Sacramento's Aftershock rock festival kicks off 12th year with lengthiest lineup yet, 5 stages
SACRAMENTO -- Aftershock is back in action at Discovery Park for its 12th year, kicking off the four-day rock festival to a crowd of around 40,000 fans Thursday night.
What is now a worldwide destination is the West Coast's biggest rock festival, right in Sacramento.
The festival added 30 bands for its lengthiest lineup yet at more than 130 bands total. They also added a fifth stage this year.
"There's five! That's the most there's ever been. It's awesome," said attendee Michael Coons from Sparks, Nevada.
The rock festival features some head-banging headliners including Slayer, Pantera, Slipknot, Five Finger Death Punch, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motley Crue.
"Last year was incredible and then we saw the lineup for this year. Even better. Couldn't miss it," said one family who was in town from Portland, Oregon.
"For me, it's seeing Slayer. This is my birthday week, just turned 44. Life is great," said Billy Garcia Jr. of Eugene, Oregon.
Approximately 160,000 people are expected to pack the park through Sunday.
"Aftershock started 12 years ago as a one-day event with about 13 or 14,000 people. For it to grow this fast is truly something special," said Chamie McCurry, festival general manager. "Every year we add a couple of new countries to the mix... which is really exciting. That means the gospel of Aftershock is spreading worldwide. What a place to welcome them to. We love Sacramento."
Rock fan Jim Labb was in town from Vancouver, Canada for his second Aftershock festival in a row. He said he will keep coming to Sacramento until Canada learns to rock out like California's capital city.
"I love the gathering of people in music, man. This is what we are all about. All these different people, all these different backgrounds," Labb said.
It's four days of feeling the riff right in your bones that is helping put Sacramento center stage.
"Sac is a really cool town for sure," said Katie Smith, in town from Sonora, California.
Aftershock kicks off a big October for Sacramento. The third annual GoldenSky Country Music Festival takes over Discovery Park the following weekend.
"Sacramento is definitely becoming the city of festivals. Between Aftershock and GoldenSky we spend seven days producing some of the biggest artists in the world here. We are proud to call Sacramento home," McCurry said.
After GoldenSky, the largest Ironman Competition in North America takes place the next weekend.
"Between the three weekends, you've got over $60 million in economic impact and that's the money people are spending as visitors," said Mike Testa, CEO of Visit Sacramento.
The success of Aftershock and GoldenSky has drawn new events to town like the Holo Holo Music Festival at Cal Expo last month. It's something city officials say is helping Sacramento attract the next big act.
"I think we'll see our genres of music expand and our festival offerings grow in the coming years based on how popular these events have been," Testa said.
Aftershock 2024 passes are still available.