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Welcome To Rockville: 2026 Headliners and the history of rock’s biggest festival

Paige Bright Student Contributor, University of Central Florida
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Rock and roll lovers of all ages are revving their engines in preparation for one of rock music’s biggest events. The full lineup for the annual rock music festival Welcome To Rockville came out on Tuesday, highlighting all the talent featured on 2026’s bill. 

Welcome To Rockville, a four-day music festival held at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla., features over 150 artists performing across five stages. Rockville is the largest rock festival in North America, drawing in large crowds over the years. Past Rockville lineups have included big names such as Green Day, Slipknot, Pierce The Veil, and many more. Headliners for the 2026 Welcome To Rockville include My Chemical Romance, Bring Me The Horizon, and the recently announced Foo Fighters and Guns N’ Roses. 

@welcometorockville on Instagram

Additional bands playing at the festival include Black Veil Brides, L.S. Dunes, Sleeping with Sirens, and more. A full lineup can be found on the Welcome to Rockville website, along with descriptions of the bands and the days they will be performing. Specific details on set times and which stages each band will be performing on have not yet been released, but in previous years, this information has typically been announced two weeks before the festival begins. 

Several bands performing in 2026 are local to Florida, including Magnolia Park, Not Enough Space, Underoath, and Netherwalker. Other bands featured on the bill include reunions, album anniversaries, and even a 20th anniversary performance by Flyleaf. Some bands are return performers, such as the Foo Fighters, who headlined the festival in 2018, 2022, and 2024. Guns N’ Roses, headlining the 2026 festival on Thursday, previously headlined in 2022. 

Tickets for Rockville are sold on a tiered basis with GA, VIP, and Daytona Owner’s Club tickets available for purchase. A GA single-day ticket is priced at $153 per day, with a four-day GA ticket priced at $425 during the ongoing early bird special. VIP single-day tickets are priced at $249, with four-day VIP tickets priced at $799. Daytona Owner’s Club single-day tickets are priced at $583, with 4-day DOC tickets priced at $2,259. The early bird special prices are limited-time, although an end date has not been announced. 

Each tier of tickets offers access to the festival, while the VIP and DOC tickets include amenities such as separate merch stands, air-conditioned seating areas, and a commemorative VIP lanyard. Guests with any tier of ticket can also add on locker rentals, which allows them to store items overnight if they are attending the festival on multiple days. 

Welcome to Rockville began in 2011, originally being hosted in Jacksonville, where it remained until 2019 before relocating to Daytona Beach. The festival originally ended at 10 p.m. due to noise ordinance regulations until 2013, when the Jacksonville City Council passed legislation waiving the city’s noise ordinance for the festival. 

Decisions to relocate the festival to Daytona Beach were made due to an increase in attendance and the development of the original venue, Metropolitan Park. About 70% of attendees at Rockville are guests from out of state, and numbers have continued to increase each year. The first Rockville, a one-day event, saw an attendance of 8,000 people. The most recent Rockville hosted in May had a record-breaking attendance of 230,000 people. 

Welcome to Rockville 2026 features the festival’s largest line-up of bands and is expected to either match or exceed the previous festival’s audience numbers. While official attendance figures have not yet been confirmed, long-time festival goers and first-time visitors alike are revving their engines and preparing to rock and roll. 

Paige is a writer for the UCF Chapter. She is a sophomore majoring in Print-Digital Journalism with a minor in Digital Media and a certificate in Editing and Publishing. She plans to graduate in 2027. She is hoping to have a career in entertainment writing. She's from Bradenton, Florida and loves to read, visit art museums, travel, and spend time with her friends and her cat!