Welcome To Rockville

Jacksonville, FL
Article: Scott Keller
Photography: Canonblue Lalley

    On April 30th and May 1st our Coast Observer Live team had the opportunity to venture out to sunny Jacksonville, Florida to visit the Welcome to Rockville festival for our second year in a row. Once again, it proved to be an unforgettable experience for lovers of rock and metal music. 
    It's a few hours' drive for our South Mississippi readers, but for a massive two-day festival with more than 45 bands and a weekend's worth of activities geared toward  rock, it's worth every mile. 

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This year's bill was graced by some of the biggest names in the business, including Rob Zombie, Disturbed, Megadeth, Shinedown and Five Finger Death Punch, which was an excellent followup to the wonderful insanity of last year's show led by Slipknot and Korn. 
    The festival is set at Metropolitan Park, just next to the Jacksonville Jaguars' Everbank Field and along the St. Johns River, which provides the scenic backdrop to all the weekend's festivities. Once you enter the gates, you'll find you've stepped into a piece of rock and roll heaven. This year's configuration included four stages- the Metropolitan stage to the east, the River Stage toward the center grounds, and the huge, side by side Lefty and Righty stages at the west end. A highway overpass runs parallel to the river and marked the northern boundary of the grounds, provided coverage to an array of food and vending booths, and served as a convenient (and shaded) avenue for festival goers to hike their way back and forth between stages. Scattered throughout the grounds were all sorts of food and drink vendors, the Jack Daniels, Jagermeister and Monster Energy Experience setups, merch, art and clothing booths, a ferris wheel, multiple VIP access areas, The Music Experience instrument and gear exhibit, and the F.Y.E tent where fans could have the opportunity to meet some of the artists.
    After our visit to the media area we gathered in the eastern VIP section to plan our next move just as Lacey Sturm was warming up the adjacent Metropolitan stage with her new solo material as well as some Flyleaf favorites. One of the things that became more and more apparent to me over the weekend was how much I liked that particular VIP area, which was a tree shaded, park-like setting with a small pond, gazebo and its own bar. As much as I love rocking out right up front in the pit, it provided us a comfortable place to relax and recharge a bit while still being able to view the bands on stage, so if that's your sort of thing then check out the VIP packages.
    Probably the most difficult part of Rockville is deciding which bands to see. This isn't such a bad problem to have, of course; there's just a hell of a lot going on with four stages blasting out that much rock music in one weekend. Your trusty hand flyer that they provide at the gate lists all the set times and locations, and with a carefully laid out plan of attack you can catch a crazy amount of music in a single day. There's definitely never a dull moment. 

 As the show got going and fans were treated to performances from bands like Filter and Wilson, I caught up briefly with Mike Protich, singer of Rockville veterans Red Sun Rising and one of my favorite newer bands. He was happy to let me know that things have really taken off for them since the release of their album Polyester Zeal last year, and they did not disappoint me or the thousands of other fans who gathered at the Lefty Stage to see their set, where their live performance of their single "The Otherside" took on an even more powerful energy. Our concert photographer Canonblue Lalley spoke with Candlebox about their new music, and we even got a few words in with our fellow coast native Brad Arnold from 3 Doors Down, who went on to play a decidedly righteous set as the Metropolitan Stage's headliners that night.

As the River and Metropolitan stages finished up for the day, the tens of thousands of festival goers gathered in the massive open space ahead of the twin stages for the final two acts of the night. This is where things always build up to a climax as you find yourself in a sea of people, the sun is setting and a wave of excited anticipation moves over the crowd as the big boys get ready to come out and play. You are definitely doing something right if you can get close to the stage in a crowd this large, but at Rockville you really don't even have to. The production is larger than life with huge screens magnifying the bands from various camera angles and a sound system that could throw a submarine off course. Disturbed came out with full pyrotechnics and blasted through hit after hit from their catalog reaching back from their first album to their number one charting version of "The Sound of Silence," and threw in an unexpected yet cool cover medley that included some U2 and Rage Against the Machine. Shinedown were on their game as well, and opened up their set with a tribute to Prince before keeping the party going until the end with their full range of active rock hits.
   

 Day two went on much the same as day one, except a lot of people in the crowd were sporting some brand new tan lines. We explored the festival grounds in search of new food that we weren't able to sample the day before, and got caught up by a line of excited fans when the members of Megadeth (one of this writer's personal favorites- they absolutely killed it live) made an appearance at the F.Y.E. tent. Ghost, Cypress Hill, Lamb of God and the newly reincarnated Sick Puppies were just a few of the highlights from day two, and after Five Finger Death Punch and Rob Zombie closed out the festival at the twin stages each with their own beloved brands of madness, although we were well worn and exhausted, I can't have been the only person in the crowd who was already looking forward to next year.
    As one of the major rock festivals in the country, you really can't go wrong with Welcome to Rockville. The organizers are currently celebrating the record turnout for the 2016 show, and even though I don't yet know what is in store for us next year yet, I know we can expect a huge lineup of top notch acts ranging from the biggest headliners to the most promising up and coming and touring bands, all packaged into a well organized event full of fun amenities, rock culture and thousands of friendly music lovers. We came across some fellow South MS folks along the way who already knew what was up, and now we're letting you know: keep an eye out for next year's festival and make the trip!
Horns up