This is part four of a multi-part series in which I discuss the sights, sounds, and smells I experienced while attending the 2025 edition of Louder Than Life (“America’s Loudest Rock & Metal Festival”) in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky. Part one is here, part two is here, and part three is here. If you wanna read all kinds of stuff about previous editions of Louder Than Life, you can find it all here.
We woke up to rain on Day Four, and at 10:40 AM, we got a notification in the LTL app that severe weather was approaching, and they were asking people to seek shelter. After last year’s hurricane-related cancellation, I was nervous. A little after noon, they announced that the gates would be reopening soon, and that shuttle service had recommenced for the day. A few early bands were axed from the lineup, and set times began at 1:00. I was bummed that Chained Saint got bumped, but after the exhausting day that was Day Three, there was no chance I was gonna get to see them anyway. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see them again soon.
The kids are alright.
While we were walking toward the shuttle, a young fella approached us and said “excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you, but are you two going somewhere?” I told him we were headed to the shuttle pickup spot, and he said “the Louder Than Life shuttles?” I confirmed that to be accurate, then he asked if we minded if he walked with us, because he was from Michigan, and didn’t know where he was going. Once we got settled on the bus, we learned that his name is Brandon, he’d been to three concerts in his life (the only one I remember is They Might Be Giants), Day Four headliner Bring Me the Horizon was his favorite band, and he was gonna be seeing them live for the first time. We got separated at the entry gates and we never saw him again, but I hope he had a great time and made it back home safely. I thought about this scene the whole time we were together:
Kaitlin Olson plays drunk so believably.
The later start time meant everything got pushed back a bit, which worked in our favor in some ways, and threw a wrench in other plans. We technically arrived in time to catch part of Accept‘s set on the Reverb Stage, but given how long it would’ve taken to get there from the gates, we would’ve only seen like 10 minutes of it, so we opted for snacks and drinks in Top Shelf to start our day while Crown the Empire played on Main Stage 2. They weren’t really for me, but they were energetic, and they sounded good. They’re far from the worst thing I heard on Day Four of LTL2K25.
While they played, a dude who looked to be a little older than me, carrying two drinks and already quite shitfaced, walked up to me and hollered “WHADJA THINK OF SLEEP TOKEN?!” I told him we left before they played, and he looked at me in disbelief. “We were too tired from Day One, and the crowd was too thick,” I added, not having the heart to tell him I find them mostly boring.
This is the only Sleep Token video I’ve ever enjoyed.
My drunken friend then hollered “WHO’S YOUR BAND TODAY?!” I said “Testament. They’re playin way over on the Reverb Stage later.” He nodded disinterestedly, then shouted “HOW BOUT THREE DAYS GRACE?!” I told him I hadn’t really listened to them. He looked at me like I’d just told him his dog died. “THEY’RE FUCKIN AWESOME!” he hollered, nodding his head for emphasis. “Cool”, I responded. He then yelled “I’M DAVE!” and I said “Joel”, then he went in for a fistbump and I placed my open hand on his fist before realizing he wasn’t going for a handshake. We bumped fists, then shook hands, then he mercifully went to the other end of the table to shout at other strangers.
We started walking over to the Reverb Stage around 2:30 so we could find a good spot for Sebastian Bach at 2:45. We settled into what seemed like a friendly crowd and waited for 10 Years to finish their set on the neighboring Decibel Stage. When the band started to come on stage, a guy in front of me pulled out a full-sized flag and held it up toward the stage, blocking most of my view, and completely blocking the view of dozens of people behind him. After he held it up for the third time in the first minute of the first song, a dude to my right asked him to stop, and he said something about being from the same town as someone in the band. The guy next to him said “yeah, okay” and flipped him off.
By the time the first song ended, he had blocked half of my view no less than 10 times. Finally, about halfway through “Slave to the Grind”, I snapped. “PUT THAT GODDAMN FLAG DOWN!” I shouted. He turned to me and said the same thing he said to the other guy, and I said “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHY YOU’RE DOING IT, YOU’RE BLOCKING EVERYONE’S VIEW!” He told me to stand somewhere else, and I told him to go fuck himself, and he kept the flag down for a few songs, then during “Monkey Business”, he tentatively held it up again, saw that I was not going to punch him in the head (I wasn’t tryna get escorted off the premises before Testament played), and then felt emboldened to hold it up a few more times.
During a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s “I Don’t Know”, a spot opened up in front of the flag-waving dickhead, and he turned to me and indicated that I could move up if I wanted to. I stared at him until he turned back around, and I tried my goddamndest to enjoy set closer “I Remember You”, but that twatwaffle really got my beans bakin. If he’d raised the flag up once or twice, I wouldn’t have minded so much (even though flags and banners are not supposed to be allowed inside the gates), but he was bein a world class asshole with that thing.
Fuck this guy. And if you are that guy, then fuck you.
The shift in set times meant that we were able to head back to the main stage area to catch part of Tech N9ne‘s set, which now started five minutes after Sebastian Bach’s set ended. I’m not overly familiar with Tech N9ne, but I love his rapid-fire rapping style, and I was glad I got to experience some of it live.
I’m all out of clever captions.
We watched from VIP so we could hang with Mitch and Amanda for a bit, then we re-upped our drinks and went back to the Reverb Stage for Queensrÿche‘s set at 3:55. Neither of us had seen them before, but we were pretty stoked. They sounded great, and frontman Todd La Torre was belting out the high notes from the inner depths of his very soul. The only complaint Sheila and I had about their set is that they did not play “Jet City Woman” or “Silent Lucidity”, and that was equal parts silly, disappointing, and befuddling.
Who needs Geoff Tate when you got this guy and his magic pipes?
I wanted to check out Counterparts on the Loudmouth Stage, but I desperately needed food, shade, and a seat, so we went back to Top Shelf for a bit as Slaughter to Prevail took to Main Stage 1, and they were fine. My respite was brief, as I had to book it back to the Reverb Stage to see Testament at 5:05. I’ve seen them a few times over the years, and in my experience, there’s no such thing as a bad Testament show. This one was no exception. They were on figurative fire, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a band smile so much while they’re playing. I was a little bummed that we only got one song each from The Legacy and The New Order, but they played “Return to Serenity”, which I did not expect, and that was awesome. I also saw some kids on who couldn’t have been more than 16 singing along with every word, and that made me very happy.
Every video from their set that day sounds like it was recorded from inside someone’s butthole, but this one seems a little better than the rest, and it’s one of my favorite Testament songs.
The adjusted set times caused Testament to finish halfway through Glassjaw‘s set on the Loudmouth Stage, so I did not bother trying to see the last 10 minutes of Glassjaw, but we did get to watch hometown heroes Knocked Loose on Main Stage 1, and they delivered the motherfucking goods. As with Testament, every Knocked Loose video I could find from LTL sounded like muddy buttholes, so here’s the studio version of the song they opened with.
It was a helluva show.
Three Days Grace followed on Main Stage 2, and I can confirm that my drunk buddy Dave was correct, they were “fuckin awesome”, as in “fuckin awesomely boring”. Apparently they got a new singer one time, then the old singer rejoined last year or something, and now they have two singers, but they both sucked pretty equally. We departed for the Loudmouth Stage to see The Dillinger Escape Plan, and it was good to get away from there. I hadn’t seen TDEP live before, and I don’t know very many of their songs, but I like everything I’ve heard, and I was looking forward to watching them.
Here’s a pretty cool picture I took before they started.
The band came out and frontman Dimitri Minakakis stood silent and still at the front of the stage, then held a single finger to his lips to shush the crowd, then they blasted into “Destro’s Secret”, and for the next forty-five minutes, absolute chaos ensued.
I’m baffled as to how Ben Weinman can play his guitar and move like that, but I’m also glad he can.
They closed with Certified Banger “43% Burnt”, and my body was at least 87% busted, but we still had to go back to Top Shelf to see at least a little bit of $uicideboy$ on Main Stage 2. Our nephew DJ told us about them a few years ago, and we hesitantly listened to a couple of songs and didn’t hate them, but that was pretty much the end of it. When the lineup was announced, we listened to some more of their songs, because that’s what we do when the lineup drops. We both liked them more than we thought we would, but we mostly wanted to check them out so we could tell DJ that we did.
Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the hell outta their set. I doubt I’ll ever listen to them on purpose, and I wouldn’t pay 2025 ticket prices just to see them headline, but I’d definitely watch them again if I could.
I don’t understand why/how mullets are in fashion, but I do not care for it.
They played for an hour, and we left when they were finished, because we saw Bring Me the Horizon in 2022, and they aren’t really our thing, plus, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly over the course of this series, it was hot, and I am old, and the new location is simply too goddamn big. I’m currently planning to write at least one more thing about LTL2K25, in which I’ll discuss some of pros and cons of the new layout in more detail, and I’ll include some pictures that didn’t quite fit the flow of the first four parts.
Thanks for reading. Tell a friend, if you have one. And be excellent to each other.
This is part three of a multi-part series in which I discuss the sights, sounds, and smells I experienced while attending the 2025 edition of Louder Than Life (“America’s Loudest Rock & Metal Festival”) in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky. Part one is here, and part two is here. If you wanna read all kinds of stuff about previous editions of Louder Than Life, you can find it all here.
Day Three was tight. Still too big, still too hot, still too many people, but overall, I gotta say it was a good day. Quannic was the first band I wanted to see (at 12:30), and I was worried about making it on time. In addition to the festival, there was also a University of Louisville football game at noon, plus Churchill Downs was hosting their first Saturday horse beatings of the season starting at 12:45, and all those locations are extremely close together. I was talkin about tryna leave at like 10:00 AM, just knowing that traffic was gonna be a nightmare.
As usual, Sheila was smarter than me, and she reminded me of something I already knew well from living in a college town: if you wait until the football game starts, you can get pretty much anywhere you want with very little hassle. She suggest we leave around noon, and I reluctantly agreed, and we ended up having the fastest, smoothest, simplest shuttle ride of the entire fest. We were in Top Shelf getting snacks and drinks before Quannic even started playing, and I got to watch most of their set, and hear all of it, and they were very cool. I could easily imagine them playing shows with Hum, Shiner, Jets to Brazil, and the like, circa 1997.
I couldn’t find any videos from Louder Than Life, so here’s a music video from a month ago. I don’t recall them sounding quite so “static-y” live, but they definitely brought the riffs.
Since the crowd was much thinner than the day before, we decided to make our way over to the vicinity of the Decibel Stage. Disembodied Tyrant was in full swing when we arrived, and they sounded so fucking good. We managed to score a little bit of tree shade and took in the scene. So many people in every direction. Aside from the lil food oasis we fought our way to and from the night before, this seemed to be where all the food in the entire festival (aside from VIP and Top Shelf) was located, and that seemed (and seems) like a bad idea.
Intensity in this particular city. I was nowhere near this close to the stage.
We met up with Mitch and Amanda in VIP and hung there while Superheaven played, and they sounded great. I didn’t know them until after they were announced, but I dig their sound, and I was hoping I’d get to see at least a little bit of their set, and I’m glad I did. I also hope to see them again someday.
This is so far up my alley it might come out the other side.
We had to bail before Superheaven finished, on account of SpiritWorld was playing at 2:10 on the Decibel Stage, and there was no way we were gonna miss that. They were Sheila’s #1 Must-See Band of the Festival, and they were in my Top Five. I’d listened to them a little bit prior to the announcement of the lineup, and I liked what I’d heard, but I hadn’t done a deep dive yet. Sheila was lamenting the general lack of bands “for her”, and I told her I thought she’d probably like SpiritWorld. Two months later, she’s blasting SpiritWorld in the shower and shouting along with every word.
She shouted along with every word here, too.
The only negative thing about their set was that lead guitarist Randy Moore was absent, which resulted in a severe lack of tasty dive bomb solos.
Some of those tasty dive bomb solos can be found herein. If you like this, all other SpiritWorld videos and albums are also recommended, though you could probably skip their 2017 demo. It’s not nearly as good as the albums.
By the end, we were drenched in sweat, and my neck felt like it was gonna snap in half. We started the long journey back to Top Shelf for snacks and drinks, and caught the end of Fleshwater‘s mid-afternoon set. I didn’t expect I’d get to hear any of it, so it was a pleasant surprise. If they hadn’t been up against SpirtWorld, I definitely would’ve watched them.
Failure took Main Stage 1 at two fiddy. I’ve only listened to one Failure album, 1996’s Fantastic Planet, and it’s great, but for some reason, I never bothered to dig into the rest of their discography. Still, I like their sound, and I wanted to check em out since I had the chance. They sounded great, but I found it hard to focus on them in those particular surroundings, especially in my newfound post-SpritWorld existence. Following SpiritWorld would’ve been a Herculean task for any band I can currently think of. The result is that I was kinda zoned out for almost the entirety of Failure’s set, and I remember basically nothing of it. I imagine seeing them in a dark space would be a mystifying experience.
See? Mystifying.
I was interested in checking out Devildriver on the Decibel Stage, but the crowd was starting to pick up in the bottleneck zone, and I didn’t wanna stray too far from the Main Stage area, so we went back over to VIP to hang with Mitch and Amanda and watch a bit of Black Veil Brides on Main Stage 2. I’m a little embarrassed about how much I enjoyed their set. It was very “Hot Topic Metal”, but it was better than a lot of other stuff I experienced over the weekend.
I spent the last half of their set standing in the midst of General Admission, Main Stage 1 looking for my pals Stevo and Carmel, who were in for the day, and were gonna watch my #1 Must-See Band of the Festival Acid Bath with me. I found them as BVB was ending, and we moved up closer to the stage in preparation. Long-time reader (sic) may recall that I previously stated in this blog that if Acid Bath were added to the Louder Than Life lineup, I would shit everyone’s pants. In the interest of full disclosure, I feel it is my duty to inform you that I did not shit anyone’s pants, not even my own.1 I did sweat the hell out of my sleeveless shirt, though.
Acid Bath was every bit as amazing as I hoped they’d be, and the setlist, while short, was stacked with a lot of my favorites. I love the extra-heavy Acid Bath songs with the extra-harsh vocals as much as the next guy, but I’m a biiiiiiig fan of Dax Riggs’ singing voice, so it was extra cool to experience “Graveflower”, “Bleed Me an Ocean”, and “Venus Blue” live. “Paegan Love Song” and “Tranquilized” and “Dr. Seuss is Dead” and “Dead Girl” were pretty amazing too, even if I would’ve rather heard the original version of that last one.2
I owe everyone in this video a pants-shitting.
When “Dr. Seuss is Dead” ended, Stevo said “jeez, go dry your shirt off, will ya?”, and he was right to call me out – I was a regular ol Sweaty Betty. We parted ways for the time being, and I reconvened with Sheila, Mitch, and Amanda while Motionless in White played on Main Stage 2, and I don’t remember anything about them. I had some interest in seeing Kittie over on the Reverb Stage, but I wasn’t interested enough to actually make that trip again yet, plus I wanted to be near the main stages for Stone Temple Pilots at 5:50.
I sadly never got to see STP with Scott Weiland (RIP), but I did get to hear them with then-new singer Jeff Gutt at LTL 2019. I was pleasantly surprised with how well Gutt pulled off Weiland’s vocals, and I was stoked to have a chance to give the band my full attention while they played. They ripped through a nine-song set of classic bangers from the first three albums. Personal highlights were “Big Empty”, “Plush”, “Interstate Love Song”, and “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”, but the whole set was pretty flawless.
Promises of what I seemed to be, only watched the time go by.
I was also interested in seeing Machine Head at 6:55 on the Decibel Stage, but it was hot and I’m old, plus dinnertime snacks went out in the Top Shelf tent at 6:00, and I was in need of nourishment, post-haste. I Prevail on Main Stage 2 was the soundtrack, and I don’t recall anything specific about them, so I figure they must not’ve sucked.
A Perfect Circle was on Main Stage 1 at 7:35, and under most circumstances, I would’ve hung around for that, but on this day, Cypress Hill was playing on the Reverb Stage at 7:40, and that definitely took precedence. Even having never seen APC live before, I can safely say I made the right decision. Cypress Hill played for one hour with a full band, and it was amazing.
Get my four-footer, and bring it on…
Sheila and I met up with Stevo and Carmel at Caduceus Wine Garden and caught up a bit while Trivium played on the Decibel Stage. I only know a couple of Trivium songs, but they sounded really good, and I suspect I would’ve enjoyed them if I’d paid them more attention. After Trivium, we parted ways with our friends while Bad Omens played on Main Stage 2. They wanted to find a suitable spot in GA for Day Three headliner Deftones, and we wanted to sit in some conditioned air, so we headed back to Top Shelf.
Not pictured: forty pounds of sweat.
This was my second time seeing Deftones, and they sounded much better this time, plus I’ve become more familiar with their discography, so I enjoyed it quite a bit more than the first time, even though I enjoyed the hell outta them that time, too. As during the Slayer set from two nights before, I made a Show Friend while watching from the Elevated Viewing Area. We sang along together and banged our heads mightily. Sheila had to bail about halfway through, but I managed to stick it out until nearly the end, making my way toward the shuttle as the penultimate song of the night, “Engine No. 9” started. I woulda liked to’ve heard closer “7 Words”, as that was the first Deftones song I ever heard, but as I’ve mentioned before, it was a hot day, and I’m an old man, and I had still more rockin to do on Day Four, which will be covered here soon.
Thanks for reading. It’d be cool if you shared it with your friends and loved ones who appreciate aggressive music and fart jokes.
My guts were a bit rumbly by the time I got back to the hotel, but that was because of the delicious sesame cauliflower that was out for both lunchtime and dinnertime snacks in the Top Shelf tent, and how I couldn’t stop eating it. I actually dreamed about eating it that night, but no pants-shittery occurred that day from me. ↩︎
I fully understand why they don’t bust out a seven-minute acoustic song in the middle of their set, but it really is the superior version. ↩︎
This is part two of a multi-part series in which I discuss the sights, sounds, and smells I experienced while attending the 2025 edition of Louder Than Life (“America’s Loudest Rock & Metal Festival”) in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky. For part one, click here. If you’re interested in other nonsense I’ve written about past Louder Than Lifeseses, click here.
As mentioned previously, Day Two was the least interesting day for me, and it was the same for Sheila. I wanted to see XCOMM, but their set started at 11:45, and there was a zero percent chance in hell that I was gonna be able to get there that early after the workout that was Day One. This band has been around for a little over two years, and I dunno how old these dudes are, but they are obviously young, and they kick a ton of ass. Just now, when I tried to find their ages, I learned that Scott Ian’s son Revel is the drummer, and now you know that, too.
No way I woulda been able to resist gettin the fuck down down to this.
I had some interest in seeing Nonpoint on Main Stage 1. I don’t actually remember Nonpoint from back in the day, but when Sheila and I did our pre-festival homework, I enjoyed them enough that I figured I’d probably also enjoy it live if I happened to be close enough to experience it. My main interest in their set was that my buddy Mitch really wanted to see them, and one of the things I enjoy most about live music is seeing other people losing themselves in the experience, especially people I know and care about. Anyway, we didn’t get there early enough for their 12:45 start time, but Mitch assured me they sounded great.
I bet this sounded tight as hell live.
Sheila and I had a bit of interest in watching Gloryhammer on the Reverb Stage, just for the silliness of it, but as I mentioned above, Day One was so fucking exhausting. The blazing sun and 90° F temperatures didn’t help, but the worst part easily is the sprawling nature of the new location. We had to really ease into Day Two. It was gonna be another hot one out there, and general Admission and Single-Day VIP passes had sold out several days before the fest began, largely due to Sleep Token‘s spot as headliner. No disrespect intended to official headliner Avenged Sevenfold (or my homeboy Dustin), but in terms of drawing a crowd, Sleep Token was definitely the headliner that day.1
Everything about this band is goofy as shit, and I don’t really fuck with power metal that much, but I defy you to listen to this song one time and try to forget that chorus.
We were both very interested in seeing Walls of Jericho on the Loudmouth Stage, but due to our slowness, and the increased traffic on the ride in, we only got to catch their last two songs. They were great, and I’d love to see them again, but, like, for real next time. We popped into Top Shelf afterward for some snacks and drinks, then fought our way through the crowd over to VIP, where we hung out in the shade with Mitch and Amanda and watched Static X. I don’t think I ever listened to Static X on purpose before this year’s lineup was announced. While doin our pre-fest homework, I learned that I knew their song “Push It”, and I figured I could do worse than hearing that live, if I happened to be in the vicinity. Their stage show was hella fun, and they sounded good, and they played “Push It”, and they played another song I kinda knew, so I was happy enough.
More fun than a basket full of puppies. I’m just kidding. Nothing could be more fun than that.
We went back to Top Shelf after Static X and stayed there for the next few hours. One of the two reasons I even bothered to leave the hotel that day was Insane Clown Posse, and they were playing Main Stage 1 at 4:10 PM. My homeboy Jim was pretty into them for a few years in our late teens, but that was when I was getting super into hardcore, post-hardcore, and emo, and I never really gave them a fair shake. I knew a few songs prior to the lineup release (all thanks to Jim), and I’ve always been fascinated by their weird lore, and by the Juggalo community, but most of my juggaknowledge was gleaned from the commercials for the Gathering of the Juggalos, the “Straight Up Juggahos” episode of Workaholics, and of course the Saturday Night Liveparody of their song “Miracles”.
So silly. I always forget “fuckin magnets, how do they work?!” is not from the parody version.
Anyway, ICP’s set was fuckin lit, as the kids may or may not say.2 It was forty minutes of non-stop mayhem, silliness, and Faygo Breaks.
I could never be all up in that Faygo splash zone, but I would not hesitate to see them live again.
I was interesting in checking out Suicide Silence on the Loudmouth Stage at 5:00 PM, and as it was the closest stage to the Top Shelf exit, it would’ve been doable, but unfortunately the Loudmouth Stage was also the closet stage to the shuttle entrance, and the foot traffic was only increasing, plus like I said already, it was hot and the place was too big and I’m old and I’m out of shape even though I walk like 8-10 miles a day at work and I eat lots of vegetables and whole grains and protein.3
I don’t really fuck with deathcore all that much, either, but it woulda been dope to hear this live.
Dayseeker played on Main Stage 2 next, and I found them fairly boring, but I did see a shirt that said something like “I cried at a Dayseeker show and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” on the back of it, and I thought that was pretty funny. Mudvayne came along next on Main Stage 1, and while I appreciate what they do, they are not for me. Some other time I’ll tell the story of when I happened to see Mudvayne live before they were known outside the general vicinity of Peoria, Illinois.
Mudvayne played from 5:50-6:35. Somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00, I walked to the top level of the elevated viewing area in Top Shelf to take some pictures. Here they are now.4
That’s Main Stage 1 on the left, and Main Stage 2 on the right. I’m pretty much as far back as I can be on the top floor of the Top Shelf Elevated Viewing Area.
The Elevated Viewing Area used to be much closer to Main Stage 2. The General Admission area in front of the main stages in the new location isn’t nearly as deep as the old spot, so they made it wider.5 One of many cons for the new location.
That structure on the left edge of the picture is the Brand-New-This-Year VIP Elevated Viewing Area (EVA). Now assholes have their choice of three levels in which they can camp out and prop their feet up on chairs all the live long day.6
The VIP section used to be closer to Main Stage 1, also. DWP got the gold mine, VIP and Top Shelf got the shaft.
Moving to the left. The exit from the VIP area is just to the left of the EVA.
In previous years, the entrance to the VIP area has been right next to the exit from the VIP area, but this year, because of the aforementioned lack of depth of the new location, the VIP entrance is way back behind the EVA, which, due to bottlenecking with the entrance/exit to Kentucky Kingdom, added at least 10 minutes to the walk from Top Shelf as compared to Day One
Portajohn corrals just like that one on the left are one of the reasons we originally sprang for VIP four years ago. The assholes in VIP who camp out and prop their feet up on chairs all the live long day are one of the reasons we’ve gone Top Shelf the last three years.
Note the yellow “circle” on the right side of the picture. I used technology to indicate where the Brand-New-This-Year General Admission Shaded Viewing Area (GASVA) begins, and also where the GA main stage area food vendors start. Both of those things will come into play shortly.
The Loudmouth Stage is on the other side of those trees.
Trees were definitely a pro of the new location, even if every bit of shade was taken up at all times by people looking at their phones. Still, they were nice to look at, and they helped us breathe.
That’s the Top Shelf entrance/exit in the lower right portion of this picture, and the entrance/exit to the shuttles is in the hypothetical space approximately one inch to the left of the tree on the left edge, scalarly speaking.
The people in the vicinity of the Loudmouth Stage (in the center of the above picture) are about to be watching/listening to Whitechapel, and after missing them at the last two LTL’s, I planned on being among those people. The plan was to head over that way and get some food before meeting Mitch and Amanda there.
This is inside the Top Shelf area, and behind those trees lies the Highland Festival Grounds, former home of Louder Than Life. The building on the left, just above the Angel’s Envy tent is the shuttle pick-up/drop-off site.
I took the above photo at 5:48 PM, and we left Top Shelf no later than 6:00, which is when Whitechapel was scheduled to start. It took us less than 5 minutes to walk to Top Shelf from the Loudmouth Stage after Walls of Jericho finished their set at 2:25, so we thought that’d be plenty of time to hear/see the bulk of Whitechapel’s set. The joke was on us; it took us almost 10 minutes to walk over there, only to find that there were absolutely no food vendors in that area. I texted Mitch that we were gonna find food, then we’d meet them there. Due primarily to the people sitting on/in every possible surface in that GASVA, the lines at the food vendors had to split into like four or five lines per vendor, regardless of how many lines any given vendor was set up to handle at one time.
We finally managed to get in near the end of one of the lines for what we hoped would be big honkin slices of pizza, and eventually we scored our dinner (three big honkin slices of cheese pizza), then we proceeded to fight our way back through the vicinity of the GASVA, and longer story short, by the time we got back to the Loudmouth Stage, Whitechapel was finished, and now I’ve missed them three years in a row.
I was unhappy about that, but at least the pizza was good (and a relatively good value, as far as festival food goes), and anyway the next band on the Loudmouth Stage was the other (and primary) reason I bothered to leave the hotel that afternoon: straight outta Bridgeport (CT), metallic hardcore heroes Hatebreed.
The first time I heard Hatebreed was also the first time I visited the late, lamented Black Flag Music and Skate in Bedford, Indiana. The store owner/future homie Pat played their debut album, Satisfaction is the Death of Desire (1997) for me after finding out I was into Sick of it All, Suicidal Tendencies, and Pantera, and I purchased it immediately. I listened to it all the time for the next couple-few years, then I started smokin dope and got super into the Beatles for a while, and I never got around to listening to much after that first album. I liked everything I heard from them, I just didn’t think about listening to them so much anymore.
I was supposed to see them live in 2001, but it didn’t happen. I’ll tell that story another time, but as for this story, at 7:20 PM on Friday, September 19, my wildest seeing-Hatebreed-live-related dreams finally came true.
This is not my footage, but I can see Mitch and Amanda in it, and I was very close to them, so it’s a kinda somewhat faintly accurate representation of what I experienced.
Every band on Earth is lucky that they didn’t have to follow Hatebreed on that stage. For forty minutes, Hatebreed was the only thing that was real, and somewhere in time, twenty-one year-old Joel was smiling, and wondering why. He might’ve even started stomp-moshing all by himself like Scott Ian, which he always preferred to actual mosh pits.7
It’s surprisingly hard to find a gif of Scott Ian stomping around the stage while he plays guitar. I found two videos on YouTube that highlight it, but both were recorded from the front row (two different shows), and both were hard to watch, but for different reasons. If I’d somehow managed to watch the first one while listening to the second one, I think my brain would’ve caved in.
Forty-eight year-old Joel was also smiling, and he definitely knew why, but he was stomp moshing more like Messiah Marcolin, because it’s a little easier on the joints.
I am bewitched.
Forty minutes until Sleep Token took to Main Stage 2, and people were still steadily coming in from the main gates. None of us cared enough about Sleep Token to deal with all that bullmess, so the four of us took that opportunity to call it a night. I would’ve liked to have stayed for Avenged Sevenfold, if only to show Dustin that I don’t hate them, but based on what I’ve heard and read about the People Who Were There for Sleep Token, my night would’ve only gotten worse before A7X started playing, and besides, I had to save my strength for Deftones’ headlining set on Day Three, which was scheduled to end at 11:30 PM, aka two hours past my Bedtime.
Day Three also featured both Sheila’s #1 Must-See Band of the Festival and my #1 Must-See Band of the Festival, plus a bunch of other cool shit happened, and also a bunch more walking. I’ll be writing about all that and more soon. Like, soon soon. I’m holding myself to it.
As always, thanks for reading. Subscribe for updates, if you wanna. If you have any cool friends, maybe you could tell them about Clockwise Circle Pit. Later skaters. 🤘
Hello! And welcome to the first installment of my long, rambly thing about the spectacle that was Louder Than Life 2025 (“America’s Loudest Rock & Metal Festival”). If you’re a glutton for punishment, or perhaps you’re on doctor-ordered bed rest and need something to pass the time, you can find all the stuff I’ve written about previous years here. As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, this year’s festival was moved to the parking lot adjacent to the Highland Festival Grounds, making the layout completely different than the past five installments, all of which were already varying degrees of different than each other, layout wise. I personally found very few pros with regards to the new location, but I’ll get to all of that later.
The new layout was much bigger and more spread out, and included access to Kentucky Kingdom and an “expanded VIP section”, plus the merch tent was no longer a tent, but was instead inside the air-condtioned Kentucky Exposition Center. All those things sound great for crowd control, don’t they? The problem is, you gotta factor in all the people that will be filling up that expanded space, and the people are one of the main things that can really make or break one’s enjoyment of a large event.
I was jazzed to see Italian death metal freaks Fulci open up the main stages, and we planned things carefully so we could get there in time to see their entire set. I went much easier on the open bar at the Day Zero welcome party this year, on account of our traditional Day One breakfast date at Wild Eggs on Floyd Street was set for 8:30 AM on Thursday, which would give us plenty of time to catch our shuttle and get inside the gates before Fulci’s scheduled 11:45 start time.
Here’s me posing with my doppelgänger at the welcome party.
Speaking of our shuttle: that system was very different this year as well. In past years, Pegasus Transportation has provided the service, with pick-up spots downtown at both the Galt House (the hotel where we stay1) and the Marriott, and with drop-off approximately 100 yards from the entry gates. This year, every ticket/hotel package included a shuttle exclusive to that hotel, which seemed like an even sweeter deal (though Pegasus Transportation was never mentioned by name). Then on August 26, we learned that the shuttle system had been changed, and pretty drastically. Danny Wimmer Presents (the company who puts on the fest) took over the shuttle service, and there was now one downtown pick-up/drop-off spot, located at the Convention Center. While it was annoying that we were gonna have to walk extra before and after getting inside the gates and walking all day, that part wasn’t so bad, as we were only 3 blocks from the Convention Center.
Here’s where it got less good: our driver got us to Gate 1, only to be yelled at by a woman working there, who informed him that shuttles were no longer permitted to enter Gate 1, and instead had to go to Gate 6. Our driver told her he wasn’t from around there, and didn’t know where that was, and she told him to “put it in [his] GPS”. Very helpful. He then spotted another shuttle ahead of us that had turned right, away from the festival gates, and began to follow. Time was no longer on our side. At 11:45, he finally found the drop-off spot, and we began the 1/4 mile walk to the gates behind a whole lot of people with absolutely no sense of urgency.2 Less than 60 seconds later, we hear Fulci frontman Fiore bellow “WE’REFULCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!” and all hell broke loose from that stage, and I was so sad and angry that I wasn’t there watching it.
We got inside pretty quickly and easily, and I hauled ass to Main Stage 2 to catch the rest of their set, and it was fucking awesome. Scenes from legendary Italian director Lucio Fulci’s films played behind the band, and the blood and terror on the screen added a ridiculously fun element to the set. At one point, this bizarre sound started coming from the stage, and kept looking back and forth between the two guitarists to try and figure out which one of them was making that unholy, inhuman noise, but they both seemed to be playing fairly standard riffs. I soon realized that the sound was coming from Fiore’s mouth. It was so intense and amazing, and I no longer cared about the shuttle nonsense, because I remembered that I had a full day of kick-ass metal and hardcore ahead of me.
That lunatic vocalization I was talkin about happens around the 1:30 mark. This is not my footage. In fact, none of it will be my footage, unless otherwise noted.
After Fulci, I met up with Sheila in the Top Shelf area to cool off and get some snacks and drinks before we made our way to the VIP area to meet up with our friends Mitch and Amanda, who also attended with us in 2022. We started the journey as Fear Factory took to Main Stage 2. I wore out a cassette of their 1995 album Demanufacture when I was in my early college years (aka the beginning of my Wilderness Years), and they’re touring on the 30th anniversary of that album, so I was pretty pumped to hear some of those songs live. I would’ve much rather heard them with original vocalist Burton C. Bell on the mic, but c’est la vie. Milo Silvestro did a great job, and “Demanufacture”, “Zero Signal”, “Replica”, and “H-K (Hunter-Killer)” all transported me straight back to 1995-96, and I screamed along with “I’VE GOT! NO MORE! GODDAMN! REGRETS! I’VE GOT! NO MORE! GODDAMN! RESPECT!” just like I did in my car, and it was glorious and extremely cathartic.
Desensitized by the values of life, maligned and despaired by government lies.
They finished out their set with two songs from Demanufacture‘s follow-up, Obsolete (1998), and one song from 2001’s Digimortal, and then Richmond, Virginia thrash masters Municipal Waste kicked off an energetic, whirlwind 12-song set spanning a large chunk of their discography. At one point, frontman Tony Foresta demanded non-stop crowd surfing, saying “Pearl Jam made it famous, we made it cooler!” They kicked a ton of ass, and I’m glad I finally got to see them. Personal highlights for me were “You’re Cut Off”, “The Thrashin’ of the Christ”, and “The Art of Partying”.
I couldn’t find any decent sounding footage of any of my personal highlights, so here’s a video instead.
The Black Dahlia Murder brought some Michigan death metal to Main Stage 2 next, and I wanted to stay for the entire thing, but unfortunately, Big Ass Truck‘s set at the Big (Ass) Bourbon Bar started 25 minutes after TBDM’s set, and the BBB stood on the far end of the grounds from where we came in. By the time we arrived, the tent was so full that we could barely even see the band. We listened/kinda watched for a couple of songs, then I made my way over to the “second stage” area, with grindcore institution Full of Hell already in progress on the Decibel Stage. They were incredibly loud and chaotic, and I loved every second of it, even if I did watch on the big screen to the side of the Reverb Stage.
This is obviously not from LTL, but I couldn’t find any clips from their performance, and this is an excellent representation of what they brought to LTL, albeit in blazing sunlight and stifling heat.
The reason I watched on the big screen to a side of the Reverb Stage is because I wanted to secure a spot on the rail for Santa Cruz, California hardcore/crossover heroes Drain, because I wanted to receive as much of their energy as possible before hustling back to Main Stage 2 for as much of Exodus‘s 35-minute set as I could possibly see. Vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro came out jumping, yelling, and smiling, and didn’t stop moving for the entirety of the 10-15 minutes I was in the vicinity of the Reverb Stage, and I’m sure he didn’t stop after I left, either. He was crowd surfing before the first verse of opening song “Feel the Pressure” even started, and he spent the rest of the song on the ground, letting various members of the crowd sing most of it. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more energetic frontman. I really look forward to catching a full set from these dudes, hopefully sooner than later.
I was way over in front of the screen on the right side of the stage for 12-ish minutes of hardcore magic.
I hated to leave, but I really wanted to see Exodus, and I figured I’ll have more chances to see Drain than I will Exodus, just from an “age of the members” standpoint, so I walked as fast as possible through a whole gaggle of clueless dipshits with no sense of urgency, and arrived at the back of the crowd about two minutes into the epic “Deathamphetamine”, off their monstrous 2005 album Shovel Headed Kill Machine. I’m stoked I got to hear that song live, but the length of it meant they played fewer songs, which resulted in a 7-song set, which was a bit of a bummer. Another bummer is that the sound didn’t seem quite right for what they do. I don’t really know how to explain it any better, but they didn’t sound as good as they should have, and it was clear that it wasn’t the band’s fault. The crowd was enthusiastic, though, and the pit was appropriately violent and fun. I’m glad Rob Dukes is back on the mic, and barring the miraculous resurrection of original frontman Paul Baloff (RIP to the OG poseur killer), I hope they keep him around until the end.
Everybody’s doin the Toxic Waltz, good friendly violent fun in store for all.
The gigantic new layout meant that I missed all of Sanguisugabogg‘s set on the Decibel Stage, because there was simply no way to see any real amount of it without missing Exodus’s set and more than half of Cavalera (aka Cavalera Conspiracy), featuring brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, formerly of Sepultura. They’re on tour performing Sepultura’s 1993 album, Chaos A.D. in its entirety. The album was part of the soundtrack to the second half of my high school years, and there was no way I was gonna miss it. They unfortunately weren’t able to play the whole album, as their set time wasn’t long enough, but they played most of it. They kicked off with album opener “Refuse/Resist”, which is more of a soundtrack to our times than I ever thought possible, then tore through six more songs from the album before shifting gears slightly to play “Symptom of the Universe”, which Sepultura recorded for the 1994 album Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath (another album that soundtracked my mid-90’s life). They closed with all-time party-starter “Territory”, and sixteen year-old Joel heard it and felt it and moshed to it and sang along with it, and he saw that it was good.
Let there be riffs.
At this point I really needed to rest, but nuts to that, because the mighty Cannibal Corpse was up next over on Main Stage 2. Luckily, the Top Shelf section is closer to MS2, so I was able to pop inside the tent while they played set opener “Blood Blind” (from their most recent album, 2023’s Chaos Horrific) to get some quick conditioned air, a bite to eat, and lots more free water, so as to avoid dying of exhaustion.3 Every second of their 40-minute set right up through “Hammer Smashed Face” was flawless, and I was happy as a pig in shit to be in attendance for it.
Men of violence doomed in death, their reward for a life of sin.
Sludge/groove metal supergroup Down followed back over on Main Stage 1, and I was pumped to see them for the first time. Their debut album NOLA came out in 1995, and like Fear Factory’s Demanufacture, it kept me sane during my early college years. I have a variety of thoughts about Phil Anselmo as a person, but the fact is, the man is partially responsible for some of the most formative music of my youth.4 And it doesn’t hurt a single bit that the band is rounded out by Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity) and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar) on guitar, the incomparable Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod) on drums, and Pat Bruders (Goatwhore) on bass. Absolute titans, every one of them.
I’m staring right back at myself, and through its frozen image, I’m laughing right back at my hell.
Marilyn Manson was next on Main Stage 2, and I’d planned on being anywhere but within earshot of him, but it was so hot outside, and the fact that it was still Day One and I was already fucking exhausted, plus the fact that dinner is served at 6:00 in the Top Shelf tent means that I sat in the tent and ate and drank and somehow managed to shut the noise out. In fact, I didn’t notice anything about the band until they started their cover of “Sweet Dreams”, and then I was like “oh yeah, I forgot they covered this. I still hate it”, and went right back to ignoring it. Long story short, Marilyn Manson is a garbage human being who makes mediocre music, and he should not be celebrated.5
Anyway, Lamb of God was next back on Main Stage 1. I was really looking forward to their set, as I wasn’t able to properly appreciate their set when they played back in 2022, on account of my dad dying the day before, and the fact that I had to drive back home twice in two days. It was worth the wait. They were fucking incredible from start to finish. Randy Blythe is a phenomenal frontman, and the entire band is just elite.6 They also performed the second Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne cover of the weekend, “Children of the Grave”, and it was badass.
“A lot of people would be a lot happier if they went to concerts where flames shot out of the stage every now and then.” – Sheila
Up next was Rob Zombie, performing White Zombie’s 1995 album Astro-Creep 2000. If you’re keeping score, that’s the third of three thirty year-old albums being celebrated on the Day One. As if spending 12 hours in the late summer heat and humidity of the Ohio River Valley wasn’t already making me feel old enough. I enjoy White Zombie just fine, but I never really gave much a shit about Rob Zombie’s solo stuff. Sheila, however, is a White Zombie superfan, and is into quite a bit of Rob Zombie’s solo stuff, so this was her #1 Must-See Set of Day One. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time singing and shouting along to all the songs from Astro-Creep 2000, followed by “Living Dead Girl” (from Zombie’s first solo album Hellbilly Deluxe), followed by White Zombie’s “Thunderkiss ’65”, followed by “Dragula”, also from Hellbilly Deluxe. A good time was had by all, except for those who do not enjoy fun.
I was unable to find any footage from that night that didn’t have the sound blown all to hell, so here’s a video instead.
The headliner for Day One was none other than (Fuckin) Slayer, whose appearance last year was cancelled due to one of those famous northern Kentucky hurricanes. They kicked off with “South of Heaven”, which was really just a fucking perfect way to start a show, and they never let off the throttle, hitting every studio album except for 1996’s hardcore punk cover album Undisputed Attitude and 1998’s Diabolus in Musica. They also played “Chemical Warfare”, which was just tremendous for me. We watched their set from the elevated viewing area in Top Shelf, as they were playing on Main Stage 1, and we didn’t wanna have to walk anymore than necessary for the rest of the day. I’m too old for actual mosh pits, and as I’ve mentioned, we still had three days to go, but you better believe I banged my head and screamed myself hoarse for the entirety of the set, and there was this one dude up in the elevated viewing area who was losing his goddamn mind. Several times he moshed his way over to me so we could sing along together, and during “War Ensemble” he jumped up from the level below me and threw his arm around my shoulder just in time for us to shout “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!” together, and it was awesome. On the off chance that dude is reading this, just know that you were a hoot, and experiencing Slayer with you was a real treat.
“A lot of people would be a lot happier if they went to concerts where flames shot out of the stage every now and then.” – Sheila
Speaking of flames shooting out of the stage: biiiig shout-out to Gary Holt. That motherfucker played a 35-minute set with Exodus in the blazing sun, then came back out with Slayer less than six hours later and played for another 90 minutes, surrounded by fire and explosions, and he’s 61 years old.
After Slayer’s set, we filed out of the gates along with everybody else, only to find a sign guiding us inside a building to catch the shuttle back downtown. As we arrived inside the building, we were met by row upon row of security gates and caution tape, filled with a sweaty river of exhausted Slayer fans. The line never stopped moving, but about halfway through it, Sheila had to pee, and the only way to remedy that (other than inside her pants) was to duck under some caution tape and hustle across the building to a restroom. Just one of many less-than-ideal parts of the New and Improved Louder Than Life. I’ll still get to all the pros and cons, but I’ve already gone on for too long, so that’ll have to come later (maybe in a separate post).
Thanks for reading. Be sure to subscribe for updates so you don’t miss my Day Two write-up, which will hopefully be ready for your perusal within a few days.
Highly recommended if you’re in Louisville, Kentucky. ↩︎
People with no sense of urgency came into play a lot on this journey, as they also do in my day-to-day life. See also, “World’s on Heroin” by ALL. ↩︎
The water is not actually free in Top Shelf, but rather is pre-paid, which sure beats paying who knows how much per bottle, or walking 10 minutes to find a refill station. ↩︎
I’ll admit I don’t know Phil Anselmo as a person, but I do have eyes, ears, and the internet. ↩︎
See also R&B singer/abusive-piece-of-shit Chris Brown. ↩︎
The chronically online might refer to them as “S-tier”, but I wouldn’t. ↩︎
Y’all: there’s a real good chance I’ll get to see Acid Bath live this summer/fall, and I am giddy with excitement. If you’re unfamiliar, Acid Bath formed in 1991 in Houma, Louisiana, south of New Orleans. They were the result of the smashing-together of two existing bands, Dark Karnival (so glad that name died with the band,) and Golgotha, and both of those bands are cool, but Acid Bath is better.
This is obviously (?) an old picture, but it’s also a cool picture.
One time Sheila and I were driving through central Kentucky on our way home from Nashville, Tennessee when she had me detour to Cave City, near Mammoth Cave, so she could show me some of super odd/fuckin awesome roadside attractions. Pretty much everything was closed, on account of it being Sunday, but we could still stop and look. There was Wigwam Village Motel, which looked very cool, and Dinosaur World, which was closed, unfortunately. The main thing she wanted to show me was Golgotha Fun Park (“#1 Shaded Biblical Mini-Golf”), which in English translates to Place of the Skulls Fun Park, which is clearly fun for the entire family, and is also definitely the kind of thing that inspires people to grow up and form amazing bands.
This website has some other pictures of the mini golf course as well.
See also, Chat Pile.
It’s pretty badass that we get to exist at the same time as this song.
Anyway, I was talking about Acid Bath. The lineup consisted of Dax Riggs on lead vocals, Sammy “Pierre” Duet and Mike Sanchez on guitars and vocals, Audie Pitre on bass and backing vocals, and Jimmy Kyle on drums. Tomas Viator played drums before Jimmy Kyle took over, then he re-joined the band on keyboards for their second album.
Speaking of their second album, they released two of them: 1994’s When the Kite String Pops, and Paegan Terrorism Tactics (1996).
Sometime in probably 2000, I found myself in the late, lamented All Ears (surely among the finest record stores to ever exist in Bloomington, Indiana) with a little change in my pocket goin jing-a-ling-a-lang. I was (and very much still am) a fan of a band called Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, and I knew their last two albums were released on a label called Rotten Records, which was co-founded by DRI guitarist Spike Cassidy. I was digging through the discount CD section, filled with promotional copies and albums missing covers and the like, when I came upon a promo copy of When the Kite String Pops, which was also released by Rotten Records and co-produced by Spike Cassidy. This seeming affiliation with DRI made me think it might kinda sound like DRI, and it was only $3.00, so really I couldn’t afford not to buy it.
Narrator: They did not kinda sound like DRI.
I’d never heard anything quite like it before, and as of December 8, 2024, I still haven’t. I listened to that CD one time, and it was too much for the big idiot that was 23-year-old Joel, so I put it in a box with a bunch of other CDs I never listened to, and it stayed there until I finally sold it, along with a huge chunk of the rest of my CD collection, before I moved to Austin, Texas in 2003. I don’t think much of 26-year-old Joel either sometimes, if I’m being completely honest.
The point is, I didn’t get into Acid Bath until later, like 2013, probably. I was killin time in my car before work one morning, dickin around on facebook, when I saw that a musician and writer whose work I enjoy very much shared the song “Graveflower”, from Paegan Terrorism Tactics. I clicked the link, and listened to the song, and then I listened to it three more times before I clocked in. Brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you, I was hooked. As soon as I got home from work, I obtained a copy of both albums, and I listened to the fuck out of both of them, but I especially liked PTT, and I actually still prefer it just a little bit.
I’d very much like to post links to some other Acid Bath songs from both their albums, but the guy who owns Rotten Records doesn’t seem to understand that more exposure = more album sales, and he has any and all other Acid Bath videos with the album versions of songs taken down sooner or later. I will note that I can find nothing to indicate whether or not Spike Cassidy is still affiliated with the label, but when people talk about how much Rotten Records absolutely sucks, only one name gets mentioned, and it’s never his, so I assume that Ron Peterson is the sole reason why Rotten Records is a shitty, shitty label.
There are a few songs posted on YouTube right now, but there’s an excellent chance they’ll all be gone by the time you read this. If you wanna look some up to see if they’re available at that particular moment, I recommend “Graveflower”, “Bleed Me an Ocean”/”Dead Girl” (tied for number two)(hehe, “number two”), “The Blue”, “Venus Blue”, “Dr. Seuss is Dead”, and “Scream of the Butterfly”, in that order.
If you like guitar-based sometimes kinda bluesy rock music and are not bothered by extremely dark lyrical themes, I promise you’ll find something to like in at least one of those songs. Most of them feature vocals of the screaming/shrieking variety, so if that’s an immediate turn-off for you, just listen to “Dead Girl” and “Scream of the Butterfly” and “The Bones of Baby Dolls”, all of which feature no screamed vocals at all. Be aware that the mellow nature of the vocals in those songs makes the disturbing lyrics much more discernible.
“Tranquilized” has very few screamed vocals, and in fact could’ve been a radio hit if the lyrics were a touch less heavy, or if people weren’t such big babies about lyrics.
“Old Skin” is a spoken word piece, so it also technically has no screamed vocals, but I have to advise against starting with that one unless you’re already into some really weird and/or spooky shit.
Both albums are currently available on Spotify (along with Demos: 1993-1996), and maybe some other streaming services, but Spotify is an even worse company than Rotten Records, so I don’t really know how to conduct myself anymore. It’s becoming exceedingly difficult these days to not do business with shitty companies/people who do shitty things, and that seems doubly so in the world of professional music. I just try to do the least possible amount of harm.
Anyway, you should check out Acid Bath in whatever way you can, then go to Dax’s website and pre-order the vinyl. They aren’t cheap, but it’s the only way I know of to get em new without giving money to Rotten Records, which is a thing you should not do if possible. I bought mine on CD and vinyl from Rotten Records, and I feel like a giant piece of shit for doing so, but I really wanted the whole album package, and they weren’t available anywhere else at the time. The jewel case for the CDs is every bit as cheap and shitty as you might expect. I also bought a PTT t-shirt from their website, and I feel like a dick for buyin that, too, but I really wanted an Acid Bath shirt. Several people at past Louder Than Lifeseses have complimented that shirt, and that’s a net win, but also, that fact will come into play later.
The important conclusion to draw from that section there is that if you take my advice and listen to Acid Bath, and you happen to like what you hear, buy the music and merch direct from Dax. If you want the CDs, try to get them used. Rotten Records absolutely does not deserve your money.
On January 23, 1997, Audie and his parents were killed in a car crash when a drunk driver ran a stop sign. Audie’s brother Kelly survived with a broken rib and a mild neck fracture. The band played their last show on April 25, 1997, then broke up. The surviving members all went on to form and/or play in a bunch of other bands, and they all fuckin rule (Goatwhore and Deadboy & the Elephant Men/Dax Riggs solo are my favorites), but Acid Bath is my number one most favorite of all their collective projects.
Earlier this year, to the surprise of pretty much everyone in the world who has ever heard of Acid Bath, the band announced that they would be playing at Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas in April 2025. That fest had an absolutely killer lineup (so stacked that Napalm Death was all the way down on the bottom row!), but it was later cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”, which I have to assume includes the fact that not enough people were willing to drop almost $500 for a ticket to a one-day festival where most of the bands would’ve had to play for like 20 minutes, which probably could’ve been foreseen by most people. I can’t imagine trying to cram that many bands into one day, either from a production standpoint or as a fan of music.
Not long after the Sick New World lineup dropped, Acid Bath was announced as one of the bands at Sonic Temple 2025 (another Danny Wimmer Presents production), and the lineup for Welcome to Rockville 2025 (also a DWP joint) has been announced, and one slot is still blurred out, but it’s marked as a reunion/special performance, and I feel pretty confident that the yet-to-be-announced surprise band is Acid Bath. I was wrong once before, so there’s precedent, but if I am wrong, I’ll be surprised.
Remember earlier when I mentioned wearing my Acid Bath t-shirt to Louder Than Life? Here’s where LTL comes into play: I got an email survey recently from DWP about LTL. One of the questions was something like “which of these bands would you like to see play with Slayer, give us an answer, 1-5”, and then there were a few pages of bands (so many incredible bands on that list), and they wanted you to choose between “Not at all, thank you” and “Very much so, yes, please” for each of them, and Acid Bath was one of them, so at this point, if Acid Bath does not play Louder Than Life 2025, then I don’t even know what the fuck we’re doing here.
Just kidding, I already don’t know what the fuck we’re doing here.
In conclusion, to reiterate what I said on one of the various LTL fan pages I frequent: “If Acid Bath gets announced for Louder Than Life, I will shit everyone’s pants”.
I absolutely cannot wait to see this band live.
Thanks for reading. Listen to Acid Bath. Share both with your cool friends. Peace.
NOTE: This post has been updated to add one very important FAQ, which I only realized last night (8/11/25) that I’d overlooked. You can find it immediately following the Simpsons meme. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
I’ve written a lot about Louder Than Life since I started this blog, and I’m gonna write a lot more about it in the future, and surprise, motherfucker, the future is now! I was writing about Day Three recently when it occurred to me that I’ve never seen a comprehensive guide of tips and tricks intended for first-time attendees, so I decided to create the world I wanted to live in, and here we are.
Thankfully, this future isn’t here yet. It sure feels nigh as fuck sometimes, though.
I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty fuckin long. WordPress estimates a 35 minute read time. Clockwise Circle Pit cannot accept any responsibility for falls caused by your legs falling asleep if you try to read the entire thing in one toilet-sitting. I can be very long-winded when I’m passionate about the subject, and I will not apologize for that. I understand completely if you don’t wanna proceed any further. Thanks for your time, and feel free to check out some of my other posts, both here at Clockwise Circle Pit, or at my old blog Stay Heavy. I haven’t posted anything there in a little over 5 years, but it still gets more regular traffic than this site. Anyhoo…
Some of these tips may seem obvious to you, and many of them seem obvious to me, but if I’ve learned one thing in my 47 years on this plane of existence, it’s this: you can’t assume anything is obvious to anyone else, even if that same thing is blatantly obviously to you. Being a member of several LTL fan groups on facebook has confirmed that statement to be 100% factual. Many of these tips will apply to any outdoor festival experience, but some of them are specific to Louder Than Life. Without further ado…
Q: What the heck is Louder Than Life?
Louder Than Life is a four-day music festival held in Louisville, Kentucky in late September. It’s put on by a company called Danny Wimmer Presents, and they do a fuckin great job every year. I’ve never attended a multi-day festival put on by any other production company, but I’ve read many times over the years about how festivals put on by other companies pale in comparison to DWP festivals (*cough* Blue Ridge Rock Fest *cough*).
The first iteration was held in 2014 in Champions Park (also in Louisville, KY), and after it was cancelled in 2018 due to flooding, it was moved to its new home at the Highland Festival Grounds in 2019, where it has been ever since. It was cancelled in 2020 for some reason, and the second day was cancelled this year (2024) due to dangerously high winds from Hurricane Helene. Otherwise, it goes on rain or shine, and it’s a blast. The lineup is always a mixed bag, but if you like hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hardcore, and/or hip-hop, you’ll almost certainly find at least a few things to enjoy. It gets bigger and better every year. For me personally, 2024’s lineup was the best I’ve seen so far, and I’m still stoked that I got to be there.
Q: Who, exactly, are you, and why should I care what you have to say?
That’s a really good question. I’m just a dude who, when he is not actively attending Louder Than Life, is looking forward to attending the next Louder Than Life so much he can hardly stand it. I do not profess to be an expert, but I have attended every day of the fest for the past four years (plus one day in 2019) so I could certainly call myself a veteran “Loudmouth” at this point, even if I don’t sport the telltale neon lime green that many of the self-professed Loudmouths wear. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes over the years, and I’ve learned a thing or two along the way, so I figured I might as well put together my own comprehensive guide to help answer questions you may have about attending Louder Than Life. You’re welcome.
A quick note: I decided halfway through writing this to present it in the form of a FAQ, because I thought that would be funny, and I think I was right. You might disagree, and that’s okay. There’s still plenty of good advice here.
I have to assume I would also be this.
Q: Should I wear earplugs?
Good lord, yes. It’s not called Louder Than Life because things happen at a reasonable volume. I use Loop brand, but there are lots of quality options available that are designed specifically for concert settings, which is to say that they are designed to dampen the volume of the music without muffling it/making it sound shitty, and they allow you to have a conversation without having to remove them or scream absurdly loud to be heard. I didn’t know how they work, exactly, but I assume it’s your standard combination of science and magic.
At the very least, get some cheap foam jobbies from CVS or wherever. I’ve attended hundreds of live concerts over the past 31 years, and I very stupidly only started wearing earplugs on a regular basis about 10 years ago, and I promise you tinnitus is not a fun thing to deal with.
Q: Should I drink plenty of water?
Yes, you should drink plenty of water every day that you’re alive. This should absolutely go without saying, yet every year, people have to go to the medical tent to be treated for dehydration. You can bring an unopened bottle of water inside with you, and they have “hydration stations” located throughout the grounds. There’s no reason to not drink water. If you don’t wanna bother with carrying a water bottle in, I recommend bringing a couple of bottle caps in your pockets, because if/(hopefully)when you buy a bottle of water, they will take the cap off before giving it to you. I’m not 100% sure why they do this, and I’ve read a few different possible explanations, but all that really matters is that they do do it. (Haha, I said “do do”.)
Q: Should I pace myself?
Yes. Don’t get drunk too early. Get plenty of rest. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. This is especially true if you’re in it for the whole weekend, but even if you’re only going for one day, if you plan to be there for more than a couple of bands, it’s a very good idea to pace yourself and make time to rest.
Q: Should I bring a whole bunch of shit with me?
I don’t even know how I would express myself if the Simpsons didn’t exist.
I recommend travelling as light as possible. Clear backpacks are allowed, as are fanny packs under a certain size, and lots of people use those. I’ve tried both, but I ended up feeling kinda burdened, so I just wear cargo shorts to carry things I need on my person, including glasses case/sunglasses, beard comb, ink pen, Sharpie®, lip balm, and one or two bandannas. I say if you don’t need it, leave it outside the gates. If you might need it, get a clear backpack or a small fanny pack, or rent a locker on the premises. We did that for the first time this year, and it made things much easier, especially when the rains came.
I asked the missus if she had anything to add, and she recommended tissues, feminine hygiene products, hand sanitizer, deodorant*, and sunscreen. This is where the clear backpack and/or fanny pack and/or locker would come in handy. If you’re using the portajohns in GA, some wipes would probably be a good idea, too. A portable phone charger could potentially come in handy as well. I’ve taken one in before, but I didn’t need it, as I don’t really use my phone that much while I’m inside the gates. If you get a locker, those are equipped with chargers
*Please fucking wear deodorant.
Q: What kind of shoes should I wear?
I highly recommend close-toed shoes or boots, preferably waterproof. I had a pair of Merrells that served me well every year since 2021, but I had to retire them after surviving through this year’s fields of filth. Which reminds me, I’d also recommend a spare pair of socks, especially if rain is the forecast. You will almost certainly regret wearing flip-flops or sandals, especially if you’re attending more than one day.
Q: What will the weather be like?
Every year that I’ve attended (before this year), the temperatures have ranged from very warm to hot-as-balls, with minimal cloud cover. This year, the rain started falling toward the end of Day One, and it didn’t completely stop until well into Day Four. September in the Ohio River Valley tends to be extremely humid.
Speaking of September in the Ohio River Valley, if you have seasonal allergies, plan on suffering. I mean, take your medicine and all, but know that it will likely not be as effective as usual.
Q: What’s the scoop on shade and/or seating?
There’s not much shade available in the General Admission area, aside from the drink tents, and a bunch of selfish dickheads are definitely gonna be camped out in whatever little shade there is pretty much all day, so plan accordingly. You can hang out inside the big drink tents, but good luck finding anywhere to sit or put your drink down for a few minutes. Basically, if you need to sit down and you have GA passes, you’re most likely gonna have to sit on the ground, in the sun (you can bring a towel or a light blanket). There are picnic tables around, and the larger drink tents have tables and seating, but people in general are awful, and they won’t let you sit in the empty seat next to them, because their friend is just over at the main stage for 40 minutes, and that seat is for them when they get back.
There’s a big tent in VIP that provides a lot of shade, but people are even worse about claiming seats in there. I think many of them forget that everyone in VIP paid extra to be there, and I assume the rest are just assholes. Top Shelf has an air-conditioned tent and a double-level elevated seating area that is mostly shaded. We’ve never had a problem scoring a place to sit inside that tent, but seats on the elevated seating area can be harder to come by.
Q: Should I wear a hat?
Yes, you should absolutely wear a hat, or a bandanna, or some damn thing. Just make sure you cover your noggin. It would be wise to keep your ears covered as much as possible, too. Skin cancer likes earlobes. I used to wear a big dumb straw hat with a lanyard, so I could keep the sun completely off my big ol’ John Cougar Melonhead, and when the sun went down, I could just let the hat rest on my back. That sucked for a few reasons:
It’s a pretty dumb-looking hat.
It could pretty easily block the view of people behind me, and I try to be conscious of that.
Having the lanyard tugging on my neck while wearing the hat on my back got uncomfortable very quickly.
It’s too big to do anything with it besides wear it.
I got a new hat this year, and it looks kinda dumb too, but not as dumb. It’s much more practical, comfortable, and convenient. It’s a cooling bucket hat from a company called Mission. I receive no compensation from Mission, but I highly recommend you get a cooling bucket hat from Mission, and here’s why:
They come equipped with UPF 50 sunblock protection.
They come equipped with chemical-free cooling technology. Just get it wet, wring it out, and wave it in the air briefly, and you can experience cooling effects of up to 30° F (-1.1° C) for up to 2 hours.
They’re very lightweight, so the lanyard doesn’t tug on your neck as much when you’re wearing the hat on your back, and you can also fold them up and stuff them in one of your cargo pockets (or your clear backpack and/or fanny pack).
They’re machine washable.
They’re quite affordable, and they also come in handy for yard work, nature walks, outdoor parties, etc.
Here’s me and the Missus. You see why I say my hat is kinda dumb-looking. Damned if isn’t practical, though, and as comfortable as a hat can be.
Q: Should I research the lineup and try to learn about some new bands?
Fuck yes you should, bud! After the lineup drops, absolutely take some time to research the bands you’re not familiar with. We’ve discovered some new favorites just by checking out every single band every single year we’ve gone. We’ve also discovered some bands we do not want to be in the vicinity of at all, and that’s good knowledge to have as well. As I mentioned in a previous post, after the lineup gets released, I’ll make a list of all the bands, and on Saturday nights over the next few months, we’ll spend a chunk of time havin some drinks and watchin videos from all the bands. We’ll usually start with either the newest song or the song with the most plays on YouTube, and we’ll work our way through the lineup over the course of a month or two.
When we’ve made it through all four days, we’ll go back through and watch a second video of each band, this time focusing on older songs when possible/as needed. After we’ve finished a second run-through, we’ll go through the whole list once more, this time watching live performances from each band. We each assign a grade to every song, using the standard A-F grading scale used in public schools in the US.
After all three run-throughs, we’ll average out the grades, and anyone who averages a B- or better makes it onto our short list of bands we want to watch. In addition to learning about new bands and helping us make decisions, it also helps maximize our Louder Than Life-related excitement throughout the year.
The real challenge comes much closer to go-time, after the daily schedules get released. That’s when you find out that, for example, two of the bands you wanna see on Friday start at the same time on two different stages, and a third band from the short list starts playing on the other stage halfway through those sets. It can be a gut-wrenching experience. That leads me to my next tip…
Q: Should I brace myself for possible disappointment?
Oh my goodness, yes. You’re almost certainly gonna have to miss at least a couple of bands you wanna see, due to scheduling conflicts. It’s just the nature of the beast. When I have to decide, I take a couple of factors into account:
If I’ve seen one of the bands before, I’m usually gonna go with the one I haven’t seen. There are a few bands that don’t fit that scenario for me (I’ll always watch Clutch when they’re playing), but I cross that bridge when I come to it.
If a band is from another country (especially if they don’t tour the States often), they’ll almost always take precedence.
In addition to schedule-based disappointment, bands cancel every year, sometimes as late as the day of their scheduled performance. As discussed above, there’s also the possibility of weather-based cancellations and delays. All disappointing. All things you have to learn to be okay with.
Q: So how do the stages work?
There are a total of five stages. Main Stage 1 and Main Stage 2 are side-by-side, and while one band is playing, the next band is setting up and sound-checking on the other stage. There’s a five-minute break between bands. No main stage bands will ever play at the same time, and no other band will ever overlap with the main headliner.
What used to be the “second stage” became two side-by-side stages a few years ago. This year, they were the Decibel Stage and the Revolver Stage. They work the same way as the main stages.
The third stage area/fifth stage (known as the Loudmouth Stage this year) is a single stage, so the breaks between bands are a bit longer.
This should help it make more sense.
A lot of people like to complain (imagine that) about such-and-such band being on one of the smaller stages because they think it’s not fair to that band. For example, Sum 41 headlined the Decibel Stage this year, and people are still bitching about it (“they did Sum 41 dirty, they should’ve been on the main stage, blah blah blah”). There was a huge crowd watching Sum 41, and I would definitely call their set a rousing success. The thing is, the crowd has to be spread out a bit, and having bigger bands headline the “second stage” while the #3 headliner is on the main stage is a great way to do that.
Speaking of complaining, and headliners, don’t complain about the headliners. It won’t do any good, and it makes you look like baby.
If you haven’t watched Wanderlust, you should change that ASAP. But only if you like to laugh.
Q: What about food?
I love food. There’s a lot of awesome food available for purchase inside the gates, and the portion sizes are often very large, but the prices are usually even larger. Think about the beloved brewpub in your town that charges 20 bucks for a sandwich, but that sandwich is big enough for two meals if you don’t gorge yourself. A lot of the vendors are like that, except that you won’t have anywhere to safely store your leftovers until you’re ready to eat them. There was one vendor this year who had a baloney sandwich for something like $25.They can go straight to hell with that nonsense, and frankly, I hope they went out of business.
My advice is to eat a big meal before you enter the gates for the day, so you won’t have to eat as much once you get inside. If you’re anything like me you’ll want to time it out so that you can empty your bowels before you get inside. I live my life trying to not use a toilet outside my home, especially if I’m not getting paid for it.
Q: Speaking of toilets, what’s the deal with toilets?
Easy there, Seinfeld. Portajohns are all you get in GA. They’re in the sun all day, and as you might imagine, they get progressively worse as the day goes on. The VIP area has air conditioned restrooms, and Top Shelf VIP has even nicer air conditioned restrooms, but you’ll still be sitting on a toilet that thousands of other people have sat upon and shat into (and sometimes upon).
Q: How much walking should I plan to do?
You should plan to walk a lot while you’re there. I recommend walking as much as possible every day, just in general, but I’m not your doctor or your father. If you don’t already walk much in your day-to-day life, it’s best to start doing it well before the festival begins so you can build up your strength and stamina. Why not start today? I’m not sure how big the festival grounds actually are, but I personally walked/danced for approximately 34 miles plus over the course of this year’s LTL, and as I mentioned above, one whole day was cancelled due to one of those famous Kentucky hurricanes. If I didn’t already walk 5-8 miles a day at my job, I almost certainly I would’ve been able to manage that.
Q: Where should I plan to sleep?
The City of Louisville is lousy with hotels and motels (it is a city, after all). There are several options located within walking distance of the festival grounds, but we always stay at the Galt House downtown, which is our preferred hotel anytime we’re in Louisville. Be advised that hotels are already filling up fast, and they are also charging a lot of money for that weekend, because capitalism. There are also a lot of hotels across the river in Indiana (New Albany, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, etc.), and I assume they don’t charge quite as much, but will have to drive or use a rideshare (more on that in the next FAQ).
Airbnb is also an option, I guess, but after my single experience booking an Airbnb, I’ll never do that again. I do know that a lot of locals leave town and rent out their houses/apartments for the weekend, so it is technically an option, but I’d rather not pay hotel prices to clean up after myself.
We spring for a suite, which includes a mini fridge and a wet bar. Having the extra space to spread out before we leave for the day and after we return for the evening really makes the weekend more enjoyable.
Camping in the campgrounds adjacent to the fest is also an option, but we’ve never done that, because Sheila doesn’t like to camp, and if I slept on the ground, I wouldn’t be able to stand fully upright. I do know that the campsites sell out very quickly (I think they’re already sold out, in fact), but you can also sign up for a wait-list.
I talked to a guy in 2021 who was sleeping in his car in a parking lot, and I’ve read accounts from others about doing that, but your safety and well-being are important to Clockwise Circle Pit, therefore, Clockwise Circle Pit can neither endorse nor recommend that solution.
Q: What about parking and/or transportation?
Parking is available on the property, and I think it costs 30 or 40 dollars per day. Yes, that is a lot of money to park your car for the day, but know that DWP does not set the prices for parking. I personally can’t imagine driving to and from an event like this, especially not four days in a row, but I’m not here to tell you what to do. Wait, that’s exactly why I’m here.
Other options are walking (if you’re staying close enough), renting one of those terrifying Lime scooters (if you’re staying close enough), or Lyft/Uber/other rideshare (we paid $30 for an Uber to our hotel about 8 miles away in 2019). The best option, in this asshole’s opinion, is getting a shuttle pass.
For the past 3 years, we’ve purchased a shuttle pass through Pegasus Transportation, and they pick up at the Galt House and the downtown Marriott and drop off about 100 yards from the gates. When you’re ready to leave, they pick you up at the dropoff point and take you back to the Galt House and the Marriott. When I was purchasing our package this year, all the hotel options I saw had an option to add a shuttle pass, and Pegasus Transportation was not mentioned in the description, so I’m not sure exactly how it’ll work, but it does seem like a shuttle could be an option for many of the hotels this year.
Q: Will some asshole take advantage of the situation and steal my phone/wallet/other stuff?
There’s a very good possibility of this. Assholes are everywhere, and people ruin everything. Based solely on my experience browsing Reddit and the facebook LTL fan pages, reports of phone thefts were lower this year than in 2023, but I plenty of people still got their phones swiped right out of their pockets (front pockets, even). I personally haven’t had an issue with that yet, but I also don’t generally pack into the deep crowd in front of the main stages, which is where I assume most of the thefts happen (more people = more opportunities to be piece of shit thief).
Q: Should I take advantage of the situation and steal someone’s phone/wallet/other stuff?
Of course not. Don’t be an asshole.
Q: How are the mosh pits?
I can’t answer this one with a lot of experience, because I’m too old for that shit, but I’ve been next to plenty of pits at Louder Than Life (especially at the smaller stages), and from what I’ve seen, people in the pits have generally respectful. Mostly push-pits and classic circle pits, with hardcore karate-style pits when appropriate. People seem to understand the cardinal rule of pits, which of course is if someone falls down, pick them up. Occasionally, a pit can get dangerous with surges and whatnot. This happened during Korn’s set on Day Four this year. The band had to stop playing for a bit, and the crowd was asked to take a few steps back so people would stop getting crushed. That happened after we left, but a lot of people were talking about it.
I was right next to this big ol’ lovefest in 2019. Andrew W.K. puts on one hell of a fun show.
The main things to remember while you’re in the pit also apply to everyday life:
Have fun.
Don’t be an asshole
If someone falls, help them up.
Don’t pull someone in if they don’t wanna be there.
Stay hydrated.
Nazi punks fuck off.
If you are in the pit and need assistance, or see someone who needs assistance, cross your arms in an “X” above your head. The first time I saw Sevendust (LTL2K21), they stopped their show because their singer, Lajon, saw someone making an “X” and told security about it, and they were able to get the person to safety. “X” marks the spot, friends.
Crowd surfing is commonplace and generally accepted, but a lot of people don’t do it right. If you insist on crowd surfing, the safest way to do it is the “Jesus Christ Pose”: arms out to the side, feet crossed. Don’t flail around like you’re having a seizure unless you want to increase the chances of kicking someone in the head, and your chances of getting dropped.
Speaking of “don’t”, don’t assume everyone will help you stay up once you go up. You paid good money to be there, and as long as you’re not hurting or harassing anyone, you should get to have fun in your own way. Likewise, everyone paid good money to be there, and they should also get to have fun in their own way, and if watching the bands they came to see while not getting kicked in the head while helping you crowd surf is their way of having fun, that’s something you need to be okay with.
The other side of that, of course, is not getting bent out of shape over crowd surfers if you plan to ride the rail directly in front of the stage. It’s not like you don’t know there’ll be crowd surfers, I just told you there will be. Some bands even encourage it. When we saw Anti-Flag (RIP) in 2022, they told the crowd they wanted us to make the security guards earn their paychecks, and holy shit, the number of bodies I saw being passed to the front was staggering.
If you’re deep in the pit area and you’re not crowd surfing, and you hear someone near you yell “heads up!”, this means a crowd surfer has been spotted in your area, and you should expect them to pass near you very soon, possibly directly overhead. Act accordingly.
One final thing about crowd surfing and pits (and day-to-day life in general): say you’re deep in the pit area, and you’re not crowd surfing, and you hear someone near you yell “heads up!”, and you look behind you and see a scantily clad lady coming your way, and you think to yourself “I like touchin butts, I think I’ll pass her forward and cop a feel”, fuckin think again, motherfucker.
I cannot believe this is a thing that ever has to be said, but I know it does, and it’s just one more example of, to quote Slipknot, “People = Shit”: DO NOT EVER TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON IN ANYTHING EVEN RESEMBLING AN INTIMATE WAY ON PURPOSE WITHOUT THAT PERSON’S PERMISSION. NOT A CROWD SURFER, NOT A MOSH PITTER, NOT A STRANGER ON THE STREET, NOT EVEN IF YOU’RE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, NOT ANYONE, NOT ANY TIME, NOT EVER. If you insist on copping a feel on that scantily clad crowd surfer, don’t be surprised if you leave with fewer teeth than you came in with. Speaking of scantily clad crowd surfers…
Q: Should I expect to see people in various states of undress?
You should expect to see pretty much everything short of people having sex, and frankly, I’m a bit surprised I’ve never seen that. I’m absolutely sure it’s happened.
This year, it seemed like butts finally replaced boobs as the preferred skin for purposes of exposure, but unless you (or your child) are blind, you (and your child) will see asses and titties in all shapes and sizes. Don’t be such a prude, it’s just the human body. We all have one. And to reiterate from above: it doesn’t matter how much skin is exposed, and it doesn’t matter how drunk/high you are, and it doesn’t matter how horny you are, and it doesn’t even matter if you’re a former/future president of the United States, DO NOT EVER TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON IN ANYTHING EVEN RESEMBLING AN INTIMATE WAY ON PURPOSE WITHOUT THAT PERSON’S PERMISSION.
Quick side note: you’ll also see t-shirts and flags and banners and other things that may offend you, but no one cares. That’s also good advice for life outside the festival grounds.
Q: Is VIP/Top Shelf worth it?
I see this one asked a lot in the facebook fan groups and on reddit, and since I have experience with GA, VIP, and Top Shelf VIP, I feel like I’m qualified to answer. The “thing” about this question, though, is that phrase “worth it”. No other person can really know how much value you’ll find in something, but I can try to help you make that decision.
I’ve already covered a few of the downsides of General Admission, but all in all, it’s a fuckin great value, especially if you don’t drink alcohol (or don’t drink much alcohol) and you take my advice and eat a big deal before you enter the gates, and especially especially if you’re young and in relatively good shape. When we went for the one day in 2019, we got GA passes and by the end of the day it honestly felt like we might not make it. Temperatures topped out near 100° F (37.8° C), and being the first year on the new grounds, things were very open and exposed to the sun. Dust clouds erupted every time a pit broke out, and every single inch of shade was occupied all day. Also, the hand washing stations outside the portajohns were completely out of water, soap, and paper towels before the sun even went down.
We went the GA route again in 2021, and we both agreed afterward that if we were ever gonna go back, we’d have to upgrade to VIP so we could have access to shade, seats, and cleaner bathrooms.
We did just that in 2022, and I’m here to tell you, the fuckin joke was on us. The only real perk to VIP ended up being the better restroom facilities, because as I mentioned above, people are the worst, and no one would give up their precious chairs to anyone, for any reason, ever. I saw a pregnant woman walking around in the tent looking for a place to sit, for Chrissake, and not one person offered her any of the empty chairs at their tables, because they were saving them. There are a few food vendors inside VIP that are not available anywhere else, but there’s no shortage of food in GA, either. There’s also a dedicated viewing area to the left of Main Stage 1 which can get you some decent views of that stage, but for the most part, people line up along the rail and stay there all day, just like they do in GA.
After our VIP experience, we decided to give Top Shelf VIP a shot. Within minutes of being inside the Top Shelf area, we agreed there was no way we could go back to GA or VIP again. I will say this first: Top Shelf passes are not cheap. The price went up substantially this year, but we still got em within minutes of the Early Bird pre-sale for previous year ticket holders. We know there’s gonna be a ton of bands there we wanna see, and we barely have to travel to get to Louisville, which is a city we love, and were already visiting several times a year before we started going to Louder Than Life. We don’t take traditional vacations because Louder Than Life is our vacation. We are privileged to be able to make it happen again this year, and I’m glad, because there really is no going back. If I ever found myself in a strange hypothetical position where I can’t quite swing Top Shelf, but I could easily snag GA if I delivered pizza for my buddy Jim for a couple of months, I think I’d rather stay home and pretend like there aren’t a ton of bands I wanna see, and Louisville is much to far away for convenient travel, and I never liked that city anyway, and as a matter of fact, I ain’t ever even been there, truth be told, I’ve never even heard of Louisville, than not have the air-conditioned tent and the ability to poop comfortably. Your mileage may vary.
First of all, the very idea of an air-conditioned tent being available if we needed it made it seem worth it, but here are the other perks of Top Shelf:
All alcoholic beverages inside the Top Shelf area are included in the price of admission. Angel’s Envy has been the primary sponsor for Top Shelf every year since they’ve offered it, and as such, Angel’s Envy bourbon and rye are the well whiskies inside Top Shelf. They also have all the other major spirits available, along with Budweiser products. Considering drinks can cost as much as 20 bucks or more at some of the tents in GA, you can see how quickly you could burn through a hefty amount of money in a day. If you don’t enjoy alcoholic beverages, Top Shelf might not be worth it for you.
Renowned local chef Anthony Lamas (who you might know from TV’s Bar Rescue, with that insufferable prick John Taffer) and a crack team of cooks and food runners prepare small bites throughout the day, and those are included in the price of admission. We’re both vegetarian, so we haven’t tried everything they’ve offered, but everything we have tried has ranged in quality from very good to oh-my-fucking-god-that’s-incredible. They alternate cold and hot food, and they always have things like potato chips and trail mix available. We’ve had things like Strawberry Caprese Salads, Cheese Enchiladas, Falafel Balls, Spring Rolls, and French Fries, and some of the omnivore options we’ve seen include meatballs, Salisbury steak, and bratwurst. If I had one complaint about the food, and I do, it’s that sometimes there are no vegetarian options at all. This happened at the last service of Day Four this year. It was disappointing. At any rate, as I mentioned previously, food is expensive inside the festival grounds, and having the option to pop into the tent and have snacks throughout the day saved us a lot of money over the course of the weekend. If you don’t like delicious food, Top Shelf might not be worth it for you.
The restrooms are flushable and air-conditioned, and that’s a real nice perk. If you have no qualms with potentially not being able to wash your hands after using a portajohn that’s been sitting in the sun all day, Top Shelf might not be worth it for you.
That air-conditioned tent is fucking awesome, and it’s outfitted with TVs and a sound system that play whichever band is on the Main Stage at that time, so if you’re outside watching it and you wanna grab a beverage or a snack or even just rest your feet for a few minutes, you don’t really have to miss the action. I would never stay in there all day, because if I was all I wanted to do, I’d just stay home in my own air conditioning and watch YouTube, but it’s a wonderful option to have when you need to get out of the sun (or rain). And outside of feeding times, there is no challenge whatsoever in getting a place to sit. If I had one complaint about the tent, and of course I do, it’s the volume at which they play the Main Stage performances. I know the word “louder” is literally the first word in the name of the festival, but as a dude who can easily suffer from sensory overload, it would be cool if the volume was just a bit lower, so that regular conversation could happen (not to mention how much easier it would be to talk to the bartenders). If you don’t care about chairs, shade, and cooling off, then Top Shelf might not be worth it for you.
Top Shelf wristbands also give you access to the VIP area, and, of course the GA area as well.
Q: Should I talk to strangers?
Yes, absolutely. I know that answer runs counter to everything I’ve said here about people, but I stand by what I said: People (with a capital “P”) are the worst, and they do ruin everything. On the other hand, people can be pretty cool sometimes. I’m a very awkward and introverted person, and the idea of talking to someone I don’t know goes against my very nature, but the answer is still a resounding “YES!” You’ll meet some awesome people from all over the world, and almost everyone you interact with will be friendly, as long as you don’t ask to use one of the empty chairs at their table.
In my day-to-day life, I’ve been known to cross the street to avoid the very possibility of having to talk to another person. At this Louder Than Life this year, I made a bee-line toward a stranger holding a “FREE HUGS” sign and I gave him such a hugging, and it was fuckin awesome.
Q: Is Louder Than Life a cashless event?
Yes, Louder Than Life is a cashless event. I still bring cash in for tipping bartenders, but no place inside the festival grounds accepts cash as payment. They have those newfangled reverse ATMs on the grounds, where you can put in cash and get a prepaid debit card with the amount you put in, so if you don’t have a debit/credit card, or just don’t wanna bring it in with you, that’s an option.
The wristband that gets you inside the gates can also be linked to a card so you can pay with that, but I tried that in 2021 and forgot the PIN I set up for it (plus I accidentally wore the wrong bracelet anyway), so I don’t bother with that myself.
Q: This long-winded thing has been extremely informative and entertaining. Thank you so much for taking the time to put it together. What if I have other questions about things that aren’t covered here?
Thank you, that’s really nice of you to say. It took a very long time to write, and on more than one occasion I almost flung my Chromebook into the sun.
If you have further questions, the official website has a much more comprehensive and less long-winded Info page that covers a lot of the things I mentioned here, and much more. If you have a question about something that you don’t see covered on the links there, there’s a good chance you’re not looking hard enough or reading carefully enough, but in any case, you can email them at info@louderthanlifefestival.com. They’re very friendly, and they will get back to you.
Alright, I have to stop here. Holy shit this is long. If you made it this far, thank you! If you have any cool friends with half an hour to kill, you should tell them about it.
Welcome party people. And if there are any party poopers reading this, welcome to you, too. Maybe you’ll have some fun in spite of yourself. Before we continue, a disclaimer: if you’re looking for a straight-up review of the festival itself, you’ll prolly wanna look elsewhere. This is, as the title indicates, sort of a review of Day One, but it’s also a review of my day. Of course, I’d be thrilled if you decided to read on anyway, but I don’t wanna waste your time. Onward…
I’m here today (finally) to start writing about Louder Than Life 2023. It was the third year in a row that Sheila and I attended, plus we were there for one day in 2019, on Guns ‘n’ Roses Day (which I prefer to think of as Ice Cube/Suicidal Tendencies/Andrew WK/Anti-Flag day, but that’s beside the point), and we already bought our tickets for next year, because despite all the annoyances and the fact that there are always gonna be some real stinkers in the lineup, we always have a good time at the fest, and in the city of Louisville.
Quick side track: I didn’t write about last year’s LTL, but it was a mostly amazing time as well, aside from the fact that my father passed away the morning of the first day, after a long bout with various maladies and a broken heart. I saw some amazing performances, and had a ton of fun with Sheila and a couple of good friends of ours, and the live music helped me process all the feelings I was feeling during the weekend, and singing along with however-many-thousand fans while Alice in Chains played “Rooster” on the last night was one of the most incredible and cathartic experiences of my life. There was also a dark cloud hanging over this year’s fest for us, but I’m not gonna write about that yet, because this thing is already long enough. I did write about LTL2021, and if you’re so inclined, you can check those posts out here and here (Part 1 also includes a little about our one-day experience that first year).
We went all out this year and got Angel’s Envy Top Shelf VIP tickets, because we decided last year that this festival is likely just gonna be our vacation every year from now on. I can say for certain that there is absolutely no going back from Top Shelf VIP (TSVIP). There was a large air-conditioned tent with screens showing the main stage goings on, food catered by an award-winning (apparently celebrity) Louisville chef, no charge for drinks in the tent (or on the large elevated viewing platform in front of the tent), air-conditioned restrooms with flushable toilets/urinals, and just the absolute nicest fucking people working inside the area, from the people picking up trash, wiping off tables, and cleaing the restrooms to the bartenders to the catering folks to the guys at the gate who said “welcome back” everytime we came back into Top Shelf after the first time.
A kindly stranger took this photo of us inside the Top Shelf VIP area one of the nights (Friday, I think). It’s not a great pic, but it’s a pretty accurate representation of our expereince.
Our fancy-pants wristbands also got us into regular VIP, which we took advantage of a few of times to get a little closer to the bands on the “Loudmouth” stage (the two main stages are side-by-side, and are called “Loudmouth” and “Space Zebra”; one band plays while the next one sets up, back and forth, throughout the day), and of course we had access to all the General Admission areas, which include most of the food vendors, the merchandise tent, and the other three (!) stages. The “Revolver” and “Disruptor” stages replaced the single second stage last year, and another, smaller stage (“Road Hounds”) was also added last year. The idea is to allow more bands to play, as well as to help keep the crowd a bit spread out throughout the day, which are both great ideas, but the downside is the extra stages also make it completely impossible for people to see all the bands they wanna see.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. We got into town Wednesday afternoon after stopping for pizza and beer at New Albanian Brewing Company Pizzeria & Public House across the river (excellent pizza and beer, by the way), and after checking in to the hotel, we walked over to Bluegrass Brewing Company for another beer, then crossed the street and visited Down One Bourbon Bar, both of which are worth checking out if you enjoy human alcohol beverages (the food at BBC is great, too, but I can’t speak to the food at Down One). After Down One, we went up three (see what I did there) to Al J’s at the Conservatory (formerly known (to us, anyway) as “Fishbar”), a cool bar in the enclosed walkway between the Galt House East Tower (where we stayed) and the Galt House West Tower, for what was going to be a nightcap. There we struck up conversation with a very nice lady named Ashley who was in town from New Orleans for the festival. After she left, we decided to go down to the second floor for a for-real-this-time nightcap at Jockey Silks, the bourbon bar in the West Tower.
While sitting at the bar there, a lady in a very fancy looking floral-print dress approached Sheila and said “who are you most excited about seeing tomorrow? I know y’all are going to the festival.” There were a couple of different business functions going on at the hotel that weekend, as well, and generally speaking, the two different types of people in the hotel common areas (“business types” and “festival types”) were pretty easy to tell apart, but I have to say, this lady surprised me. We ended up hanging out with her and her two male companions (311 superfans one and all), who were also all from Louisiana (she and the taller guy made it a point to let us know that they were from New Orleans, and the other guy was “just a Cajun”). Turns out they were dressed up because they’d just gone to dinner at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, and they just wanted to look fancy for their fancy dinner.
While chatting with them at Jockey Silks, one of them asked us if we knew of any “cool underground bars” nearby, to which Sheila replied “as a matter of fact, there is a really cool bar two blocks from here that is literally underground. It’s called Troll Pub, and it’s built into the ground and has secret rooms and everything.” They were immediately on board, and I had to text a buddy of mine from New Orleans for advice on how to hang with his people (his response: “lol Throwing up makes room for more alcohol. Just roll with it. BTW if they are from the wank (westbank), run.” Then he shared a video.)
For the record, our one-night pals were not like Popeye.
Anway, we woke up pretty hungover from partying with those lunatics, and were very nearly late for our breakfast reservation at Wild Eggs (which never disappoints). We made it just in time, though, and everything was delicious and perfect, and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Day One. Side note: I wore my bitchin Bifocal Media ALL shirt to breakfast, and as we sat down, a lady a few tables over said “I love your shirt! I always see Descendents shirts, and ALL doesn’t get enough respect!” and I told her I agreed.
It’s this shirt, but in a dark gray. ALL!
Holy shit, I haven’t even really talked about the festival yet. Onward!
We caught the shuttle from the hotel to the gate and made it inside the grounds while Pinkshift was playing on the Loudmouth Stage. We wanted to try and catch their set, but we only got the last two songs. They sounded good. We checked out the TSVIP area, got some drinks, and went up to the viewing platform to check it out while Call Me Karizma played the Space Zebra stage. They were not for us, but luckily they only played for 30 mintues. The highlight of their set was seeing their frontman (who was trying really hard to look cool) accidentally spit on his own chest. We went over to regular VIP to be closer for Mannequin Pussy, which was the first band from Day One that Sheila was adamant about checking out. They sounded great, and they deserved a bigger audience, but they layed it all out for the crowd that was there.
My phone camera does not take very good pictures, but this is Mannequin Pussy. They were dope.
Toward the end of their set we began the long journey to the opposite end of the grounds to hopefelly catch some of Guerilla Warfare over on the Disruptor Stage. They’re a super high energy three-piece from Louisville who blast out a cool mix of hip-hop and metal, with some hardcore-style backing vocals thrown in for good measure. The drummer, Garrett Hood, does most of the vocals (singing drummers always fascinate me), but the bassist and the guitarist get in there and scream a bunch, too. They were tight as hell and super passionate. I’d love to see them in a more intimate setting.
I’m 99% sure the guitar player is wearing houndstooth chef pants.
We went back to TSVIP after Guerilla Warfare for a pee break and some more drinks while White Reaper (also from Louisville) played the Loudmouth Stage. They were good, but we were on a mission to get back to the Disruptor Stage in time to see Starcrawler, and we were successful. They’re kinda hard to describe, but they’re dirty and sleazy and fun as fuck, and frontwoman Arrow De Wilde absolutely commanded that crowd while jumping and writhing around, shaking her hips, simulating masturbation, spitting, cursing, and swinging the microphone around like it was her dick. Sheila said that De Wilde reminded her of a female Iggy Pop, and that’s about as good a description as any. It was a wild show (no pun intended).
It’s a very “First World” thing to complain about, but I envy people who have a good camera on their phone.
We had some time to kill, so we got some delicious iced coffees with oatmilk, had some more TSVIP snacks, and then I tried to find my friend Maggy, who I just found out that morning was coming for the day. We kept just missing each other, but I wasn’t about to miss Coheed & Cambria on the Loudmouth Stage at 4:40. I told Maggy we’d be in the VIP section watching them, then I’d try to find her. I’m not super familiar with their discography, but I’ve heard them a lot, because I always seem to have at least one co-worker who is really into them. More specifically, I’m very familiar with two of their songs, and they happen to be the band’s biggest “hits”.
Anyway, I wasn’t there to pretend to be a superfan, I just wanted to catch what I’d heard was an impeccable stage show. We secured our spots just in time for the band to kick off their phenomenal (albeit too brief) 10-song set, and the weather was perfect, and the sound was perfect, and for 45 minutes, everything was perfect (except for my shitty phone camera), and they only played one of the two songs I know (“Welcome Home”), but I didn’t even care that I didn’t get to hear “The Suffering”, because I’ll definitely go see them next time they’re anywhere near me on tour, and you should, too.
Thank the gods for the big screens.
This one has some elements of a pretty cool shot, at least.
Here’s one that I like.
After Coheed’s set, I finally found Maggy, and we got to talk for a few minutes, but then as 311 began I had to haul ass back over to the Disruptor Stage for L7, because fuckin duh. I don’t really know any 311 songs, but I probably would’ve watched some of their set if there wasn’t a band I’d rather see going on simultaneously (although the little bit I heard did sound very good, and I hope those maniacs from New Orleans and their Cajun friend had a blast).
Long story short, L7 was fuckin great (duh). They haven’t lost a step, and the crowd was very into them, and I’ll tell you hwat, when they played “Shitlist” and then flowed straight into “Pretend We’re Dead”, I thought I was gonna lose my mind. Like Coheed & Cambria before them, their set was only 10 songs, but it was flawless.
For some reason, Suzi Gardner is absent from every photo I took of L7, but I swear she was there. She even sang lead on the first song.
San Francisco, CA “blackgaze” legends Deafheaven immediately followed L7 on the adjacent Revolver Stage, and I was pretty pumped about seeing them. I’ve been aware of Deafheaven since 2013, when they released their divisive second album, Sunbather, but I never really bothered to listen to them until I saw that they were gonna be at LTL this year. I don’t really get into black metal all that much, with a few exceptions, but I still wanted to check them out, as I wasn’t sure when I might get a chance to see them again. I listened to a few songs and I was interested enough. Then a couple of weeks before the fest, the October issue of Decibel Magazine arrived in my mailbox, and featured Sunbather as its (then) newest inductee into their hallowed Hall of Fame. I played the album while I read the HOF piece, then I played it again, and I was officially stoked to see Deafheaven.
Anyway, as soon as L7 finished up, I took about 10 steps the right, secured a spot on the rail, and waited patiently along with what seemed like not nearly enough people. Then I rememberd that it was Thursday, and a lot of people probably still had to work and whatnot, then I remembered that Rancid had started playing on the Space Zebra Stage 10 minutes prior. I wanted to see Rancid, even though Tim Armstrong sounds and purposely looks like brain-damaged hobo (especially when he’s not actively playing his guitar – seriously, I always expect his pants to just fall around his ankles when I see him on stage). Rancid played an important role in my musical development when I was in my late teens-early twenties, and while I haven’t really listened to anything from them sincetheir second self-titled album (from 2000), it would’ve been cool to hear “Ruby Soho” and “Old Friend” and “Olympia WA” and a lot of their other old bangers, but I saw them a couple of times back in the good old days of the Warped Tour, so I opted to stay put for Deafheaven while Sheila went to check out Rancid (but not before snapping some pics of Deafheaven for me, with her superior camera).
See?
Deafheaven came out to the strains of Jimmy Scott singing “Sycamore Trees” from the final episode of the original run of Twin Peaks, which was very fucking cool, and the band started in with some feeback, and frontman George Clarke came out and held his microphone stand up in the air, then the riffs began, and for the next 50 minutes, I was transported away from all my cares and worries and anxieties (although I was very glad I had that rail to hold onto, because I definitely would’ve ended up on the ground from the sheer force of my head bangery). One of the security dudes in front of the stage was lowkey into the sounds that were coming from behind him, and I couldn’t tell whether he was already a fan or if he was becoming one, but either way, it was kinda cool to see.
Fucking beautiful.
After Deafheaven I high-tailed it back over to Top Shelf to meet up with Sheila for Weezer and found her with “My Name is Jonas” already in progress. I have mixed feelings about Weezer, and rightfully so. It’s kind of a cliche at this point to say that they peaked with their first two albums, but it’s also not incorrect. Their second self-titled album has some good songs on it, and I bought Maladroit at K-Mart the day it came out in 2002 and didn’t hate it, although I’m pretty sure I haven’t listened to any of it in about 15 years, and “Dope Nose” is the only song I can remember at all.
Side note: in a fun twist, Sheila was actually the cashier who rang me up that day (before we were married, obviously).We were acquainted on account of her sister worked with me at Burger King, and also because her best friend Chris and I were cool with each other. Our friend Amy once said that we were “shadows of each other’s lives for so long, it only made sense that we’d end up together”, and as is often the case, Amy is not wrong.
Anway, I was talking about Weezer, and how they have no business sounding so goddamn good in 2023. When I found Sheila, she tried to get me to come closer, but I declined, not wanting to get in front of the group of people who were already packed in behind her. Next thing I know, the group had made a path for me, and one of the dudes yelled “Joel! Get the fuck up here, goddamnit!” and who am I to refuse such an enthusiasitc invitation? We got to sing along together to the final refrain of “Jonas”, then we spontaneously began to dance and sing along with “Beverly Hills”, much to my self-disappointment. They followed that up with two songs I didn’t know, but which still had enough of a groove to dance to, then their breakout hit “Undone – The Sweater Song” began, and we temporarily lost our minds, then they flowed directly into “Only in Dreams”, which was just incredible, then another newer song, then “Island in the Sun” from their mostly-okay-but-not-nearly-as-good-as-the-first-two third album, which is also their second self-titled album (out of, if I’m not mistaken, six self-titled albums), and around that point we began to be consumed by the hunger.
“Island in the Sun” faded into another newer song, so I decided to take that opportunity to empty my bladder and go find us some pizza. I got about 50 yards outside of Top Shelf just as “Say It Ain’t So” began, and that was a stone cold bummer. That’s been my favorite Weezer song since the first time I heard it, but at least I could still hear it loud and clear for the entirety of my walkabout, and I got to sing along to it with a bunch of enthusiastic strangers as I walked through the crowd. I got us some pizza from a place long since forgotten and made my way back as the band played another song I didn’t know. We scarfed down our pizza and enjoyed the absolute hell outta “Surf Wax America” and “Buddy Holly”, then got super amped for Foo Fighters.
I saw Foo Fighters once before, when they were touring for 2005’s In Your Honor (Weezer was actually the opening band then, oddly enough), and they were just brilliant. It was the first time I’d been to a show in a venue that big (the former Frank Erwin Center in Austin, TX) in a lot of years, and the sheer volume of the band and the crowd together solidified me as a legit fan. Subsequent less-than albums caused me to walk back a bit of my fandom (I’ll never forget the proufound sense of disappointment we experienced while watching them perform “Shame, Shame” on Saturday Night Live in 2021 – shame, shame, indeed), but I was still pumped to see them again, because while every song may not be a home run (or even a sacrifice bunt), when Foo Fighters play a kickass song, they make that song kick some serious motherfucking ass.
They started off with “All My Life”, and the crowd was real into it. They followed up with two newer songs, but I didn’t know those songs, and I’d had several drinks by that point, therefore I do not remember those songs. “Learn to Fly” was next, and it was glorious, and then there were two more newer songs (including one from their newest album), and then “Times Like These” (which is one of my favorites) then “Generator” and “Breakout”, and then band introductions (and what a band!) coupled with snippets of cover songs, and then “My Hero”, which I have to assume made nearly everyone in attendance cry along with me, and that rolled right into “This is a Call”, which caused to me to lose my mind for approximately the 15th time that day, then another newer song started, and Sheila said “I’m really sad about this, but I have to go.” I responded “but they haven’t played “Best of You” or “Everlong”!”, to which she replied “you can stay if you want, but I have to go. I’m so tired.”
And while I very much wanted to stay, I left with her, because truth be told, I was also tired as fuck, plus I didn’t wanna risk having to sit next to a stranger on the shuttle back to the hotel. By the time we got out of the restrooms and began our walk toward the gates, the band had started to play “Shame, Shame” for some reason, and what seemed like about half the crowd suddenly decided they also had to go. That song really is a turd. So we ended up missing “Monkey Wrench”, “Best of You”, “Everlong”, and a couple of others, but that was okay, because it was only the first day, and while the next two days were overall less exciting for us than the last day, and while we’re pretty well seasoned at the festival thing at this point, we still needed to rest up. A four day music festival is a marathon, goddamnit, not a sprint – especially for a couple of middle-aged goobers like us.
Besides, someone was obviously gonna record the songs we missed and post them on youtube.
That’s all for Day One. Keep an eye out for Part Two, which will hopefully be finished in a day or two, and may end up including Day Two and Day Three together, although knowing me, it might only include half of Day Two (I’m starting to confuse myself), because as you almost certainly know by now, I can be a bit long-winded. Thanks for reading, and if you wanted to tell a friend about my nonsense, that wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I’ll close out with a few pictures from Day One that didn’t really fit anywhere else.
Those are the main stages in the middle there, “Loudmouth” on the left and “Space Zebra” on the right, and the Top Shelf VIP viewing platform just to the right of the stages.
The festival grounds are enormous. The li’l black box just left of center, to the right of the big tent, is the “Road Hounds” stage, where I found Jesus (Piece).
If you squint and use your imagination, you can kind of make out the “Disruptor” and “Revolver” stages toward the left side of the frame, way in the back, there.
I like how the Running Man in the bottom left corner appeared between this picture and the one before. I’m not sure where he was hurrying off to, but I hope he made it in time.
Clockwise Circle Pit 