Well now, what a day for punk and metal festivals! First, we were treated to news of one of the most shocking reunions (more on that later) and now two of the biggest US metal festivals have just announced they’re joining forces – guess Lemmy really is looking over us and gracing his holiness on the rock community.
That said, just in case you haven’t heard the news yet, let’s dive in:
After months of begging and pleading for any bit of information regarding Riot Fest 2016, the Chicago-based festival has finally (and we mean FINALLY) granted us with some news in a huuuge way. Not only did they announce the headliner for this year’s festival but they also revealed that it’s a band reuniting for the first time in over 30 years!
That’s right, you guessed it, Riot Fest was able to somehow get Guns N Roses back together! (Wait, that’s been done already? Somewhere called Coachella? Hmm…)
Anyways, we’re hearing news it’s not actually GNR and instead it’s something even more badass and, shall we say, spookier. Yep, you got it, Riot Fest will be the location of the first Misfits show featuring singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, original bassist Jerry Only and long-time guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein since the late ‘80s!
Speaking to Alt Press, on how the reunion came about, Riot Fest founder Mike Petryshyn says the process was actually pretty simple.
“The timing is right,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a reunion band or a band that’s been active for a decade, there’s a process with all of it, a comfort level, questions to answer and all of that stuff. To be honest with you, [getting The Misfits back together was] pretty natural and organic. Once the conversation started, there was never a sense that this was going to go away.”
As we’re sure you’re pretty well aware, with the addition of The Misfits, demand for Riot Fest tickets is going to significantly increase. So, if you’ve yet to pick up your tickets for either the Denver or Chicago date, we suggest heading here sooner than later.
Now, speaking of reunions: In another pretty shocking announcement, after taking six years off with a couple stints in Japan in 2013 and 2015, it’s just been announced that Ozzfest will be returning to Southern California Saturday September 24 for Black Sabbath’s final show in the Golden State.
And, as if that wasn’t newsworthy enough, it was also revealed that Slipknot’s annual Knotfest will also be a joining in on the metal festivities by taking over the very next day, Sunday September 25, at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino.
Dubbed as “Ozzfest meets Knotfest,” the first-ever weekend, as you can imagine, will feature a plethora of heavy metal acts including the likes of Disturbed, Slayer, Megadeth, Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Opeth and a whole bunch more.
Touching on the impact of the two festivals joining forces, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor explained how important the collaboration is to him saying, “This could be the one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of. Starting out as an Ozzfest band, coming into our own with Knotfest and now combining forces to make a little metal history…it was meant to be and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Tickets for the historic event will go on sale Friday May 20 and can be found here. To check out the jam-packed lineup to both days, see below.
