Welcome To Rockville 2014

This was our first year covering Monster Energy’s Welcome to Rockville festival in Jacksonville FL. I have to say I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to cover this festival among so many heavy hitters in the music industry. Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Rob Zombie and Five Finger Death Punch among them. We woke up early the first morning to head to metropolitan park and there was already a line stretching from the entrance around the parking lot. The air was filled with excitement, festival season was upon us. As the day got started one by one the bands took the stage, my only complaint was there were a lot of overlapping times. Fortunately every band had a pretty decent block of time to perform so it was easy to watch one band and head to another stage to catch the end of another band’s set. Everything was really well set up, stages the stages were on the outskirts of the festival site and various venders were found in the areas between.

 

As the day progressed the crowd became denser and denser. By the time Volbeat hit the stage in the late afternoon the field was packed so tightly it was hard to navigate towards the front. The last band to play Saturday was Avenged Sevenfold. These guys had an amazing year with the success of their latest album “Hail to the King.” They opened their set with an amazing display of pyrotechnics appropriately to their first single on the new record, “Shepherd of Fire.”  At this point the crowd stretched as far as I could see. The turn out for the first day was incredible and definitely set the tone for day two.

Waking up sunday we were admittedly a little tired and sore from the first day’s festivities, but looking forward to another day of good old fashion rock N roll. The day started out much like the first had, coming into a line wrapping around the parking lot and fans eager to get the day started. As we came in we scoped out the festival grounds and made our way over to the press tent to get situated. From there we mapped out our day and we were off. This day was much like the last, slowly more and more people filtered in until there was a full house. Of the two days, this was the one I was looking forward to the most, Five Finger Death Punch, Rob Zombie and Korn have always been some of my favorite performers in the industry. As the sun began to set Five Finger Death Punch was midway through their set and put on one of the best performances I have ever seen out of them.  Later that evening while I was in the media area, I saw frontman, Ivan Moody and had to shake his hand.

The next band up was Rob Zombie. I have seen these guys more than I can remember and their shows have ranged everywhere from a stripped down performance to an over the top theatrical stage setup. They didn’t have any of the huge props they have had in the past but they consistently put on an amazing show. After their set everyone made their way to the far side of the festival grounds to catch Korn. As the guitar riffs started, the entire crowd joined Jonathan Davis to open their set with a roaring, “Are you Ready?!” and they were off. I love watching these guys perform, each member of this band has such a unique personality. In the middle of the set, JD disappeared and remerged with a bagpipe in hand. By the sound of the roaring crowd everyone knew what was coming, “Shoots and Ladders.” They put on an amazing show and it was a great way to end such an incredible weekend.