Sonic Temple closes with Tool, Megadeth, Thrice and a heavy alternative Sunday

Sonic Temple closes on 17 May in Columbus, Ohio, giving the day a huge heavy alternative and post-hardcore crossover story. While the festival sits more in the rock and metal world than classic indie, its Sunday lineup includes several acts that overlap heavily with alternative, punk, post-hardcore and independent-minded scenes.

The 2026 Sunday schedule lists Tool, Godsmack, Lamb of God, Megadeth, Public Enemy, Electric Callboy, Dance Gavin Dance, Chiodos, Thrice, Anberlin with Stephen Christian, From First to Last and more across multiple stages. That makes the day useful for an indie-adjacent digest because it captures the heavier side of alternative culture at full festival scale. Thrice and Anberlin bring emotional post-hardcore and 2000s alternative lineage, Dance Gavin Dance represents the modern swancore and experimental post-hardcore universe, and Public Enemy adds a political hip-hop legacy presence that cuts across genre boundaries. The wider festival had already generated major coverage after My Chemical Romance’s theatrical headline performance earlier in the weekend, underlining how emo, punk, alternative rock and heavy music nostalgia are now operating as major festival forces. For 17 May, Sonic Temple is the loud counterweight to Kilby Block Party: less dreamy, more muscular, but still deeply connected to alternative music’s long tail. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Temple_(festival) ; Coverage: https://www.loudersound.com/music/sonic-temple-review-day-1