Day 3
Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters closed out Sonic Temple on Sunday night
On Sunday, I opened my coverage up on the Monster Main Stage with a performance from Amigo the Devil. To be fair, I had no idea who this was, but a few friends told me not to miss it, so off I went! This right here is why I love music festivals so much. I can’t imagine having made my way to Columbus and missed this set. Amigo puts on a bit of a folk-rock performance that (to me at least) channels the Tenacious D side of Jack Black with a little bit of Johnny Cash. He’s funny, passionate and a heck of a performer. Admittedly, I’m not the least bit familiar with his catalog, but I’ve been listening to it since the festival. Check out “If I’m Crazy” and see what you think!
I spent the next two acts over on the Echo Stage, kicking things off with Palaye Royale. This band of Canadian brothers from Toronto brought an aggressive punk/art-rock show to the stage that I’d been hearing about for a few years now. No wonder, as they brought as much attitude to the stage as I’ve seen all weekend (stay tuned for Yungblud though). They opened their set with a cover of The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” followed by original songs “Don’t Feel Quite Right” and “You’ll Be Fine.” Vocalist Remington Leith is an absolute firecracker, running all over the stage, including a massive jump from atop a tower of speakers mid-set.
Palaye Royale’s Remington Leigh jumping from atop the speakers.
Not to be outdone, Yungblud was up next. This is another artist I really hadn’t heart much about before the buildup to the festival. It’s also exactly why I come here year after year, so I can take in some brand-new music in person. Yungblud took the stage with a skinny black dress and proceeded to work the entire stage from left to right throughout the duration of his performance. His dedicated fans had taken put dedication to get to the front of the rail in anticipation of his performance today. He opened his set with “21st Century Liability” and included additional hits such as “I Love You, Will You Marry Me” and “California.”
The Struts were next up on the Monster Main Stage. I’ve heard nothing but great things about these guys for years, but this was my first chance to see them perform live. Their set was beyond impressive, with tracks including “Primadonna Like Me” and “Body Talks,” The Struts took over that stage immediately and never let go. Vocalist Luke Spiller brings a presence that is somehow entirely his own, yet seems to also channel elements of Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson with his flamboyant on-stage moves and charisma. I would have loved some more of this, and we’ll get a bit more from Like Spiller a bit later.
The next set on my agenda was a trip to the Echo Stage for The Interrupters, a ska band that one of the guys in my group has been hyped about all weekend. I grew up a huge fan of ska and bands like No Doubt, so I was interested to see what kind of performance The Interrupters would bring to the festival. They brought a punchy set that included songs like “Take Back the Power” and “She’s Kerosene.” Vocalist Aimee Interrupter is a powerhouse, bringing all the punk elements of ska to the forefront. I’m glad I was able to catch this performance, and I’d expect to see more from The Interrupters in the next few years!
Unfortunately, it was at this point that we had a bit of a break in our regularly scheduled program, as the stadium was evacuated due to high winds and an approaching storm system. While this is never the way fans or festival organizers want to see things go down, weather is unpredictable and everyone involved has consistently gone to great lengths to ensure the safety of the fans and performers alike. As a result, we ended up off-site for approximately two hours before the doors re-opened, which inevitably cut into the scheduled performances. Fortunately, the Foo Fighters were still scheduled to perform!
The final performance of the weekend came from The Foo Fighters. This was my first time seeing them perform live, after having been told for years how incredible they are. I never doubted it, as it was more a lack of opportunity to see them, but this was a truly special performance. I couldn’t wait to see Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters perform. They’ve been cranking out anthems for over 20 years now, and I couldn’t imagine what the sets highlights would be for me. While Pauly Shore came on stage to introduce them, my level of anticipation only continued to grow. They opened things up with “All My Life,” followed immediately with “Learn to Fly.” Things really got deep when Pauly Shore came back on stage and they performed “My Hero,” which Dave Grohl dedicated to Shore’s father, who had died the day before.
The next guest on stage was Luke Spiller from The Struts for a cover of Queen’s “Under Pressure” before the final run of hits to close out the evening. They threw it back with a great rendition of “Monkey Wrench” before performing “Run” off of 2017’s “Concrete and Gold.” The show was closed out with “Best of You” and “Everlong” before finally saying goodnight.
What a weekend! I’ll say it again here, just as I’ve said it every year. This festival is one of my favorite weekends of the year. Danny Wimmer promised that Sonic Temple would be everything we loved about Rock on the Range and more, and it was all of that! I was thrilled to see the festival sell out ahead of time, after a knockout first year, I’m sure it’ll be in even bigger demand next year! 2020 will be my seventh consecutive year heading out to Columbus in late May for a weekend of music, fun and (hopefully) some more sun!
Amigo The Devil:
Foo Fighters:
Glorious Sons:
Palaye Royale:
The Interrupters:
The Struts:
Yungblud:
