It was perfectly understandable for Midwest rock fans to be apprehensive when news broke that there would not be a 13th Rock on the Range music festival. After all, ROTR had been the event that all other major rock festivals in the US were measured against. Thankfully that news came with the reassurance from Danny Wimmer Presents that there would be a new festival called Sonic Temple in ROTR’s place. The inaugural Sonic Temple festival was advertised as still offering the heavy dose of music that made ROTR a household name, but also bringing an increased focus on art.
Walking up to Mapfre Stadium revealed huge banners of artwork on display for concert goers to appreciate. Also peppered throughout the festival grounds were large pylons covered in canvases for graffiti artists to show off their skills. There was even someone roaming the grounds while practicing smoke art (yes, apparently that is a thing). Near the front entrance, there was an art tent dedicated to even more paintings and other art forms. The tent even had a car that had been cut in half on display. Craft beers, gourmet street food, and better overall organization made Sonic Temple seem like ROTR’s older, more worldly brother. Additionally, there were enough ROTR staples present to give this brand-new festival a familiar feel. People were still able to buy their precious Island Noodles, get music autographed at the FYE tent, check out gear at The Music Experience tent, pick up a free Monster Energy Drink, and do many other activities that they were able to do at festivals’ prior.
Sonic Temple still consisted of 3 stages, just as Rock on the Range did. Those stages are the Monster Main Stage, the Echo stage (2nd stage) and the Wave stage (3rd stage). A major change this year was the placement of the 3rd stage. This stage was moved much closer to the parking lot for the Sonic Temple layout. This allowed for ample room on that side of the stadium for even more food and beverage vendors. Also, by adjusting the stage placement it allowed for an even larger open space for viewing the musical acts. At times, previous years have felt very claustrophobic and disjointed so it was refreshing to see this adjustment.
There were numerous musical highlights on Friday. The first surprise was The Jacks from Southern California. This snappy looking quartet is heavily influenced by the British Invasion bands of the 60’s and were a perfectly energetic way to start the day with their tight brand of rock. Swedish misfits Avatar powered through a set of their bizarre theater metal. Interestingly enough, Avatar also had a new live album drop the same day as their Sonic Temple performance and had an extremely limited, festival exclusive vinyl for sale to commemorate this. The critically acclaimed Zeal & Ardor wowed crowds with their unique blend of negro spirituals and black metal. Controversial Russian feminist punk outfit Pussy Riot delivered their message loud and clear on the Wave stage. Guitarist Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame, did double-duty by playing a solo music set and then doing a spoken word performance in the comedy tent. During Morello’s set of music, System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian emerged and treated everyone to a rousing performance of Chris Cornell’s part in the Audioslave classic “Like a Stone.” Speaking of guitar heroes, longtime Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde dominated the Echo stage with his band Black Label Society. The Viking biker in a kilt still knows his way around the fretboard and proved to all in attendance why he’s been a fixture in the metal community for over 30 years. Pennsylvanian rockers Halestorm made their return to Mapfre Stadium later in the day and were also responsible for the most adorable moment of the festival. While commanding the main stage as usual, frontwoman Lzzy Hale took the time during their set to call out a young Halestorm super fan onto the stage. If that wasn’t enough to change that little girl’s life forever, Hale then proceeded to gift the child with her signature Gibson Explorer guitar. It was an incredibly sweet moment and the entire audience loved it. In the comedy tent, Tom Morello gave his second performance of the day. He shared stories from his various bands and shared some of his political ideas, all with a humorous bend. Following Morello’s set was a spoken word performance by the legendary Henry Rollins who had the crowd in stiches with his unique take on the world. Back over on the Echo stage, Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah delivered an easily digestible, radio-friendly rock to their devoted fans. After that, more Swedes gave the performance of the day on the main stage when Ghost welcomed everyone to their ritual. Frontman Cardinal Copia (Tobias Forge) always has the audience in the palm of his hand with his theatrical humor and style. Their set was heavy on material from their latest album Prequelle and that was an excellent call. Having to follow a Ghost set is an unenviable position to be in and System of a Down had to be in that situation. SOAD are a fantastic band and put on a great show, but it was clear that the band has not been performing together as much as they did in their heyday.
Day 2 brought an early but memorable set from Columbus, OH’s own Black Coffee. The band is clearly influenced by the music of the late 60’s and early 70’s which is never a bad thing. Given all the criticism that has been levied against Greta Van Fleet for sounding too much like Led Zeppelin, I thought it was an odd choice of Black Coffee to do a Zeppelin cover during their set, but I can’t be too critical since they knocked it out of the park. Ex-Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan played the Wave stage and gave the crowd a heavy dose of his newer material. Lanegan also joined Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach for a Zippo Session with Lamb of God’s Mark Morton. The Zippo Session was the best kept secret on Saturday and focused on Morton’s recent solo album Anesthetic on which Lanegan and Shaddix do guest vocals. Saturday also brought the heaviest and most intense band of the entire festival to the Echo stage – The Black Dahlia Murder. Frontman Trevor Strnad always looks like he’s having the time of his life onstage while delivering his snarling death metal vocal. Day 2 was a perfect day for metalheads since it also contained sets from Gojira, Killswitch Engage, and Lamb of God. The Frenchmen in Gojira are ROTR veterans and have built up a loyal US fanbase, so their main stage performance had the whole floor moving. The mosh pits and crowd surfing at the Echo stage for Killswitch Engage were unlike anything up until that point in the weekend in terms of intensity and frequency. In This Moment followed on the main stage and, even though Maria Brink’s numerous wardrobe changes were incredibly tedious, the crowd was still very much into the songs when the band was actually performing. Next up was English rock legends The Cult and their set that closed out the Echo stage. Frontman Ian Astbury either made a colossal blunder or a very dry Spinal Tap reference when he came out saying, “Hello Cleveland!” The Cult’s performance sounded great musically, but Astbury was somewhat combative with the photographers in the photo pit and he let it be known that he wasn’t getting the level of energy he expected out of the audience. Still, it was amazing to see the band that recorded the “Sonic Temple” album at the Sonic Temple festival. Papa Roach’s main stage set was one of the most talked about of the weekend. The band had joined the Sonic Temple bill due to the unfortunate death of The Prodigy’s Keith Flint. In a class act move, Papa Roach included a heartfelt tribute to Flint by performing The Prodigy’s “Firestarter.” Also, Maria Brink joined the band onstage to perform her part of their collaboration song “Gravity.” Afterwards, comedy legend Andrew Dice Clay (who had headlined the Comedy Tent that night) came out on the main stage to do a couple classic bits and introduce Disturbed. David Draiman and company delivered the hits, but it was a “by-the-books” performance from Disturbed to close out Saturday.
Sunday began with everyone concerned about the possible bad weather headed in the direction of the stadium. On the Echo Stage, Dirty Honey put out a great classic rock vibe set that was talked about for the rest of the day. The Main Stage saw The Glorious Sons deliver a rock n’ roll sermon of sorts that got everyone primed and ready for UK’s own The Struts. Frontman Luke Spiller is what you’d get if you crossed Freddie Mercury with Mike Jagger. Spiller’s stage presence and charisma are undeniable. The band powered through older songs and several from their latest Young & Dangerous. The Struts even managed to get most of the audience crouched on the stadium floor and then “jump up like a human firework.” Not everyone can command that kind of obedience out of a crowd. At this point, Sunday was derailed by the threat of thunderstorms and heavy rain. The festival organizers and stadium staff are appropriately cautious about such matters. In fact, the entire Wave stage was shut down due to high winds on Sunday as well. The stadium was evacuated for a few hours and many bands on the Sunday bill had to cancel their sets as a result. However, at around 7:30 pm the crowd was allowed back in and the event got back on track. The first artist to perform post-evacuation was the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Joan Jett. Jett and the Blackhearts kicked off a hit-filled 30-minute set with an explosive rendition of “Bad Reputation” that made the audience forget all about that rain delay. The whole crowd seemed to be singing along with iconic songs like The Runaway’s “Cherry Bomb” and Jett’s own “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Honestly, Jett saved the whole mood of Sonic Temple on Sunday. It was all positive after she started playing and was the perfect way to tee things up for what came next. Following Jett’s show, the mighty Foo Fighters took the main stage. Dave Grohl’s enthusiasm is contagious and all of Mapfre Stadium were affected. From the set opener “All My Life” to the closer “Everlong”, the Foos delivered in every possible way. The band included 3 songs from their latest album Concrete and Gold, but of course played classics like “Learn to Fly”, “Monkey Wrench”, and “Best of You.” In an unexpected moment, Grohl dedicated “My Hero” to comedian Pauley Shore’s father who had passed away the day before at the age of 92. Shore joined the band on stage for the tribute and, in a way, the entire audience gave Shore their condolences. Shore was the headlining act at the Comedy Tent for Sunday night. Drummer Taylor Hawkins also took the mic for the appropriately timed song “Sunday Rain” as well as doing his best Bowie impersonation opposite The Struts’ Luke Spiller’s Freddie Mercury in a cover of Queen’s “Under Pressure.” Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters made the festival attendees forget completely about the rain delay and evacuation annoyance. Basically, they saved the day as only they could. The only question that remains is – how can next year’s Sonic Temple top the Foo Fighters?
Disturbed setlist:
Are You Ready
Prayer
The Vengeful One
Stupify
Ten Thousand Fists
The Game
No More
A Reason to Fight
Hold on to Memories
The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
Indestructible
Inside the Fire
The Light
Down With the Sickness
System of a Down setlist:
Innvervision
Prison Song
I-E-A-I-A-I-O
Solider Slide (partial)
B.Y.O.B.
U-Fig
Violent Pornography
Aerials
Mr. Jack
Deer Dance
Dreaming (Partial)
Needles
Radio/Video
Hypnotize
ATWA
Bounce
Suggestions
Psycho
Chop Suey!
Lost in Hollywood
Question!
Lonely Day
War (partial)
Suite Pee
Cigaro (partial)
Toxicity
Sugar
Foo Fighters Setlist:
All My Life
Learn to Fly
The Pretender
The Sky Is a Neighborhood
Times Like These
Drum Solo
Sunday Rain
My Hero
These Days
La Dee Da
Walk
Guitar Solo
Under Pressure (Queen Cover)
Run
Breakout
Make It Right
Monkey Wrench
Best of You
Breakdown (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Cover)
Stay With Me (Faces Cover)
Everlong
Photos by Linda Gabriele. We would like to thank Selena Fragassi of FR-PR and Kristine Ashton-Magnuson Media for the credentials to review the festival.
