The 2-day rock festival kicked off the last weekend of April. The festival has been held in Fort Myers the first 5 years of its run, but this year it was moved to Fort Lauderdale in Markham Park to allow for the growing festival to hold more attendees. This new location is perfect for the event, and the layout of 2 side-by-side stages allows for nonstop music for hours where fans don’t need to choose which bands to see.
Saturday’s lineup has 12 bands, which included: Bad Wolves, ‘68, Texas Hippie Coalition, Power Trip, Trivium, Hatebreed, Underoath, Bullet for my Valentine, Halestorm, Shinedown, Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack.
The weekend was blessed with perfect sunny weather to kick off the 2-day face-melting event sponsored by Monster Energy and hosted by Jose Mangin of Sirius XM Liquid Metal.
Kicking off the weekend was the new faces of metal, Bad Wolves. Fans immediately gathered at the Yellow Stage to watch them, and when they finished their set with Zombie, the entire park was singing along, and primed for the other 22 rock bands.
Texas Hippie Coalition hit the Yellow Stage early afternoon with their set. The Red Dirt Metal band stood out from the day’s lineup in their unique Southern style. Big Dad Rich and his smooth deep voice had a way of addressing the crowd and pulling them into their set.
Bullet for my Valentine hit the Black stage later in the evening after Underoath rocked the stage. Their backdrop stood out with beautiful colorfully painted wings on their backdrop that’s the album art for their upcoming June release of their Gravity album. This festival kicked off a tour with other festival artists Trivium and Toothgrinder.
Shinedown’s 70 minute set was played at sunset on the Black Stage. They played a mix of their newest singles, and old fan favorites. Each band member gave a great performance with dizzying riffs, gravity defying jumps, audience interaction, and the laser lights and pyrotechnics of the stage made their performance one of the most memorable of the evening.
Godsmack closed the first evening out in an epic set opening with their new single “When Legends Rise.” They opened with massive pillars of flames, bringing the heat with their hot single and a new meaning to “face-melting” metal. Godsmack performed several tracks from their album released just the day prior to the festival, Bulletproof, as well as several of their most popular singles throughout the years, to include an amazing 15 minute drum solo where lead singer Sulley joined their drummer Shannon in a second 360* drum set.
