DAYTONA BEACH — A thunderstorm that matched the intensity of some of the metal bands at Welcome To Rockville separated a humid day and a comfortable evening on the festival’s second day.
The music took about a 2 1/2-hour break. Rejuvenated fans — some with smeared face paint and shriveled toes after the drenching — returned to the Daytona International Speedway infield in huge numbers just before 9 p.m. Pop-punk favorites The Offspring, Grammy-winning rock band Turnstile, and Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Foo Fighters were among the acts to bring the May 8 shows home, albeit a bit later than anticipated.
Danny Wimmer Presents, the festival promoter, offered a statement: “We’re grateful we were able to work with Daytona International Speedway to extend the night, allowing all the bands to play.”
82-year-old takes in his first rock show
Another grateful fan was 82-year-old Felix Gil of Jacksonville.
The native Peruvian who grew up poor, immigrated to the United States and worked hard his entire life, moving from coast to coast and living in Alaska before moving back to Florida in 2015.
“His whole life was about work. Work, work work. Not having fun,” said his son Stewart Gil. “And now that he’s retired, I want to show him a good time, show him all the things he’s missed out on, including rock concerts.”
They went to see The Warning, a trio of sisters from Mexico. Alejandra, Paulina and Daniela Villarreal Vélez. Then came the rain, followed by The Offspring, which Felix Gil has come to enjoy from YouTube.
“He loves the vibe,” Stewart Gil said, before translating a question in Spanish to his padre.
“Beautiful, beautiful,” Felix Gil said following The Offspring’s tight, energetic set filled with 1990s hits, including “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated,” and “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).”
The show was choreographed with lights and fireworks high above the Apex Stage.
“My dad was in a state of amazement,” Stewart Gil said. “He realized these guys are real. They’re not just on the tube.”
The Offspring admire crowd’s resilience after rains
Band members from The Offspring offered stage banter that seemed to genuinely reflect an admiration for the crowd’s enthusiasm.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” frontman Dexter Holland said. “These kids are (expletive) nuts. They’re having the time of their lives. They’re doing the crowd-surfing thing and there’s mosh pits.”
Guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman responded: “Rockville, you are out of your (expletive) mind!”
Then Noodles claimed someone told him (so it’s got to be true) that Rockville was setting a world record for attendance with 2,315,262 people in attendance.
Colorful crowds enjoy wide spectrum of rock
While the attendance was not 2.3 million, or even one-tenth that, it was a colorful crowd where young and old alike expressed themselves in diverse ways.
There were multiple guys in banana suits. People wore superhero costumes, Mario Brothers outfits, devil’s horns and astronaut helmets. The Speedway had enough fishnet to feed a village. If one looked close enough, one could find more than one Where’s Waldo?
And everywhere they turned, there was spectacle. If not the 40 bands on five stages from before noon to after midnight, there were dozens of food vendors, merch tents, and carnival rides. Welcome To Rockville continues May 9 and 10, with 80 more bands, including the headliners for those days, respectively, Bring Me The Horizon and My Chemical Romance.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Thunderstorm delays, doesn’t damper Rockville concerts
Reporting by Mark Harper, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
