After a one year pandemic delay, the sold out Aftershock festival returned to Sacramento with a vengeance. Two nights of Northern California son’s Metallica, with a unique set each night with the usual massive video screens and ending of fireworks and other pyro. This year’s Aftershock became a four day event with headliners Cypress Hill replacing Faith No More who replaced original headliners Limp Bizkit.

The pleasant surprise of the first day was the addition of local Sacramento rockers Destroy Boys who replaced Fit For A King who allegedly dropped off for Covid related issues. Destroy Boys, romanced the small but growing crowd, on the Jack Daniels stage with their punk rock fury, and what some would call social justice warrior lyrics and between song banter. That attitude and message would continue at the end of the night with Cypress Hill and their songs which share their experience with police brutality. Photo credit to @samshapiromedia

After Thursday nights blast of the thrash metal veterans, Anthrax, Death Angel, Testament and Exodus, the day began with a mellowing yet hard rocking service, as we caught full sets by Crobot, Pop Evil, Skillet, Seether and Kolas Stage headliners Volbeat. It appears that this year’s three stages are sponsored by party favors Coors Light, Jack Daniels and Sacramento based marijuana dispensaries Kolas, which totally makes sense for an event of this magnitude. Rock n roll brought to us by beer, whiskey and weed, sounds good to me. As night fell, it was time for the mighty Metallica to hit the Jack Daniels stage with their arsenal of mega metal (pun intended). Being that this year is the 30th anniversary of the Black album we all expected the band to play the album in its entirety instead we would have to wait till Sunday as they treated us to a wonderful mix of their greatest hits.

The VIP section once again offered additional amenities, like shorter lines at the food and event merchandise vendors, shaded rest areas, plenty of seating areas, air-conditioned restrooms , a giant viewing screen with quality audio, and easy access to hilltop viewing areas for both the Kolas and Jack Daniels stages. If having more opportunity to sit down, shade trees, additional food options and less walking are something you’re looking for, then the VIP package is worth the extra cost. According to Sacramento County officials, a record 145,000 fans attended this year’s event. Via attendee Morgan Anderson ” We’ve been coming since 2012 when It started as just a 1 day event. And man has it sure been a hell of a journey with creating such an amazing family and yearly tradition for so many over the years. Even with all these changes through those years we still managed to come together for one thing, Music! Much love to the staff and fellow AfterShockians for making this yet another year to remember!”