Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. Photo by Bracken Mayo
The Exit 111 Festival brought a little different flavor and experience to the Manchester, Tennessee, property (just off of I-24 Exit 111) that serves as a home to the massive Bonnaroo each summer.
The first-ever Exit 111 event, hosted by hard rock DJ and metal fan Eddie Trunk, featured a more classic-rock and metal-oriented band lineup. Many of the bands on the bill have performed at Bonnaroo in the past, though it seems the Exit 111 team skimmed the ’Roo lineups and captured the heaviest bands scattered throughout the years—Mastodon, Gojira, Slayer, Lamb of God—added in Killswitch Engage, Ghost, Anthrax, Ministry, Black Label Society and others, and assembled them all for a mighty metal militia for the fall 2019 fest.
ZZ Top
Exit 111 brought back ZZ Top and Coheed and Cambria to Manchester, and the fest featured Lynyrd Skynyrd, Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses as its three main stage headliners, quite the chunk of a classic rock radio playlist.
The current version of Skynyrd features guitarist Gary Rossington as its only remaining founding member, and Johnny Van Zant, brother of original vocalist Ronnie Van Zant on vocals. The farewell tour for the Southern rock icons continues, at least, through Nov. 30.
Metal legend Slayer says its 2019 tour is also its last.
Music fans got to catch a glimpse of Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen’s five-necked beast of a guitar, hear some sounds of Rage Against the Machine during Dead Sara’s set, take in some hard blues rock from Black Stone Cherry and witness three guys in Nothing More abuse a bass on a rotating stand.
Plenty of mosh pits and crowd surfing occurred at the heavy metal shows.
Exit 111 attendees experienced a slightly different climate from Bonnaroo, held in mid-June each year. The weather during the daytime shows was pleasant and sunny for the mid-October Exit 111, but the crowd had to make an effort to keep warm after the sun went down, with temperatures dipping into the low 40s as the headliners played.
The festival, which drew approximately 20,000 attendees each day, according to organizers, featured a large sports bar tent, where multiple large screens showed sporting events each day.
The Paranormal Cirque was another popular component of Exit 111. This show blended acrobatics, magic, comedy, burlesque and theatrics.
Guns N’ Roses, one of the monsters of rock, closed out the festival on the Great Stage on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Many may find Axl Rose’s voice, as well as his personality, somewhat annoying, but the band’s 1991 Use Your Illusion double album is an absolute rock masterpiece.
As expected, the band played plenty of material from UYI—the popular “November Rain,” “Don’t Cry,” “Civil War,” “Estranged” (man, what a great song) and “Locomotive” (evidently, a live rarity for the band)—and seven tracks from Appetite for Destruction (“Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Rocket Queen”).
Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses. Photo by Katarina Benzova
The band seems to exhibit a true respect for the history of rock ’n’ roll, performing material from a variety of other artists, some unexpected, at least to those unfamiliar with the prior setlists from the current GNR tour.
Guns N’ Roses played its well-known interpretation of “Live and Let Die,” which Sir Paul himself performed on that very same stage in 2013, as well as “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan and “Attitude” by The Misfits, all of which the band included on its major studio releases.
Slash, one of the ultimate lead guitarists of all time, sent out some brief guitar references to Alice Cooper and Jimi Hendrix in between songs.
And covers of “Slither” by Velvet Revolver (a band that included GNR bassist Duff McKagan and Slash), “The Seeker” by The Who, “Wichita Lineman” (written by Jimmy Webb, recorded by Glen Campbell, among others) and “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden took some fans by surprise at a truly great show on the Great Stage to close the inaugural Exit 111 Festival.
Stay tuned to exit111festival.com for information on a 2020 Exit 111.
