Sonic Temple Festival 2026 Review

I am back to work this Monday after spending the past four days at Sonic Temple music festival in Columbus, Ohio. I saw so many bands and overall had a great time!

Being from Ohio, I knew to expect weird weather. That said, it was oddly cold on Thursday and Friday night. Like I was wearing wearing multiple layers cold. Eric’s teeth started chattering on Friday night and he is rarely colder than me. Then yesterday it was blazing hot. There was a short thunderstorm on Saturday morning, but it didn’t disrupt the show and that was great.  

My favorite bands of the weekend were Pierce the Veil, Wind Walkers, Halestorm, Motionless in White, Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH), Conquer Divide and Dayseeker.

I watched full sets from Fozzy, My Chemical Romance, Yellowcard, Sublime, Black Veil Brides, Good Charlotte, (most of) Architects, Saliva, Avatar and (most of) Shinedown. Eric’s teeth were chattering during Shinedown so we left early. We’ve seen a stop on this current tour anyway and already knew the show. The crowd for MCR was just massive. It was a sold out day and you could tell by the sheer wall of humans everywhere.

I was very disappointed that Avatar did not perform “Captain Goat” and I didn’t get “Parasite Eve” from BMTH, either. I was most disappointed in the sound for Architects. They were one of the bands I was most excited to see but the bass was just too loud and overpowered everything else. Plus, there was sound bleed from Marilyn Manson. That was really the only time I ever noticed sound bleed the entire weekend.

So many people switching between 5 stages was a bit chaotic at times since so many folks were migrating at once. At most times, two stages (but far apart), were going at the same time to distribute the crowd, but still. I firmly believe Sonic Temple has outgrown the Columbus Crew stadium space.

Concessions were probably the most expensive I’ve ever seen at a large event, including NFL games. This is not an exaggeration when I tell you a Bud Light was $18.50 a can. Eric had a Cutwater that was over $21. We got scoops of ice cream and that was $36!

I got a festival shirt for $50 (tie dyed) and Eric didn’t want anything. Tool was selling posters for $100 and signed versions for $450 and I saw folks carrying piles of the things. Not to mention the piles of shirts and being drunk and passed out. In this economy, who can afford to get blasted on beer and wine when each drink is $20? Insanity.

Before you ask, I did not stay for Tool. Eric and I are not really fans.

Lzzy Hale’s voice just keeps getting better and better. “can you see me in the dark?” was great. Too bad I Prevail wasn’t there to perform it as written! Plus, Lzzy was out there wearing stiletto boots and jumping all over stage while playing guitar.

I loved the theatrics of Motionless in White and their intensity. The production of BMTH was exceptionally good, with a beautiful set and complicated large-screen graphics. I was right down front for Pierce the Veil and hearing “So Far, So Fake” that close is just a great memory. I got bonked in the head by a crowd surfer during MCR so that kind of sucked. Thing is, I wasn’t even that close to the stage. We were back a bit intentionally and there was a pocket of space in front of us – which is why you don’t crowd surf from far back. Plot twist: the girl got dropped. (She was fine).

People love to dress up at festivals and Sonic Temple was no different. I saw many mostly naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, both male and female. Lots of folks dressed up as the Black Parade (of course) and tons of corpse paint, too. I don’t get the women walking around in stilettos, but more power to them. I dress for age and comfort and don’t care about wearing makeup, heels, skirts or hair extensions to shows. I was young once. Now I’m too old and too tired for that mess. Laughed at lots of funny shirts though, and spotted two “crawlers” in the wild. That’s a Dungeon Crawler Carl reference for the unbaptized.

Will I do Sonic Temple again next year? I don’t know. Eric wants to do a different festival, so we’ll see. I’ve done ST many times – including back when it was Rock on the Range. I will say 4 days for a music festival is a lot and 3 days is probably the sweet spot.