Culture
‘Be careful what you wish for’: WOUB’s Nicholas Kobe reacts to the Sonic Temple 2026 lineup announcement
By: Nicholas Kobe
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Nicholas Kobe has been reporting on Danny Wimmer Presents festivals – such as Sonic Temple and Louder Than Life – for WOUB Culture since 2023. Find all his past coverage, including interviews with artists mentioned in this article, at this link.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOUB) – “Be careful what you wish for,” is all I could think last week when Danny Wimmer Presents unveiled the lineup for Sonic Temple 2026, which returns to the Historic Crew Stadium May 14-17.
After an incredible 2025 lineup, marred by logistical issues and performance inconsistencies, I approached the Sonic Temple 2026 lineup expecting to be surprised, but knowing not to base my overall hype level for the festival solely on this announcement.
The line-up announcement itself certainly tested this mission.
In my time covering these festivals, I’ve advocated for the clock to be pushed forward, away from the ‘90s and into a new era of rock. To give fresh, exciting, and relevant bands the chance to headline one of rock’s premier festivals.
As it turns out, the 2026 Sonic Temple lineup announcement granted my wishes – at least sort of.
As the clock rolls forward on the history of rock, and the good, the bad, and the ugly of the early ‘00s come out in droves to replace the ‘90s, Sonic Temple 2026 becomes a mixed bag, filled with powerhouses, carrying the weight of some of the most forgettable rock acts of the millennium.
Let’s address the elephant in the room: Shinedown.
Shinedown is the single worst headlining decision I’ve seen Danny Wimmer Presents make in my time covering Sonic Temple. Alongside the likes of Staind, Saturday’s main stage, minus Halestorm, is a complete miss.
This, on its face, is a taste issue.
I don’t care for this genre in the slightest; however, what’s really disappointing is that DWP didn’t even fully do “post-grunge” justice. If you’re going to have a maligned ’00s band currently favorably looked at through rose-colored nostalgia lenses, it should’ve been Creed or Nickelback. With both of those bands having significantly more cultural staying power, they’re the obvious pick for a slot like this. Instead, we’re stuck with a second-rate headliner in a second-rate genre.
Worse yet, alongside Shinedown, we get such classics as Staind, Godsmack, and Hinder, bands that couldn’t be less interesting if they tried.
This lack of star power is doubly ironic, as this post-grunge seems to have been part of the reason nu metal, typically the star power generator of a Danny Wimmer Festival, is absent this year. I’ve historically been an advocate for something like this, as bands like Slipknot and Korn have been headlining more festivals than you can count on one hand.
However, not even my boldest predictions would’ve had Danny Wimmer Presents relegating nu metal to their smallest stage with only bands like Static-X and Sevendust. It’s so bold, I almost respect it, even if this is a decision that will likely upset a large core of Sonic Temple’s audience.
Another genre that suffers the same fate is the modern class of radio metal. Bring Me The Horizon is, of course, the exception, and soars to the peaks of arena rock with ease. They did so at Louder Than Life last year.
The problem is that their peers are severely lacking. Names like Bad Omens, Falling in Reverse, Sleep Token, Spiritbox, Poppy, and Ice Nine Kills are all absent from this lineup. The only similar A-lister on Saturday is Motionless in White, with the rest of the metalcore support being lined with middling bands like Architects and August Burns Red.
Even across the festival, the best you can do is metalcore-wise Magnolia Park and Dayseeker heading up Thursday’s fourth stage, which seems precision-engineered to be as forgettable as humanly possible. This scattering of a subgenre is one thing when there’s plenty to go around, but when pickings are so slim, the last thing you want to do is spread them thin.
On the other hand, pop punk is so well represented that it feels like a Midwest version of Las Vegas’ When We Were Young music festival.
My Chemical Romance is one of my favorite bands of all time, and their “Long Live the Black Parade Tour” is the best live show I’ve ever seen (read my review of it here). Their inclusion at Sonic Temple is the biggest slam dunk of the festival, and I’d bet my bottom dollar that it will be far and away the best performance of the weekend.
Luckily, though, MCR’s stature is matched with fellow titans like Pierce the Veil, All Time Low, and The Used. There’s also a ton of pop punk on other days, such as The Story So Far, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and Yellowcard. This allows single-day, MCR diehards to be satisfied riding the rail of the main stage, while general pop punk fans can feast all weekend on suitable big acts.
Deathcore also has a decent showing at Sonic Temple ’26. While I’m not a personal fan of the genre, their stages (stage three on Thursday and stage four on Friday) represent the appropriate balance of heavy hitters and underground talent, without being spread too thin, even without a unifying headliner. This is really great, considering the rest of the heavier side of Sonic Temple 2026, which feels disjointed.
With Sunday headliner Tool’s prog-metal leanings and Bring Me the Horizon’s shift towards their light, radio rock material, Sonic Temple 2026 lacks an exceptionally metal headliner, or at least one as dramatic as Pantera, Metallica, or Slipknot. A similar situation occurred in 2023, with Avenged Sevenfold and Tool holding up the “metal” ends of the festival, and that turned out fine.
The difference is that Sonic Temple 2026 has much heavier bands in the undercard, and Danny Wimmer Presents typically tends to put all the “extreme bands” alongside those headliners.
Metallica spearheaded Sonic Temple 2025’s heaviest day, just like Slayer did the same for Louder Than Life 2025. Without something like that, the heaviest bands are divided between every day that’s not Friday.
Now, personally, MCR and death metal on the same day is a dream come true, but I’d guess that I’m only a small subset of the audience who wants to see Cattle Decapitation as bad as The Used. My Chem’s pop punk support, and a stage of radio metal, makes the extreme bands like Dying Fetus and Cradle of Filth feel extremely out of place on Friday.
This pattern continues for bands like Kreator, Amon Amarth, and Megadeth, who, despite being in good company overall, seem out of place amidst this lineup. Unlike metalcore, there’s more quality to spread here, but considering so many people buy festival tickets for headliners, I’m doubting the Bring Me The Horizon or My Chemical Romance crowds are chomping at the bit to see Sepultura, Napalm Death, and Suffocation.
Circling back to Tool, while I’m slightly disappointed to see the duo of them and Godsmack return from what was the most underwhelming day of Sonic Temple 2023, there’s no doubt that Tool is a worthy headliner. A few years ago, I felt they lacked the energy to close out a festival day. Aside from great visuals, long, drawn-out prog metal was just not the bang that Sonic Temple needs, and as the final act of the whole weekend, I hope I leave the stadium, not feeling as “meh” as the group had me feeling last time. Out of every opinion stated here, however, I understand this might be my most controversial.
Most of my lineup gripes, however, come from the fact that there’s just a lot of completely forgettable acts here. Even in genres I don’t like, I typically can find a band that at least, objectively deserves the respect of a high billing, or is a fun up-and-comer. In my time exploring this Sonic Temple lineup, there’s been none of that.
The average band on this lineup is just fine, and while there are genres that pull me towards them, the support on which Sonic Temple is musically built feels shaky.
Stalwarts like Motionless in White, Halestorm, and Lamb of God are as solid as it gets, alongside some nice returning faces like Bloodywood and Electric Callboy. While I could always use more classic hip-hop, Public Enemy is an inspired pick that’s sure to be one of the weekend’s best sets.
The small power metal presence has migrated from Louder Than Life with similarly solid acts throughout Sunday. Plus, despite my complaints about it feeling out of place, the death/thrash/black metal picks this year are phenomenal. Bands like Megadeth and Amon Amarth feel long overdue, while Behemoth, Cattle Decapitation, and Suffocation show that whoever is picking these heavier bands knows how to make them count.
Of course, with any festival, there are also just a few random personal favs. Sublime and The Offspring are pure fun, adding some needed levity to the beer-soaked stupor that is Saturday’s main stage. I’m beyond pumped to see rising stars Castle Rat, who serve a unique niche as one of the doom-inspired bands on the lineup.
Overall, is Sonic Temple ‘26 a complete mess?
No.
This headline slate still clears 2024’s while representing an attempt to try something new, I’d be hypocritical not to applaud. It’s just that the warts aren’t as hidden, with bands like Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Staind, and Godsmack being the kind of bands that aren’t quality enough to deserve high billing, no matter what genre you’re going for.
Despite my opinion, they clearly have the fan base to warrant this, if Danny Wimmer is willing to bill them so high.
That leads me to my ultimate conclusion: Sonic Temple 2026 has something for everyone, but it’ll likely be very hit and miss, as opposed to the more cohesive 2025 lineup.
Maybe with a fifth stage, and more bands total, fans can just “trim the fat” with their schedules, but due to the lower caliber of bands in key genres, it feels like there’s less incentive to go outside of your niche than ever before. I appreciate the effort to roll into the 2000s while keeping a foot in the late 90s and today, but Tool, Shinedown, and their mainstage support fail to generate the hype that this theoretically great concept should.
With my personal “fat trimming,” I’m sure you’ll have plenty of great moments throughout the weekend, while ignoring many of the bad ones. However, as someone whose job it is to see a little bit of everything, laid all out on paper, Sonic Temple 2026’s lineup was a disappointment.
Perhaps lowering expectations this year, along with some promised quality of life improvements to Sonic Temple, is what the festival needs to become one of my favorites, but only time will tell. Regardless, a festival like this shouldn’t have to bank on beating low expectations.