’t hurt that the heat of the day had passed and the worst was behind.
Dayseeker Band Members:
Rory Rodriguez – Lead Vocals
Gino Sgambelluri – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Mike Karle – Drums, Percussion
Ramone Valerio – Bass, Backing Vocals
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Setlist:
1.Gates of Ivory
2. Dreamstate
3. Crooked Soul
4. Burial Plot
5. Homesick
6. Without Me
7. Crying While You’re Dancing
8. Starving to Be Empty
9. Sleeptalk
10. Neon Grave
Asking Alexandria Set Time 6:50 pm – 7:50 pm
Asking Alexandria was formed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2006 and currently residing in York, North Yorkshire, UK. In 2016 the band was voted the best UK Band by Metal Hammer Golden Gods. Asking Alexandria churned the audience into a frenzy as a circle pit started in the crowd and continued for their duration. Crowd surfers were everywhere. The photo pit was also extremely full of non-photographers as fans tried to get closer to the band. The sun was starting to set as their show came to an end and the temperatures started to drop even more giving the audience a second wind and the atmosphere was amping up!
Asking Alexandria Band Members:
James Cassells – Drums
Cameron Liddell – Rhythm Guitar
Sam Bettley – Bass
Danny Worsnop – lead Vocals – Additional Guitar – Keyboards – Programming
Seether Set Time 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
The first band to perform after sunset was the South African rock powerhouse Seether. They played a huge 12-song set covering their greatest hits like “Remedy,” “Fake It,” and “Country Song.” The set started with “Gasoline” and included an acoustic version of “Broken” with Shaun Morgan and Dale Stewart singing a duet. It was a great moment in the set and the only thing that would have been better is Amy Lee coming on stage to sing her parts in “Broken”. Seether never sounded better and the audience was very receptive as they sang along to all their hits.
Seether Band Members:
Shaun Morgan – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Piano
Dale Stewart – Bass, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
John Humphrey – Drums, Percussion
Corey Lowery – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Setlist:
1.Gasoline
2. Fine Again
3. Broken
4. Country Song
5. Rise Above This
6. Bruised and Bloodied
7. Wasteland
8. Nobody Praying for Me
9. Let You Down
10. Dangerous
11. Fake It
12. Remedy
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Staind Set Time 9:30 Pm – 11:00 pm
Stain chose to limit coverage to only the iHeart radio team at the last minute due to issues I editorialized and addressed in another post HERE
Staind Band Members:
Aaron Lewis – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Mike Mushok – Lead Guitar
Johnny April – Bass, Backing Vocals
Sal Giancarelli – Drums
Setlist:
1.Lowest in Me
2. Eyes Wide Open
3. Fade
4. Raw
5. Not Again
6. Here and Now
7. Something to Remind You
8. Right Here
9. Wannabe
10. Outside
11. Better Days
12. Paper Wings
13. So Far Away
14. For You
Encore:
15. It’s Been Awhile
16. Mudshovel
Although Earthday Birthday has downsized the past two years from three stages to two stages, the audience appears to be equal in size and is filling the venue up nicely. The ability to compete with next month’s mega festival in Daytona Beach, Welcome to Rockville, shows with the roster at EDBD being lighter than in the past when Welcome to Rockville took place a couple of hours north in Jacksonville. Orlando’s one-day festival is still high on many fans’ lists as they would rather party and enjoy music close to home without the hassle of the huge venue and crowds at Daytona International Speedway in even hotter weather in the month of May. Linda Byrd, you are missed as your EDBD lineups were always epic!
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
