Last weekend, Welcome to Rockville hosted a four-day party that brought together nearly 200 artists from the worlds of pop punk, rock, hardcore, and more, scattered across five stages at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The 15th anniversary of the festival celebrated a wide scope of genres and legend — headlined by My Chemical Romance, Bring Me the Horizon, Foo Fighters, and Guns N’ Roses. The event also lifted up veterans like Turnstile, Poppy, and Mayday Parade, with an equally loaded undercard — from the Paradox to L.S. Dunes to Magnolia Park. No matter where you ended up, there was no shortage of bands to see and gush over — and if you entered the grounds early enough, you were bound to witness what exactly the next generation entails.
Read more: 10 most criminally underrated Bring Me The Horizon songs
Because the weekend was so packed with music, we’re revisiting 5 highlights from Welcome to Rockville 2026 below.
My Chemical Romance bring The Black Parade to Daytona
All last year, My Chemical Romance toured The Black Parade — playing their 2006 concept album in full, with a heightened twist that rivaled a Broadway production (and made it one of the high points of 2025, according to AP readers). Whenever a band of this caliber bring that spectacle to a festival stage, it makes the weekend even more anticipated, and MCR gave the final day of Rockville something to remember. Gerard Way laughed maniacally, taunted the audience with immeasurable swag, and burned with the same passion that fueled these songs 20 years ago. Per tradition, MCR launched into an encore of other revered tracks after the album playthrough, ending with the inimitable “Helena.”
A Day to Remember throw it back to 2007 with a surprise set
Before A Day to Remember took the Octane Stage for their homecoming on the festival’s final day, they played a surprise show on Saturday afternoon that caused tons of FOMO, both on and off the grounds. Going down at the Kona Big Wave installation, the band ran through songs from 2007’s For Those Who Have Heart, including “The Danger in Starting a Fire,” “A Shot in the Dark,” and “Show ’Em the Ropes.” Skateboarders performed tricks on the ramp behind them, and a packed crowd surrounded the stage, throwing down ahead of their official set.
Kellin Quinn joins From First to Last for “Mirror Soul”
“My first Warped in 2004 was to see FFTL,” SWS frontman Kellin Quinn wrote in an Instagram comment in 2025. “I learned most of what I know about singing because of the album Dear Diary.” From there, the bands hopped on a tour together in 2010 — right around the release of With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear — and Matt Good produced a few songs on 2019’s How It Feels to Be Lost. However, it wasn’t a true full-circle moment until From First to Last tapped Quinn for last year’s “Mirror Soul,” which they brought to Furnace Fest shortly after its release. Given that both bands played the same day of Welcome to Rockville, it’s only fitting that Quinn joined the band for the song on the Octane Stage, rewarding those who showed up early.
Ice Nine Kills give “Hell or High Slaughter” its live debut
Shortly after releasing “Twisting the Knife” for the Scream 7 soundtrack, Ice Nine Kills put out another track from the horror-comedy film Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. This time, it honored their love of ’80s glam metal, with some surprising lore: It’s a rerecorded version of a song by Grave Diggler, whose members are the fathers of everyone in Ice Nine Kills. “I’ve been estranged from my father for a long time,” Spencer Charnas says of the single. “But this movie, and this song, while bringing a lot of complicated feelings to the surface, also brought us back together.” That makes the band giving “Hell or High Slaughter” its live debut on the Vortex Stage, on the first day of the festival, a pretty strong (and wholesome) highlight.
Architects tap House of Protection for “Brain Dead”
On the final day of Welcome to Rockville, Architects encouraged fans to get rowdy by playing cuts from last year’s The Sky, the Earth & All Between. Midway through their set, though, they had a surprise in store: bringing out House of Protection for “Brain Dead,” who made their own impression when Stephen Harrison climbed the scaffolding with his guitar on the same stage earlier that day. Played from laptop speakers, their collaboration is pure sensory overload, combining hardcore riffs with metalcore hooks. Live, it’s a whole different beast, with Harrison urging the crowd to split right down the middle to form a Wall of Death.
