If you leave now by car you will make it provided you first purchase a “Box Of Joe” from Dunkin Donuts and keep the need to check your Facebook feed to a minimum (which I hope you will not be doing while driving anyway). If you book a quick flight out of JFK or LaGuardia you’ll be down there with time enough to rest and have a nice dinner in town and of course I’m referring to all of you readers who are up here in the NYC metropolitan area when it comes to the news that the First Annual Florida Metal Fest will happen tomorrow, January 30th. Check out the official press release and then I will chime back in for a couple of more thoughts.
The Press Release:
This Saturday, January 30th, 2016 marks the first annual Florida Metal Fest! Organized by brothers John and Donald Tardy of death metal legends, Obituary, and set to take place at The Cuban Club, Ybor City in Tampa, year one of the brutal, two stage gala will see some of the Sunshine State’s most iconic bands – including Obituary, Malevolent Creation, Atheist and Deicide – unite and return to their roots in the very heart of the death metal world. Additionally, the Tardy brothers have invited some of their favorite bands from around the country to take part in this special event including Corrosion Of Conformity, Trouble, Madball, Broken Hope and Generichrist!
Two local Floridian bands, both winners of the Battle Of The Bands contest show, will be opening the fest. The first battle was held on November 27th at the BrassMug where the winning band was Untoten Krieg. The second battle took place on December 26th at the Crowbar in Ybor City, with Unsung Destroyer winning the proverbial belt.
Said John Tardy of fest:
“My brother and I have been so fortunate and thankful to be part of some the best and biggest music festivals in the world. The amount of people, bands and energy these festivals can bring is just awesome. From the first time we played one, it has always been a dream of ours to put together a music festival that is not only fun for the fans, bands and crews, but one that also brings a closeness to all involved. After years and years of talking about it, we finally decided the time is now. We want to put together a first class festival. From the venue to the PA, from the lights to the lineup we are trying our best to make this as memorable event as possible. No festival, anywhere in the world, even with the best possible lineup, would work if the area does not support it. I think that Tampa, and its surrounding cities, is a great music area and one that is ready to make this event come to life.”
Florida Metal Fest I Schedule – Doors: 3:00pm
Criss Oliva Stage:
Atheist: 4:30pm – 5:15pm
Madball: 5:45pm – 6:30pm
Trouble: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Deicide: 8:30pm – 9:30pm
Corrosion Of Conformity: 10:00pm – 11:00pm
Obituary: 11:30pm – 12:30pm
Chuck Schuldiner Stage:
Untoten Krieg: 4:00pm – 4:30pm
Unsung Destroyer: 5:15pm – 5:45pm
Generichrist: 6:15pm – 7:00pm
Broken Hope: 7:40pm – 8:20pm
Malevolent Creation: 9:30pm – 10:30pm
Aftershow Party w/ Painkiller: 12:30pm
The Cuban Club, Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, home to the Florida Metal Fest, is surrounded by dozen of bars and restaurants, includes easy parking and is in walking distance or a short cab ride to dozens of hotels at a variety of prices for further info visit http://www.floridametalfest.com where you’ll find ticket, travel and lodging info.
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PiercingMetal Thoughts: For starters let me say how cool it is that this all-day festival show will have two legendary figures of Metal’s past honored in stage names with both Criss Oliva from Savatage and Chuck Schuldiner of the mighty Death. What is great about this festival is that so many of the bands hitting the stage tomorrow were influenced by Death themselves and you have to imagine that somewhere in the great beyond Chuck has put down his guitar and glanced at the proceedings and smiled at what he helped inspire. There are no less than seven bands on this lineup that I want to see and I wish that I could head down there to rock out with reckless abandon like the folks who already have their tickets. What do you readers think of this one? Let me know in the comments below. Maybe we can start a petition on Change.org to convince them to bring something like this a few states further up the coast. I know this has the kind of lineup that would blow away that last Mayhem Festivals early stage for sure.
Official Website: http://www.floridametalfest.com
