The twelfth edition of the M3 Rock Festival will be held this weekend at the Merriweather Post Pavillion, Columbia, Maryland, and the internationally-renowned ’80s Metal festival looks set to bust the COVID-19 blues with another fantastic three-day arena rock experience.
The weekend kicks of with the annual party on 2 July, with The Iron Maidens opening proceedings, before Heaven’s Edge, Slaughter and Kix take to the stage.
Saturday, 3 July, has Queensrÿche headlining, tantalisingly supported by Accept, Winger and Steven Adler, with Steelheart, Bulletboys, Hurricane and Enuff Z’Nuff earlier in the day.
US Independence day has Night Ranger headlining the 4 July festivities. The band will release their next album, ATBPO, on 6 August. Standing for ‘and the band played on’, Night Ranger wrote the album during the onset of COVID-19.
Brad Gillis recently told MetalTalk that recording the album “has been a crazy but fun task. A few zoom video gatherings got us started. With everybody in the band having home studios, we could elaborate and add our textures to each song. As a vintage guitar collector, I was able to add some great classic sounds to rhythm and solos using my ’57 Strat and ’52 Goldtop.”
Sunday also features Warrant, Great White, Lita Ford, Steve Riley’s LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, Pretty Boy Floyd and Little Caesar.
Eddie Trunk hosts the weekend, and MetalTalk will be there to cover the event in full.
Over twelve years, the festival has grown to attract fans from six continents, 20 countries and every US state. This years line-up is exciting, and the weekend promises to be an emotional release from eighteen months of COVID-19 tribulations.
There are still a few tickets left, which can be purchased from ticketmaster.com. For more details, visit the M3 website at m3rockfest.com
For those who can’t make the venue, a festival live stream is available. For more details, visit m3rockfest.veeps.com
