November 2022

A record-breaking crowd of 170,000 fans attend- ed the Louder Than Life festival this year in Lou- isville, Kentucky to see headliners Kiss, Slipknot, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nine Inch Nails. One of the biggest rock festivals in the US, Loud- er Than Life has been putting on the event since 2014. Promoter Danny Wimmer Presents spon- sors many festivals throughout the year and, for me, Louder Than Life is second only to After- shock, which is held every year in Sacramento. The Kentucky festival has been ramping up since its return after the pandemic interruption, and the news of the large number of attendees is boosted by the fact that the festival is four days long now, whereas it had been a three-day festi- val pre-pandemic. Even so, a quick calculation generates an average attendance of more than 40,000 people per day at the Highland Festival Grounds. That is a crowd. More than 100 bands played this year at the fes- tival, and the organizers arranged them across six paired stages. There were two side-by-side mainstages near the festival entrance, with VIP and super VIP (“Top Shelf ”) sections on either side. The second set of side-by-side stages was somewhat smaller and, interestingly, had nota- ble, very big draws play there. And then there were two more fairly small stages, one for music acts and the other for interviews and conversa- tions. So, really, five stages for music. That is a ton, make no mistake, and it equals the arrange- ment of this yeear’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Pairing stages was an excellent innovation when it became common a few years back because the change-overs are very short and so the music keeps rolling more or less nonstop all day. That’s the way you want. The weather – always a concern at outdoor events – was great all weekend, nice enough, in fact, to take your mind off the $18 beer. Almost. The most important thing at any music festival is, of course, the music, and the line-up this year was very impressive. Along with the big head- liners Kiss, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Pep- pers, and Slipknot, there was a long list of highly anticipated second line acts like Alice Cooper, Tenacious D, Rob Zombie, Evanesence, Lamb Of God, Alice In Chains, Bring Me The Hori- zon, Shinedown, and Incubus. Everything was in place for a memorable weekend. Day 1. There was a band or two on each day I really wanted to see, and typically it was not the headliner. No disrespect, it is just that I have seen thousands of shows over the years and by this time in any given year I have seen hundreds of sets. As a result, I have already seen most of these bands at least once in the past few months. A band I did just see a couple weeks ago but I couldn’t wait to see again was Tenacious D. Also, Evanesence. Amazingly, the two came together when Amy Lee and Tenacious D shared the stage in one of the biggest moments of the weekend. That made my Thursday. There is no denying the importance of Nine Inch Nails in modern music, and fans came out in droves to show their appreciation. It is always startling on the first day at a festival when you see for the first time just how many people are actually there as the headliner goes on. Stand- ing in the middle of a crowd of 40,000 humans is an exhilarating feeling. The build and pulse and crash of Nine Inch Nails made the experience all the more surreal. Day 1 was a good day. Day 2. The second day was even better for me be- cause Clutch played, and they have been my fa- vorite band for many years running now. I could hear them every week and never get bored. But there was more. Amigo The Devil was there as well, supporting his latest album, Born Against. The Native Howl is another band I have seen Louder Than Life, Louisville, Kentucky, September 22-25, 2022 Review by Wayne Edwards | Photos by Steve Thrasher 16