After a four-year hiatus — mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival made its glorious return to Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
Much like the first Sonic Temple in 2019, the 2023 edition was headlined by Foo Fighters on its closing day. Other headliners included Tool (Thursday), Avenged Sevenfold (Friday) and KISS (Saturday). This year marked the first year the festival expanded to four days. It was also the first time Sonic Temple was held over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
At times, the festival felt like the original Sonic Temple or better. Other times, it felt like a step backward. And some things felt just out of place.
The Good
There’s no denying that the return of Sonic Temple itself is the highlight here. After the long break, and with many other Danny Wimmer Presents festivals restarting in 2022 — with Sonic Temple oddly left off the calendar — many worried about the fate of the long-time festival (including its predecessor here: Rock On The Range). But DWP resurrected the festival in the same way it began: with Foo Fighters headlining.
And that leads to the second good point. Foo Fighters once again delivered a performance that left fans happy and in tears. Just their third show with new drummer Josh Freese, the band was already in sync and delivering at a high level. Frontman Dave Grohl both honored their former drummer, Taylor Hawkins, while celebrating the new person behind the kit and their achievements. Likewise, Sonic Temple and DWP delivered another stellar lineup of acts both new and renowned for a weekend of hard rock and heavy metal. Some of our favorites include Sleeping With Sirens, Senses Fail, The Pretty Reckless, KISS, AWOLNATION, Holy Wars, Beartooth, Bullet For My Valentine, Band-Maid and Trivium — just to name a few.
A personal favorite of this writer, however, was Feast For The Crows. This metal act from Detroit (Algonac — to be exact) opened the Soundwave Stage on Day Two (Friday). Their brand of blistering metal was the perfect way to begin a long day and had those in attendance banging their heads and dancing around in the heat. These guys are working on releasing a new record as well as getting signed, so be sure to stay tuned.
For the first time since Rock On The Range 2014, there was not a single weather delay.
As one last point, Bru Brothers coffee was absolutely amazing!
The Bad
Parking has always been bad leaving Historic Crew Stadium at the end of the day. Attending almost every year since 2012 between ROTR and Sonic Temple, I know this for a fact. But the first day of the festival this year was the absolute worse. Our group (a mix of media and regular fans) left halfway through Tool’s set, getting to our vehicle by about 10pm. It took two hours just to be able to back out of said spot, and by time we left the festival grounds it was well past midnight. Local officials were called in to meet with DWP to address the traffic delay, and the rest of the weekend was a relative breeze compared to Thursday — but it was outright terrible.
While the quality of sound was great all weekend on the Temple and Octane stages, the Soundwave stage seemingly was not for many acts. In some cases, this may have been on the band (more on that later) but it happened often enough to make note of it. It did little to stop fans from head banging, moshing and dancing, but it was noticeable.
For a festival with “art” in its name, there was seemingly a lack of it. In 2019, artists would be doing live paintings and art shows in the concession areas while also selling art they’ve created. This year, there were a few booths set up for artists to sell their artwork, but there seemed to be no live art performances. I did purchase a set of hand-painted coasters with Chris Cornell, Dimebag, Johnny Cash and Metallica however.
The Ugly
As mentioned previously, the sound was off for many performances on the Soundwave stage. Sleeping With Sirens immediately comes to mind. However, Senses Fail performed on this stage on Saturday and boy was it rough — fun, but rough. Vocalist James “Buddy” Nielsen was certainly having fun on stage, at one point imitating ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and the band broke into half a dozen brief covers, and the fans were wildly into it. But it was messy. The band seemed out of sync, Buddy’s vocals were all over the place and it left a lot to be desired. It was insanely fun, but sounded terrible.
KISS was another fun performance. While never being a huge fan of the legendary act, it is hard to say it was a poor performance and even I danced to a few songs (Detroit Rock City, for example). But this is being put in the “ugly” category because it was literally ugly. Gene Simmons close ups were a moist and wet affair. I found myself cringing any time the camera men zoomed in on the legend. To add, KISS mentioned this was their last time in Columbus — they said something similar at Chicago Open Air in 2017; I’ll believe this band is done when pigs fly.
The beverage selection was top notch. Whether it was Metallica’s Blackened whiskey, Maynard James Keenan’s Caduceus Cellars wine, Beatbox or even simply Jack Daniels — there was something for everybody. Also, free water and Bru Brothers coffee! The food selection, however, was lacking compared to 2019’s Sonic Temple. In the past, there would be gourmet food options. This year, just about everything seemed to be some variation of fried or high in sodium. There was some variety; whether it be turkey legs or Island Noodles, burgers or chicken tenders, tacos or poke bowls. But as someone who is following a strict diet, I ended up having a Greek gyro for lunch every single day of the festival; lamb, chicken or vegetable. And it was served with fries. This was by no means bad, but it falls into this category just based on the better options in years past.
Finally, DWP should reconsider some of the acts it regularly features for its festivals. While each day of Sonic Temple had many fans in attendance, Sunday was the clear fan favorite. Foo Fighters filled the place while the parking lot was backed up halfway through Tool’s set. Some acts, such as Rob Zombie, play these festivals so much that interest is low for their set.
Ultimately, we are happy to see Sonic Temple return and hope it continues for many years to come. For years, this festival has been the source of introduction to many up and coming artists, such as Oxymorrons, Feast For The Crows and Holy Wars. See you in 2024, Sonic Temple!
