Sonic Temple never fails to deliver one of the year’s biggest spotlights on modern hard rock and metal and this year is no different. Over 140 bands were announced for the four-day music weekend taking place at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio and many memories were made over the span of 96 hours.
The music weekend delivered with high profile headlining sets from My Chemical Romance, Shinedown, Bring Me the Horizon and Tool, while the spirit of collaboration seemed to be flowing through the event delivering some of the moments attendees were buzzing about.
So let’s take you through some of the big performances and headline making moments of Sonic Temple 2026 below.
1. My Chemical Romance Finish Off Sonic Temple’s Opening Day on a High Note
My Chemical Romance remain one of the hottest tickets in rock and it’s easy to see why after a theatrical and blistering performance that closed out Day 1 (May 14) of Sonic Temple.
The band delivered an 18-song set (per Setlist.fm) that was not only stacked with hits and included a full album celebration of their iconic 2000s album The Black Parade, but provided plenty of production and thematic elements tying the performance into a story. Gerard Way even offered some insight, shouting out Napalm Death for inspiring the production of their current stage show (seen below).
READ MORE: Everything You Need to Know About My Chemical Romance’s Fictional World, Draag, Explained
At one point, Way welcome guest singer Charlotte Kelso performing as the character Sylvia on duet part in “Mama.” The encore also included the tour debut of the high-energy favorite “Vampire Money” as the night’s penultimate track.
My Chemical Romance at Sonic Temple 2026 (May 14, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “The End”
2. “Dead!”
3. “This Is How I Disappear”
4. “The Sharpest Lives”
5. “Welcome to the Black Parade”
6. “I Don’t Love You”
7. “House of Wolves”
8. “Cancer”
9. “Mama”
10. “Sleep”
11. “Teenagers”
12. “Disenchanted”
13. “Famous Last Words”
14. “The End. reprise”
Encore:
15. “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”
16. “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)”
17. “Vampire Money” (tour debut)
18. “Helena”
My Chemical Romance, “Vampire Money” (Sonic Temple 2026)
My Chemical Romance, “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” (Sonic Temple 2026)
2. Shinedown Shine a Spotlight on Late 3 Doors Down Singer at Sonic Temple 2026
Shinedown have a huge catalog of hits, but it was one song that was not their own that provided one of the more touching moments of the Sonic Temple weekend. The band had a close friendship over the years with late 3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold who died earlier this year and they chose to use part of their 19-song set (per Setlist.fm) to honor the singer.
It was actually guitarist Zach Myers who stepped up to the mic to do the honors, with the crowd joining him in singing an abbreviated performance of 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite” in tribute to Arnold. The performance then transitioned into singer Brent Smith stepping forward to join Myers on Shinedown’s cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Simple Man.”
Shinedown showed why they are one of the more beloved rock acts going, opening their set with the recent hit “Safe and Sound” and blending such older standouts as “Fly From the Inside,” “Cut the Cord,” “45,” “Sound of Madness” and the show closing “Second Chance” with more modern hits such as “Searchlight,” “Three Six Five” and “A Symptom of Being Human.” The set also included an onstage collab, with Chris Daughtry joining the band on “Monsters” (more on that later).
Shinedown, “Kryptonite / Simple Man” at Sonic Temple 2026 (May 15, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
Shinedown, “Safe and Sound” (Sonic Temple 2026)
Shinedown, “Fly From the Inside” (Sonic Temple 2026)
3. Chris Daughtry Is Sonic Temple’s “Most Valuable Collaborator”
You’ve got to give it up to Chris Daughtry. The singer was the “go-to” collaborator of the Sonic Temple music weekend. During his own band’s performance, Daughtry brought up Lzzy Hale of Halestorm to perform their cover of Journey‘s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).”
Then later on in evening on Friday (May 15), Daughtry jumped up onstage with Shinedown on “Monsters.”
As for Daughtry’s own set, it was a high-energy performance with the singer and per Setlist.fm his band delivering an eight-song set bookended with “Divided” and “Artificial,” two of the bigger hits he’s enjoyed in recent years.
Daughtry at Sonic Temple 2026 (May 15, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “Divided”
2. “The Bottom”
3. “The Day I Die”
4. “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (with Lzzy Hale)
5. “Pieces”
6. “The Dam”
7. “Heavy Is the Crown”
8. “Artificial”
Daughtry With Lzzy Hale, “Separate Ways” (Sonic Temple 2026)
Shinedown With Chris Daughtry, “Monsters” (Sonic Temple 2026)
4. Breaking Benjamin + Flyleaf Stars Guest in Each Other’s Sets
With both Breaking Benjamin and Flyleaf playing on Sonic Temple’s Thursday bill (May 14), it provided the unique opportunity for collaboration and it’s one that Breaking Benjamin’s Ben Burnley and Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm took advantage of while sharing the stage in both bands’ sets.
Burnley came out late in Flyleaf’s nine-song set (per Setlist.fm) performing with Sturm on the song “So I Thought.” Sturm later returned the favor appearing midway through Breaking Benjamin’s 14-song performance (per Setlist.fm) to reprise their Aurora duet on “Dear Agony.”
Breaking Benjamin at Sonic Temple 2026 (May 14, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “I Will Not Bow”
2. “Until the End”
3. “Crawl”
4. “Red Cold River”
5. “Blow Me Away”
6. “Follow”
7. “So Cold”
8. “Something Wicked”
9. “Dear Agony” (with Lacey Sturm)
10. “Polyamorous”
11. “Breath’
12. “Awaken”
13. “Failure”
14. “The Diary of Jane”
Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm at Sonic Temple 2026 (May 14, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “Chasm”
2. “Again”
3. “Fire Fire”
4. “Cassie”
5. “Call You Out”
6. “Fully Alive”
7. “So I Thought” (with Ben Burnley)
8. “I’m So Sick”
9. “All Around Me”
Breaking Benjamin With Lacey Sturm, “Dear Agony” (Sonic Temple 2026)
Flyleaf With Ben Burnley, “So I Thought” (Sonic Temple 2026)
5. Bring Me the Horizon Bring Out MAPHRA at Sonic Temple 2026
The collaborative spirit was alive and well at Sonic Temple this weekend. Saturday (May 16) headliners Bring Me the Horizon got in on the fun by first inviting a fan named Jacob onstage to sing “Antivist” and later calling upon viral sensation MAPHRA to join them for the song “Doomed.”
The 15-song set (per Setlist.fm) was a treat for the ears and the eyes as Bring Me the Horizon pulled off one of the more visually stimulating performances of the weekend. It all kicked off with “DArkSide” and featured such standouts as “MANTRA,” “Shadow Moses” and “Can You Feel My Heart” in the body of the performance, before the band returned to the stage with an encore of “Doomed,” “Drown” and the show-closing “Throne.”
The audience was also very engaged with the show. Oli Sykes even delivered one of the more hilariously bizarre calls to action of the weekend, shouting out, “If you don’t move, you’re in the Epstein files. Nobody wants that.” At one point there was even a crowd surfer being passed through the audience while sitting atop a couch (insert couch surfing joke here).
Bring Me the Horizon at Sonic Temple 2026 – (May 16, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “DArkSide”
2. “The House of Wolves”
3. “MANTRA”
4. “Happy Song”
5. “Teardrops”
6. “AmEN!”
7. “Kool-Aid”
8. “Shadow Moses”
9. “Kingslayer”
10. “Antivist” (with fan Jacob on vocals)
11. “Follow You”
12. “Can You Feel My Heart”
Encore:
13. “Doomed” (with MAPHRA)
14. “Drown”
15. “Throne”
Bring Me the Horizon (with MAPHRA), “Doomed” (Sonic Temple 2026)
Bring Me the Horizon With Fan Jacob, “Antivist” (Sonic Temple 2026)
6. Tool Close Out Sonic Temple 2026 in Crushing Fashion
Tool finished out Sonic Temple 2026 by delivering an epic 10-song set (per Setlist.fm) for fans revisiting some of their biggest and most well-known tracks.
They opened the night with “Stinkfist,” before starting their second song with the “Lost Keys” intro before jumping into “Rosetta Stoned.” The evening finished out with the dynamic “Vicarious” sending everyone home satisfied.
Tool at Sonic Temple 2026 – (May 17, 2026 – Columbus, Ohio)
1. “Stinkfist”
2. “Rosetta Stoned”
3. “Fear Inoculum”
4. “The Grudge”
5. “H.”
6. “Jambi”
7. “Pneuma”
8. “Crawl Away”
9. “Invincible”
10. “Vicarious”
Tool, “Stinkfist” (Sonic Temple 2026)
Tool, “H.” (Sonic Temple 2026)
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Gallery Credit: Chad Childers, Loudwire
