Tool, Bring Me The Horizon, My Chemical Romance, Shinedown, Halestorm, Megadeth, Alter Bridge and over 130 more bands will play next year's Sonic Temple festival in Ohio

Tool in 2025, Halestorm in 2024, Megadeth in 2024, Myles Kennedy in 2025 and Anthrax in 2025
(Image credit: Medios y Media/Getty Images | Scott Legato/Getty Images | Mariano Regidor/Redferns | Per Ole Hagen/Redferns | Elsie Roymans/Getty Images)

More than 140 bands have joined the lineup at US festival Sonic Temple festival.

The weekender – which will return to Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio from May 14 to 17 – has announced headliners Tool and Shinedown, who’ll join previously-announced names My Chemical Romance and Bring Me The Horizon in topping the main stage.

Rounding out the five-stage, four-day event will be Megadeth, Halestorm, Alter Bridge, Sepultura, Anthrax, Pierce The Veil, Staind, Good Charlotte, Godsmack, Bush, Rise Against, Breaking Benjamin, Public Enemy, Amon Amarth, In Flames, Kreator, Cradle Of Filth and many, many more.

Shinedown singer Brent Smith comments: “Barry [Kerch, drums], Zach [Myers, guitars], Eric [Bass, bass] and I have waited for this opportunity to be a headliner at Sonic Temple for a very long time. We are going to go all out for this performance.

“We know the fans have very high expectations. So with that being said, we are going to give all of Ohio everything we’ve got!!!! Thank you to [promoter] Danny Wimmer for this incredible opportunity!!! LET’S GO SHINEDOWN NATION.”

Tickets to Sonic Temple 2026 – including weekend passes, day passes, VIP and Premium Experiences – are available now via the festival’s website.

Sonic Temple was launched in 2019, replacing its predecessor Rock On The Range on the grounds of what was then called Mapfre Stadium. The 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions were compromised by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the festival returned in 2023 and has been an annual fixture ever since.

Last year, Korn, Metallica (playing two sets across two days) and Linkin Park headlined, and 2026 will mark the first year that the event will have five stages.

Several Sonic Temple 2026 performances are being promoted as ‘special appearances’. They include the sets from Megadeth and Sepultura, each of whom will be playing their respective farewell tour. DragonForce’s show will mark 20 years of their album Inhuman Rampage, and Snot and Egypt Central will be performing off the back of recent reunions.

Matt Mills
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.

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