HARD ROCK QUARRY ASSAULT: Godsmack, STP, and Dorothy Ignite the Tennessee Wilderness with a High-Octane Masterclass in Pure Arena Power
Few live experiences match the acoustic force of a towering limestone canyon loaded with a stacked wall of guitar amplifiers. Tonight, the staggering open-air backdrop of FirstBank Amphitheater became the epicenter of contemporary hard rock as the Bleeding Me Alive Tour rolled into Franklin, TN. Delivering four non-stop hours of earth-shaking rhythmic grooves, blazing pyrotechnics, and pristine rock anthems, this blockbuster triple-bill offered an absolute clinic in stadium-sized showmanship. For the legions of fans filling the quarry to capacity, it was a definitive reminder of how massive, visceral, and unyielding a true hard rock spectacular is supposed to feel.
By design, the opening slot hosted Los Angeles rock purists Dorothy. Frontwoman Dorothy Martin unleashed a wall of southern-fried rock distortion that immediately set teeth on edge. Stripped of any commercial rock gloss, her self-styled blues-metal sound translated live as a brutal, low-end drone fueled by her commanding, whiskey-soaked vocal grit. Much of the evening’s power was drawn directly from her fourth studio album, The Way, which dropped via Roc Nation in March 2025. Live renditions of the stadium-sized anthem “MUD” and the raw, bluesy stomp of “Rest in Peace” proved her diary-driven rock can comfortably fill a massive amphitheater. Dorthy has hinted in recent radio interviews that she plans to translate this live momentum straight back into the studio to track new singles once this summer leg wraps up.
Dorothy stood under the flashing strobes like a rock ‘n’ roll sorceress, carving out a ferocious presence while her backing band laid down jagged, feedback-soaked riffs that sounded like an industrial bone-saw. The rhythm section pinned the audience to the stone walls, driving down-tuned bass stabs and a mechanized kick-drum pulse that rattled ribs. When the band closed with the crushing, swamp-gloom of “Dark Nights,” the quarry was thoroughly primed, left gasping for air in a heavy fog of rock fury.
Dorothy delivered a raw, blues-soaked opening salvo that focused heavily on stadium-sized hooks and gritty rhythmic stomps from her latest record, The Way:
Dorothy Official Setlist:
1. Down to the Bottom
2. The Devil I Know
3. Raise Hell
4. After Midnight
5. Bones
6. Mud
7. Rest in Peace
8. Whiskey Fever
9. Dark Nights
The atmospheric tension in the quarry shattered completely as legendary grunge architects Stone Temple Pilots detonated a massive wall of sound beneath a fully lit stage. No shadows, no gimmicks—just raw, stadium-grade rock ‘n’ roll power as frontman Jeff Gutt stood front and center, completely at home alongside Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz. Since 2016, Gutt commands the stage as the seasoned, razor-sharp presence that is uniquely his own and the definitive voice of STP‘s modern era. From the second the house lights flashed, his sudden, stark appearance under the house illumination altered the air pressure in the room, delivering a masterclass in absolute frontman dominance. Gutt radiates a dangerous, effortlessly cool energy and a magnetic rock ‘n’ roll swagger with a heavy dose of raw sex appeal. He doesn’t just honor the band’s legacy—He completely electrifies it.
Gutt paced the stage with a sharp, hypnotic movement, stepping onto the front-row monitors and staring down the quarry audience with total, unshakeable confidence. Cloaked in a weathered jacket, sporting aviator shades, and gripping the microphone stand with a raw, visceral intensity, Gutt personified the very definition of a classic rock icon by exuding a raw, sultry confidence that commands every eye in the house.
He continuously incited chaos in the front rows, raising his fists and leading the crowd through explosive call-and-response vocal battles that echoed off the quarry walls. He wore the immense history of the catalog like a weapon, dominating the space as a brilliant rock ‘n’ roll lightning rod.
During the climax of “Down,” Gutt took his rock status entirely off the stage. Crossing the security gap, he pushed straight out into the crowd to mount the front metal barricade. Locking hands with fans for stability, he performed a death-defying top-rail walk along the divide, leaning precariously over the surging sea of bodies while passing his microphone directly into the front lines to let the crowd scream back the verses. His physical connection with the audience was electric, trading high-fives, and locking eyes with the floor while maintaining a flawless, unbothered vocal flow. He belongs up there, completely owning the spotlight with an undeniable star power.
His vocal execution carried the precise, dirty grunge grit but injected it with a soaring, heavy metal power uniquely his own. The set erupted with the mechanical jackhammer precision of “Dead & Bloated,” establishing immediately that Gutt’s vocal engine is operating at the most elite level of his ten-year history with the band. Dean DeLeo’s legendary guitar work slashed through the quarry with terrifying clarity, cutting cleanly over Robert’s overdriven, dirty bass tone, but it was Gutt’s deeply passionate, chest-thumping delivery on “Interstate Love Song” that held the entire venue hostage. Having anchored the band through two major studio albums and endless global tours, Gutt’s impressive endurance, fierce eyes, and commanding, gravelly roar proved exactly why his presence makes STP a dangerous live powerhouse today.
The band executed a high-octane, career-spanning set list that heavily spotlighted their landmark early discography. while keeping the energy completely synchronized with Gutt’s powerful live vocal phrasing: Stone Temple Pilots Official Setlist
1. Dead & Bloated
2. Wicked Garden
3. Vasoline
4. Big Bang Baby
5. Down
6. Lounge Fly
7. Big Empty
8. Plush
9. Interstate Love Song
10. Crackerman
11. Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart
12. Sex Type Thing
If you weren’t buried deep in the quarry tonight, you missed what will easily go down as the most jaw-dropping, high-octane hard rock event of the year. When the venue lights plunged into absolute darkness, an ominous, deep-frequency sub-bass rumble detonated through the floorboards, shaking FirstBank Amphitheater‘s massive limestone cliffs to their very core. A towering, pitch-black curtain walled off the entire stage from the audience, keeping the open-air theater suspended in an agonizing, breathless chokehold of anticipation.
Suddenly, the massive curtain dropped in a single, lightning-fast heap to the floor, instantly unleashing an apocalyptic, fully lit stage wash of raw white stadium beams. Sully Erna stood front and center in the blinding glare, looking leaner, meaner, and more lethal than ever. The entire show served as a masterful, live celebration dropping just days after their May 1, 2026 record launch, Live at Mohegan Sun—the monumental live album documenting the final tracking of the original classic lineup. While 2023’s Lighting Up the Sky was originally billed as a studio curtain call, Erna took a moment to look out at the roaring crowd and hint at a fierce new blueprint: he is officially auditioning a brand-new legion of master musicians to rebuild the studio roster, proving that Godsmack‘s next era is actively being forged in fire.
The sonic onslaught erupted with Surrender, You and I and leading into the precision of “When Legends Rise,” proving Erna’s signature, gravel-gargling mid-range rasps have evolved into a sharper, more venomous vocal weapon. His voice sliced cleanly over Shannon Larkin’s live double-kick battery, cutting through a PA mixed so loud and punchy it left ears ringing in the best way possible.
But the true crown jewel of the night—the absolute “you had to be there” spectacle—arrived mid-set with the legendary, expanded “Batalla de los Tambores.” As the arena lights shifted to an ominous, deep crimson bleed, Sully Erna marched back to a second, fully loaded custom drum kit.7
In a breathtaking feat of engineering, both Erna and Shannon Larkin’s drum risers motorized forward, rotating out over the edge of the stage to lock the two drummers face-to-face. What followed was an unhinged, physics-defying battle of percussive warfare. Operating like two synchronized, high-rpm engines, they traded blistering, blindingly fast blast beats, threw sticks twenty feet into the air without missing a hit, and slammed complex tribal patterns underneath flashing white strobes. Weaving in heavy snippets of classic rock anthems from Metallica and Led Zeppelin, the sheer percussive weight of the dual-drum onslaught sent a massive shockwave of pure adrenaline through the crowd. It was a visceral, arena-rock masterclass that proved Godsmack’s physical endurance and visual theatricality are entirely unmatched in the global rock scene.
The auditory weight of the evening was anchored by bassist Robbie Merrill, who treated his instrument like a blunt weapon, dialing in an incredibly dirty, overdriven low-end crunch that rattled ribs across the entire lawn. Beside him, guitarist Tony Rombola erected an impassable, high-gain guitar gauntlet, dropping jaw-dropping solos with surgical accuracy. Together, they laid down thick, drop-tuned walls of rhythm that gave the classic tracks an undeniable, heavy metal authority.
Visually, the amphitheater was transformed into a dystopian industrial nightmare. High-output smoke machines completely buried the band in a thick, sulfurous fog, transforming their silhouettes into towering figures against a chaotic web of motorized, razor-thin green lasers. During a dark, hypnotic rendition of “Voodoo,” these lasers sliced through the thick mist of light while giant fire-cannons synchronized directly with the song’s heavy, bass-driven groove, illuminating the entire rock quarry.
Instead of a standard fire-and-brimstone metal finale, Godsmack upended all expectations by plunging the sweltering outdoor amphitheater into a chaotic, mid-summer glacial apocalypse. As the opening, concrete-heavy groove of “I Stand Alone” kicked in, the grit of the rhythm section turned the entire venue floor into a giant, churning engine of flying dirt and pure adrenaline. Erna held court from the top of the monitor rigs, a commanding rock figure framed against the canyon walls, orchestrating a stadium-wide roar from thousands of uplifted hands.
Then came the visual knockout punch. A specialized overhead rig suddenly blanketed the front rows and the entire stage under a colossal, wind-whipped downpour of white foam bubbles that perfectly mirrored a raging mountain whiteout. Lit from behind by piercing, cross-cutting white and deep indigo spotlights, the faux-blizzard completely swallowed the band, weaponizing the air space and transforming the jagged, open-air rock quarry into a surreal, frozen war zone. Erna tore through the track completely unfazed, screaming the final choruses with eyes wide open while being entirely pelted by the swirling storm. The raw imagery of a sweat-drenched metal band hammering out their heaviest anthem while trapped inside a simulated alpine vortex was a spectacular, high-concept rock stunt that left the crowd completely speechless as the last wall of guitar feedback faded away.
Godsmack Setlist (May 19, 2026)
1. Surrender
2. You and I
3. When Legends Rise
4. Cryin’ Like a Bitch
5. Straight Out of Line
6. Awake
7. Keep Away
8. Love-Hate-Sex-Pan
9. Voodoo
10. Batalla de los Tambores (Sully & Shannon Dual Drum Battle)
11. Whatever
12. Come Together
13. Under Your Scars
14. Bulletproof
15. I Stand Alone
The Verdict: The Heavy Weight Champions Retain the Crown
Tonight’s Franklin show was a definitive statement of intent. Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots, and Dorothy aren’t leaning on cheap nostalgia or generic rock tropes. Backed by a heavy-metal firing squad of a live production, they are delivering raw, uncompromising aggression. Hard rock has returned to its roots, and these bands are commanding the Tennessee underground with a vengeance.