Uprise Festival 2026 Review - Day One
Uprise Festival in Shippensburg, PA has quickly become an annual tradition for the weekend after Labor Day. Generally when you think of Christian music festivals, it’s a summer experience. However, there are a few fall exceptions. Last year, Uprise celebrated their 20th anniversary with a three day event, but this year returned to their usual two day weekend schedule. This year’s packed lineup included a lot of favorites like Pillar, Skillet, Disciple and many others.
We got there bright and early on Friday to get our campsite ready before heading down to the Rockstar Stage. The first band to rock the stage was Saved by Skarlet. We had the opportunity to meet up and interview them at last year’s festival. They’ve since become a favorite of ours. They had a tough time slot being on at 2:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, but a decent crowd was anticipating their arrival. They opened with their latest single, “Memory Relapse.” Lead singer, Nate Middleton, got down off the stage multiple times to either mosh or run around in the circle pit during songs. His ability to mosh and sing at the same time was impressive! They played their numerous hits like “Creation or Crisis,” and “Lie of the Pharisees” before ending with “Black Knight.” It was great to see Matt and Brendan throwing it down on the guitars, despite the heat. Dallen was chugging water like a mad man to stay hydrated behind the drums. That’s the one downside to the Rockstar Stage, being located on top of an asphalt parking lot.
Garrett was incredibly excited to see the next band make their Uprise Fest debut. Heal The Hurt, a five-piece from across the South, were next to storm the Rockstar Stage. They opened with Johnny Cash playing “Hurt” for their intro before going into “S.O.S.” The combo between Alec and Trevor on vocals is great, as Alec provides the clean vocals (and occasional scream) and Trevor goes all out on the screams. They included their latest single in the set, “Critical Error.” They rolled through the rest of the set. Afterwards Garrett got a chance to catch up with the guys and Trevor admitted at one point with the heat, he doesn’t remember playing one or two of the songs during the set. If you get a chance to see them on the upcoming KingdomCore tour, take it! Whether you live on the east coast or the west coast, they are going to put on a great show. Personally, we are hoping to see them in Reading, PA at Reverb with Magdalene Rose and Unbroken Reign.
New to this year’s festival was the Vertical Stage, located in the middle of the venue, near the vendor tent. We ran up there to see punk princess Grace Graber make her Uprise Fest debut. She had a unique challenge, because the stage is ground level and everyone was sitting down instead of standing up and jumping around. She really made the best of it, bringing the energy by running and dancing all over the stage and throughout the crowd. She started her set with her latest single, “Punk Rock Diamond in the Rough.” She came out rocking the disco ball hulk hands (ala Family Force 5 reference) and her band were decked out in matching white button up shirts and black ties. It was a fun punk set. Grace debuted her upcoming single, “Jericho,” alongside originals like “That’s Why I Still Believe” and “Grace of God.” She took a moment to share her testimony and talk about her podcast, before ending with her hit punk worship covers, including “Lemonade,” “Gratitude,” and a medley of “That’s Who I Praise,” “Oceans,” “You Say,” and “Dusty Bibles.” She brought such fun energy, even on a hot day. We hope to catch her at The Junction Center in Manheim, PA in October!
While Garrett went to meet up with some bands, Jen booked it over to Main Stage to catch some of John Reuben’s set. Unfortunately, John started about 15 minutes late and The Protest started early on Rockstar Stage, so she only caught a few songs. We ran into that several times throughout the weekend, where delays or early starts made our schedule a little interesting! John started his set off strong with “Out of Control,” a personal favorite. Seeing him on stage again is like a blast of nostalgia. We overheard his set last year from our campsite, but it was fun to actually see him perform this year. He played another favorite, “Doin’” before Jen realized that The Protest had already started on the Rockstar Stage and ran over to see them.
The Protest has quickly become one of our favorite bands to see live. We saw them a month ago with Relent and Mawcore at The Junction Center and we were beyond excited to see them again. The band opened with the explosive “Take It Back.” It was great to see TJ back on stage with the guys and hear his screaming presence to compliment Josh and Jarob’s rock ‘n’ roll vocals. Adam just continues to display why he is one of the best guitarists in Christian rock. They provided a mix bag of songs from the freshly-released self-titled album and old favorites, including “Take It Back,” “Paper Tiger, “and “Griefcase.” They played two of our personal favorite songs, “Greater” and “Chains Are For Breaking.” The heat was intense and on full display, judging by how much the guys were sweating through their shirts. Despite the heat, the band gave it their all and the crowd followed suit. Josh joked that the crowd needed to help him sing “Noise Revolution,” because he was about to pass out! After five years, they finally have new music and they were so excited to announce it to the crowd. If you get a chance to see The Protest, please do yourself a favor and DO IT! You will not be disappointed.
As soon as The Protest finished, the race was on to get back to Main Stage to see Disciple. We certainly got our steps in this weekend! As Jen approached the main arena, Disciple was already rocking out to heavy-hitter, “Panic Room.” Disciple always puts on an incredible show. They hit a lot of the favorites, including “Dear X,” “Erase,” and “Radical.” They played some newer tunes as well, such as “If You Say So” and “Promise to Live.” Lead singer Kevin Young told a story we’ve heard several times now, how he called his accountant and felt he needed to pray for him. Three years later, he found out his accountant was preparing to take his own life and after being prayed for, he put down the gun. Even though we’ve heard the story before, it will always be impactful. They ended the set with one final heavy hitter, “Bow Down” off of their Skeleton Psalms album. We later found out that we missed the debut of a brand new song, “All Hail The King,” that they’re preparing to release. We’re looking forward to listening to it!
As the sun was setting, we settled in to watch TobyMac. It’s been a while since either of us had seen Toby, but he used to be a staple on our concert go-to lists. One thing he always does is bring the energy, despite being in his early sixties. His stage presence and the energy coming from his Diverse City Band makes his performance a must-see. He kicked off his performance with several hits like “Heaven on My Mind,” “When Love Broke Through,” and Cornerstone.” He took a quiet moment to introduce “Lose My Soul” from his Portable Sounds album, but the sound cut out. He rolled with it, and kept the show moving.
One highlight of his set was his 5 “older” songs in 5 mins. Knowing his catalog, there was hope for songs off Momentum. They played “Backseat Driver,” “Funky Jesus Music,” “Welcome to Diverse City,” “Me Without You” and “Feel It.” We were a little disappointed that we didn’t hear older songs like “J Train,” “Yours,” or “Momentum.” One of our favorite moments was seeing him perform “Ooh Aah,” his collaboration with early 2000s rap group, Grits. We’ve never seen him do that live! He rolled right into the classic hit “Jesus Freak” and “Till The Day I Die.” It was so great seeing him perform and that his live show hasn’t skipped a beat over all these years.
Day One was wrapping up with the Main Stage headliner, Skillet. Rockers John and Korey Cooper, Seth Morrison and Jen Ledger made their way onto the stage to bring an absolute frenzy to the fairgrounds. They opened up the namesake of their next tour, “Comatose.” Right after finishing this opening song, the audio cut out completely. After a delay in the performance that lasted several minutes, allowing the tech crew to resolve the issue, John got the crowd riled up going into a mixed bag of old and new material. They included their newest single “Scream” along with the title track from their last record two years ago, “Unpopular.” But, they also played old favorites like “Rise,” “Awake and Alive,” “Sick of It” and “Whispers in the Dark.”
Back in the day, we would have been down in the pit for Skillet, but after a long day of running back and forth between stages, we were more than happy to sit down and take it all in. They finished off their set with their most frightening prop, the monster with LED eyes and mouth for their last song “Monster.” Skillet always puts on a great live show. Be sure to check them out in the fall on the 20th anniversary tour of Comatose. The closest tour stop to us will be in Philly next month, but if they come near you, be sure to go out and support this incredible album.
Day One was hot and sweaty, but so much fun. Some highlights for us were seeing our friends in Saved By Skarlet, rocking out with The Protest and Disciple, and getting to see Grace Graber for the first time. We went to bed totally exhausted and ready for another full day of music on Saturday!
Check back tomorrow for our review of Day Two!
