Danny Wimmer Presents’ “Biggest Year in Rock!” has kicked off, with the independent festival producer’s 2023 festival season now underway, led by DWP’s biggest event ever.
Welcome to Rockville, May 18 to 21 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, brought together over 170,000 music fans across four days, marking the largest attendance ever for a DWP event. The 47,000 attendees on Sunday, May 21, also was a record-breaking single day crowd for the producer.
Rockville was followed by the return of Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival, May 25 to 28 at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, with the two combined events bringing in nearly 300,000 music fans over eight days of music and entertainment.
Both weekends offered sets from Avenged Sevenfold–the act’s first festival appearances in five years–as well as the first shows since 2022 from Tool. Sonic Temple gave fans one of the first shows back for Foo Fighters with new drummer Josh Freese taking the stage and the first show since 2020 from Queens of the Stone Age, where the band performed the live debut of new song “Emotion Sickness.” It also was the final Ohio show for KISS, which is on its End of the Road farewell tour. Rockville also had the first U.S. festival appearance from the new Pantera lineup (a celebration of original members Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul) and an additional headlining set from Slipknot.
The two packed lineups also included Deftones, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Evanescence, Incubus, Beartooth (performing for its biggest hometown crowd ever in Columbus), The Cult, Alice Cooper, The Mars Volta, Puscifer, I Prevail, Chevelle, Coheed & Cambria, Sublime with Rome and Falling in Reverse.
Several performances featured special guests, including 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 added to his Rockville set with the guest appearance from A Day to Remember vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, and Motionless in White invited Born Of Osiris singer Ronnie Canizaro for a guest spot in its Rockville set.
The two festivals also were memorable for introducing attendees to the next generation of rock, including Vended, OTTTO, Bastardane and Hammerhedd.
Nearly 100 music performances took place over four days on four stages at Welcome to Rockville, and Sonic Temple featured 75-plus acts over four days on three stages. Rockville also offered amusement rides, a giant water slide and art installations, while Sonic Temple pillar installations featured art from artists such as Shepard Fairey, Hazmat Design, Jim “Taz” Evans, Plastic Jesus, Electric Eye, Hydro74, Geoff May, Guerilla One and more. Both events were hosted by Jose “Metal Ambassador” Mangin, who participated in onstage appearances and fan meet-and-greets.
DWP also is proud of the charitable efforts the festivals support, including Musically Fed, which donated more than 4,000 meals in Daytona and Columbus, as well as 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 is coming this summer, while the full artist lineups will be revealed before the end of the year.
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