This years Aftershock has came and went and I wouldn’t be surprised if Discovery Park is still feeling tremors. The annual two day music festival seems to get better and better each year. This years line up was pretty diverse, ranging from metal icon Ozzy Osbourne, industrial metal legends Nine Inch Nails, and all the way to up and coming rock band Greta Van Fleet and metal upstarts Power Trip. Throw in a little Tech N9ne and Run the Jewels, and there was something for everybody this year. If Maryln Manson didn’t have a stage prop fall on him forcing him to cancel his set, it would have been one of the most stacked lineups Aftershock has put together.
Saturday saw Discovery Park slowly turn into a mass of black shirts as the festival kicked off. Greta Van Fleet was scheduled to be one of the early performers, but they were delayed, luckily they made it later that day and treated the crowd to some great rock and roll. If you’ve never heard of Greta Van Fleet, check them out if you like Led Zeppelin, you’ll love this band. French metal band Gojira was another stand out band on Saturday playing to a huge crowd with huge mosh pits. I’m sure they earned a few more fans after crushing Aftershock. Stone Sour played a solid set, but the performance was just kinda flat and forgettable. A Perfect Circle took the stage and Maynard James Keenan played his usual game of hide and seek with the crowd. Singing a lot of the set lurking in the background APC fans ate it up. As APC’s set concluded, it was time for the night’s closer NIN. Clearly the days biggest draw, Nine Inch Nails delivered an awesome performance. Playing a virtual greatest hits live, playing songs from “Head Like a Hole” to the sets closer “Hurt”, and through a thick layer of smoke from the fog machine, he completely gave the fans everything they could’ve asked for.
As good as Saturday was, Sunday was even better. Bands like Beartooth, Of Mice and Men, and Them Evils, the day kicked off with some great metal. Nu-Metal upstart band DED came out and gave the fans a fresh take on some Nu-metal (not a bad band if you can look past the part of working with douchebag Fred Durst). Starset was a band alot of people were looking forward to seeing, donning space suits and the drummer inside a clear cube, their self described sound as “cinematic” rock makes sense. As new a band as Starset is, Suicidal Tendencies kept it old school. Mike Muir and the boys showed everyone why they’ve been around since the early 80’s. With Mike Muir running around the stage and his in between song banter, it was a reminder of just how integral Suicidal has been to the undergound punk/metal scene. Chris Jericho’s metal band Fozzy gave the fans a reminder of what good ole heavy metal should be like. Female fronted metal bands In This Moment and Halestorm proved that girls rock just as hard, if not harder than the guys. If you’ve never had an opportunity to see Steel Panther, I highly recommend it. The mixture of comedy in between songs and 80’s glam metal gave the fans a fantastic show, and showed everyone they are here to stay. Power Trip came up and decimated the crowd as their mixture of old school hardcore and thrash metal poured through Discovery Park. The night’s co-headliner Five Finger Death Punch came through and delivered a solid set, with Ivan Moody sounding powerful on vocals.
As killer a lineup as Sunday was, majority of the crowd was there for Ozzy Osborne. The Metal icon took the stage as night descended on Discovery Park, for a perfect setting to let Ozzy’s classic songs to tear through the fans. With Zakk Wylde back on guitar, Ozzy’s songs sounded great. He moved around the stage and engaged the crowd like few can do. Ozzy played of course his many classic songs and even threw in the Black Sabbath song “Fairies Wear Boots”. Zakk Wylde performed in his typical minutes long solo’s, that of course shredded, and drummer Tommy Clufetos played an intense drum solo. All in all it was a fantastic set led by a legendary frontman.
Aftershock 2017 ended up being a fantastic festival that truly had something for everybody. With food ranging from Korean BBQ to fish tacos, pulled pork sandwiches to fried shrimp, from bands like Gojira to Tech N9ne, from Ozzy Osbourne to Power trip, I don’t see how anyone could complain about the lineup. They even had information booths like Heavy Grass for all your weed smoking needs and information, to Dyin 2 to Live, which informs people about the importance of early Cancer detection. Of course there are going to be people who didn’t like the parking, or the walking, or waiting for a drink, prices are too high, or whatever. I hope those people that complain could just truly appreciate the two day music festival for what it offers to music fans and that is two days of great music around even greater people. If Afterschock 2017 is any indication of what is to come in the future, then I say “Bring it the fuck on.” John Adams
