Inside Sonic Temple 2026

It was a full weekend in Columbus, Ohio. For four days, Sonic Temple Festival descended upon Historic Crew Stadium, where crowds swarmed to see unique, immersive art installations and catch over 140-plus bands perform across multiple stages — from all over the rock and metal spectrum, ranging from Simple Plan to Sepultura. To no one’s surprise, equally diverse and heavy-hitting headliners made for a memorable and totally idiosyncratic experience each night. As for throughlines, one thing definitely made it to every stage, and every set: At this year’s Sonic Temple, no one held anything back. 

Kicking off the weekend, My Chemical Romance delivered another unforgettable, theatrical, and pyro-profuse performance. In the spirit of Sonic Temple’s heavier context, onstage Gerard Way mentioned his recent collaboration with death-metal outfit Frozen Soul, and shouted out Napalm Death, crediting the latter’s live show as an inspiration for the current Black Parade tour. 

Read more: 10 most criminally underrated Bring Me The Horizon songs

On the second night, Shinedown gave a crushing, larger-than-life performance — though one that still left room for sentimentality. Between their own hits, guitarist Zach Myers stepped into the role of vocalist to honor the late 3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold with a rendition of “Kryptonite” that transitioned into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.” 

Bring Me the Horizon made waves on night three, with some of the biggest and boldest energy we’ve seen from them as of late. Their show sent the crowd into an immersive in-between state, caught somewhere between a glitchy, twisted video game world and the sweaty, near-religious catharsis of the rock festival. Leveling up even further, they were joined by MAPHRA for a buzzy version of “Doomed.” MAPHRA’s cover of the 2015 Bring Me the Horizon track went viral earlier this year, before swiftly making its way onto charts. 

Tool took it home, with a 10-song set that opened with “Stinkfist” and went into the stratosphere from there on out, including noteworthy tracks “Crawl Away,” “Rosetta Stoned,” and “H.” that had fans’ ears perking up. Atmospheric and visually enthralling, after three high-octane nights that left us buzzing, their set rounded out the weekend perfectly. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The endcaps to what were four, sonically stacked days. To relive more of the festival, see our gallery below.

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