Sonic Temple, a thrilling 4-day festival in Columbus, OH,
held at Historic Crew Stadium (their adjective, not mine) returned over
Memorial Weekend, May 25-28, and rock fans from near and far came to revel in a
smorgasbord of performances from amazing headliners, strong second-tier
support, and many unknown groups introducing themselves to new listeners during
the first third or more of each day. While it could be argued that the event
could have been consolidated into a stronger 3-day festival, as always, there’s
money to be made. The weather was nearly perfect all weekend, which is far from
the norm at these things. There was a bit of extra sun on the first and last
days, but temperatures remained at or below 78 degrees throughout with no rain.
Unlike larger festivals, Sonic Temple featured only three stages, usually with
staggered start times and little overlap between them, and closed-circuit
broadcasts of live music from other stages during set changes for those who
were positioning themselves for the next set by one of their favorite artists
without missing a different group they may have had an interest in seeing
(though the volume of those broadcasts could have been louder).
It was definitely wise of the festival organizers to open and close with the
strongest headliners and best performers of the weekend: Tool on Thursday and
Foo Fighters on Sunday. Strong showings from Queens of the Stone Age and
Deftones served well as openers for some of the headliners. Other highlights
included Pennywise, Suicidal Tendencies, Chevelle, Kiss, Rob Zombie, Puscifer,
Filter, Sublime with Rome, and Ayron Jones. Avenged Sevenfold entertained with
a broad-reaching headlining set and The Pretty Reckless and other newer acts continued
to build their audiences by performing to some for the first time.
Sonic Temple started with a bang, and Thursday itself was a tough act to follow. After a number of up-and-coming acts on all three stages, punk rock veterans Pennywise boosted the mid-afternoon energy on the mainstage with fan favorites like “Same Old Story” and “Fuck Authority.” They also did a great cover of Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings” and a less-serious take on a verse and chorus from AC/DC’s “T.N.T.” Following on the second stage, Anti-Flag delivered a spirited set including “The Press Corpse” and a punk history medley that touched on bits of The Clash, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Rancid, Sham 69, Green Day, and Ramones. Anti-Flag was the first in a number of recently reunited or reactivated bands who performed over the four days of the festival. Bands with lengthy histories were also featured, such as Suicidal Tendencies who put on a high-energy 9-song set on the third stage, including their 1983 breakthrough single, “Institutionalized,” which is not always featured.
Godsmack entertained with a run through tracks from most of their many albums, drawing attention to celebrating 25 years of releases with a stage banner at the end of the main set. This choice was probably more engaging to long-time, hardcore fans, but the band also touched on one song each from their first two and most successful albums, “Awake” and “Whatever,” which were both well received. Unlike most sets at Sonic Temple, Godsmack returned to the stage for an encore and brought out Aerosmith guitarist, Brad Whitford, as a special surprise guest before performing that band’s classic “Dream On” and The Beatles’ “Come Together,” also a hit for Aerosmith, to close out their show. Bullet for My Valentine entertained on the second stage, but most sights were set on preparing for Tool whose immersive light and laser show perfectly accompanied their unique blend of prog-alternative-metal through their 90-minute performance. Compared to previous tours for their most recent album, Fear Inoculum, Tool’s 10-song Sonic Temple set was a mix of the show they performed around the album’s release and the one they toured with following the end of the COVID shut down, this time including three newer songs along with a few from each of their earlier albums, excluding the first. Singles like “Forty-Six & 2,” “The Pot,” and “Stinkfist” got the strongest reactions, but deeper cuts, such as “Pushit” and the first three tracks from 2001’s Lateralus in a row, showcased the bands darker, emotional sides, giving the audience a little bit of most of the things they are known for doing and thoroughly impressing the previously uninitiated.
Day 2 of Sonic Temple presented a slightly different vibe and had fewer big names and classic acts that still seized their opportunities to perform for larger and more-varied audiences than most usually see. Groups like Black Stone Cherry, Sleeping with Sirens, and I Prevail set the pace for the day and kept it moving forward while Chevelle, a classic act in their own right after 24 years, added energy on the main stage with a sampling of songs from their many albums, only briefly touching on their earlier radio success with “Send the Pain Below” and “The Red.” The second major reunion/re-launch came next as fans enthusiastically welcomed Queens of the Stone Age back for their first performance anywhere in five years. Featuring the same line up that recorded their previous album, Villains, and who also toured to support 2013’s masterpiece, …Like Clockwork, the band ran through a tight 60-minute set that mostly featured fan-favorites and hits from their back catalog but also included the live debut of “Emotion Sickness” from their upcoming 8th LP, which sounded excellent live. After opening with their biggest hit, “No One Knows,” Queens of the Stone Age also treated the crowd to “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret,” “My God Is the Sun,” “I Sat By the Ocean,” “Little Sister,” “Sick, Sick, Sick,” and “Go with the Flow” before an amazing-as-always roar through their traditional closing number, “A Song for the Dead.”
While some may have preferred to see QOTSA play a longer set and close the second day of the festival, an even larger and more engaged crowd arrived to enjoy Avenged Sevenfold who embraced the opportunity to play for a broadly mixed audience by showcasing their many styles and sounds over a headlining set that lasted nearly two hours. Hits like “Afterlife,” “Hail to the King,” and “Nightmare” balanced well with the tones of other tracks like “We Love You,” the punky “Bat Country,” and the power ballad, “So Far Away.” Avenged Sevenfold have always given credit to their influences and showcased a blend of styles that set them apart from contemporary hard rock and metal bands, especially compared to those among them that get significant play on rock radio.
Day 3 of the festival continued to veer away from alternative rock in most cases in lieu of classic hard rock to headline the main stage. Earlier in the day, festivalgoers caught sets by Rival Sons, Trivium, Avatar, and Yelawolf, while Rob Zombie and his band presented a bit of rock radio history from the last 30 years. Leaning primarily on songs from his two biggest albums, such as “Superbeast,” “Living Dead Girl,” “Dragula,” and two from White Zombie, “More Human Than Human” and “Thunder Kiss ’65,” Zombie’s trademark stage spectacle included giant video screens, costumed walk-ons, and a fair amount of audience participation engagement. Lesser hits from more recent albums gave the hour-long show a good balance and variety though Zombie’s notoriously out-of-breath vocals continue to slightly take away from the performance. Maynard Keenan of Tool performed again on Saturday, but this time with his introspective and arty solo project, Puscifer, who delivered 9 songs in just under an hour on the second stage as the sun set. As usual, Puscifer focused on material from their current/most recent album, in this case, Existential Reckoning, and included 7 of that album’s 12 songs, including “Apocalyptical” and “Bullet Train to Iowa,” saving better-known tracks like “Man Overboard” and “The Remedy” for the end of their set and no material at all from their first album, much like Tool’s performance on Thursday night.
Saturday ended with a super-sized spectacle performance by rock legends, Kiss, supposedly still working through their farewell tour, delivering their biggest hits, fan favorites, and a few deep cuts in full costumes and make up and with their trademark theatrics, lights, pyro, and solo segments for each of the four band members (though only two are originals who have been in the band for the duration). Kiss also performed the longest show of the weekend clocking in at about 130 minutes including the encore break. Opening with strong back-to-back hits like “Detroit Rock City” and “Shout It Out Loud” set a great tone for the rest of the night, and everything from “Cold Gin” and “Calling Dr. Love” worked well next to ‘80s favorites like “Lick It Up” and “Heaven’s on Fire” and even their last real attempt at hitting the rock singles chart, 1998’s “Psycho Circus.” Aside from closing the main set with “Black Diamond,” the last few songs of the night felt a bit more like obligations based on their chart success in the ‘70s, but Kiss could never avoid including their biggest hits, especially if this is truly their final tour. Cheesy or not, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and “Beth” still garnered strong responses from the crowd, and, of course, everyone is always ready to “Rock and Roll All Nite” and at least part of every day, even if they’re beyond 70 years old.
Sunday, the fourth and final day of the Sonic Temple festival, featured its strongest headliner but also packed the hours prior with notable sets from a strong variety of artists, more closely following Thursday’s more engaging schedule. Seattle’s Ayron Jones and his band, remembered by some as openers for The Rolling Stones in late 2021, introduced themselves to a new set of fans with their blend of grunge-influenced blues with elements of hip hop on the second stage, and rock radio favorites The Pretty Reckless ran through their biggest hits on the mainstage to a strong reception from the crowd. Grunge-era emo-punk rockers Jawbreaker followed while many stepped over to the third stage to catch a short but lively set from Filter who included five of their biggest hits and two deeper cuts. Filter singer Richard Patrick was one of a number of artists with Ohio roots to play throughout the weekend, along with Maynard Keenan and Dave Grohl, both of whom were born in Ohio, and Patrick dedicated Filter’s final song to another Ohio native, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, for giving him the opportunity to have the life he’s had following a stint as a guitarist in that band in the early ‘90s.
Back on the mainstage, nu-metal pioneers Deftones ran through a brutal hour of their trademark heavy rock, blending hits and fan favorites with newer material for a great mix of songs. “Be Quiet and Drive” and “My Own Summer” from 1997s Around the Fur garnered some of the strongest reactions, but “Diamond Eyes,” “Digital Bath,” “Swerve City,” “Ohms,” “Minerva,” and “Rocket Skates” all kept the energy tight and the engagement high throughout the show. “Change,” one of the band’s other big hits, was the climax of the set which closed with a rocking rendition of “Engine No. 9” from the band’s 1995 debut, Adrenaline. While there were occasional mosh pits and crowd surfers during other performances, most notably Tool and Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones’ set cranked things up in both departments only for both activities to reach their peak during the final set of the weekend. Before that one began, however, Sublime with Rome, the modern variant of the classic reggae-punk band (now only featuring original bassist Eric Wilson), entertained for an hour on the second stage, mainly playing recognizable tracks from Sublime’s three major-label ‘90s LPs along with a few of their newer, original tracks from releases with singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez and a classic Fishbone cover Sublime also featured regularly in their original run. Opening with “Date Rape” and “Smoke Two Joints,” even fans who were jockeying for position in front of the mainstage danced and sang along with “Wrong Way,” “Badfish,” “What I Got” and “Santeria” while watching the set on the closed-circuit side screens.
Finally, the main event began as Dave Grohl and the remaining Foo Fighters took the stage to a tremendous reception from the capacity crowd that filled in all available seats and standing room. Only the band’s third performance following the shocking and untimely death of drummer Taylor Hawkins last year, Grohl and co. were ready to rock but are clearly also in a phase of mourning and healing that understandably overshadowed the majority of the show. Thankfully, the audience seemed to automatically understand and required no explanation as Grohl chatted with a serious tone rather than his usual high energy comedic style between songs, also sharing personal and touching anecdotes along the way. Hits like “All My Life,” “Walk,” “Times Like These,” “The Pretender,” “Learn to Fly,” “Breakout,” and “My Hero” were everything the audience was hoping for, and they reacted with more energy than any other performance all weekend, moshing and crowd surfing included. The band also included tracks from their new album (a week away from release at the time of the show), such as “Rescued,” “Under You,” and “Nothing at All,” and most notably introduced new drummer Josh Freese, previously of The Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Devo, and even Sublime with Rome for a short time, coincidentally. Freese did a tremendous job with an impossible task, filling Hawkins’ throne, and was warmly welcomed by the band and fans alike. A surprise run through “This Is a Call,” the very first track from Foo Fighter’s self-titled 1995 debut, was a treat to the old school fans, and an extremely touching performance of the Hawkins-penned “Cold Day in the Sun,” performed mostly solo by Grohl and followed by the always emotional “These Days,” were the strongest moments of tribute to and love for Hawkins and resulted in tears on some faces. Wrapping up with sing-along hits like “Monkey Wrench,” “Best of You” and “Everlong” ensured the first timers would walk away satisfied and allowed the show to end on a high note with positive energy rather than staying entirely focused on the mournful tone of their new album.
After four huge days of live rock and the festival experience, the parking lot filled and the long wait to exit began, but Sonic Temple certainly made a lasting impression on all who attended, some of whom saw artists potentially for the last time, like Kiss, those who were enjoying a second life after long periods of hiatus, and even some, like Foo Fighters, who until recently seemed as though they would never perform again. The incredible combination of things that come together to make a festival happen much less work out well had clearly been a part of the whole weekend, and as long as there are enough big-name artists to warrant doing so, festivals of this nature can and will continue in the coming years. It is both physically and financially demanding to attend them, but being able to enjoy so many excellent sets for one price over just a few days makes them an experience worthy of the backpain.
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Select Set Lists:
Tool
Fear Inoculum
Forty-Six & 2
The Pot
Pushit
Pneuma
The Grudge
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Invincible
Stinkfist
***********
Avenged Sevenfold
Game Over
Afterlife
Hail to the King
We Love You
Buried Alive
So Far Away
Nobody
Nightmare
Bat Country
Unholy Confessions
A Little Piece of Heaven
************
Queens of the Stone Age
No One Knows
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
My God Is the Sun
If I Had a Tail
The Evil Has Landed
I Sat by the Ocean
Emotion Sickness
Little Sister
Sick, Sick, Sick
Go with the Flow
A Song for the Dead
****************
KISS
Detroit Rock City
Shout It out Loud
War Machine
Heaven’s on Fire
I Love It Loud
Cold Gin
(guitar solo) (jam)
Lick It Up/Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who) (jam)
Calling Dr. Love
Psycho Circus
(drum solo) (jam)
100,000 Years
(bass solo) (jam)
God of Thunder
Love Gun
I Was Made for Lovin’ You
Black Diamond
-------------------
Beth
Rock and Roll All Nite
********************
Puscifer
Fake Affront
Postulous
Apocalyptical
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UPGrade
The Underwhelming
Theorem
Bullet Train to Iowa
Man Overboard
The Remedy
*****************
Rob Zombie
The Triumph of King Freak
Superbeast
Meet the Creeper
Shake Your Ass, Smoke Your Grass
Living Dead Girl
More Human Than Human (White Zombie)
Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
Scum of the Earth
Never Gonna Stop
Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a U.F.O.
---------------
House of 1,000 Corpses
Thunder Kiss ‘65
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Dragula
*Watch bootleg video of the full show here!
******************
Foo Fighters
All My Life
No Son of Mine
Rescued
Walk
Times Like These
Under You
The Pretender
Learn to Fly
Breakout
The Sky Is a Neighborhood
Whip It (Devo) / March of the Pigs (Nine Inch Nails) / Blurry (Puddle of Mudd) (jams)
My Hero
This Is a Call
Nothing at All
Cold Day in the Sun
These Days
Monkey Wrench
Best of You
Everlong
*Watch bootleg video of the full show here!
*******************
Sublime with Rome
Date Rape
Smoke Two Joints
You Better Listen
April 29, 1992
Wrong Way
Panic
What Happened?
Skankin’ to the Beat (Fishbone)
40oz. to Freedom
Doin’ Time
Blackout
Badfish
--------------
What I Got
Santeria
***********************
Deftones
Genesis
Needles and Pins
Be Quiet and Drive
My Own Summer
Diamond Eyes
Digital Bath
Tempest
Swerve City
Ohms
Minerva
Bloody Cape
Change
Rocket Skates
Engine No. 9
***********************
Filter
Welcome to the Fold
Face Down
Jurassitol
So I Quit
Trip Like I Do
Take a Picture
Hey Man Nice Shot
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