WELCOME TO ROCKVILLE FESTIVAL

Journalist: Sergio Cesario
Video recording: Melaine Schweighardt
Video Editing: Jenier Elias and Yennifer Fernandez
Published: May 13, 2014

Welcome to Rockville Festival

Jacksonville , Florida, U.S.A.

April 26, and April 27, 2014

Jacksonville, Florida has its rich roots in history, being one of the oldest cities in the Northern part of Florida, and in April at the Jacksonville Metropolitan Park, history WAS MADE! Thousands of music hungry fans migrated to one of the oldest cities in the United States to rock the hell out! Taking a page from many successful festivals of the past, “Welcome to Rockville” brings together some of the music world’s biggest and best bands from multiple genres for a 2 day event of seismic proportions.

Over the past few years, the size and magnitude of the event has grown well beyond what promoters and critics alike had ever imagined. Saturday was host to over 20,000 hungry metal fans, while Sunday’s top quality lineup was able to bring in over 30,000. And yes, Metal Master Kingdom was there for it all. Rev Theory kicked off the weekend by performing live at the Pre-Kick off party held that Friday night. An event which featured not only the band, but had surprise appearances from several musicians that were not only at Rockville to perform, but hanging out waiting to rock out on Saturday. 

And yes, Metal Master Kingdom was there to cover it all, if you happen to catch the live Facebook and Twitter feeds that we were posting live as it was happening. We also were able to photograph over 80% of all the bands that were at the event including heavy hitters such as Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, and yes, even Rob Zombie himself. Of course we also were able to land 5 interviews with some of the best up and comers on the scene. All in all, this was an incredible experience that we recommend that all music fans take the time and tuck away their lunch money for the annual pilgrimage to Rockville, which by the way is 10x better than Funky Town. All kidding aside, this is a fun event for people of all ages, and yes we saw many families enjoying their weekend there as well, so it was a fun, family friendly atmosphere for all.

Day 1 promptly started at 11:00 a.m. with World Gone on the Jägermeister stage, so the games began, and the music began to pour on in. Most notable performances of day 1 for us were World Gone, Gemini Syndrome, Alter Bridge, We Came As Romans, Memphis May Fire, Hellyeah, Evergreen Terrace, A Day To Remember, Volbeat, and of course Avenged Sevenfold.

After seeing and hearing the Saturday lineup, it’s easy to say what else could possibly top this??? Let me tell you if you thought Saturday was sick, then you would absolutely be floored by Sunday’s lineup. Black Stone Cherry, Black Label Society, Butcher Babies, Staind , Pretty Reckless, Motionless in White, Emmure, Trivium, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, Rob Zombie and Korn, and there was even more!!

Over the course of my life, I have seen over 500 shows from large to small, big names and small names alike, but not even all those shows combined could sum up the experience that we had at Rockville. I welcome anyone from around the world and music lovers alike to come to Rockville because you will not be disappointed. They say the best festivals are in Europe, well get ready because metal is on the rise in the US and the game is just getting started. Let the games begin and let the good times roll!!

We would sincerely like to thank the promoters for rolling out the red carpet for us, the bands for lending us their time and energy, and most of all the fans that made this and future events to come an extraordinary experience. 

Check out our interviews from the two day festival: 

Motionless In White  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN8lqaai_Gg&feature=youtu.be

Gemini Syndrome 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRzzvG72GV4

Devour The Day  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ff4WljaVsE

Nothing More  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2R81dvg-QE&feature=youtu.be

Smile Empty Soul  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIlEE6OPyEo&feature=youtu.be