DWPresents does it again as they show why they are in an elite class when it comes to rock festivals. In these unprecedented times, Welcome To Rockville found itself in unfamiliar territory as they closed out the 2021 festival season in mid-November. The festival will turn around and resume its annual position of opening the rock festival season in May 2022. It’s a fair assessment to say that making Welcome To Rockville possible this year was no small feat and everyone involved worked exceptionally hard to ensure that the festival would not be lost for the second year in a row. Special thanks to those bands that stepped up to fill in for some that were unable to perform this year.
This historic 10th edition of Welcome To Rockville welcomed 161,000 people over 4-full days, officially making it America’s largest rock festival. Throw in an at-home audience of over 1.2 million on the DWPresents Twitch Channel tuned in during Danny Wimmer Presents’ first-ever festival livestream. DWP has partnered with Space Zebra in producing the Twitch program That Space Zebra Show. The innovative rock and metal livestream program is a part talk show and game show which is hosted by brand owner Bobby Schubenski, rock journalist Beez and Josh Balz. The show is quickly becoming a hotspot for hungry unsigned talent, artist interviews, and any other shenanigans these rockers can get into.
Leading up to the biggest and last festival of the year, That Space Zebra Show hosted a virtual tournament-style competition, Battle For The Big Stage: Road To Rockville Edition, where 3,000 bands from around the world entered for the chance to play at Welcome To Rockville with fans voting for their favorite artist. Orange County’s teenage rockers, WHIT3 COLLR, came away with the golden prize…an opportunity to play on the same stage as headliner Metallica. WHIT3 COLLR consists of guitarist Will Sawyer, drummer Donovan Hess (both 17-year-old high school seniors), and bassist, JT Sawyer, a 15-year-old high school sophomore. Additionally, throughout the weekend, dozens of unsigned bands made the trek to Daytona to perform on the festival’s Twitch Stage in front of the Rockvillians.
Thursday’s lineup: Slipknot, Cypress Hill, A Day To Remember, Gojira, Grandson, Dorothy, Dead Sara, Spiritbox, Jeris Johnson, Brass Against, Teenage Wrist, Nascar Aloe, Siiickbrain, Dana Dentata, Avoid, Blame My Youth, Contracult Collective, As You Were, Shadow the Earth, Dead Reckoning, Scarlett O’Hara, A War Within, The Alpha Complex, Revision, Revised, and Them Evils.
Walking into the Daytona Beach International Speedway on Thursday, one couldn’t help but reflect on the sights and immense size of the Speedway. The festival grounds were littered with massive oversized photos of past Rockville legends with the famous Ferris wheel stationed in-between the two main stages. The prolonged wait for Welcome To Rockville was finally over as fans soaked up every last drop of the weekend’s festivities. Everyone got to enjoy all the cosplay costumes that seemed to have been in the works since 2020’s festivals got canceled. Even Jesus had an angel this year…. And more than one Jesus. One band that continues to make waves is Spiritbox who drew an early crowd for their set and seemed to set the tone for the weekend. The Canadian metal band recently released their debut album Eternal Blue.
A Day To Remember, Gojira and Dorothy delivered their typical high-energy sets that had fans ready for the opening night’s headliner, Slipknot. During the set, Corey Taylor, the band’s frontman acknowledged the tragedy that took place at the Astroworld Festival. “One of the wonderful things about this genre, about this audience, about this family, is that we look out for one another,” Taylor reminded the crowd. The band kicked off their 13-song set with “Unsainted” and wrapped up the pyro-filled set with “Surfacing” while including their brand-new song “The Chapeltown Rag” for the first time outside of Knotfest.
Friday’s lineup: Metallica, Rob Zombie, Social Distortion, Chevelle, Pennywise, Beartooth, Starset, Wage War, Ice Nine Kills, Ayron Jones, Amigo The Devil, Bad Omens, Zero 9:36, Butcher Babies, Tallah, Austin Meade, Eva Under Fire, WHIT3 COLLR, As You Were,
The Coursing, VENTRUSS, Tragic, Re-Birth, Divided Truth, and Zero 9:36.
Another day, another afternoon delight, this time it was Tallah who tore up the stage from start to finish of their set. Tallah has made the festival rounds in 2021 and is another upstart band that has seen their fanbase explode this year. The band’s live set captures the essence of metal and reminds us why we love our beloved genre. Tallah is one to check out.
Another ongoing staple of a DWP festival has been their dedication to exposing the next generation to some of punk rock’s greats and this year was no different as Rockvillian’s welcomed Social Distortion and Pennywise. Jose Mangin, the Metal Ambassador, took the stage with Ice Nine Kills where he showed off his acting skills as he re-enacted a lyric from the song “Hip To Be Scared.” The Butcher Babies, Rob Zombie, Chevelle, Beartooth, Starset, and Wage War are all headliners who bring their own unique spin to the genre and are no strangers to the festival stage.
After an amazing day of music, it was time for Metallica’s first set of the weekend and they did not disappoint. A 16-song set filled with pyro and concluded with fireworks that started with “Whiplash” and wrapped up with a 3-song encore of “Fight Fire With Fire”, “Fuel” and “Seek & Destroy”. The set covered songs from nine of the band’s albums and the traditional cover of “Whiskey in the Jar”. Vintage Metallica and the festival was only halfway done with so much more to come.
In addition, to an epic day of music on Friday, DWPresents fired up fans with the announcement of next year’s 4-headliners for May’s Welcome To Rockville. KISS (Thursday, May 19), KORN (Friday, May 20), Guns N’ Roses (Saturday, May 21), and Foo Fighters (Sunday, May 22) will headline which is sure to be yet another epic lineup.
“We knew we had to do something massive to follow the biggest Welcome To Rockville in history so we went out and got rock legends Guns N’ Roses, newly inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Foo Fighters, (you wanted the best, we got you the best) KISS and DWP’s most requested band, KORN,” says Danny Wimmer, founder of Danny Wimmer Presents. “We’re looking forward to breaking records at THE WORLD CENTER OF ROCK with you, see you in 2022!”
Saturday’s lineup: Disturbed, The Offspring, Staind, Lamb Of God, Asking Alexandria, GWAR, Badflower, Fever 333, Atreyu, Crown The Empire, Kingdom Collapse, Sick Puppies, Dead Poet Society, All Good Things, Fame On Fire, Brkn Love, Reach NYC, As You Were, Higher Ground, Troy, NoSelf, Timmy Taylor, Widow7, Actus Reus, and Magnolia Bayou.
On Saturday one could start with Fever 333 and stop there. The Cali band consists of vocalist Jason Aalon Butler, guitarist Stephen Harrison, and drummer Aric Improta who first endeared themselves to Rockvillian’s at the 2018 Rockville they have never looked back. The band’s sets are action-packed and consist of wild stage antics from jumping into the crowd, climbing the stage sets, to front flipping off speakers, or jumping over the drummer.
GWAR is notorious for spraying its audiences with fluids, which are meant to look like blood and other bodily fluid during their live shows. Saturday night was no different as fans flocked to the Rockvillian Stage to catch the spectacle known as GWAR. Fans were treated to the Scumdogs of the Universe in its entirety while being covered in fluids.
Disturbed, The Offspring, Staind, Lamb Of God, and Asking Alexandria rounded out another exceptional day of rock music.
Sunday’s lineup: Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mudvayne, Mastodon, Anthrax, Falling In Reverse, Sleeping With Sirens, Code Orange, Dance Gavin Dance, Jelly Roll, Fire From The Gods, Goodbye June, Alien Weaponry, The Warning, Hero The Band, Survive The Sun, Avoid, Lines of Loyalty, Imperial Tide, The Dev, and Lone Wolf.
Fire From The Gods, Code Orange, and Alien Weaponry highlighted the afternoon on the last day of an epic weekend filled with amazing music from up-and-coming bands and those seasoned veterans that still crush it.
Earlier this year Mudvayne played their first show in over a decade at DWP’s Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, Ohio, to the delight of fans who hadn’t seen the band perform together in 12-years.
Lynyrd Skynyrd gave a memorable tribute to the troops and wrapped their set in typical fashion with “Freebird” in what is to be the band’s final North Florida hometown performance after more than 50 years. The set concluded with Johnny Van Zant presenting Danny Wimmer with the flag hanging from his mic stand.
Wrapping up an unforgettable weekend was Metallica for their second set of the weekend as the rockers ripped off a 17-song set that included the Black Album from back to front. The evening concluded with 2-encores “Damage, Inc” from the Master of Puppets album and “Creeping Death” from the Ride the Lightning LP.
Another great year in the books for Welcome to Rockville 2021 at the Daytona Beach International Speedway. This was a great choice for a venue with ample space and plenty of room for everyone to be as close or far apart as they were comfortable with. The bands were a perfect mix of old and new hard rock and this brought such a diverse crowd, even families where parents showed their kids a thing or two about real rock-n-roll. The crowds seemed full of young rockers which is a great feeling as someone whose horns have turned a touch gray from the years. The new breed of rock fans may be fresh but they are definitely ready to rock, crowd surf, and mosh alongside the veterans of metal.
Four days and 70+ bands, reuniting with old friends while making new ones, and creating a lifetime of memories is what rock festivals are all about. For those 4-days everything the universe screamed we got this. See you all next year.
