Hey it’s Noah. Your Sunday morning host on 93.9 X Indy’s Rock Station and I’m a Festival Newbie. As someone who has lived in the backwaters of the Midwest, I haven’t had the opportunity to go and see various concerts or festivals in my lifetime. So when I got the chance to cover Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival this past Memorial Day Weekend, I jumped on it faster than an Indy Car! This would be my very first rock festival, let alone my first music festival in general.
Over the next few days, I’ll be talking about my experiences, the various groups I saw and the absolute craziness of the crowds!
Day 1 was really just a learning experience for me and my friend Billy, who joined me for this whirlwind of a weekend. We started the day early in Indy as we weren’t able to get a hotel the night before. So an early morning drive to Columbus was in front of us. The drive itself wasn’t terrible, just exhausting. We arrived at a completely different hotel to pick up our media credentials and were on our way to Crew Stadium. After spending $40 for parking (nobody said this trip was going to be cheap), we got into the stadium and tried to find our media area which was a trip all on its own. After running around the stadium for about an hour we finally got to the media area which felt like it became our home for the next few days. Free food and drinks (water and soda) and A/C made it even better!
There were a wide variety of artists that we saw but the ones that stood out to us the most were an Alt-Metal group from the UK called Wargasm; the Punk group Anti-Flag; a hard rock group and my personal favorite of the day called Beartooth; and one of the two major headliners Godsmack!
Let’s start with Wargasm. They took over the Soundwave stage, which was reserved for up and coming acts that haven’t really gained a lot of traction in the rock world and sort of acts as a proving ground for many of the acts that took over that stage. And boy, did Wargasm prove a lot during their set! With their heavy rageful sound, sexually charged lyrics, and their song Spit being a standout song for me, this Alt Metal group has a lot to offer. So keep an eye out for these kids.
The first of two punk groups to talk about was Anti-Flag! Based out of Pittsburgh, this group they took over the Octane stage, which focused on groups specifically played on the Octane channel on Sirius, hence the name (We need an X stage now). Anti-Flag brought the politically charged anger that one would expect from today’s punk sound. And I loved it! As a guy who grew up enjoying the sound of The Clash (They played Should I Stay or Should I Go by the way), getting that modern take of politically charged punk is what many people need to hear nowadays. But politics aside, they easily impressed many of the audience members who had their doubts.
@BEARTOOTHband know how to put on a killer rock show! #sonictemple pic.twitter.com/bDcksorj2A
— 939xindy (@939xindy) May 25, 2023
Next up are Ohio’s own BEARTOOTH! Taking over the Temple Stage, the festival’s main stage, these guys are killer. And if this short clip tells you anything, these guys know how to rock! From the pyro and screaming guitars, to the hard lyrics and crowd surfing, if you haven’t seen these guys live, make it your mission to! Nuff said!
And now the first of the two headliners of Day 1, Godsmack! They are celebrating 25 years of making music and they showed up in a big way at Sonic Temple. They played almost all of their hits as well as have a few surprises. One major surprise for me was the band bringing out Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford to do a melody of Aerosmith tunes. I was getting ready to go cover the next group but once I saw the piano rolled on stage I had to stay and boy was I happy I did. Hearing Sully Erna singing Dream On wasn’t on my 2023 Bingo Card, that’s for sure! Will they bring surprises like that to Ruoff in a couple months? Time will only tell!
Now you’re probably asking, what about this band or why didn’t you talk about this band? Don’t worry my friend, I will be posting a video blog in the coming week that will go into even further depth of all the shenanigans we got into!
Day 1 was probably the calmest of all four days at Sonic Temple and oh boy, do they get crazy! Keep your eyes glued on 939xindy.com for more from Sonic Temple!
