Review & Photos by Kimberly Annette
Discovery Park in Sacramento, California, was the spot to be Saturday (October 21) and Sunday (October 22) as the ground rumbled and quaked with 23,000 metal loving concert goers and over 30 bands on three stages. Aftershock Festival 2017 a full weekend of extreme talent, epic metal, fabulous food, and perfect weather, it doesn’t get much better. Saturday’s headliner Nine Inch Nails (NIN) and A Perfect Circle with Sunday’s off -the-hook show closers Ozzy Osbourne and Five Finger Death Punch took Aftershock 2017 to a transcendent historical level.
Osbourne was the showstopper sounding outstanding, the best he has in years. Ozzy and Zakk Wylde joining forces was not a bad idea the energy the two create on stage is like watching a bullet train on fire speeding down the track much like a “Crazy Train” to metal glory. The set opened with “Bark at the Moon” and “Mr. Crowley,” and included three Black Sabbath tunes, “Fairies Wear Boots,” “War Pigs,” and “Iron Man.” He closed “Shot in the Dark,” “I Don’t Want to Change The World,” and “Crazy Train.” But it wasn’t over yet Ozzy finished in classic form with an encore of “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”
There were so many bands worthy of mention from the weekend. Halestorm gave a phenomenal performance, and Five Finger Death Punch as always, put on a hard-driving, dominant and in-your-face musically tight show, A Perfect Circle was melodic and mysterious, and Eagles of Death Metal were marvelously groovy. There was also Suicidal Tendencies, Stonesour, Masadon, Gojira, Anti-Flag, Steel Panther, Beartooth, and newer to the scene, the soulful Zeppelinish Greta Van Fleet, who are definitely worth checking out. All in all, it was a thoroughly electrifying weekend of music. As a complete success, Aftershock 2017 begs the question — what will they do in 2018 to top it?
