KISS, System of a Down, A Day to Remember lead Download Fest 2021 lineup

Download Festival is ready to return and rock your socks off!

On Monday (Aug. 3), the United Kingdom-based music festival announced its first wave of performers for the 2021 incarnation of the event.

KISS, System of a Down, Biffy Clyro, A Day to Remember, Korn, Deftones, Black Veil Brides, the Pretty Reckless, Killswitch Engage, The Darkness, and a slew more are set to take over four different stages during the first weekend of June 2021.

At the end of the weekend-long festivities, over 70 bands would have descended and performed at the annual event.

Like every other music festival, Download had to cancel this year’s show due to the worldwide pandemic. This year’s event would have included performances from Iron Maiden, System of a Down, and KISS.

Thankfully, the festival was able to once again secure KISS and System of a Down as headliners for next year’s gig.

“2020 has been a tough year for us all, and we were beyond gutted not to be able to experience Download Festival with you all,” Download Festival’s Andy Copping said in a press statement.

“We gave you Download TV to reflect on memories of the past, and what the festival means to all of us.

Download 2021 is going to be something special and go down in the history books as when the Download family reunited. We’re going to be working hard behind the scenes to make Download 2021 an unforgettable experience and a celebration of the festival we all love.”

“We’re disappointed we weren’t able to make it over this year, but we’re looking forward to next,” System of a Down’s Shavo Odadjian said.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Mostly, we all just want to make sure everyone is provided with a safe and secure environment, so we were prepared to wait as long as we needed to.”

Download Festival will return to its home of Donington Park during the weekend of June 4-6, 2021. General tickets for the three-day show will go on sale this Friday, Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. on the festival’s website.

The first wave of performers can be found below.

Metallica, Disturbed, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and more to play Epicenter 2020

We may be suffering from a severe case of the winter blues, but that’s not stopping us from daydreaming about the warm weather and all the music festivals that come with it.

On Tuesday (Nov. 19), the masterminds behind some of the best rock-centric music festivals in the United States announced the lineup for the 2020 incarnation of North Carolina’s Epicenter. Let’s just say, it’s going to be EPIC (yes, we did use a pun).

As previously announced, Metallica will headline not one, but two of the three days (Friday, May 1 and Sunday, May 3). According to Metallica, they will perform two different setlists, so no, you won’t hear “Enter Sandman” on both nights.

“We’re headlining @epicenterfest in Charlotte, NC with 2 different sets,” the band tweeted.

Metallica’s appearance at Epicenter is part of an exclusive deal with Danny Wimmer Presents. The joint venture, which was announced last month, will find the iconic metal act headlining all five of the promoters’ hard rock festivals in 2020.

“Metallica isn’t just another headliner. When Metallica takes the stage, it’s an event. It’s an experience. That’s the same standard we’ve set for every DWP festival – from the first band to the last band, and everything that happens in between. I can’t wait to bring the biggest band in the world to the biggest rock festivals in America,” says Danny Wimmer, founder of Danny Wimmer Presents.

“Metallica paved this road that we travel. How many artists on the bill at these five festivals first picked up an instrument, or first started a band, because of Metallica?”

The massive lineup will also feature an exclusive 2020 North Carolina performance by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Disturbed, Deftones, Godsmack, Volbeat, Staind, Papa Roach, David Lee Roth, Gojira, Chevelle, Cypress Hill, Rancid, Royal Blood, Anthrax, Dropkick Murphys, I Prevail, Alter Bridge, and many more round out the next year’s roster.

In addition to the massive lineup, Danny Wimmer Presents also revealed that Epicenter will move to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. According to a statement, the relocation was one of the biggest requests from fans.

“We’re pleased to announce that Epicenter is moving to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Rock City Campgrounds,” says Danny Wimmer Presents CEO Danny Hayes.

“The new location offers plenty of nearby lodging, increased camping, and convenient travel options. The number one request we received from the fans was to move the festival to Charlotte, …and we listened.”

Epicenter 2020 will take place during the weekend of May 1-3 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Rock City Campgrounds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets for the weekend-long event are currently on sale.

The full lineup can be found below.

The Cure, Deftones, the Pixies to headline inaugural Pasadena Daydream Festival

“Do we really need another summertime music festival?”

When the lineup is curated by the Cure and includes the likes of the Pixies, Deftones, and of course the band spearheading the whole thing, then the answer is yes. On Tuesday (May 14), the British band announced the inaugural Pasadena Daydream Festival which will take place later this year.

Mogwai, Throwing Muses, Chelsea Wolfe, the Joy Formidable, former the Cure tour mates the Twilight Sad, and more will round out the festival’s lineup. The one-day event will take place Saturday, Aug. 31, at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in (where else) Pasadena.

Tickets for the new music festival go on sale this Friday, May 17, at noon PT. General admission and VIP tickets will be available for purchase. According to the festival’s website, $1 from every ticket sold will go towards music and arts education organizations and local charities including Mr. Holland’s Opus, Little Kids Rock, Free Arts for Abused Children, Inner-City Arts, and The Painted Turtle.

For more information about tickets, the lineup, or the charities, head on over to Pasadena Daydream’s website.

The Pasadena Daydream Festival announcement comes a year after the Cure frontman Robert Smith was selected as the curator for the 25th anniversary of London’s Meltdown Festival. During an interview after the event, Smith admitted that working on the lineup for the show helped get his creative juices flowing and reignited his passion for writing music.

“I’ve suddenly fallen in love with the idea of writing songs,” Smith told BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Shaun Keaveny.

“Funnily enough, doing this Meltdown thing has actually galvanized me, and I’ve booked studio time for the band.”

No word on when fans should expect the new the Cure album to be out; their last studio record was 2008’s 4:13 Dream.

System of a Down, Deftones, Incubus to headline Aftershock 2018

Music festival season usually takes place during the spring and summer months, but that doesn’t mean music fans will not get any festivals during the cooler months. On Monday (April 9), Aftershock Music Festival organizers unveiled their lineup for the 2018 incarnation of the annual event. System of a Down, Deftones, Incubus, Alice in Chains, and Godsmack are just some of the bands that will make the trek to California during the second week of October for Aftershock 2018.

For System of a Down, their appearance at Aftershock will not only be their first time playing at the event, it will also mark their first show in the United States in three years. Their confirmed performance also coincides with the 20^th anniversary of the group’s self-titled debut; System of a Down was released in 1998.

As if celebrating their debut album’s “China” anniversary wasn’t enough, the group has also unveiled plans to go on a short, weeklong trek coinciding with their appearance at the event. Hitting the road alongside them will be fellow Aftershock performers, At the Drive-In. Those dates can be found on SOAD’s website.

“Sacto, we’re coming for you. Proud that you’re our capital and not DC,” System of a Down’s Serj Tankian said in a press statement.

“It’s been a minute since we’ve played Sacramento, so it just felt right to return by headlining Aftershock,” continues guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian.

Joining System of a Down as one of the headliners this year will be Sacramento-founded band, Deftones. The California guys previously played the event in 2012 and 2015, but this year, they will be one of the big-print acts. Even though the Deftones call the capital of California home, this will be their first headlining gig in their hometown in nearly seven years. This all comes as the guys celebrate their 30^th anniversary later this year.

In addition to System of a Down, Deftones, Incubus, Alice in Chains and Godsmack, this year’s lineup will also include Shinedown, 311, Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, At the Drive-In, Seether, Jonathan Davis, Bullet For My Valentine, Underoath, Black Veil Brides, Hellyeah, Asking Alexandria, Sevendust, Everlast, GWAR, and many more. According to the official press release from Danny Wimmer Presents, more artists will be announced as the show gets closer.

Aftershock Music Festival will return to Discovery Park in downtown Sacramento during the weekend of Oct. 13-14. Tickets for the two-day show will go on sale beginning this Friday, April 13, at noon PST. General admission and VIP tickets will be available as well as hotel options. Service fees on all tickets purchased will include a 50 cent charity fee for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Attendees are encouraged to buy their tickets as soon as they go on sale because tickets have sold out for three years straight.

For more information about Aftershock 2018, head on over to the festival’s website here.

Deftones and Rise Against announce massive summer tour

Several days after Live Nation teased a massive summer tour announcement from two big bands, the identities of those groups have been confirmed. On Monday (Feb. 6), the Deftones and Rise Against announced a huge, joint, North American summer tour. The excursion will kick off on June 9 at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago and wrap up a month later on July 9 at the Ak-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix.

“Every once in awhile you get to share the stage with a band so powerful they make you work harder,” Rise Against said in a statement. “After conspiring for years, we’re excited to finally share the road with such an epic band. We can’t wait to put Deftones and Rise Against fans under the same roof in 2017.”

Mirroring Rise Against’s statement about the upcoming tour, the Deftones wrote on Facebook: “We’ve been talking to Rise Against about touring together for a while now. Finally, everything aligned and we get to spend the summer playing shows with our friends. We couldn’t be more excited and can’t wait to see you at the shows.”

Joining them on the road for the month-long tour will be Thrice, who released their ninth studio album, To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere, back in May of 2016. Frank Iero and the Patience and Three Trapped Tigers will also open for the Deftones and Rise Against during the tour, but on selected dates. The full list of tour dates can be seen below.

The massive summer tour will be in support of the Deftones recently released eighth studio album, Gore. Before embarking on the North American tour, the Sacramento-founded band will hit the United Kingdom road with AFI for a short tour.

As for Rise Against, the Chicago-based band hasn’t released any new material since 2014’s The Black Market.

Tickets for the tour will go on sale beginning this Friday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m. local time

DEFTONES/RISE AGAINST 2017 NORTH AMERICAN SUMMER TOUR:

June 09 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
June 10 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Theater at Freedom Hill
June 11 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
June 13 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
June 16 – Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
June 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
June 18 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
June 20 – Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 22 – Tampa, FL @ MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 23 – Miami, FL @ Bayfront Park Amphitheater
June 24 – Jacksonville, FL @ Daily’s Place Amphitheater
June 26 – The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
June 27 – Dallas, TX @ Starplex Pavilion
June 28 – Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater
June 30 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
July 01 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheater
July 03 – Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
July 06 – Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion
July 07 – Chula Vista, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre
July 08 – Las Vegas, NV @ Downtown Las Vegas Events Center
July 09 – Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion

6/9 – 6/23: with Three Trapped Tigers
6/24 – 7/9: with Frank Iero and the Patience

Deftones add more dates to current tour

When the Deftones announced they would be hitting the road this summer for a massive world tour, little did fans know that they really did mean a lengthy word tour. On Tuesday (May 31), the band unveiled a new list of tour dates that will find them taking a short break before returning to the road. Back in February, the California-based band announced a lengthy tour that had them performing throughout the spring and well into the summer. Now,t hey have added more dates that will find them performing in the United States and in Mexico.

The first leg of their world tour is set to wrap up on June 18 at the Secret Solstice music festival in  Reykjavik, Iceland. After taking a well-deserved month-long break, they will hit the touring circuit once again for the second leg. The second leg of the tour is set to kick off on July 31 in Buffalo, NY for Edgefest 2016. After that festival date, they will head out the road for their headlining trek only to wrap the second leg up with several music festival appearances including both Riot Fests, the inaugural Texas Mutiny and Houston Open Air fest as well as Knotfest Mexico. The long list of tour dates can be seen below.

DEFTONES 2016 TOUR DATES:

06/03 – London, UK @ The SSE Arena Wembley
06/04 – Mendig, Germany @ Rock AM Ring
06/05 – Nürnberg, Germany @ Rock IM Park
06/10 – Paris, France @ Download Festival
06/11 – Derby, UK @ Download Festival
06/14 – Cologne, Germany @ Palladium
06/15 – Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle
06/17 – Aarhus, Denmark @ NorthSide Festival
06/18 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Secret Solstice

NEWLY ADDED TOUR DATES:

7/31 — Buffalo, NY @ Edgefest 2016
8/2 — Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Event Center
8/3 — Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Concert Pavilion
8/5 — Brooklyn, NY @ Coney Island Amphitheatre
8/6 — Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier / Penn’s Landing
8/7 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
8/9 — Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
8/10 — Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage
8/12 — Sterling Heights, MI @ Freedom Hill Amphitheatre
8/13 — Mississauga, ON @ International Centre
8/16 — Maplewood, MN @ Myth
8/17 — Clive, IA @ Seven Flags Event Center
8/18 — Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theater
8/20 — Magna, UT @ Saltair Resort Main Pavilion
8/23 — Fresno, CA @ Woodward Park
8/24 — Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
8/26 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
8/27 — Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Amphitheater
8/29 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
8/30 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
8/31 — Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
9/2 — Denver, CO @ Riot Fest
9/16 — Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
9/24 — Grand Prairie, TX @ Texas Mutiny
9/25 – Houston, TX @ Houston Open Air
10/15 — Mexico City, Mexico @ Knotfest Mexico

The above mention tour dates are all in support of Deftones’ recently released album, Gore.

Inaugural Texas Mutiny Festival to launch in Texas

Texas will be getting another massive rock-centric music festival this fall. On Monday (May 2), AEG Live (the people behind Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Rocklahoma, and more) announced plans to launch the first annual Texas Mutiny festival. In addition to the new music festival announcement, AEG has also unveiled the lengthy roster of bands that will make their way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in September for 12 hours of non-stop music.

Avenged Sevenfold, Deftones, Chevelle, Pierce the Veil, Hellyeah, Of Mice & Men, Ghost, Candlebox, Nothing More, Starset, The Amity Affliction, Skindred, KYNG, Neck Deep, Shaman’s Harvest, Avatar, Twelve Foot Ninja, September Mourning, and more will all make the journey to the Lone Star state for the one day event.

“Considering the ongoing success we’ve had in Dallas for years with Edgefest and the new success story this year with Off the Rails, the DFW market is one that is primed and ready for a top-notch hard rock festival,” explains Joe Litvag, Executive Producer of Texas Mutiny for AEG Live. “We’re taking successful components from several of our other similar rock festivals to create an experience for music fans that is uniquely Texas. Our hope is that this is the first step toward establishing a long legacy that rock artists and rock fans in the Lone Star State can call their own!”

“AEG Live is one of the premier producers of rock festivals in the U.S., and we’re pleased to partner with them on one that reaches the hard rock audience,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said about the new music festival. “Charlotte Motor Speedway, our sister venue in the Speedway Motorsports, Inc. family, has partnered with AEG Live for the [Monster Energy] Carolina Rebellion music festival since 2013 and we’re looking forward to hosting an equally successful event in the inaugural Texas Mutiny.”

Texas Mutiny will invade the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas-Fort Worth on Saturday, Sept. 24. For those living in Texas, or those who might want to take a trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, specially priced general admission and VIP tickets will be available beginning Wednesday, May 4. The special pre-sale will run from Wednesday to Friday, May 6 at 9:59 AM CDT, so make sure to obtain your tickets as soon as they go on sale. For more information about Texas Mutiny, head on over to the festival’s website here.

North Carolina’s Carolina Rebellion announces set times

With just a couple of weeks left until Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion is set to invade Concord, NC, festival organizers have unveiled the set times for the artists making their way up north. On Monday (April 25), Carolina Rebellion organizers unveiled the set times for the three-day music festival as well as for the campground pre-party. Previously , it was announced that performers including Disturbed, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Deftones, A Day To Remember, 3 Doors Down, Alice Cooper, Bring Me the Horizon, Cypress Hill, Pennywise, Lamb Of God, and more would head to North Carolina in early May.

Like all the other rock-centric music festivals, organizers have done a good job of making sure that the bands performing on the Monster CAROLINA stage and Monster REBELLION stages (the main stages) do not overlap. The same cannot be said about the bands performing on the BLACK  and GOLD stages. The complete daily lineup for the 2016 incarnation of Carolina Rebellion can be seen below. Door for all days of the festivities will open at 11 a.m.

Friday, May 6:

Monster CAROLINA stage:

12:30 PM – Sick Puppies

2:00 PM – Black Stone Cherry

3:40 PM – Pop Evil

5:30 PM – Sixx:A.M.

8:15 PM – Lynard Skynard

Monster REBELLION stage:

11:30 AM – Aranda

1:00 PM – Lacey Strum

2:35 PM – Avatar

4:20 PM – HELLYEAH

6:15 PM – 3 Doors Down

9:30 PM – Scorpions

BLACK stage:

12:00 PM – The Glorious Sons

1:30 PM – Big Jesus

3:10 PM – Candlebox

5:00 PM – Filter

7:15 PM – Collective Soul

GOLD stage:

12:00 PM – Stitched Up Heart

1:30 PM – From Ashes to New

3:10 PM: New Year’s Day

5:00 PM – Escape the Fate

7:15 PM – Between the Buried & Me

Saturday, May 7:

Monster CAROLINA stage:

1:15 PM – Saint Asonia

2:45 PM – P.O.D.

4:25 PM – Anthrax

6:15 PM – Megadeth

8:45 PM – Five Finger Death Punch

Monster REBELLION stage:

12:15 PM – Red Sun Rising

1:45 PM – Trivium

3:20 PM – Sevendust

5:05 – Bullet For My Valentine

7:15 PM – A Day to Remember

9:45 PM – Shinedown

BLACK stage:

11:45 PM – Monster Truck

12:45 PM – Andrew Watt

2:15 PM – Audiotopsy

3:55 PM – Parkway Drive

5:45 PM – Ghost

8:00 PM – Lamb of God

GOLD stage:

11:45 AM – Cane Hill

12:45 PM – Wilson

2:15 PM – Texas Hippie Coalition

3:55 PM – The Sword

5:45 PM – Clutch

Sunday, May 8:

Monster CAROLINA stage:

1:40 PM – Thousand Foot Krutch

3:10 PM – Yelawolf

4:40 PM – Cypress Hill

6:30 PM – Deftones

8:45 PM – Rob Zombie

Monster REBELLION stage:

2:10 PM – Hands Like Houses

3:40 PM – The Struts

5:20 PM – Pennywise

7:15 PM – Bring Me the Horizon

9:45 PM – Disturbed

BLACK stage:

1:15 PM – The Shrine

2:40 PM – Royal Thunder

4:10 PM – Enter Shikari

6:00 PM – BABYMETAL

8:00 PM – Alice Cooper

GOLD stage:

12:35 PM – ’68

1:15 PM – Unlocking the Truth

2:40 PM – Code Orange

4:15 PM – August Burns Red

6:00 PM – Asking Alexandria

The “Mid-Atlantic’s biggest rock festival” is set to take place during the weekend of May 6-8 at the Rock City Campgrounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. Currently, the festival is offering three-day weekend general admission tickets, two-day general admission tickets, single-day tickets, as well as three-day weekend ticket four-packs. As of now, tickets for Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion are at its lowest with ticket prices rising after Monday, May 2. Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion is just one of the many rock-centric music festivals taking place in May or as they call it, the “World’s Loudest Month.”

If remembering when your favorite band is performing is a little bit of a task for you, Carolina Rebellion has announced that there is an app to help you keep track of those set times. The app is currently available on both iTunes and Google Play.

Deftones release colorful video for “Prayers/Triangles”

A few days after releasing their highly anticipated new album Gore, Deftones is giving fans a double-dose of goodness. On Tuesday (April 12), the band released the music video for the new album’s lead single, “Prayers/Triangles.” The video finds the band performing as psychedelic-colored shadows while also incorporating clips of frontman Chino Moreno running down deserted streets at night. Check out the video for  “Prayers/Triangles” below.

In addition to new music video, the California-based band also joined forces with Spotify to give listeners the chance to stream Gore in full, in the event that they haven’t gotten the copy of the album yet. In a recent interview with Noisey, Moreno discussed the group’s approach to writing and recording the new album.

“I think with every record we kinda try to expand a little bit on what we did last and at the same time try to maintain what it is that we do,” explains Moreno. “Sonically, it’s a little different. Our gear, that was one thing that was a little different. Everybody sorta took up a different sonic space on certain parts of this record. The songs themselves, the structure and things like that, we spent a little bit more time refining. The last couple records were pretty much written and recorded in a small frame of time. This one, we branched out into a year process of these really quick little spurts of writing. Like, eight to ten days of locking ourselves in a room and everybody going home for a month or two and coming back. Doing that was cool because we got to reflect on ideas and tweak ’em and refine things a little more.”

Gore was released last Friday, April 8, through Warner Bros. Records. In support of the album’s released, the Deftones’ 2016 is looking to be full of a touring. In February, they announced a world tour that will find the band visiting North American venues as well as venues in Europe and Iceland. The complete list of tour dates can be seen here.

Deftones release new song “Doomed User”

It’s been over a month since the Deftones announced plans to release a new album and unleashed the lead single from it. Now, the California-based band has returned to release another new song from the impending album. On Wednesday (March 16), the group joined forces with Sirius XM to exclusively premiered “Doomed User,” the second single off of Gore.

“It’s got a rockin’ rhythm and a high-tech sound that will make you shake your body down to ground,” explains frontman Chino Moreno to the music station about the new single. Though the new track is currently unavailable for purchase, Sirius XM’s Octane channel is allowing fans to listen to the new track ahead of time. Check out the new song here. For those whose bodies were shaken to the ground, “Doomed User” will officially be available for purchase beginning this Thursday, March 17.

“Doomed User” will join lead single “Prayers / Triangles” on the band’s eighth studio record. Gore is set to be released on April 8 through Warner Bros. Records. Pre-orders for Gore are currently available on the band’s website.

In support of the band’s new album, the Deftones will hit the road throughout the spring and summer. The lengthy tour which will find the group touring throughout North America and Europe, will officially kick off tonight at the Never Say Never Festival in Mission, TX. They will follow that up by hopping over to SPIN Magazine’s SXSW party in San Antonio tomorrow evening. The complete list of tour dates can be seen here.

Gore is the follow-up to 2012’s Koi No Yokan.