The sounds will thunder near the Sacramento River for the better part of four days, echoing from a major music festival that draws attendees from all 50 states and more than a dozen foreign countries. They will mosh to Metallica on two separate nights, kick up Discovery Park dirt and sing along to the likes of Rancid, the Original Misfits, Anthrax and more than 50 other bands.

The return of the Aftershock Festival following a 2020 hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the country’s most anticipated hard rock events this year. With a combined attendance of about 150,000 from the festival’s opening night on Thursday to a show closing set from Metallica on Sunday, Aftershock is also music to the ears of civic and tourism officials who are eager for a much needed economic boost.

“This is the largest event since the pandemic, the largest driver of hotel rooms and economic impact,” said Mike Testa, president and chief executive officer of Visit Sacramento. “Events like Aftershock coming in this year with an extra day and increased attendance is a huge shot in the arm for local businesses.”

How much? The economic ripple effect from Aftershock in 2019 was about $23 million and is expected to grow to nearly $30 million this year. Attendees are booking up the bulk of hotel rooms in the area, patronizing local restaurants and bars in droves.

Sacramento has played host to Aftershock since 2012, when it was a single-day event headlined by Stone Temple Pilots and Sacramento’s Deftones. The festival is produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, a Los Angeles company that organizes similar hard rock extravaganzas around the country including Louder Than Life in Louisville and Sonic Temple in Columbus.

Sacramento might have seemed at first like an unlikely setting for such a major festival. A decade ago, Sacramento was more likely to be thought of as a sleepy government town or an afterthought on the road to San Francisco.

“Back in the beginning it was (Danny Wimmer Presents) looking at Sacramento as what we’d call a flyover market or a pass-through market,” said Danny Hayes, chief executive officer of Danny Wimmer Presents. “But we’re going to bet on a city. We bet a long time ago on Columbus and Columbus over the last 15 years has just blown up. Louisville has really grown. And Sacramento is really growing. That’s an important piece of the puzzle.”

Another important piece is finding civic support for a festival such as Aftershock. Issues of parking, noise complaints and general gridlock that accompany large-scale festivals can be tough obstacles for potential host cities.

Aftershock has faced its own growing pains, too. After holding the festival in 2015 at Gibson Ranch in Elverta, Aftershock moved back to its original digs at Discovery Park following complaints of terrible traffic jams.

“The differentiating factor so often is if someone from the city is embracing you or not,” said Hayes. “The fact that Visit Sacramento embraced us from day one made it easy for us to keep investing in the market. And in the last few years we’ve become very close with Supervisor (Phil) Serna, who’s also been incredibly supportive. It never would’ve grown without those partnerships. It became easy to continue taking the risk and growing it when you have both a county supervisor and Visit Sacramento supporting you.”

Sacramento’s music scene

Of course, it also helps that Sacramento is a rock ‘n’ roll kind of town. Hard rock concerts and rock radio stations have traditionally performed well in the Sacramento market, and the area was the launching pad for such platinum-selling rockers as Deftones, Tesla and Papa Roach.

Pat Martin knows this landscape of guitar riffs and long hair especially well. He’s a rock radio veteran of more than 30 years in Sacramento, first at 98 Rock (FM 98.5 KRXQ) and now at The Eagle (FM 96.9 KSEG), the second-highest rated station in the Sacramento market, according to Nielsen.

“I’ve heard people compare Sacramento to Columbus,” said Martin. “Maybe it has something to do with a little Midwest feeling here to some degree. It’s a very meat-and-potatoes town and people love their rock and roll. From the middle class and working class on down, you’re going to find a lot of rock fans here.”

But Aftershock’s reach goes far beyond the 916 area code. Ticket holders are coming from as far away as Europe, Brazil, Japan, Australia and Israel. Sacramento might be known for its Kings and all-things farm-to-fork, but nothing draws people from around the globe to the River City quite like Aftershock.

It’s now the largest festival in the Danny Wimmer Presents portfolio and among the largest of its kind in the country.

“The first year of Aftershock I assumed it was just a local thing,” said Martin. “The second year I noticed a lot of people were from out of town and I asked where they were from. Then I started asking what countries they were from. The last time I counted it was 23 of them.”

And these rockers from around the country and the globe are ready to spend some money.

“One of the cool things we worked into the festival is the time it ends,” said Testa. “Nobody is going back to their hotel room at 10 p.m. to sleep. They’re going to the bars and restaurants. We have all these people in town spending money and we want to give them a reason to stay an extra day or two or come in a day early.”

Future growth of Aftershock

Aftershock is now poised to grow in scope. Before COVID hit, Danny Wimmer Presents was preparing to take over Discovery Park in 2020 for consecutive weekends, in a format similar to the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in Southern California.

One weekend would be Aftershock; and the following weekend would feature a country music festival that uses the staging and infrastructure already in place. A major country artist that Hayes declined to identify was booked before the pandemic sunk all plans.

The imprint of Aftershock could now grow to three consecutive weekends. One idea now is to kick-off with a country festival, have Aftershock the following the weekend, and then an Americana music festival after that to cap three weeks of music in Discovery Park. Testa hopes that scenario will come into play by 2023.

There are also talks to add such components as a conference and other programming around the Sacramento area when Aftershock comes to town in coming years.

“One thing you don’t want to do is have the hotels love you but all the music venues and movie theaters hate you for taking away their weekend business,” said Hayes. “We had some really good meetings that I’m anxious to get back into once we get past this year. (Aftershock) will continue to grow in other ways, but I don’t see us adding a fifth day.”

For now, fans and musicians are anxious to rock at Aftershock, especially with live music going silent for 2020.

Gary Holt has attended Aftershock both as a fan and a performer. He’s a founder of speed-metal pioneers Exodus, which performs Thursday night, and also hit the Aftershock stage as a touring guitarist with Slayer in 2016. For Holt, a former Antelope resident who now lives in the Sierra foothills, Aftershock will mark Exodus’ third show since the return of live music in the COVID era.

“I’ve been (to Aftershock) as a fan with my wife and daughter walking around and I’ve played it, and it’s fun on both accounts,” said Holt. “I’ve played a lot of the U.S. festivals and I think Aftershock is the best one. It’s amazing how well it’s run and it’s a great thing for the region. This is a step toward normalcy and I can’t wait to get out there.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.