Four days, 240,000 people, and three rounds of Florida thunderstorms. Welcome To Rockville 2026 is in the books and it was the biggest one yet.
Guns N' Roses opened the weekend Thursday and paid tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne with a cover of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die. Class move from a band that does not do class moves often.
Sunday belonged to My Chemical Romance. They played The Black Parade front to back for its 20th anniversary, Gerard Way in full theatrical mode, and closed with I'm Not Okay and Helena while 50,000 people screamed every word. That is a festival closer people will talk about for years.
The surprises kept coming. A Day To Remember played a secret pop-up set at the Kona Big Wave installation Saturday afternoon with skateboarders hitting a vert ramp behind them, then played their real set Sunday. Breaking Benjamin debuted their new single Something Wicked and their new drummer. Architects dragged House of Protection onstage for Brain Dead and the pit split in half. From First To Last reunited with Kellin Quinn jumping in. Turnstile showed up fresh off a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Ice Nine Kills debuted a song from Scream 7. DragonForce introduced their new singer Alissa White-Gluz.
Storms shut things down on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, because Florida. Nobody cared. 240,000 strong, record crowd, and the fest is locked into Daytona through 2035. See you next May.
Photo: Photo by Noland Live via Pexels
Source: ZRock
