LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019: Saturday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Halestorm

After being forced into a flood-induced sabbatical last year, LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019 roared back to life the last weekend of September. Over 50 artists and nearly 130,000 fans descended on Louisville, Kentucky’s Fair and Exposition Center, making Derby City the undisputed capital of the hard rock world (for at least a couple days). Your intrepid METAL NEXUS away team braved the teeming throngs and the suffocatingly oppressive heat, chasing slivers of shade while soaking in the sights and sounds in order to bring you these dispatches from the front lines of the biggest rock festival in America. Continue reading

LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019: Dissecting The Daily Schedules

We’re a scant week-and-a-half from the return of LOUDER THAN LIFE, one of the nation’s premiere hard rock/heavy metal events. After flooding cruelly scuttled last year’s festivities, Danny Wimmer Presents worked with the city of Louisville to find a new home for the festival, settling on the Kentucky Expo Center’s Highland Festival Grounds (with “highland” being, hopefully, the operative word). 2019’s potent lineup packs some major firepower, with headliners GUNS N’ ROSES, SLIPKNOT, and DISTURBED alongside an array of current acts like HALESTORM, A DAY TO REMEMBER, and IN THIS MOMENT, rising stars such as DIRTY HONEY and CROWN LANDS, and metal mainstays like ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK, and MARILYN MANSON. A lineup of this magnitude will invariably force punters to make some hard choices between this band on that stage and that band on this stage; after poring over this year’s daily schedules, here are some of the weekend’s biggest scheduling snafus and how your intrepid reporter plans to unravel them.

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GODSMACK, VOLBEAT & STITCHED UP HEART Break The Ice In Minneapolis [Review & Photo Gallery]

The rock radio station 93X presented their annual Icebreaker Concert to The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota that provided enough heat to take out any stray icebergs left within the city limits. Godsmack, Volbeat, and Stitched Up Heart had the venue packed to the rafters as they turned in a heavy dose of hard rocking music. Continue reading

Celebrate The Life Of Legendary Drummer VINNIE PAUL At Louder Than Life Festival

Vinnie Paul – Hell Yeah

Saturday September 29th during the Louder Than Life Festival in Louisville, KY celebrate Vinnie Paul’s life with a stacked list of musicians and fans. The Vinnie Paul All Star Tribute will feature performances from members of Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, Hellyeah, Sevendust, GWAR, Bullet For My Valentine, Body Count, Kyng, Cane Hill. They will be performing songs from Pantera and Damageplan, celebrating the late drummer of those legendary bands. Continue reading

Carolina Rebellion 2018: Saturday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Toothgrinder

 

 

We have one day behind us with some amazing acts that we will remember their performances for years to come. The Saturday lineup is certainly competitive in regards to both Friday and Sunday and is full of varying genes and new and veterans acts to keep our attention for the entire day. Palaye Royale and Bad Wolves are two of the biggest up and coming bands currently in rock, especially Bad Wolves with their cover of the iconic Cranberries song “Zombie” which has become the number 1 rock song in the world. Unfortunate for us they both play at the same time. Yet another band that performed early in the day that is truly making a name for themselves is Toothgrinder; If you missed their set you truly missed an amazing experience. Then we get into the more veteran acts of the day like Asking Alexandria who have reunited with vocalist Danny Worsnop, as well as Trivium the band that was labeled as “the band that would save metal” when they formed. Then we get the nostalgic performance by The Used, led by eccentric front man Bert McCracken. As the day comes to a close we are left with the headliners Five Finger Death Punch, and the fierce and fiery performance by Godsmack to end our Saturday evening. The dream would be to not miss a single band, but with interviews and overlaps we weren’t able to see every band, but the ones we were able to see impressed us and left some big shoes to fill on Sunday.  Continue reading

AFTERSHOCK FESTIVAL Unveils Massive Lineup Feat. SYSTEM OF A DOWN, ALICE IN CHAINS, GODSMACK, DEFTONES & Many More!

All those “stand by” posts and teasers have finally been laid to grave today, as Monster Energy AFTERSHOCK FESTIVAL 2018 finally takes those curtains off the festival’s line-up. California’s biggest rock festival AFTERSHOCK 2018, returns for another year at the famous Discovery Park near downtown Sacramento, CA to be held this year on October 13th and 14th, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. With the fest posting a lot of teasers on their social media pages, fans put their thinking caps on and a lot of predictions were made. Some were right and some went wrong. Those who vouched in on their favourite bands give yourself a pat on your back as this year’s edition will be headlined by none other than SYSTEM OF A DOWN, who will be returning to the States after three years, as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark self-titled first album.

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Chicago Open Air 2017 Day Two: Korn, Godsmack, Avatar, Clutch, Body Count, & More [Photo Gallery]

After an electric first day, it was time to get back up early Saturday morning to head in for day two of Chicago Open Air. Several great performances from bands like Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Anthrax, Crobot, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Code Orange, and more had all of us very interested to see if the second day could top it. With Korn, Godsmack, Avatar, Body Count, Clutch, and several others, we knew it would be very close. It only took a few performances and we already knew that Saturday would be on an even higher level. Continue reading