A huge music festival in Daytona Beach, Florida, canceled some of its biggest sets this weekend due to severe inclement weather, leaving thousands of fans disappointed. The Welcome to Rockville Festival would have included headlining performances by Korn, Breaking Benjamin and other beloved bands in the hard rock and heavy metal genres. According to a report by Loudwire, many of the performances on Friday and Saturday night were canceled at the last minute.
Daytona Beach and other surrounding parts of Florida are currently being hit by bizarre forms of extreme weather, making an outdoor music festival virtually impossible. On top of a severe heatwave, the peninsula has been hit by massive thunderstorms with threatening lightning and torrential rains. For fans that opted to camp out on the festival grounds, this was a dangerous situation regardless, but hopefully, the cancellation of the concerts themselves encouraged people to find shelter.
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The weather may have also impacted some bands’ ability to get to the show on time. On Friday, Megadeth canceled its set because of “travel delays.” Skillet also dropped out due to unspecified weather issues. At the same time, festival organizers issued dire warnings to attendees about all the safety precautions in place and resources for securing their belongings.
The cancellations continued on Saturday night. Some performers had to cut their sets short, including Jerry Cantrell and Shinedown. Meanwhile, the night’s big headliner, Guns N’ Roses dropped out altogether. However, some Saturday performances were simply postponed and rescheduled by festival organizers. Those included Dirty Honey, Alexisonfire, Sick of It All and Saul.
“Unfortunately there is another storm headed our way so we regretfully will be canceling the rest of the show tonight,” festival organizers wrote in a message to attendees and a public post on social media. “We are as heartbroken as you are that today’s inclement weather has disrupted our plans, but ultimately the safety of our fans, artists, staff and vendors are of the upmost importance. Please make your way to your vehicle or campground calmly. Thank you and see you tomorrow.”
Naturally, fans became more and more disappointed as these cancellations and delays piled up. Some planned to simply leave in frustration, while others were hopeful that the show would go on on Sunday. At the time of this writing, the Daytona Beach forecast appears to be relatively reasonable with limited precipitation. Check the Welcome to Rockville website or social media pages for more updates.
