I spent 3 days at the Sonic Temple festival with my buddy Del and it was a good time. Three days of loud ass music, crowd surfing, cool people, decent food, a drink or two, and more. So many good bands. For me, the draw was: Badflower, Linkin Park (yeah yeah, I don’t wanna hear it), Armored Saint, Ice Nine Kills, From Ashes to New, Rob Zombie (again), Alice Cooper (again), Metallica (again), and Alice In Chains (who cancelled).
Besides all those, I was able to catch so many other good bands like Escape the Fate, Asking Alexandria, I Prevail (who was fricken awesome!), Beartooth, Chevrolet, Fame on Fire, Nevertel, Overkill, Exodus, Hoobastank, Jimmy Eat World, Suicidal Tendencies, Trivium, and a few others I was able catch a song or two of.
So some thoughts:
Linkin Park – so much hate on the web for this band with their new singer. But you know what? I loved her. I never saw the original band. No, it’s not Chester but no one will be. At least we get to hear the songs again, from the band who created them. And I think Emily has gigantic lady balls for taking this gig and performing each night. Such a high bar and so many critics, but here she is. The new album is awesome and she sang those like a bad ass. She also does a good job with the original hits regardless of what the haters say. Loved this set!
I Prevail was amazing. What a front man. Bad Things, Gasoline, Hurricane, were great. They said it was their first show in 7 months. Someone had a sign that said “Blank Space,” which is a Swifty song, and when singer Eric Vanlerberghe saw it said “Fuck, really?” and then played it. Solid performance.
Hoobastank was a rare surprise. They didn’t fit the mold of a metal band but they were fun. Another great front man. He asked the crowd who had seen Metallica Friday night. He then went on to say, “if you think they were heavy, you’re gonna shit when you hear this next song!” They then played their super ballad The Reason. When the crowd sang along with the first verse, he made fun of them and his own song by yelling, “you pussies!”
Badflower is one of my favorite newer bands and didn’t let me down at all. Short set but a great set. Ghost, The Jester, Thirty, Stalker…fantastic! Waited up front on the rail all day Sunday just to see these guys. Amazing live band. What I really liked about their set was that so many bands all weekend had prerecord music, vocals, sound effects, etc. Badflower was 95% raw music. They had some prerecorded stuff for the last song I think, but otherwise just a nitty gritty rock band.
Armored Saint was fricken awesome too. John Bush is a great vocalist, and my favorite Anthrax front man. This was another one we got upfront for. They had a “false start” since they tried to come on 2 minutes early and had no juice. With their in-ear monitors they didn’t know…but eventually figured it out. When they started for real it was great! Another short set that ended with Reign of Fire.
Overkill was a sweet set, Exodus sounded like shit to me, Fight From Within, Sick Puppies, Citizen Soldier, Escape the Fate, were all cool. I really enjoyed From Ashes to New. They were solid, fun, great tunes (like Barely Breathing, Nightmare, Heartache). My buddy Del who likes to live large sprung for Rock Royalty upgrades which allowed us to meet the band afterwards. Cool guys.
Beartooth was a great replacement to fill the Alice In Chains slot, The Plot In You was fun, and I finally got to see Ice Nine Kills. I’ve had tickets twice to see these dudes and it just didn’t work out. But this time it did. They put on a decent show. Lots of theatrics like Alice Cooper. We saw Gwar briefly from a distance and a few other bands here and there.
Rob Zombie had a massive audience and is always a great frontman. Alice Cooper and his theatrics are always a good time…plus he played Poison and I love that song. Metallica of course are the original kings of metal and put on good shows. They’re aging though, and getting soft. When you hear James Hetfield say “Remember…Metallica looooves you. Be careful driving home” it makes me chuckle.
Overall, loved it. Good time. Cool people all around and even the crowd surfing and moshing was amusing. For once I wasn’t bothered by it. And while I didn’t partake, my friend Del did and it was pretty funny. Leaving the parking lot sucked, but other than that it was a good time. Future lineups will determine if I go again.
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