Rebel Rock 2021- Day Two (8/24) Preview

The countdown to Rebel Rock 2021 has begun. In a little over two weeks more than 60 musical acts will take the stage at the inaugural festival set to take place on September 23 – 26, 2021 in sunny Orlando, Fl. The festival sponsored by Monster Energy, Deep Eddy’s Vodka, and Liquid Death Mountain Water and produced by Stage Left Entertainment will be hosted by Sirius XM’s Jose “Metal Ambassador” Mangin.

The Friday schedule was has been released. Eighteen bands are slated to perform on four stages starting in the early afternoon and rocking until late into the evening. A couple of changes have occurred. Like Machines has replaced Light The Torch while Incubus has replaced Limp Bizkit.

There are four bands that I’m most excited about see during Friday’s performances, Fit For A King, Skillet, Machine Gun Kelly, and the closing act Incubus.

Incubus

Limp Bizkit was originally slated as the Friday closing act but decided to cancel all their upcoming shows. Incubus was gracious enough to step in to fill this time slot. The multi-platinum band has been pumping out music since the early ‘90s. Along the way, they have released eight albums which produced 11 top-5 songs on the Billboard US Alternative chart, including 4 number one hits. The band’s early albums had a funk and alternative metal sound but over the years their sound has softened. Their last release was the 2020 EP Trust Fall (Side B). The band was unable to tour to support the EP in 2020 so there is a good chance fans will hear some of the new songs.

Follow Incubus at:

Machine Gun Kelly

Rebel Rock’s roster is filled with a multitude of metal and hard rock bands. There are a few change of pace acts. Machine Gun Kelly is one of these. Kelly was one of the biggest hip-hop acts after his first two albums reached #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop and his next two broke the top 5. Out of the blue, the artist shifted gears in 2020 and released a pop-punk album Tickets to My Downfall. Fans must not have been too disappointed with the change because the album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. If his 2021 performances are any indication, the audience will probably be hearing more pop-punk than hip-hop. Being a big fan of pop-punk, this is one of the acts I’m most excited to see.

Follow Machine Gun Kelly at:

Skillet and Fit For A King

The are two Christian metal bands performing on Friday, Skillet and Fit For A King. While each has had success on both the Christian and Rock charts, the bands have different approaches.

Skillet is an in your face Christian metal band who is not afraid to tell everyone in the crowd about their faith. Christianity is fully embedded in their music. They are one of several bands at Rebel Rock that I have previously seen perform live. They normally put on a very visual performance. The back-and-forth vocals by John Cooper and Jen Ledger can be chilling at times.

Metalcore band Fit For A King on the other hand is more subtle about their faith. The band openly confesses about being Christians in interviews but stop once they hit the stage. Religion appears in the music, but only intermittently. The band is much more aggressive than Skillet with unclean vocals by Ryan Kirby but the band still mixes in clean vocals to introduce some dynamic.

I love bands with a message. Both of these bands will have one. You just have to listen a little bit harder with Fit For A King.

Follow Skillet at:

Follow Fit For A King at:

Tickets are currently available at RebelRockFest.com and include single day, 2-day and 3-day General Admission options. Ticket purchases for the 2020 event can be rolled over to 2021. For more information email info@stageleft-usa.com

Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

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