The Milkmans Music Blog: 2026

I wasn't originally going to go to Sonic Temple this year. Then my friend Mike asked me if I would go with him, because he really wanted to see Tool, who were headlining Sunday night. I've never been a big Tool fan so I wasn't sure. So I checked the rest of the lineup out. Megadeth, Black Label Society, Anthrax, and Public Enemy! Who could resist a possible jam between Public Enemy and Anthrax?! Not I! Megadeth had just announced that they were going to retire soon too, so I need to see them as much as possible! I had never seen Black Label Society, So Yes, I'm in!! We got the tickets, and then Anthrax dropped out. This really bummed me out, but they were replaced with Suicidal Tendencies who I had just seen for the first time at the last Sonic Temple, and would love to see again. So not a bad trade.

A few weeks before the show, Mike has to have emergency eye surgery so he was questionable on whether he could even go. Turns out, he couldn't. He ended up just giving me his (fairly expensive) ticket to take whomever I wanted. So I have a very short list of people I would want to spend that much time with. First up was my Son-in-law Kaden. Nope! He couldn't get the next day off so he didn't want to go. I didn't want to deal with selling the tickets, and I wanted to go. I really only asked one other person. My Country Music loving wife Maria! This would be like nothing she had ever experienced before! Hesitantly yet graciously she agreed. This would also give us the opportunity to do a little exploring the next day. She joked about wearing her Reba McEntire shirt thinking she would get strange looks! She had no idea what she was about to see.

Now this weekend was also the same weekend Maria and I were celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary. We live in central Indiana and had just got back from a small trip where we took the SS Badger across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. Then drove to Columbus Ohio for this show. A lot of driving! But I am gluten for adventure!

So we get there early Sunday afternoon and I don't really know any of the bands that are playing that early, so we just hang out and people watch until In Flames comes on. Maria quickly realized her Reba shirt was not as outlandish as she thought it would have been!

Now I had never listened to In Flames before, but I did know that Chris Broderick (formerly of Megadeth) is now in the band, so I knew it had to be good! Guess what, I was right! In Flames kills!! I definitely found a "new" band to listen to. Here's The setlist.

1. Cloud Connected

2. Deliver Us

3. In The Dark

4. Meet Your Maker

5. The Mirror's Truth

6. I Am Above

7. Take This Life

Suicidal Tendencies were up next. And just like last year, they were kicking major ass! BUT! I had to cut out early so I could get to see Black Label Society, so I didn't stick around long. That's one of the worst things about festivals. To many bands on at the same time! But, What ya gonna do! Here is there entire setlist, even though I think we cut out during "I Saw Your Mommy"

1. You Can't Bring Me Down

2. Send Me Your Money

3. Subliminal

4. I Saw Your Mommy

5. Cyco Vision

6. Pledge Your Allegiance

Tye Trujillo is amazing!

Time to go Berzerkus!! Now I never saw Zakk with Ozzy, but I did get to see him with Pantera so this is special for me. Zakk is another one I've been listening to since the 80s! Not seeing him with Ozzy is one of my biggest musical regrets! And now, Ozzy is gone. I did have tickets to a 2019 show, but it wasn't meant to be. I'm here now!, but Maria isn't. After I found a place to stand, she ducked out to go to the restroom. I think she just needed a break also. This was their second set of the festival, performing a Zakk Sabbath set on Friday. And if they ever come back around with another Sabbath set, Nothing will keep me from going! Anyway, here's the setlist.

1. Funeral Bell

2. Name In Blood

3. A Love Unreal

Now at this point, Zakk gave me a little closure. Starting with the guitar solo, they belted out the last half of No More Tears. Which I can assure you, was not the case. Yes I had a little tear in my eyes when I heard this. Goodbye Ozzy! Rest easy!

4. No More Tears

5. Fire It Up

6. Suicide Messiah

7.Stillborn

Now to find Maria, and check Out Public Enemy! So now if I haven't mentioned it by this point, let me tell you something. It Was HOT this day! And I think this was the largest crowd I had ever seen! We started out listening to Public Enemy, but decided we needed water instead! So we took off to find some H2O and shade! We missed almost the entire set. I thought about going into the stadium and watching Lamb Of God from a shady spot, but they were all full! So we found a tree and set down near the shade. It finally came over to us! We did some more people watching and cooled off. We did get back in time to hear Bring the Noise and Fight The Power. Which are really the only songs I knew anyway. I will say, Chuck D has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard! Here's some pics I grabbed.

No shady spots found!!

After Public Enemy finished, Megadeth was up next! We decided to just get a good spot for that and sit some more during the hour long change over. Unfortunately, sitting for too long on the ground, my legs fell asleep! I tried to get up and just about took out this (much smaller than me) couple sitting behind me! Thankfully, I regained my legs avoiding a massacre! I stood the rest of the time.

Anyway, Megadeth!!! Dave is calling it quits here soon. He hasn't put a final date on it yet, but we need to see as much as we can while we can! And as always, they did not disappoint!

1. Tipping Point

2. Wake Up Dead

3. In My Darkest Hour

4. Hanger 18

5. Angry Again

6. Let There Be Shred

7. Sweating Bullets

8. Tornado Of Souls

9. Peace Sells

10. Symphony Of Destruction

11. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

I hope I'm able to catch at least one more FULL Megadeth show before they hang em' up. Festival sets are too short.

Little kid crowd surfing!

VIC RATTLEHEAD!!

At this point, my dogs were barking!!! And since Mike didn't go, we didn't stick around for Tool. Maria survived! An anniversary weekend she soon won't forget! Here's a few pics from the exploring we did for the whole weekend.