The Road to Exit 111
Exit 111 Music Festival held its inaugural year at Great Stage Park in Manchester, Tennessee over the weekend of October 11th-October 13th. To say the weekend went off with a bang is an understatement. Curators were able to bring together the Red Bull Freestyle Motorcross team, infamous craft food vendors, The Paranormal Cirque, a car show and some of the biggest names in rock n’ roll music. Curators at Exit 111 Music Festival made sure to span across the many generations of rock n’ roll instead of putting a focus on the latest and greatest like most music festivals. This lead to a beautiful diversity within the attendance of the festival. Fans of all ages came from far and wide all over the country to be in attendance for the very first Exit 111 Music Festival. Now that a successful first year has been laid to rest, fans are on the edge of their seats to find out what the Exit 111 lineup will look like in 2020 and if expansions to the festivals are on the horizon.
This wicked weekend of rock n’ roll kicked off on Friday, October 11 at 4 pm sharp when the doors officially opened. Great Stage Park had never welcomed so many punk rockers and metal-heads before, but there is always a first time for everything. Great Stage Park is accustomed to copious amounts of glitter and unicorns, but for this weekend in particular attendees swapped the glitter for studded belts and black t-shirts. It was a healthy change of pace to the normal Bonnaroo crowd that the surrounding community has become accustomed to. To really switch things up from the average Bonnaroo vibe, Exit 111 kicked off their weekend with a stacked lineup of classic rock, metal, and thrash rock on Friday that included Slayer, Killswitch Engage, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Slayer, an American thrash metal band from California, brought the heat and played one of the best shows of their entire career for the fans at Exit 111. The band brought their A-Game to the stage as they were playing their final show in the state of Tennessee. This performance rocked Great Stage Park so hard that attendees were left screaming “SLAYER!!” for the rest of the weekend. To end the night with some old school rock n’ roll vibes, Lynyrd Skynyrd closed out the Heaven Stage and had attendees singing “Sweet Home Alabama” all the way back to their tents for the night. As the attendees settled in for a chilly night in Manchester, the rock n’ roll madness was just getting started at Exit 111.
As the sun began to creep over the horizon Saturday morning, attendees prepped for a chilly day of thrash rock and metal vibes. Attendees who have been to Bonnaroo in past years were reveling in the fact that it was perfectly chilly and allowed for sleeping in past noon. For those who didn’t have a chance to attend the festival, can you imagine staying in your tent on the farm past sunrise? It was truly a different experience on the farm. To kick off the day and get things warmed up, Astronoid hit the Rise Above stage at 1:00 pm. Astronoid brought the post-metal vibes that everyone needed to get pumped up for the day, and then New Years Day came on the Rise Above Stage at 2:15 pm. New Years Day is an American Rock band from California that gained popularity during the Myspace-era and still to this day drops gothic rock, post-hardcore hits like their song “Shut Up” that debuted earlier this year. Lead Singer, Ashley Costello, had attendees getting rowdy and throwin’ those horns in the air as the sun began to creep out from behind the clouds for the day. As if the sun wasn’t heating things up enough for the day, Fever 333 hit the Heaven Stage at 3:00 pm for an explosive performance full of onstage antics. Lead vocalist, Jason Butler, hit the stage sliding. No, really. Butler came out with an over the top energy and slid down the cat walk to kick off the performance with a bang! After Fever 333’s epic performance, Nothing More took the Heaven Stage. After Nothing More’s out of this world performance with their custom Scorpion Tail instrument, the attendees became human ping pong balls as they bounced between stages for the stacked lineup for the night. Many metal-heads made their way over to the Hell Stage for Whitechapel’s set while others who were looking for a more classic rock vibe boogied over to the Rise Above Stage for Blackberry Smoke. The rest of the night was a full send from Gojira to Cheap Trick to Ghost and then to Def Leppard to close out the night. The lineup on Saturday is a picture perfect example of how curators were able to take the artist lineup and span across several generations of rock and metal music. To make your way from an rowdy set by the French heavy metal band, Gojira, and then go rock out with the legendary hard rock band Cheap Trick is an experience that only Exit 111 fans will be able to understand. There are not many festivals on the market right now that execute this blend of heavy metal and classic rock so well. To really round out the classic rock vibes for the night, Def Leppard closed out the Heaven Stage in all their glam-rock glory. Judging by the mass exodus that took place after Def Leppard’s set, it seemed as if a fair number folks came to Great Stage Park just to get down to "Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Photograph”. The majority of people who came to mosh their worries away for the whole weekend made their way back to the campgrounds after Def Leppard for another chilly night on the farm.
Sunday was considerably much more warm with more sun shine, yet attendees were met with some melancholy feelings as the weekend was nearing an end. This only made attendees come out with more energy and ready to rage throughout Sunday night all the way until Guns N’ Roses closed out the night. The day got started with an epic, energetic performance from Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown on the Heaven Stage. From there, attendees split between punk rockers going to see Plague Vendor at the Hell Stage and nu-metal, alternative rockers going to the Rise Above Stage for From Ashes to New. From Ashes to New brought their dynamic alternative, rap-meta/rap-rock vibes to Exit 111 Festival and had the attendees crowd surfing in droves. Over on the Hell Stage at the exact same time, Plague Vendor was throwing down the sickest hardcore, Californian punk set complete with circle pits with lead vocalist, Brandon Blaine, in the center. After Plague Vendor brought the punks out to play, the Hell Stage switched up the vibe and brought the metal-heads out to get rowdy for Of Mice & Men. Of Mice & Men just released a brand new album titled EarthAndSky so their set touched on some new material as well as some of their older material that they know their fans love. After Of Mice & Men, the rest of the night was a full throttle, full send through Alter Bridge to Skillet to Deftones to Coheed and Cambra and finally Guns N’ Roses. To say that attendees got their exercise in during this weekend is an under statement - some people were booking it between stages just to squeeze in those extra few seconds at a set. Skillet’s set on the Rise Above Stage packed a punch of energy that got everyone revved up and ready for the rest of the night. Skillet is an American Christian, alternative Rock band from Memphis, Tennessee that brings serious energy to the stage when they perform. Their hit singles “Feel Invincible” and “Monster” always get the crowd up off their feet and moshing with each other. John Cooper, lead vocalist and guitarist, knew how to cool the crowd off during the performance - a set of CO2 cannons attached to his arms worked perfectly. After Skillet, it was time to run to the Heaven Stage to catch a rate appearance from Deftones. Deftones is an alternative metal band from California that don’t tour very often, but when they do fans come out by the masses to support. Chino Moreno, lead vocals and rhythm guitar, accompanied by Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham, Frank Delgado and Abe Cunningham brought the house down with their set that was sprinkled with some of their biggest hits like “Sextape”, “Diamond Eyes”, and “Change”. You would have thought that Deftones were the headlining act of the evening - their set was absolutely off the chain and the perfect vibe for Exit 111 Festival. After Deftones, fans split between making their way to the Hell Stage for a little Coheed & Cambria while others raced to the Rise Above Stage to catch a little bit of Ministry. Between these two performances, all fans at Exit 111 Festival had their faces melted by some absolutely next level guitar riffs before making their way to the Heaven Stage to close out the night with a picturesque Guns N’ Roses performance complete with perfectly timed fireworks displays. Guns N’ Roses closed out this wickedly awesome weekend in the most perfect way imaginable. When Slash, lead guitarist, broke out the intro riff to “Welcome to the Jungle” and Axl Rose cut in with that infamous wail, “You’re in the jungle baby, you’re gunna die!” attendees of all ages were rockin’ out in unison. Ending the weekend with Guns N’ Roses put the cherry on top of this absolutely stacked lineup, which leaves us wondering how curators will be able to top themselves when it comes to the Exit 111 2020 lineup.
Exit 111 Festival was way more than just your average music festival. Curators had the opportunity to bring rock and metal music with the Redbull Freestyle Motorcross Team, a car show, delicious craft food vendors and the Paranormal Cirque. The Redbull Freestyle Motorcross team performed right in front of the Heaven Stage all weekend with their adrenaline pumping, high flying stunts. Though the performances were short and sporadic throughout the day, the riders made sure to get in as many flips and super man seat grabs as possible. The Exit 111 Car show was open all weekend for attendees to walk through and experience some beautiful antique and muscle machines. Alongside all this adrenaline pumping action, attendees had the opportunity to soak in some freak show talent at the Paranormal Cirque - if you were able to catch one of their sold out shows! Exit 111 curators did an excellent job providing attendees with the opportunity to experience activities between the music at their leisure. It will definitely be interesting to see the festival grow over the next few years and see what curators could add to this already fantastic weekend.
Though the festival may be over until next year, you can relive all the magic by following Exit 111 on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also sign up for their newsletter on their website to get the latest updates on their 2020 festival. If you had the opportunity to dig into some of the delicious eats at Exit 111, stay tuned for our recap of the Top 5 Food Vendors that will be on our Bars & Bites page. Be sure to stay tuned to our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find all of our photo coverage from this years event. No ticketing information is currently available for Exit 111 2020, but we will be sure to get you that information as soon as it is released. With Metallica and AC/DC announcing headlining tours in 2020, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these two huge names booked for Exit 111 2020. However, until the official lineup drops next year, all we can do is put together a wish list of artists for the event. Let us know who you would like to see at Exit 111 2020 by hopping over to our Twitter or Instagram page. Until then, tune into our page this week as we conquer the annual Suwannee Hulaween Music & Arts Festival in Live, Oak Florida. Be on the look out for our 2020 lineup of coverage as our plans will begin to unfold over the next few months. As always stay hydrated, if you see something then say something, and we hope to see you at a festival very soon !
