Another year, another music festival! One of four for the year, to be precise. For me, anyway. Sonic Temple is a solid staple, and in its second year back since the pandemic, it’s maintained that title!
First, you know I have to talk about the weather. And while I know this festival will never experience four days of perfection like last year, this year wasn’t bad at all! Yes, it was brutally hot three of the four days, but there is plenty of shade to be found in the stadium, and we were given a reprieve on Friday with some cooler weather and plenty of clouds. But no thunderstorms! In fact, not even rain! That’s a great success in my book. My only real gripe with the festival experience this year was the fact that we parked in BF Egypt all but one day. Sure, leaving was a breeze, but walking a mile and a half either way was not it. My sister and I splurged on a pedicab to the gates on the hottest day and it was worth every penny. A trade-off for everything, I suppose.
Now, onto the actual festival. Due to some construction and the addition of another stage, the layout was a bit different this time around. I personally didn’t notice anything amiss with the sound quality, but the second largest stage was a bit annoying to hoof it to every half hour or so. Call me lazy, I don’t care. When the lineup first got announced with the four stages, I thought the day would drag, but everything seemed to be pretty well staggered, and with some dropped acts the last two days, people didn’t have to choose between the headliner and other, equally good bands playing at the same time. Sorry to the original Misfits, but Avatar beats you ten out of ten times for my money.
It wasn’t the most diverse lineup this year, though I didn’t check out the likes of Soulfly or Living Colour. I wish I would have made it over to see Electric Callboy, but otherwise, I made it to a lot of sets! My personal favorites for the weekend should come as no surprise with Seether, Royal Blood, Avatar, and The Chats. It was so cool to see Flyleaf for the first time! They were great! And as much as I don’t really care for Falling in Reverse, there is no denying they put on an entertaining set. Rampant flames, be damned! Evanescence were also surprisingly incredible. That voice!
As far as other entertaining sets go, Cypress Hill was like one giant stoner party, but the crowd was eating it up. Similarly, Limp Bizkit had the whole crowd going absolutely wild. They even opened and closed their set with “Break Stuff.” I think they might be the only band out there where that move wouldn’t piss people off, but only hype them up more. There was a man watching Staind who was living his absolute best life dancing as hard as he could, so that was pretty fun to experience. And obviously, Slipknot knows how to get a crowd going. I personally didn’t think they did anything that above and beyond, but the crowd’s energy was palpable.
Overall, it was another great festival experience, and one I look forward to having for many more years. Get yourself there next time!
