With the Ozzfest playing limited dates around the country, the Cruefest on hiatus and other festivals struggling at the gate, this summer’s best multi-date run of modern acts is unquestionably the Uproar Festival, which visited Northern California on September 22.

With a bill that featured Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Halestrom, Hellyeah and Airbourne, it was easy to predict a good show, but this turned out to be one of the best rock shows I’ve seen this year.

Headliners Disturbed proved to be the right band to close this show, with a proven set of modern rock favorites and a stage show that sparked the crowd into frenzy. Disturbed is a band that you either love or hate (lots of love here), and if you aren’t into these guys, you might as well get out of David Draiman and his band’s way.

The quartet finished the eight-hour show with a 14-song, 80-minute set that included 11 Top 20 songs, an unbelievable amount of hits for a band as heavy as Disturbed. The band’s sound is driven by guitarist Dan Donegan’s riffs, the group’s love of melodies and arena friendly choruses and Draiman’s unmistakable voice. That voice, which can rattle inside your head like a bullet and soar into a melancholy ache that only Draiman can pull off, helps power the sound for shows, nights and venues like this.

The band mixed a heavy amount of pyro into a show that featured the pre-requisite lighting rig from hell and an impressive high-def video presentation that showed off various album cover graphics, as well as video and scenes that help you get inside Draiman’s powerful lyrics. Mention must also be made of the rhythm section of bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren, who power the band’s choppy beats. Wengren is one of the best drummer’s on the scene today, and plays double-kick like a demented robot.

Much like System of a Down, a band it took me a few years to get into, the same can be said about Avenged Sevenfold. After seeing the band only once, I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about, but upon reflection, I can remember a murky sound and a small crowd that didn’t really help matters all that much on that night a couple of years ago. On this night, however, it all came together for the band (in front of me, anyway) as the quintet’s mix of thrash, Maiden-like soloing and quirky choruses finally made an impression on me.

The crowd didn’t have the same opinion that I did, though, as the 15,000 strong went absolutely apeshit when the band hit the stage, which was heavily backlit and filled with a gothic graveyard theme and plenty of fire. Opening with its latest single, “Nightmare,” and ripping off 10 AV7F classics (“Welcome to the Family,” “Afterlife,” “God Hates Us” and “Almost Easy” among them) over 65 minutes, the group had this gathering in an absolute uproar and might have stolen the show, if not for Disturbed’s excellence. M Shadows and the boys played one ripping metal song after another, usually following the pattern of eerie opening guitar bit, classic thrash riff and the band’s tendency to often slow the chorus down and send the vocals somewhere into Queen territory. This might be why I didn’t get this band right off the bat-much like SOAD, the band can at times be a bit weird (and as I mentioned above, quirky).

Guitarist Zacky Vengeance and Synester Gates played riff after riff and solo after solo, and sounded great playing in tandem. Bassist Johnny Christ and drummer Mike Portnoy (yes, the drummer from Dream Theater) kept the whole thing anchored, which is difficult to do, because at times the band played so fast that it sounded humanely impossible to actually do it. But Portnoy is a great addition to this band, and he might consider staying since he recently quit his day job.

At this show, the sound was just right, the crowd was ready and the band played a great show. If merch sales told the story of who ruled the day, it might be these guys, because virtual 50% of this crowd had an A7X shirt on (or bought one that night). Avenged Sevenfold, you finally won me over.

Another guy that has won me over is Corey Taylor, the leader of both Slipknot and Stone Sour. Taylor’s year took a turn for the worse in May, when longtime Slipknot bassist Paul Gray died. That left his main band’s future in doubt, be he has soldiered on with his other group, Stone Sour, who just happen to have the number one modern rock single in music right now, as “Say You’ll Haunt Me” has risen to the top of the charts. Thus, Taylor has membership in two of rock and metal’s top acts at this time, and it will be interesting to see what he does in the future.

On this day, however, he is fronting Stone Sour, the band he actually started before Slipknot. Stone Sour’s sonic assault is definitely hard rock but not as heavy or thrashy as Slipknot’s, and if it’s a career in melodic hard rock that he wants, Stone Sour can provide it. With his longtime friend/Slipknot member/guitarist Jim Root by his side, the band pounded out 11 songs that slide nicely into the Three Days Grace/Drowning Pool area of modern hard rock, heavy music that is powerful yet melodic. That’s hard to do, but Taylor has pulled it off here (and did it on a few of Slipknot’s songs on the band’s last record).

Root and Josh Rand play tandem solos much like the Maiden boys, while bassist Shawn Economacki and drummer Roy Mayorga can pound with the best of them. Songs such as “Digital” and “30/30-150” can still rip your head off, while “Through Glass” is as soft and as sweet a ballad as one could imagine. It’s songs like the new single, however, that show the band it’s future-bouncy, melodic, but with a heavy bridge that reminds one of where the singer and guitarist in this band also play.

When you think of Halestorm, most people think of one thing-singer Lzzy Hale (that’s the correct spelling), a beautiful ball of fire with a voice that can scare you to death or rock you to sleep. Easily the best female rock singer of her generation, Hale and the rest of Halestorm left a definite mark on this crowd as the band opened the main stage. It was the first time for many to see the group, but I doubt it will be the last.

Halestorm doesn’t just open a show-the group hits you over the head with Hale at the mike, belting out the opening lyrics to “It’s Not You.” There are three very good musicians backing Hale-her brother Arejay on drums, along with guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith. With only six songs to play, the band hit hard and heavy with rockers (“I Get Off,” “Dirty Work”), but the clear highlight is “Familiar Tate of Poison,” an eerie goth ballad that is both strange and powerful. Hale’s voice creeps in and out of every line, and if the chorus doesn’t stick in the back of your head after you hear it, you might be deaf.

After the show, I was lucky enough to sit down with bassist Smith, and that really helps put a face on the rest of the band. No matter how hard people try, the main focus of Halestrom is Lzzy Hale, no matter how good the other guys are. “We really have no problem with it,” Smith said, “but it’s nice to be recognized for your work as well.”

Smith filled me in on the band’s future plans-more touring, a DVD, a covers CD (possibly) and a return to the studio next year to start recording CD number two. “We’ve been playing some of these songs live for five years,” Smith told me, “so we are very eager to get into the studio and make some new music.” Expect that CD in 2011, and a load of touring to help spread the word of this phenomenal band. While the world waits for the new music, the release of such potent tracks as “Bet You Wish You Had Me Back” and “Innocence” from the band’s debut would keep Halestorm’s music on the radio well into next year.

Smith also mentioned that this tour “is the best we’ve ever done. The bands, the crews, the whole production is just top-notch, definitely a step up from what we’ve been on before.”

Hellyeah closed the side stage, where bands like New Medicine and Hail the Villain played short, exciting sets. With drummer Vinnie Paul (Pantera) and singer Chad Gray (Mudvayne) fronting the band, there was a definite vibe surrounding its 40-minute set. The sound is obviously influenced by the well-known member’s previous groups, but there is a bounce and some memorable choruses that make the music a bit more accessible. “The Cowboy Way” is a hit on modern rock radio, and the live show gets the mosh pit going.

One of the more interesting bands on the bill was Airbourne, and Australian quartet that is as close to a Bon Scott tribute to AC/DC as you can get. Since the band burst onto the scene in 2008 with the huge single “Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast,” the group has received a massive amount of press about its high-energy live show. With only 25 minutes to play here, the band puts every ounce of blood, spit and sweat into a five-song set that had the crowd rocking to an old school sound most of these kids have only heard by listening to mom and dad’s records.

Singer Joel O’Keeffe was kind enough to spend some time with me before the band’s set, and he explained one thing about the AC/DC influence that seems to hound the band. “We love AC/DC, always will, but we are also influenced by bands like Motorhead and Thin Lizzy and Australian acts like Rose Tattoo and The Angels. We also like old blues,” the young singer explained.

One difference in the comparison between Airbourne and AC/DC is that Joel O’Keeffe (who is joined in the band by brother/drummer Ryan, guitarist David Roads and bassist Justin Street) is also the band’s lead guitarist. Unlike the late/great Bon, he spends the entire show with a guitar strapped over his soldier, and he actually does the Angus trick of riding a roadie’s shoulders out into the crowd. He also likes to climb on things-amps, the sound system, the roof, basically anything bigger than him (which is just about anything). For the most part, however, the band plays full-throttle boogie and riff rock like its heroes, and has written a number of memorable songs (“No Way But the Hard Way” is a particular fav of mine) that will keep the boys on America stages for quite some time. “We love to tour, and we’ll do 25 minutes or 80 minutes, as long as you’ll have us,” Joel O’Keeffe said.