Metallica to headline Epicenter Festival in Charlotte next year

Organizers announced Thursday that the festival will be held May 1-3, 2020, at the Rock City Campgrounds in Concord across from the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After traffic, security concerns, severe weather, Day 3 at Epicenter sees sun, fewer fans

Some guests said they waited hours for access to the festival grounds. Some gave up. Others waited hours after midnight, into the wee hours of Saturday morning, to leave the grounds after Friday's performances.

A couple said they sat in traffic with their car in park for about three hours between Hoffman and Rockingham Speedway, a distance of about 6 miles. They got into the concert Friday night, but leaving was another issue.

“We got to our car at 11:10 p.m. and we did not move from that parking spot until 3 a.m.,” Ethan Brown said.

Both Browns described a parking situation without oversight, with few lights and with no visible security. They said people were visibly intoxicated, jumping on top of vehicles and blowing horns.

Finally, Ethan Brown said, a woman knocked on their window and told them someone had cut through the fence to create an exit. "So we did that," he said.

Then, on Saturday, festival organizers evacuated the venue, including those camping on-site, as a tornado warning was issued just west of Rockingham.

William Hyland, who used vacation time to travel from Massachusetts with his girlfriend for the concert, said only the calm in the crowd kept the evacuation from getting out of hand. He said there were not staff on the ground to guide people to the exits or to keep them informed in the fluid situation.

Of the traffic and parking, Hyland said, "It was an entire fiasco."

Bring Me the Horizon, 311 and the Foo Fighters, Judas Priest and Tool were among the bands scheduled to perform at the festival.

Even with the reports of crowds and chaos, thousands are expected to attend the rock festival again next year.

More information will be released about the Epicenter Festival as the date nears. Tent and RV camping will again be permitted at the site. Single-day tickets for the festival start at $169.50, with VIP tickets as priced as high as $499.50.