Roll with the “Biggest Year In Rock” 2023 Festival Season
Danny Wimmer, longtime concert and festival producer, presented the “Biggest Year in Rock ” in May. The 2023 festival season welcomed nearly 300,000 rock and roll fans to Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival. With shows from KISS and Foo Fighters, the independent producer has turned out his biggest event ever. Welcome To Rockville was held from May 18-21st at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, and brought together over 170,000 fans. Soon after, Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival made its mighty return to Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio from May 25-28th. These events were buzzed about for months, and they lived up to the hype with over eight days of nonstop head-banging tunes and community entertainment.
Welcome To Rockville hosted some of rock and metal’s biggest bands and thrilling reunions. Avenged Sevenfold made their first festival appearance in five years. Further, Sonic Temple gave fans one of the Foo Fighters’ first shows with new drummer Josh Freese on board. The festival housed the final Ohio show for rock legends KISS as they are currently taking their End of the Road farewell tour across the country. Pantera made their U.S. festival debut at Welcome To Rockville, and the rest of the weekend’s lineups, from Slipknot to Deftones to Alice Cooper, impressed as well.
Many special guests excited the festival crowds, such as Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, who appeared with Godsmack at Sonic Temple for a cover of “Dream On” and The Beatles’ “Come Together.” Crossover artist HARDY brought guest vocalist Jeremy Mckinnon of A Day To Remember, and Motionless In White was joined by Ronnie Canizaro from Born of Osiris for their Rockville sets. The festivals notably featured the next generation of rock with younger artists such as Hammerhead and OTTTO. The culmination of old and new, of classics and collaborations, made these two weekends of nearly 100 performances unforgettable in the world of rock & roll.
Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple also offered philanthropic support with the festival sales, donating to Musically Fed, who gave more than 4,000 meals to those in need in Daytona and Columbus. They also gave back to Take Me Home, To Write Love On Her Arms, Artists For Trauma, The Taylor Foundation, Pass The Bass, Living The Dream, and FC Cancer. In addition, Nationwide Children’s Hospital – On Our Sleeves Movement For Children’s Mental Health was designated as the official charity of Sonic Temple.
An announcement regarding Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple’s 2024 festival dates will come out this summer, and the full lineup will be revealed by the end of the year. Until then, check out some of this year’s performances!
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