Tool, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold top bill for Daytona's Welcome to Rockville 2023
DAYTONA BEACH — Veteran headbangers Tool, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and Pantera will be the headlining attractions at Welcome To Rockville, part of a lineup of 95 acts on the bill when the four-day heavy-metal festival returns for its third year May 18-21 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We are so excited to be bringing this fantastic lineup to Welcome To Rockville,” Danny Wimmer, founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the festival’s Los Angeles-based promoter, said as part of a midday Wednesday announcement on social media.
“Our fans have been wanting Pantera, and along with one of Avenged Sevenfold’s first live shows in five years, crowd favorite Slipknot, and one of the greatest rock bands of all time, Tool, we are delivering a jam-packed weekend to the ‘The World Center of Rock.’”
Slipknot will headline the festival’s opening night on May 18, with the top spot anchored throughout the rest of the weekend by Avenged Sevenfold on May 19; Pantera on May 20; and Tool on the festival’s closing night May 21.
Other marquee acts slated to perform over the four-day event include Deftones, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Evanescence, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice Cooper, The Mars Volta and Puscifer, among others.
Jose “Metal Ambassador” Mangin, a well-known heavy-metal fixture on Sirius XM, will host the event with on-stage appearances and fan meet and greets.
Welcome to Rockville 2023 full lineup
Here’s the full lineup, which is subject to change:
Thursday, May 18: Slipknot; Rob Zombie; Queens of the Stone Age; Puscifer; Trivium; Bullet For My Valentine; Black Veil Brides; Suicidal Tendencies; Avatar; Black Stone Cherry; Converge; Band-Maid; Austin Meade; Stray From the Path; Brutus; Rain City Drive; Bloodywood; Malevolence; Vended; Rivals; Nevertel; Widow7; Conquer Divide; Budderside.
Friday, May 19: Avenged Sevenfold; Evanescence; Hardy; I Prevail; Motionless In White; Asking Alexandria; Sleeping with Sirens; Badflower; Ayron Jones; Memphis May Fire; From Ashes to New; Born of Osiris; The Warning; Mothica; Des Rocs; Varials; Tallah; Tigercub; Slay Squad; Ryan Oakes; Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts; Bastardane; OTTTO; Until I Die.
Saturday, May 20: Pantera; Godsmack; Alice Cooper; Chevelle; Alter Bridge; Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening; Knocked Loose; Rival Sons; Yelawolf Presents: Sometimes Y; Pop Evil; Suicide Silence; Sepultura; The Bronx; Poorstacy; Ho99o9; Zero 9:36; Maylene and the Sons of Disaster; Dayseeker; Dead Poet Society; Kreator; The Violent; Starcrawler; Hammerhedd.
Sunday, May 21: Tool; Deftones; Incubus; The Mars Volta; Coheed & Cambria; Pennywise; Ghostemane; Grandson; Sueco; Filter; Deafheaven; Anti-Flag; Senses Fail; New Years Day; Nothing; Nowhere.; Angel Du$t; Nova Twins; Point North; Wargasm; Bob Vylan; Capital Theatre; Uncured; and Reddstar.
The 2023 lineup was hailed by Daytona International Speedway President Frank Kelleher as part of Wednesday’s announcement.
"Danny Wimmer Presents has done it yet again, producing a spectacular, anticipated lineup of legendary rock bands for the 2023 edition of Welcome To Rockville,” Kelleher said. “The event is fast becoming a tradition here at The World Center of Entertainment, hosting 150,000 concertgoers from all over the world. It's a huge win-win for our guests and our community. We can’t wait for next May.”
Also on Wednesday, single-day and weekend passes for the festival went on sale at the event’s website, welcometorockville.com. Cost is $109.99 (plus $27.91 fee) for single-day passes, with weekend passes available for $259.99 (plus $56.12 fee). VIP packages also are available. For the first time in the event’s history, Early Bird Passes sold out before the band lineup was announced, according to the promoter.
Severe storms rocked festival in May
The 2023 edition of the event will mark Rockville’s third year at Daytona International Speedway, following a successful run as a popular outdoor concert fixture in Jacksonville for nearly a decade.
Over that time, it has built a solid reputation for presenting dozens of bands annually, including a long roster of A-list heavy-metal heroes. In May, the festival’s scheduled acts featured nearly 90 bands, including headliners KISS, Korn, Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails.
That four-day event was marred, however, by a weekend’s worth of severe weather over Daytona International Speedway that forced two of Rockville’s four headlining bands, Korn and Guns N’ Roses, to cancel scheduled performances.
Other bands also were knocked off the schedule as the event’s promoter, Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents, scrambled to re-set the festival lineup as a series of strong storms pummeled the Speedway.
Over the course of two days of the event, frustrated fans were herded to shelter in the Speedway grandstand or in their vehicles during multiple delays caused by lightning-laden storms that occasionally packed potential for high winds and quarter-sized hail.
After the festival was cut short for the second consecutive day on Saturday, there was a flood of complaints from fans on the Welcome to Rockville Facebook page about congestion in the parking lots and in the concourse of the Speedway grandstand, as well as demands for refunds on tickets purchased.
In response, Danny Wimmer Presents offered partial refunds to ticketholders for two days of the event that were cut short by the severe weather.
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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Welcome to Rockville 2023 lineup includes Tool, Slipknot in Daytona
