Rockfest was an outdoor,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
and
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
music festival held annually by
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
radio station
KQRC-FM
KQRC-FM (98.9 MHz, "98-9 The Rock") is a radio station licensed to Leavenworth, Kansas and serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its studios are located in Mission, Kansas, and the transmitter site is in South Kansas City. The station is own ...
98.9 The Rock since 1992. Over the years, the festival was held at various venues around the city, including
Liberty Memorial Park,
Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...
, and
Sandstone Amphitheater
Azura Amphitheater, also known as Sandstone Amphitheater, is an open-air amphitheater located in Bonner Springs, Kansas, United States. It is owned by the unified government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, shares its grounds with th ...
. As of 2010, it was considered North America's largest one-day music festival. Major bands such as
Godsmack
Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill, lead guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its forma ...
,
Staind
Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and dr ...
,
Seether
Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...
,
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz ...
,
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
,
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
, Rob Zombie, and Disturbed have all headlined Rockfest. The large size and rain-or-shine ethos of the concert led to community disputes regarding its continuation.
Statement from Mayor Funkhouser in regards to Rockfest
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In 2017, Rockfest was held at Kansas Speedway instead of Liberty Memorial Park due to inclement weather in previous years, making the original venue unsuitable.
In 2019, it was announced that Rockfest would be postponed until 2020. No official announcement was made regarding the postponement aside from a brief spot on the radio station and on Facebook, confusing many and giving rise to rumors. The primary reason cited by organizers was that the costs for big-name bands was too high.
A statement was made on 13 February 2020, announcing there would not be a Rockfest that year. It was decided that 2018 would be the final year for the festival.
Event lineup
References
External links
Rockfest at 98.9 The Rock
Heavy metal festivals in the United States
Rock festivals in the United States
Music festivals established in 1992
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