Sonic Temple: Slipknot, Evanescence, Deftones Join Metallica For Second-Year Ohio Event

Other artists performing at the decidedly rock-focused event will be mainstays like Sublime With Rome, Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, Cypress Hill, Pennywise while rising rock talent like Power Trip, Dirty Honey, Dance Gavin Dance, Knocked Loose, Code Orange and Dinosaur Pile-Up will all get a prime platform to gain new fans on its three music stages. 

Also on offer will be premium food and beverage selections and enhanced onsite experiences including live art and installations, with artists including Nychos, Butch Locsin, Michael Reeder, Jason Naylor, Palehorse, Angryblue, Garageland, Urban Aztec, Brian Ewing, Paul Rentler, Omnigraphicon, Mad Pixel, Joe King and Taylor Springle, with more to be announced.

In October, right before DWP’s Aftershock festival in Sacramento, the independent festival producer announced that Metallica would headline all five of its rock festivals – Epicenter in Charlotte, Welcome to Rockville in Florida, Sonic Temple, Louder Than Life in Louisville and Aftershock. 

The metal gods, which Pollstar recently featured as one of the biggest live bands in the world, will play two headline sets at each festival, which will be Metallica’s only North American festival appearances of 2020, which fits into the band’s plans to not over-tour but still stay busy and play varied markets and show sizes.

Metallica’s “Blackened” American Whiskey and “Enter Night” Pilsner will be on sale at Sonic Temple, as at Aftershock, where representatives from the band’s management at Q Prime told Pollstar the beverages moved an average of 8,000 drinks per weekend at each DWP event, “aside from Aftershock which sold 10,000 drinks (both beer and cocktails combined) over the course of the weekend.”

Meanwhile, Slipknot continues its momentum after headlining the sold-out Aftershock in October, wrapping up its own Knotfest Roadshow  tour (which grossed grossed just shy of $16.8 million on 30 dates with 405,591 tickets sold). and doing multiple Knotfests across the world, although the band as well as Evanescence’s sets were called off this weekend during Knotfest Mexico after the stage’s barricade was damaged and unable to be repaired.