October is festival season on the sometimes-flooded grassy patches of Sacramento’s Discovery Park, where scraggly brush and trees act as a buffer between the park proper and the American River. By the time this year’s GoldenSky (Oct. 18-20) and Aftershock festivals (Oct. 10-13) begin, the park’s coyotes and any other wildlife nearby will have found solace elsewhere, making room for the nearly 300,000 attendees expected, based on last year’s ticket sales for the two festivals combined.
Both festivals are put on by Danny Wimmer Presents, which also mounts similar events in Kentucky, Ohio and Oklahoma.
In addition to legendary acts like Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and Tom Morello, in 2024, the four-day festival will also feature crowd pleasers Flogging Molly, Insane Clown Posse and CKY.
The festival is expanding its performance space to include a fifth stage for the first time. In addition to local food truck vendors, the event’s producers are partnering with festival Aftershock regular partners Coors Light and Jack Daniel’s as well as returning vendors like Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Eargasm.
Turnstile opens up their set with the song “Don’t Play” on
Aftershock’s largest capacity stage in Discovery Park Oct. 7,
2023. Over 100,000 people were in attendance for the festival,
according to an announcement from Aftershock.
The country music focused GoldenSky Festival will mount its third year Oct. 18-20, just a week after the Aftershock fans have cleared the scene at Discovery Park. In 2023, Elle King and Hailey Whitters were on the bill with country legend Clint Black — all scheduled to return this year.
The new additions to the festival this year are a sign that GoldenSky is beginning to gain notoriety within the country music world. Popular acts like Keith Urban, Luke Bryan and Colbie Caillat are all fresh faces to the event’s lineup. Also new to the festival is Sacramento local band burke. They were winning finalists in the GoldenSky competition this year, which gives local bands an opportunity to open for acts at the festival.
The country music festival shares a few vendor partners with Aftershock in Coors, Topo Chico and Jack Daniel’s. Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau’s marketing brand Visit Sacramento is also a partner for both festivals. Unique to GoldenSky is a partnership with California Bountiful, a TV and magazine publisher parented by the California Farm Bureau.
Attendees of Aftershock relax on the grass during performances at
the Jack Daniel’s stage in Discovery Park Oct. 9, 2022. There are
screens set up near the I-5 N freeway for visibility of the
performers on stage.
In 2023, flooding on the grounds earlier in the year caused concern and ultimately the shifting of the soul and R&B oriented Sol Blum music festival held at Discovery Park from a date in spring to mid-August. The two October festivals were unaffected last year and remained in their originally planned slots. This year, all three festivals enjoyed the safety of a drier winter, leaving Sol Blum in its original May 2024 time.
Outside of these two heavy-hitting festivals, there are some honorable mentions worth checking out in October in Sacramento. R&B singer Macy Gray (“I Try”) will be performing at Quarry Park Amphitheatre in Rocklin Oct. 19. Singer-songwriter Cat Power will take the stage at Crest Theatre Oct. 2 for a night of covers paying tribute to classic rock legend Bob Dylan. Alt rock pioneers Weezer will be coming “Undone” Oct. 8 at the Golden 1 Center, sharing the bill with The Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr.
Please enjoy our Spotify playlist featuring highlights from Aftershock and GoldenSky festivals as well as select tracks from our honorable mentions.
Correction 10/7/24: A previous version of this article misstated several bands that would be playing in 2024.
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