It was a record breaking weekend for one of Louisville’s biggest music festivals — 210,000 people attended Bourbon & Beyond this year. But the fun’s not over yet — festival-goers are now gearing up for the 10th annual Louder Than Life.
With a few days in between to re-charge, we decided to compare the back-to-back festivals — here’s how they stack up against one another.
Bourbon & Beyond
- First year: 2017
- First headliners: Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Steve Miller Band
- First year’s attendance: 50,000
- This year’s headliners: Sting, Dave Matthews Band, Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers
- This year’s attendance: 210,000
Founder Danny Wimmer said in an interview during the inaugural year that he wanted to highlight “the similarity of the handcraftsmanship required to be a master distiller, a great chef, and a performing musician.”
The culinary portion of the festival that year started just as strong as the music with demos by five-time James Beard winner Tom Colicchio and “Top Chef’s” Carla Hall, along with Louisville chef Edward Lee.
Louder Than Life
- First year: 2014
- First headliners: Judas Priest, Korn, Stone Temple Pilots, Limp Bizkit
- First year’s attendance: 36,000
- This year’s headliners: Slipknot, Slayer, Mötley Crüe, Korn
- This year’s attendance: 170,000+ (expected)
Touted as “North America’s loudest rock festival,” the first four Louder Than Life festivals were held in Champions Park. Attendance more than doubled between 2017 and 2019 — from 60,000 to 128,000 — as the festival moved to the Highland Festival Grounds.
Here are some highlights you can look forward to at the 10th Louder Than Life this weekend:
- Disturbed singing alongside local musician Katelyn Webb, who will perform Ann Wilson’s part in the song “Don’t Tell Me.”
- Korn’s return to the headlining stage — they were at the first festival, too.
- Gojira, who performed at the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic Games.
