Review by Wayne Edwards | Photos by Steve Thrasher
A record-breaking crowd of 170,000 fans attended the Louder Than Life festival this year in Louisville, Kentucky to see headliners Kiss, Slipknot, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nine Inch Nails.
One of the biggest rock festivals in the US, Louder Than Life, has been putting on the event since 2014. Promoter Danny Wimmer Presents sponsors many festivals throughout the year and, for me, Louder Than Life is second only to Aftershock, which is held every year in Sacramento.
The Kentucky festival has been ramping up since its return after the pandemic interruption, and the news of a large number of attendees is boosted by the fact that the festival is four days long now, whereas it had been a three-day festival pre-pandemic. Even so, a quick calculation generates an average attendance of more than 40,000 people per day at the Highland Festival Grounds. That is a crowd.
More than 100 bands played this year at the festival, and the organizers arranged them across six paired stages. There were two side-by-side mainstages near the festival entrance, with VIP and super VIP (“Top Shelf”) sections on either side. The second set of side-by-side stages was somewhat smaller and, interestingly, had notable bands playing there.
And then there were two more small stages, one for music acts and the other for interviews and conversations So, really, five stages for music. That is a ton, make no mistake, and it equals the arrangement of this year’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival.
Pairing stages was an excellent innovation when it became common a few years back because the changeovers are very short and so the music keeps rolling nonstop all day. That’s the way you want. The weather – always a concern at outdoor events – was great all weekend, nice enough to take your mind off the $18 beer. Almost.
The most important thing at any music festival is, of course, the music, and the line-up this year was very impressive. Along with the big headliners Kiss, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Slipknot, there was a long list of highly anticipated second-line acts like Alice Cooper, Tenacious D, Rob Zombie, Evanescence, Lamb of God, Alice in Chains, Bring Me the Horizon, Shinedown, and Incubus. Everything was in place for a memorable weekend.
Read the rest of the coverage and see more photos in the November 2022 edition of Ryze-Up Magazine below!
November 2022
