Furnace Fest announces lineup for final year and it's STACKED

Photo byFurnace Fest | Facebook

Alabama hardcore festival Furnace Fest announced it's full lineup for what it is calling "The End of an Era," aka the final year of Furance Fest as we know it. Over the past few months, band announcements have been coming out periodically, 1-4 at a time, with Wednesday being the HUGE drop that everyone has been waiting for. Headlined this year by August Burns Red, Coheed and Cambria, and Underoath, this year's lineup looks to be one that covers the entire history of the festival. From bands that harken back to the original FF run of 00-04 like Stretch Arm Strong (the quintessential "Furnace Fest band) to modern FF alumni like Dying Wish, this year is one that will surely go down as "to be remembered."

Quick History of Furnace Fest (for those who don't know)

Chad Johnson, the then-owner of Birmingham's Christian hardcore record label Takehold Records, created Furnace Fest in 2000. Though many of the performers at Furnace Fest were Christian hardcore, metalcore, and emo bands (including the majority of the bands signed to the aforementioned label), the festival itself was not religiously themed. After Takehold Records was acquired by Tooth & Nail Records in March 2002, forcing Johnson to relocate to Seattle, Washington, the festival's future was dubious. Johnson successfully held a third edition in August 2002, and he briefly explored moving the festival to Seattle.

Shannon Schlappi, then-owner of Independence, Missouri-based hardcore record label Anxiety Records, took over the organization of Furnace Fest in 2003, and the event was successfully held at the same venue for the fourth consecutive year. Schlappi planned to continue the festival in 2004, but due to significant financial losses from the 2003 event and the proprietors of the Sloss Furnaces seeking an increase in rental rates for the site, Furnace Fest was postponed. Schlappi wanted to relaunch the festival in 2005, but that did not materialize.

Fast forward to 2019, and Johnson revived Furnace Fest and scheduled the fifth edition to take place from September 18–20, 2020. In November of that year, the official press announcement for the relaunched festival was sent, along with information about the first confirmed band to be booked, Beloved. Furnace Fest LLC, a Nashville, Tennessee-based limited liability company, was founded on April 10, 2020, to manage the festival's legal interests. The new corporate structure is a four-way partnership between Johnny Grimes (located in Birmingham), Mike Ziemer (based in Dallas, Texas), Ryan Luther, and Chad Johnson (all based in Nashville, Tennessee). On June 1, 2020, it was revealed that the festival's fifth edition had been postponed owing to the COVID-19 epidemic, and most acts were automatically rebooked to perform at the rescheduled event, which took place Sep 24, 2021 – Sun, Sep 26, 2021. Since then Furnace Fest has continued to be one of the premiere music festivals in the United States.

Are you going to Furnace Fest this year? Are you sad to see Furnace Fest ending? What are some memories you have of the festival if you have attended in the past? Sound off in the comments!

For more information on Furance Fest, including tickets, directions and hotel recommendations, please visit https://www.furnacefest.us