“Welcome to Rockville” kicks off Thursday night for the first time since organizers announced it was moving from Jacksonville. It’s one of the first major music festivals since the deadly chaos at Astroworld in Houston.
Hardcore rock ‘n’ roll fans filled Metropolitan Park for nine years, but they’ll need to drive down I-95 to catch the show this year at the Daytona International Speedway.
The event, which was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns, moved from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach because organizers said it had outgrown Metropolitan Park.
The four-day festival includes 70 bands and runs from Thursday through Sunday. Click here for the full schedule of performers, which includes Metallica, Slipknot and Disturbed.
After the Astroworld tragedy last week in which a surge of the crowd left at least eight concertgoers dead, organizers of Welcome to Rockville are reminding people about crowd safety and moshing policies.
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According to Rockville’s moshing and crowd-surfing policies, moshing can be dangerous when people slam into each other during a show. If you see a mosh pit forming and don’t want to participate, officials suggest finding an alternate location to watch the show.
Crowd surfing is people passing a person through the top of a crowd. If you feel uncomfortable, officials also suggest moving somewhere else.