Welcome to Rockville Day One coverage! I’m here in (very hot) Daytona, Fla., for the largest rock festival in the US! As someone who’s never done a four-day festival, I can already very confidently say my body is going to be hurting after this.
After walking around and getting to take in the sights of this massive festival, we started our day with a later set, checking out State Champs at the Garage stage. This year, for the first time Garage Stage is the festival’s only tented stage with misting fans. It was incredibly helpful as Thursday ended up being the hottest day we’re supposed to have with a feels like over 100 degrees at one point.
State Champs brought incredible energy and a renewed boost of morale for hot Rockvillians at the Garage Stage, to be able to continue into the rest of our days. After, we headed over to Octane Stage to catch Staind. It was cool to get to see them, I always forget they’re a much more emo band than I recall.
From there, we headed back to the Garage Stage to catch the Wonder Years, who always put on such a great set! I ended up doing a ton of walking from the Garage Stage to the front of the festival, so I ended up getting some super painful day one blisters.
After The Wonder Years, we headed over to catch some Godsmack, only to once again head back to Garage Stage to see The Story So Far. I’ve never been to a festival as big as Welcome To Rockville, and I noticed that the actual layout controls the crowd very well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in my life. The next set we got to see was Five Finger Death Punch back at Octane. This was my first time seeing them live, and man do they put on a show!
From there I once again walked back to the Garage Stage (last time I swear) to watch Mayday Parade close it out. They started with a new single titled “Blame it On the Youth” to classics like “Jersey” and “I’d Hate To Be You When People Find Out This Song Is About You.” Of course I did end up leaving early to watch Guns N’ Roses, and ended up walking up as they started playing “Welcome To The Jungle.”
I did manage to order some merch ahead of time for pick up which I was excited about, but upon getting there, I found out that it does not guarantee you will get the merch you ordered. I ordered a small in the “Welcome To Rockville” muscle top, and when I arrived I was given a medium, as the small had sold out. The gentleman next to me had pre ordered a couple different merch items, all of which were sold out. So it appears this is more a request rather than an actual order that’s put aside. Knowing that, I would skip the order ahead and wait in the merchlines (they aren’t bad at all) so you don’t get your hopes up of getting a specific size/ merch style that can sell out.
We also got some dumplings while we were there to snack on, they were good! Today we plan to take advantage of Island Noodz, as we’ve heard great things. Thats all for day 1! Follow @thepitmedia on Instagram and Tiktok for more daily updates and videos! Let’s meet back here tomorrow at the same time for the day two recap.
