And just like that, a little sprinkle turned the promise of a perfect Georgia evening for an outdoor concert into an unpleasantly humid endeavor. It’s not something unfamiliar to those living in the south, where fans come to rock in any weather, but it was the first of such for 2026. Still, any night is the perfect night to get out and rock.
Dorothy (Martin) opened the evening with a powerful voice that demands attention, maybe Jett or Benatar, but more bluesy and versatile. Dorothy has a decade of recordings to her credit, her style “softening” perhaps from heavy to hard, not to mention a collaboration with Slash in 2025, “Tombstone Town,” which was sadly left out of the set.
Whether it’s blues rock, southern rock, hard rock, or all three, her voice rises above and drives it all, in no way diminishing the energy and talents of her band. “Rest in Peace” and “Whiskey Nights” stood out.
Setlist:
Stone Temple Pilots helped shape the alternative rock landscape of the 90s, laying the groundwork for bands like Godsmack to later push that sound into heavier territory. Individually, both bands stand strong on their own, but together the lineup carried a sense of generational continuity that made the pairing feel natural from the start.
In a thoroughly enjoyable set, Stone Temple Pilots leaned entirely on material from their first four albums, and the crowd responded accordingly. Singer Jeff Gutt performs with the kind of conviction that makes it easy to forget he joined the band a decade ago. Fans will always think of Scott Weiland when those songs come on the radio, but Gutt earned this role long ago, handling both the expectations and the catalog with confidence while keeping the audience engaged throughout the set.
It was hard to tell how many fans came primarily for one band or the other, or if most were there for both. Either way, Stone Temple Pilots delivered for every generation in attendance, whether fans lived through the 90s heyday, discovered the band through Guitar Hero or Rock Band, or grew up hearing those CDs played in the car by their parents. And for what it’s worth, it was also great seeing brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo clearly having a blast onstage together.
Setlist:
You probably know their songs, and if you don’t know the words, you know the riffs. Godsmack was built for nights like this: outdoors, with thousands of fans, and a catalog designed to be played loud. The setlist is below, and while it may shift slightly from stop to stop, the band plays with enough confidence and consistency that you should buy tickets knowing you’re probably going to leave happy.
All the hits aside, though, it was when the band slowed down between songs that the show became most entertaining. Frontman Sully Erna understands that crowd interaction works best when it feels personal rather than rehearsed. Every artist has their standard stage banter: “How are you doing, Atlanta?” appreciation for fan support, reminders to support live music, and so on. Erna went beyond that, paying attention to how people were dressed, reading signs in the audience, and even trying to respond to random things shouted from the crowd during quieter moments.
That personality carried into one of the night’s most memorable audience participation moments. As part of the show, Erna invited fans onstage to help judge crowd participation during a chorus. It started with a pair of 14 year-old girls before expanding to several others and eventually a 65 year-old woman who climbed onto the stage with a little assistance. Talking to a crowd is one thing. Pulling them directly onto the stage is just a different level of connection.
Secondly, “Batalla De Los Tambores” remains one of the better live percussion showcases in rock because it avoids becoming a standard drum solo. A second drum kit suddenly appears before both setups roll toward center stage, with new drummer Wade Murff behind the primary kit and Erna handling the other. Murff probably wins the night’s unofficial drum muscles competition, but technical precision is not really the point. The two complement each other well, the rotating drum kits add visual spectacle, and, refreshingly, both musicians occasionally miss a stick trick or throw one slightly too far forward. Instead of pretending it never happened, they laugh about it. In an era where In an age when everything is practiced and played to precision, this was refreshing.
And while hardcore fans will likely leave talking about the encore, the strongest moment of the main set came with the closing performance of Come Together. The song expanded into an extended instrumental section before transitioning into the climactic guitar passage from Stairway to Heaven. Rather than following the familiar “And she’s buying a stairway to heaven…” vocal line, Erna instead sang, “And so now we must say goodbye, until next time…” It sounds odd on paper, but once you hear it in your head, it fits naturally.
The tour continues in central and eastern U.S. through early June before heading to Europe briefly and returning for the western U.S. in September.
Setlist:
Encore:
