Day two of the So What?! Festival brought it to all new heights, with performances from the likes of Travis McCoy, Knocked Loose, and Hatebreed.
Day two began a lot smoother since the first day problems were sorted out, such as where to go in and out, and parking. The temperature was way hotter than the previous day but with a nice breeze so it felt cooler. Because of this, it certainly helped out those who had been struggling with the Texan heat.
The Hot Topic Stage was where it really started to get going. Gym Class Heroes’ frontman Travie McCoy performed a solo set, which had some of his originals plus Gym Class Heroes songs sprinkled in there as well. Travie started off with “Stereo Hearts” which was basically a massive crowd singalong and moved into “Billionaire.”
Inside the actual stadium on the Revolver stage, Jynx put on a heavy set to show Texas what some New York metalcore looked like, and it is very aggressive in all the right ways. Lead Singer Tommy Roulette started moving and didn’t stop. It was a constant amount of bouncing with the blast beats and bass drops, all while screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs. As soon as Jynx finished their set everyone moved over to the right-hand stage to see progressive metal band Born Of Osiris play on the Stay Lit Main Stage. The band came out and was missing a member, Joe Buras, who provides the clean vocals and keyboard player in the band. His presence was really missed as he is the more active one in the band. The band played a five-song set featuring the songs “Bow Down,” “Divergency,” and “Machine.” After some bad news the night before that put their whole tour in jeopardy, Dropout Kings made the best of it and continued on the best way they know how to and that is to deliver an amazing performance. The band began the set by announcing that the tour that started that day with Lil Xan had changed and they are now headlining because he had told them the night before he needed to drop out. The band is kind of at the front of this modern nu-metal rap resurgence that is currently happening. The band launched into “Going Rogue” with rap member Eddie Wellz swinging his dreads back and forth and whipping them hard while singer Adam Ramey did his parts of the song. Midway through, Adam jumped into the crowd and did almost all of “Virus” on the rail and in the crowd. The band had amazing chemistry and had the back and forth down perfectly. The band had possibly one of the wildest sets and most impressive stage presences of the day. Over on the Stay Lit Stage, Scary Kids Scaring Kids went on with Cove Reber on vocal duties. The band’s first song “Knock it All Down” is from their most recent album. It features Lil Lotus on vocals and he showed up to do his part of the song. The band is very keyboard-heavy and creates some of the most interesting arpeggiated sounds that give that nostalgic Hot Topic high school feel. They still pull it off to this day. Keyboardist Poyan was using a keytar on this tour since he is incredibly active and moves all over the place more so than most frontmen of bands. Philadelphia-based hardcore band Jesus Piece absolutely destroyed the Monster Energy Stage. The band is fronted by Aaron Heard who is a ball of energy, even in the Texas heat. Aaron’s shirt didn’t stand a chance and was gone by the time “sinking” started which was the second song they played. The crowd was full of mostly hardcore kids at this point, with tons of two-stepping in time to the beat and gang vocals when Aaron held the mic out to prompt the crowd. The Kentucky hardcore punk band who had quite the excitement around their set that day, Knocked Loose, blazed through a 10-song set. The band played such fan favorites as “Where Light Divides the Holler,” “Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory,” and “Counting Worms.” Hatebreed is one of those bands that has been around forever it seems, and if you have never seen them then you are in for a treat. The band, even though being so aggressive, has a very positive outlook on life that is mentioned quite frequently. Lead singer Jamey Jasta talked about the untimely death of Trevor Strnad, and how he had been excited that he was meant to see his friend and play with them tonight. That was then followed up by him explaining, “This set is dedicated to Trevor. Get help if you need help. You’re not less of a person if you do.” The biggest crowd by far for the Stay Lit Stage was The Ghost Inside, who closed out Saturday night the right way with a set that will not be forgotten any time soon. The band’s banner covered the stage and the band members were lit by the stage lights. As the music slowly built, the covering was dropped. The band started with the heavy song “Avalanche” and then flew into their most recent song, “Still Alive,” which is about the horrible bus crash they had back in 2015. They also played “The Great Unknown,” “Faith or Forgiveness,” “Pressure Point,” “Engine 45,” “Between The Lines,” and closed out with “Aftermath.” You can check out our coverage from day one here and day three here.
