Aftershock is often a term used to describe a tremor following a larger earthquake. In the case of Sacramento’s Aftershock Festival, perhaps it’s a metaphor for the fact that Aftershock tends to be on the tail end of the summer festival season. Or, reasonably, it could be employed here to represent the geological instability of the northern California region. I’m going to offer a third possibility. It’s the way you feel after having been emphatically rocked for a full weekend at Discovery Park in Sacramento on a late October weekend: still swaying, still in awe.
The Monster Energy Aftershock Festival brought 50,000+ music fans from all over the region and beyond to see some of the biggest names in Rock, Metal, and more. You couldn’t have asked for a better time to be in Sacramento. It was a sunny mid-70’s weekend with a gentle breeze blowing through to keep the smoke, dust, and heat at bay.
Saturday, Deap Vally was the first to throw down, opening things up on the Monster Energy main stage. The music kicked off at just after the lunch hour, but it didn’t seem that anyone was all that hungry, instead opting to see what Deap Vally was cooking. Each of the three stages brought some incredible local talent, followed by some of the biggest names to ever grace the marquee: Anti-Flag, Nothing More, Gojira and more. During the peak of the heat, Corey Taylor and his merry men of Stone Sour gave an incredible performance, leaving the stage drenched in sweat and each band member completely spent. Closing out the night would be two of the most legendary industrial rock bands to ever play. A Perfect Circle, with Maynard mysteriously shadowed at the back of the stage, introduced their new song, “The Doomed”. The Saturday Headliner, Trent Reznor and NIN gave us 90 minutes of hits as well as some deeper cuts from their very lengthy discography.
One performance that really stood out for me, and seemingly much of the Aftershock audience, was Tech N9ne. He hammered Aftershock with his midwest chopper-style flow and left the heaving, moshing crowd aching for more. One of the beautiful things about a festival like Aftershock is the opportunity to be exposed to things outside of your comfort zone. And sure, for many, a hip-hop artist at a rock festival didn’t quite mesh. But for the thousands that went to see him, mosh with him and show some love, it made perfect sense. I’m hoping he returns next year and they’ll give him a bigger stage and longer set.
On Sunday, the party just kept getting more intense. It’s as if everyone in attendance was there the night prior and still had copious volumes of adrenaline coursing through their veins. Unlike Saturday, the Sunday crowd was crowd-surfing and moshing in earnest right from the get go. Black Map had the honor of leading us off and it was game on from there. Sunday also happened to be the day for all the leading ladies to leave us absolutely destroyed. New Year’s Day came out with a vengeance. During their set, they even paid tribute to the metal gods, offering up their cover of Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile.” The Butcher Babies were a bit late getting their set kicked off due to technical issues with one of their microphones, but Heidi and Carla converted their frustration into intensity, leaving us all exhausted. Maria Brink and In This Moment put on an incredible performance as always, giving Sacramento a passionate, visually stunning and sensational vocal experience. Metal Goddess Lzzy Hale and Halestorm brought down the house on the Monster Energy main stage.
Also playing on Sunday were Starset, Beartooth, Hollywood Undead, Fozzy, and many others. Five Finger Death Punch gave us one of the most intense sets of the weekend leading up to Sunday’s headliner, the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. Ivan Moody looked and sounded amazing and the band looked like a cohesive 5-man force for destruction. As is typical for 5FDP, Ivan brought several kids onto the stage before raining chaos onto the Sacramento crowd with “Burn MF.” Crowd-surfers were coming over the barrier in droves as security played hot-potato lowering each metalhead back down to earth. 5FDP played a set worthy of a headlining show.
But alas, there was one last performer this night. No stranger to headlining major festivals, the Ozz-man did what he does best. Discovery Park was standing room only, and it was nuts to butts from the barrier to the back – all the way back under the I-5 overpass and beyond. At the ripe old age of 68 earth years, moving a bit more cautiously than he did in his younger days, Ozzy sounded unmistakably Ozzy. With Zakk Wylde on the guitar, every note was metal perfection. Zakk did a guitar solo that simply cannot be matched by any other living guitar player, playing light speed licks behind his head or even shredding at 200+BPM while picking with his mouth! Un-fucking-believable! Tommy Clufetos on the drums, not to be outdone but a guitarist, did his own solo on the drums which defied physics. No drumkit rollercoasters or stick tricks, just flat out annihilation on those drums.
Festival organizers did a great job bringing in lots of food options. The layout between stages and vendors was well thought out. The mix of artists in attendence and set time schedules was awesome as well. My only suggestion would be to expand it to a third day, and we can all rock out for just another day longer. If you’re a West Coast resident, this is a festival you just CAN’T miss.
Words and Photographs by RockRevolt Photojournalist Terry L. White
