New City, Same Rockville: A Preview of Welcome to Rockville - Daytona (2020)

Welcome to Rockville daily lineup from https://welcometorockvillefestival.com/

As Welcome to Rockville transitions into it’s 10th straight year as a festival rocking the state of Florida, it also sees a shifting of host cities. For the past 9 years the event has been held in Jacksonville, Florida but this year, due to undisclosed reasons the even migrates to Daytona, Florida where it will bring its brand of rock to the high-speed Daytona International Speedway, typically more well known for its NASCAR events.

Despite a change in venue, the festival still holds to many of its now well known concepts. There is still going to be an absolutely killer lineup of bands like Motionless in White and Lamb of God to fill the weekend with many memories, there will still be an incredible amount of delicious food on hand like last year’s decadent Hebro Kitchen and there will be plenty of drinks to be had as well, from Monster Energy selections to a favorite from last year, Heavy Tiki.

As for bands that ConcertHopper is excited for, there is a very large list across the three day event. Of course there are the mega bands like Social Distortion, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the almighty Metallica who are performing two separate days at the festival. As most of these bands are likely well known to most of you, we’ll try and hopefully shed some light on some of the other bands that you may not have already become familiar with.

The very last band to be announced for the festival is perhaps one of the most intriguing acts on the entire bill. The Hu, a Mongolian metal outfit formed in 2016, brings an undeniable sense of diversity to the metal scene. Along with the familiar concepts of thunderous drums and chugging bass riffs, the group also includes traditional Mongolian components like throat singing and the Morin khurr. If you’re looking for something different, The Hu is definitely an act to take note of.

The Hu, image taken from their website at thehuofficial.com

Since we are already in the flow of covering one diverse band appearing at Welcome to Rockville, we may as well go ahead and transition into another diverse offering. Hailing from the Ukraine, Jinjer will be performing at the festival on Saturday. Jinjer caught fire in viral fashion due to a studio performance they did of their song Pisces. The video has gone on to foster countless reaction videos from different genres of YouTubers and even vocal coaches, all of whom are floored as vocalist Tatiana Shmaylyuk begins with soft tones throughout the initial verse before the reverb kicks in on the guitar and she belts out absolutely brutal growls surprising everyone on their first listen.

Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmaylyuk from their Macro Tour in Atlanta, shot for ConcertHopper

Continuing with the international theme, French metal maestros Gojira perform at the festival on Sunday. Bringing a signature guitar styling to offset the blistering drums, Gojira have become renowned in the metal community for their heavy tones and thought-provoking lyrics. The brothers Duplantier (Mario on drums and Joe on guitar and vocals) mesh flawlessly with the other members of the band to create a raw and passionate brand of metal, which they would need to do to have a song titled The Heaviest Matter of the Universe.

Joe Duplantier of Gojira at Knotfest Roadshow in Atlanta, shot for ConcertHopper

One of the benefits of Welcome to Rockville has always been that in Jacksonville there was a well-built infrastructure in place thanks in no small part to the Jacksonville Jaguars which created great food and hotels in the area. Thankfully with the change in venue this should not be an issue since the crowd drawn to Daytona for the NASCAR races should at the very least demand the same level of infrastructure as the NFL games.

Just like in previous years, the festival has partnered with some hotels to allow attendees to receive discounted rates on lodging. The rates can be found on the festival’s info page at https://welcometorockvillefestival.com/info/. Along with the discounted lodging, attendees can also, once again op to camp on-site which affords indoor restroom and shower facilities as well as on-site amenities from a general store. Details about camping are available at https://welcometorockvillefestival.com/camping/.

One of the draws for Welcome to Rockville is often times the food which might not be much of a thought when planning to attend a festival. Typically this is because the food is less than stellar. Rockville has managed to change this perception by offering absolutely delicious food options Island Noodles and this year adds alcoholic attractions like Jack Daniel’s and The Boilermaker Bar featuring drink selections from Metallica’s own line of drinks. More details about food and other activities is available at https://welcometorockvillefestival.com/foodfunandmore/.

Selection from the Boilermaker Bar featuring Metallica’s drink line, taken from https://welcometorockvillefestival.com/foodfunandmore/#the-boilermaker-bar

If you aren’t afraid of the warm temperatures and are interested in seeing some absolutely incredible bands over a three-day weekend with an awesome crowd of friends, great food and great drinks then we highly recommend you attend Welcome to Rockville. If you need to purchase tickets, you can do so at https://rockville.frontgatetickets.com/?_ga=2.261496141.1376679296.1579030551-1182236496.1579030551. Once you have your tickets, we at ConcertHopper look forward to seeing you there.

As always, please feel free to browse around ConcertHopper’s website further and to check out our articles covering a wide variety of topics. Please also check us out on social media on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Life is a beautiful thing and music only adds to that beauty, make some time to get out and celebrate beauty and life with a community of like-minded individuals at a concert soon, it’s always worth the price of admission.