The long-running Columbus, Ohio, hard rock and metal festival Rock on the Range is no more, with promoter Danny Wimmer Presents announcing today that a new extravaganza called Sonic Temple Music Art + Music Festival will take its place in 2019.
Unlike Rock on the Range, which was co-produced by DWP and AEG, Sonic Temple will exclusively be a DWP production. “I am so proud of what we accomplished with Rock on the Range, and we couldn’t have done it without our partnership with AEG,” said Danny Wimmer in a press release. “When we started Rock on the Range, there was no other festival in America quite like it but recently it became clear that we had different visions of where to take the festival next. The city of Columbus and our devoted rock fans deserve a one-of-a-kind, world-class festival, and that is exactly what Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival will bring to MAPFRE Stadium.”
Along with Sonic Temple, which takes place May 17th-19th, 2019, DWP has announced a new revamped spring festival lineup that also includes Welcome to Rockville (May 3rd-5th) at Metropolitan Park in Jacksonville, Florida, and a yet-to-be-named festival in Rockingham, North Carolina (May 10th-12th).
In addition, DWP will bring back Chicago Open Air in 2019, presenting a new event called A Day in the Park at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. That festival will run the same weekend as Sonic Temple, May 17th-19th.
“Over the next two years, we will be making a series of major steps that are designed to push the U.S. rock festival market forward,” added Wimmer. “This is the first of those announcements. I believe that the festival market is at a major inflection point. The proliferation of music festivals has been good for competition and caused promoters to aggressively pursue expanded entertainment and enhanced experiences.”
Danny Wimmer Presents also puts on the popular fall festivals Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, and Aftershock in Sacramento, California, which take place this year on September 28th-30th and October 13th-14th, respectively.
Along with his press statements, Danny Wimmer spoke with Heavy Consequence over the phone to give us some more insight into the decision to change things up starting in 2019. Wimmer told us, “We believe that with how competitive the festival market has gotten, we had to make moves to improve the experience to truly make Sonic Temple the biggest rock festival in America.”
As far as whether Sonic Temple will still primarily be a hard rock and metal festival, Wimmer revealed, “It’s always going to have its core, but it’s gonna allow us to bring some of the other genres that the fans have been asking for. It will always be a rock show — that will never be gone, but the audience is going to see more flavors in the programming.”
Stay tuned for the announcement of artist lineups for all of the DWP spring festivals. You can keep up with the latest news at the Sonic Temple and Danny Wimmer Presents websites.