Welcome to Rockville unveils 2024 date in Daytona, some ticket packages on sale this week
If you’ve been waiting to make plans for 2024 edition of the Welcome to Rockville music festival at Daytona International Speedway, at least a few key details are now available.
The mammoth four-day heavy-metal festival will return May 9-12 to Daytona International Speedway, it was announced Monday by the event’s Los Angeles-based promoter Danny Wimmer Presents.
The announcement on social media and the event’s official website, welcometorockville.com, also included details on early-bird weekend ticket and parking passes that go on sale at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 2, on the website. On the home page, fans are promised more stages and more bands than the 95 acts featured on four stages at the 2023 edition earlier this year.
Additional highly anticipated information, including the festival’s lineup, will be released in the fall, according to the promoter.
What tickets are going on sale now and what's the cost?
The Wednesday on-sale will include weekend general admission wristbands for the four-day event for an initial early-bird price of $269.99 plus taxes and fees. When an allotted number of tickets are sold at that price, the cost increases to $289.99, plus taxes and fees.
Also going on sale Wednesday will be weekend general admission 4-packs for $1,039.96, plus taxes and fees. When that allotment has been sold, the cost increases to $1,119.96, plus taxes and fees.
Weekend VIP ticket packages also will be on sale Wednesday for an initial cost of $599.99, plus taxes and fees, a price that eventually will increase to $619.99. A limited number of Daytona Owner’s Club VIP packages also will go on sale Wednesday at a cost of $1,599.99, plus taxes and fees.
Military, medical, firefighter and police personnel can register for discounts on available tickets on the website. There also will be festival pass and hotel bundles on sale starting Wednesday.
Early-bird passes may be purchased with an extended payment plan for as little as $10 down with as long as seven months to pay the balance.
Weekend RV camping packages also go on sale Wednesday for costs that range from $459 to $999, plus fees. Cost for car and tent camping ranges from $259 to $379, plus fees. Weekend general parking passes, at $125 plus fees, also go on sale Wednesday.
Early festival date gets social media praise
The 2024 festival date — over Mother’s Day weekend — is earlier in May than in previous years in Daytona Beach, a shift that was praised by some eagle-eyed observers of a Friday teaser post about Monday’s announcement on Rockville’s Facebook page.
Many seemed to think that an earlier date might offer the prospect of cooler weather and possibly fewer of the thunderstorm delays that have interrupted the event in previous years since the festival moved to the Speedway in 2021 from its longtime home in Jacksonville.
“Might not be too hot,” commented Kristin Burke of Clearwater.
Rockville's 2023 festival drew record attendance
An estimated 170,000 fans attended the 2023 edition of Welcome to Rockville that unfolded May 18-21 in the Speedway’s massive infield. That’s a record-setting total that eclipses the event’s previous high of 161,000 set in 2021, Rockville’s first year in Daytona Beach after nearly a decade in Jacksonville.
A rock fest recap: Welcome to Rockville 2023 a big hit with fans, Daytona Beach hoteliers
Compared with the 2022 edition of the event, when a series of severe storms resulted in the cancellation of weekend performances by two of the festival’s headliners, this year’s Rockville unfolded with minimal weather disruptions featuring performances by Tool, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and Pantera as part of a lineup of 95 heavy-metal acts.
Although the lineup for the 2024 edition won't be announced until the fall, fans are already lobbying hard for their favorite potential headliners on the festival’s Facebook page, with veterans System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age and Limp Bizkit receiving plenty of shout-outs.
Did Maynard James Keenan get political in drag?
Among the headlines that reverberated from the 2023 Rockville was online speculation that Tool lead singer Maynard James Keenan was taking a jab at a wave of LGBTQ-restricting bills by the Florida Legislature by briefly performing in drag during the band’s main stage set.
In case you missed it: Did Tool protest anti-drag bill at Welcome to Rockville? Maynard James Keenan responds
However, the singer responded that wasn’t the case:
"I've been cross-dressing since long before these clickbait-junkie dupes were out of diapers,” Keenan said in a quote forwarded to The News-Journal by his Los Angeles-based publicist.
“It's pretty crazy the technology and the prosthetics nowadays, how they've come along, and I just was considering bringing the look back,” the singer said. “And that's really all there is to it. I'm not a political fella — had nothing to do with Florida."
Stay tuned for more 2024 details
Visit the festival’s official website, welcometorockville.com, for updates on tickets, lineup and other Rockville information.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Welcome to Rockville reveals 2024 date at Daytona Speedway
