Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville touched down in Jacksonville, FL over the weekend like a category 5 hurricane as it kicked off the annual World’s Loudest Month in typical metal fashion. The festival took place April 27-29 at Metropolitan Park as thousands of crowd surfing, moshing and head banging rock and metal fans poured through the gates to experience a Danny Wimmer production.
Fans young and old were treated to a weekend of beautiful Florida weather and a lineup stacked with powerhouse rock/metal bands that provided a glimpse of rocks up and coming stars and the future looks bright.
Fridays lineup was headlined by none other than the “Prince of Darkness”, Ozzy Osbourne who was kicking off his “No More Tours 2” with a supporting cast that included Zakk Wylde, Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, Tommy Clufetos and Adam Wakeman. The crowd was amped up after a day that featured 5FDP, Godsmack, Atreyu, Halestorm, Bad Wolves, Texas Hippie Coalition, Trivium, Power Trip, The Used, Toothgrinder, Parkway Drive, Underoath, Them Evils, ’68, MDFK, and Palisades.
The highlight of Ozzy’ s set was a Sabbath classic “War Pigs” that brought the crowd to a roar as guitarist 
Zakk Wylde stepped off the stage to shred a riveting solo that awed the crowd.
Saturday’s lineup was a stout one that had fans torn on whom to catch first as they maneuvered between the festivals three stages. The lineup included Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Breaking Benjamin, Stone Temple Pilots, Butcher Babies, Andrew W.K., Hollywood Undead, Stick To Your Guns, Asking Alexandria, Sevendust, Pop Evil, Black Veil Brides, Palaye Royale, The Wild!, Red Sun Rising, Avatar, Joyous Wolf, He Is Legend, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, and Yashira.
Sunday brought Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters who have been known to share the stage with the occasional surprise guest which was the case Sunday evening when none other than John Travolta briefly joined the band onstage as they covered the Grease classic, “You’re the One That I Want”. The band also invited Billy Idol to join them onstage as they covered John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth”.
Fans were also treated to Queens of the Stone Age, Billy Idol, Baroness, Wolf Alice, Clutch, Bullet For My Valentine, Turnstile, Greta Van Fleet, The Fever 333, Quicksand, Red Fang, The Sword, Spirit Animal, The Bronx, and Fireball Ministry.
The 2018 Welcome To Rockville festival nailed its first three-day festival and has set the expectations high for 2019! See you next year Jacksonville.
