Aftershock Festival
Discovery Park, Sacramento
October 10-13, 2024
The 12th edition of the Aftershock Festival shook up Sacramento’s Discovery Park with an epic four days of incredibly heavy music. Over 160,000 people streamed into the park throughout the weekend, helping the event to retain its distinction as the largest West Coast rock festival.
There were some very big names on the bill. In fact, this year’s headliners were so plentiful, they were all billed as a co-headliners. On Thursday, there was Slayer and Pantera. Slayer was playing one of only two shows this year since agreeing to temporarily come out of retirement. On Friday there was Slipknot and Five Finger Death Punch. Slipknot was celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album. Saturday featured new wave of British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. This would be Iron Maiden’s only US Festival appearance in 2024. And Sunday’s finale wrapped up with 80s glam metal legends Motley Crue and modern alternative metal giants Disturbed. This was to be Motley Crue’s final show of a massive two year tour.
All of the headliners played extremely well-received sets. There were scores of other great bands who performed throughout the weekend to massive crowds in the expansive outdoor spaces of the large river adjacent park. And the October weather was absolutely perfect for the generation-spanning crowd who witnessed a great variety of performances.
73 years young Rob Halford, the titanic screamer of Judas Priest was in great form and gripped the crowd with a stunning version of “Sinner” on Saturday night while Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris, who is a mere 67, galloped masterfully on his bass guitar as the band dove deep into many cuts from its latest record Senjustsu.
Later in the weekend, Tom Morello, the Rage Against the Machine shredder brought out his teenage son Roman to join on guitar for a version of “Killing In the Name” that had the crowd absolutely ecstatic. Til Lindemann of pyro titans Rammstein debuted his solo project that rocked with efficiency and style. The Warning, an all female metal group from Mexico had a strong performance as well as another female-fronted band from Guadalajara called Descartes a Kant (DAK), who made quite an impression with their spacesuit outfits and punk, cabaret, shoe gaze theatrical performance.
Honestly, things were lined up about as righteously as they could be for a big weekend in Sacramento. And on top of everything else, the four-day brings an over $30 million dollar economic boost to Sacramento with people visiting from every state as well as many countries around the world.
The festival featured five stages and over 130 bands throughout the four-day weekend. Some of the many notable names included Mastodon, Cypress Hill, Clutch, Lorna Shore, Halestorm, and the Insane Clown Posse. And everyone was bringing their top music and stage show game to the festival.
Cypress Hill, who played the big Shock Wave stage, did a fantastic job of firing up the crowd on the first day. The legendary, stoner/gangsta hip-hop act played a fiery set that had a metal edge with a live band and which featured slamming versions of songs like “Hand on the Pump” and “A to the K.” The band even threw in a little bit of Beastie Boys for those who remember B Real’s collaboration with the iconic trio on “Whatcha Want.”
Later we ran into Sen Dog, who was relaxing after the group’s set and enjoying the festival ambience. Sen Dog (Senen Reyes), grew up in the South Gate neighborhood of Los Angeles and is the older brother of the notable rapper Mellow Man Ace. Reflecting on the group’s approach, Sen Dog said, “We always bring big energy to our sets,” said Sen Dog, who has been in the group since they began way back in 1992. Earlier in the day, he had joined Biohazard onstage for a ripping version of the song “How It Is.”
And like many who had played earlier, he was waiting around for the Slayer set later on. Sen Dog went to the same high school as Slayer’s original drummer Dave Lombardo. There were also members of Death Angel, Exodus and other bands waiting for the big set, which sounded incredible.
This seemed to be the theme throughout the weekend. Band members hanging out to check out their heroes or influences after they had played and sometimes joining them as well. They are fans like everyone else, but these band members were also supporting their longtime friends and road colleagues and a big festival like this was a great opportunity for many of them to connect. Heavy music has weathered so many eras and changes and there was ample reason to celebrate its enduring appeal with both older and younger fans.
And naturally, the biggest night for many was Saturday night, which featured back to back sets by the titans Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Both groups have been keeping their standard of excellence high for many decades. Judas Priest for over half a century while Iron Maiden is closing in on that. And both had released strong new albums recently.
Among those waiting around for their chance to see Maiden and Priest were members of Sacramento’s Deftones, who weren’t playing this year, but have headlined this festival before. Also, excitedly waiting to see Iron Maiden were members of Mastodon. They had played one of the weekend’s best sets with a crushing play through of their incredible record Leviathan on its 20th anniversary.
There was a similar theme with headliners Slipknot, who came on later the same night. Slipknot played the majority of their self-titled debut album, which was released 25 years ago. Hard to believe both Mastodon and Slipknot have been at it for that long. They are no longer the new bands. Naturally, there were also opportunities for young upstarts on the festival.
Hemorage, who have crafted a name for themselves in the past few years with their DIY approach, were first timers on the festival line up. The Bay Area power trio was having a hard time getting gigs and decided to distinguish themselves by showing up in their small bus with a portable stage inside and pulling up and playing outside club venues just as shows were letting out. They quickly got the attention of the heavy music world with the intensity and efficiency of these brief post-show gigs.
“We got frustrated with venues closing down during gentrification and through the pandemic and we did not like how the music scene was becoming less about the music and more about the games and the politics,” said guitarist/vocalist Jon Orc about he and his bandmates deciding to do these renegade shows.
At the end of the night after last year’s Aftershock, the band did a pop-up show over near the AM/PM on Jiboom St that got an insane reaction from the post-festival crowd who were streaming out of the park.
There was a video clip that went viral and caught the attention of one of the festival’s organizers, who reached out to the band and offered them a spot on this year’s lineup. Their set at the festival had a massive response.
“The experience was amazing,” said Orc afterwards. “We played in front of a huge crowd and the response was crazy. We had the biggest mosh pit and most crowd surfers in a set all day. It went better than what I imagined when I started this band as a teenager.”
And the same could be said for this festival as its 12th edition wound down.Things are going as good as one can imagine, and like many on the festival’s lineup, seem to be getting better with time.
Photos of Judas Priest, Slayer, and Cypress Hill by Steve Thrasher
Photo of Hemorage by @bonesinthebooth
Photos of Crowd by Jordan Pantoja
Photo of Halestorm by Alexo
