According to consequence.net, this past weekend Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway was hit by severe weather, which caused causing most of the four day festival to be canceled.
But there was a sudden and positive moment when viral sensation artist Oliver Anthony joined metal band Papa Roach and rock band Shinedown to perform a surprise acoustic set in the parking lot on September 9 for people who missed their chance to see lice music.
Anthony, whose song “Rich Men of North Richmond” went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after going viral thanks to its sociopolitical lyrics. The artist did get to perform a full set in front of thousands on Friday and he returned on Saturday to play “Rich Men of North Richmond” during the parking-lot set. The singer also joined Shinedown for their hit “Second Chance” and their cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” to close out the performance.
As for Papa Roach, they performed the songs “Scars” and “Last Resort” acoustically with Anthony who joined them onstage.
Blue Ridge Rock Festival was scheduled to be one of the biggest hard rock and metal festivals ever in the United States, with dozens of bands set to perform to play each day. Thursday’s lineup was cut short due to storms, while Friday went on as planned.
But most of Saturday and all of Sunday wast canceled due to festival organizers mentioning more severe weather is the forecast. Also there were reports that the stage hands walked off the job due to unsafe working conditions.