The 2021 Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida, took place over four days from Thursday (November 11th) through Sunday (November 14th). While one shocking incident may have grabbed all the headlines, the fest was jam-packed with performances from many of the biggest acts in hard rock and metal.
Attendance over the four days was 161,000, making Welcome to Rockville the largest festival in America devoted entirely to rock music.
Slipknot headlined Day 1, with frontman Corey Taylor acknowledging the horrific crowd-surge tragedy that took place at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston a week earlier. “One of the wonderful things about this genre, about this audience, about this family is that we look out for one another,” said Taylor. “This is supposed to be a place of celebration, of love and about looking out for one another. And everybody that’s ever been in a f**king mosh pit knows: if somebody goes down, you get ’em right the f**k back up.”
Day 1 also featured Cypress Hill, A Day to Remember, Gojira, and more. But, unfortunately, it was Brass Against who grabbed the spotlight when singer Sophia Urista called a fan up on stage and proceeded to urinate on his face.
The mighty Metallica topped the Day 2 bill on Friday, playing the first of two unique sets at Welcome to Rockville, with the second one taking place on Sunday. Rob Zombie, Social Distortion, Chevelle, and more also performed that day.
Disturbed closed out Day 3, which also saw performances from Lamb of God, Staind, GWAR, and Fever 333, among others.
And finally, Metallica returned on Sunday to play “The Black Album” in full from back to front, as well as a few other classics. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mudvayne, Anthrax, Mastodon, and more also helped close out the festival.
The headliners for the 2022 edition of Welcome to Rockville, which will return to its usual spring slot, have already been announced. Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, KISS, and Korn will top the bill for the four-day fest, which runs May 19th-22nd at the Daytona International Speedway. Passes are available here.
See photos from Welcome to Rockville 2021 in the gallery below.
All photos by Amy Harris (@thefirst3songs), except for Slipknot and Disturbed by Steve Thrasher.
Welcome to Rockville 2021 Photo Gallery (click to enlarge and scroll through):
