It saddens me to say, but this is the first time in a decade where I didn’t attend the full Sonic Temple weekend. Thankfully, I was still able to experience a day of it!
Only attending one day of Sonic Temple this year was related to two factors. The first was that it was too early in the month and interfered with work commitments, but the second was that I just wasn’t wild about the lineup. After buying SonInk passes last year before any lineups were announced, I found myself pretty disappointed with both rosters. In an effort to possibly attend different music festivals this year, my sister agreed to wait for the lineups to drop before buying the passes. Yes, we’d be spending a little more money, but at least I’d be feeling like I was getting my money’s worth! While I would have loved to have attended Thursday, as well, Saturday was the lucky winner.
I think every year a couple of Facebook groups I am a part of really psych me out for the parking situation. Or who knows, maybe it actually prepares me, but thankfully we got parked in almost no time at all, and the trek to the entrance didn’t seem nearly as far. That might also have to do with the weather. It was a crystal clear, sunny day with temperatures in the low 70s. Absolutely perfect for an outdoor festival. With Ohio, you never know what you’re going to get even in May, so this was best possible outcome! After breezing through security, we headed straight for the Cathedral Stage to catch Erras. Not my cup of tea, but my sister thought they were incredible. I’m glad we made it in with enough time to catch their early set.
From there, we hung out in the back to catch I Set My Friends on Fire – what a throwback! And those guys even looked the same! After that, I stuck to that side of the stage in anticipation for Scary Kids Scaring Kids. I managed to get pretty close to the stage within a crowd honestly much larger than I was expecting! I know they’d been rotating singers, so I wasn’t familiar with who was fronting this time around, but he sounded good and it was a high energy set even though it was criminally short. I think part of that was because they went on five minutes late, but I also feel like they ended early! Six songs in twenty-five minutes just doesn’t seem like enough, but I was thrilled that they played “Holding On.” I got goosebumps even in the heat!
After that thrill, for me, most of the rest of the mid-afternoon went by in an uneventful blur. We saw Hoobastank, Trivium, Of Mice & Men, Escape the Fate, and The Devil Wears Prada. Finally, as evening was setting in, along with some cooler temperatures, is where the rest of the lineup really aced it. Bullet For My Valentine put on a pretty hardcore show celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their debut record. That crowd was pretty intense. And then while the masses flocked to the main stage to catch Linkin Park, we stayed behind with a criminally small crowd to watch Underoath. These guys are the best, and they banged out hit after hit. I’m hoping they make the rounds again this year after releasing a new album just a couple of months ago, but if they don’t, at least I got this.
Finally, I made my way over to the main stage to catch a small bit of Linkin Park’s set before heading home to beat the crowds. I feel a little bad saying this, because it is not to discredit how good Emily Armstrong sounded, but to me, the old stuff, sounded a bit like karaoke. Really well done karaoke, but it felt weird that they were headlining. A part of me wishes I would have checked out their new album, which admittedly, I knew nothing about until that evening, because I’m sure that stuff was awesome, but for what I saw, it left me a little bummed. I was also super bummed that Incubus had to cancel! I’ve never seen them before and was looking forward to the chance. They aren’t a band that I would necessarily see on their own tour, so a festival was the perfect place! Hopefully they will make it to a future show.
All in all, I’m glad my sister and I did make it to Sonic Temple this year, even if it ended up looking a little different than normal. Here’s to next year!
