Louder Than Life

The first weekend of October kicked off with a banging start in Louisville, KY, as the Louder Than Life Festival celebrated it’s third annual year at Champions Park. Like Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion and additional renowned festivals in the World’s Loudest Month series, Louder Than Life’s music lineup spotlighted an array of the biggest names in rock music today. The two-day festival brings a unique draw, offering a taste of Louisville culture with over 40 food and beverage vendors.

Korn’s Jonathan Davis – Photo by Lizzy Davis

After experimenting with a four stage layout that resulted in numerous complaints in 2015, the festival reverted to their original three stage setup to try to accommodate locals and reduce noise. Two main stages were set up side by side, allowing fans to watch more performances without running around the grounds all day, trying to catch anyone on the now-abandoned fourth stage. A third stage was placed across the field, with convenient scheduled sets to keep overlapping times to a minimum.

Saturday opened up with performances from rising talent ’68 (featuring Norma Jean and The Chariot alum Josh Scogin), Young Guns and Neck Deep. Swedish metal band Avatar returned to the main stage for their second year at Louder Than Life before giving way to The Amity Affliction, Sick Pupppies, Hellyeah, Motionless In White and Pierce The Veil. Early evening embraced rock legends Anthrax, Chevy Metal (featuring Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins), Cheap Trick, The Cult and Slayer, with the recently returned Avenged Sevenfold headlining the main stage.

Slayer’s Kerry King – Photo by Lizzy Davis

Throughout the day, show goers were able to stay refreshed in the Gourmet Man Food Village. Featured vendors offered a unique and unexpected twist of flavors, including a meat lover’s grilled cheese, gator critter fritters, Maine lobster and wood-fired pizzas. Over 15 distilleries were represented as well, offering specialty cocktails and artist-inspired beverages inside a World’s Loudest Bourbon Tent.

Day two highlighted sets from a multitude of today’s more modern names in rock and metal, including Adelitas Way, Trivium, Pop Evil, Skillet, Sevendust and Alter Bridge. Sweden was well represented again with afternoon sets from both Sabaton and Ghost. Metalcore band Parkway Drive, comprising of Australian surfer members, pulled one of the heaviest sets of the weekend with waves of body surfers. Later in the evening, Korn’s set featured a surprise appearance from Corey Taylor for the debut live performance of their latest single, “A Different World.”

Disturbed’s David Draiman – Photo by Lizzy Davis

Disturbed and Slipknot wrapped up the weekend, bringing another strong year and heavy hitting end to Louder Than Life. With nearly 50,000 fans in attendance, the festival continues to grow and drive tourism to Louisville. Thankfully for the rock community, the Mayor is already predicting and cheers-ing Louder Than Life’s return in 2017.