SACRAMENTO — Aftershock’s final day was defined by a trio of bands tapped with replacing original headliner Foo Fighters, who were forced to drop out following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. U.K. alt-rock trio Muse jumped in to take their place. What that set up was a powerhouse combination of three of the most charismatic acts in rock from three distinctly different subgenres. Sunday’s finale was also heavy on female representation, with more bands than ever featuring female musicians.

Muse

The typically aggro-heavy Aftershock lineup wasn’t the most natural place for Muse, but singer-guitarist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard were well prepared for the challenge.

On the road in support of their latest album, Will of the People, Muse left the slow songs at home, pulling out some of the band’s heaviest material from throughout its catalog. The trio emerged in hooded sweatshirts and mirrored masks for the title track to the latest album. A fiery “Will of the People” logo illuminated the backdrop. Bellamy crossed the stage with a powerful stomp as he laid down the riffs of the heavy opener. 

Throughout the set, Bellamy would mix in riffs from other rock songs; AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Slipknot’s “Duality” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” among others.”

From there, the band criss-crossed old and new songs, all tied together by the driving percussive rhythm section behind Bellamy’s riffing. “Hysteria,” “Psycho” and punishing older track, “Stockholm Syndrome,” were early highlights. For the second time ever, the band unleashed “We Are Fucking Fucked,” a track that comes alive even better on stage than on record. Bellamy isn’t much for banter, mixing in only a few brief words along the way.

Tying together many of the songs were extended interludes and jams, with Bellamy, Wolstenholme and Howard locking into intricate and complex pieces. The stage evolved as the show went on, as a large masked figure appeared behind the band with walls of lights surrounding the members on all sides. The figure would slowly change, or move, as the show went on, making the production a little different for each song. 

After the heavy older track “New Born,” the stage illuminated orange for the spooky seasonal anthem, “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween.” On the surface, it was a track that doesn’t seem like it would work, and yet the horror-pop song absolutely thrived on stage, seamlessly fusing electronic grooves and rock riffs for a fun and enjoyable romp.

Bellamy’s musicianship only got more experimental as the set went on, mixing in his signature Kaoss audio effects processor pad on his guitar that changed the tones, and pulling out a synth glove for “Behold, the Glove”—an intro to anthemic hit “Uprising.” The crowd enthusiastically sang back tracks like “Time is Running Out” and “Supermassive Black Hole.” 

The second half of the set was loaded up with hits, ending with U2-esque anthem “Starlight.”

Cylinders of fire shot upward into the sky on the fierce seven-minute hard rock opus “Kill or Be Killed,” the stage turning dark red hues, with strobes shooting in all directions. The track is dramatic and punishing, and really moved with a unique heaviness when the band all came in together. 

Muse closed out the night as it does in the tradition of all its performances, with Wolstenholme blowing into a mouth harp cover of Ennio Morricone’s “Man with a Harmonica” before exploding into urgent galloper “Knights of Cydonia.” After all this time, the song remains one of the highlights of the band’s set, in part because of the relationship between the trio and the audience. The bridge brought it all together before Bellamy launched into the final riff. At this point, the hooded figure at the back of the stage was also holding a lit-up stick of dynamite that served as a pseudo-pyro visual as blinding lights lit up the stage.

Bellamy’s musicianship on the guitar and behind the piano has few rivals. It’s one of the true joys of watching Muse play. Whether it’s the bombastic and heavy tracks, or the more nuanced and melodic ones, his strong vocals carry the day. While it may not have been the act some Aftershock attendees would normally listen to, the band proved it has the chops to stand up with the heaviest bands around.

The Pretty Reckless

Taylor Momsen brought her band The Pretty Reckless back to the Aftershock stage for the second time in the fest’s decade-long history. This time around, their set was a showcase of Momsen’s growth over the years and improved chemistry with her bandmates, who are also formidable musicians. Momsen has always had the voice and the raw talent, and is putting it together into a show that’s both compelling and fun to take in.

“There’s absolutely nothing I’d rather be doing than playing music, doing this right here,” Momsen said late in the band’s hourlong main stage performance. Like many acts during the course of the week, the band was all about picking the “up” songs and leaving the ballads at home. The Pretty Reckless’ set was filled with call-and-response anthems like “Death By Rock and Roll” and “Heaven Knows,” from their most recent album, last year’s Death By Rock and Roll.

“This is the song that started it all,” Momsen said before “Make Me Wanna Die.”

Guitarist Ben Phillips also took center stage multiple times to show off his imposing skills on the frets for extended solos and interludes. The setlist was a relatively even mix of the band’s catalog, taking most songs from Going to Hell, including the title track, which had the crowd singing back those lyrics. Momsen was fierce on stage, attacking the songs with vigor, posing and writhing and interacting with her bandmates at center stage, her smoky voice carrying the grunge-influenced songs.

Momsen strapped on a guitar for “Take Me Down,” which takes on more of a classic rock personality. The extended outro jam gave Momsen the opportunity to show off her chops even more.

Bring Me the Horizon

Muse wasn’t the only prominent U.K. import on Sunday’s bill. Sheffield, England hard rockers Bring Me the Horizon took an interesting twist on its production, using the narrative of an artificial intelligence computer mainframe to tell a story and move its set forward. A digital character appeared on screen, giving instructions to the crowd—some humorous, some meant to start mosh pits or otherwise get a reaction. Sometimes, the screen would introduce the next song or at one point, it showed an “error” with BMTH’s sound going out at the end of a song, forcing the computer to reboot. It was a really fun addition.

Musically, Bring Me The Horizon delivered a performance that was in line with the power and fury that fans have come to expect. The band opened with singalong screamo anthem “Can You Feel My Heart” before moving into anthemic heavy rockers “Happy Song” and “MANTRA.”

“My voice is fucked tonight, so you’re going to need to help me out,” said frontman Oliver Sykes, whose guttural screams still sounded in top form. The band mixed in new cut “Strangers,” along with standbys like “Shadow Moses” and “Drown.”

“This will be the most fun you have all weekend, trust me,” Sykes said as he got the entire crowd to sit down before exploding upward for the final chorus of the group’s closing song, “Throne.”

Shinedown

Much like the band’s recent gig at The Warfield, Florida’s Shinedown brought enough pyrotechnics for a 4th of July spectacular to its set—but on an even grander scale. Vocalist Brent Smith was not only a frontman but performance director. 

Touring in support of its latest album, Planet Zero, Shinedown delivered a set that was exciting, uplifting and (often quite literally) explosive. The massive concussive blasts could be heard throughout the festival grounds as fireworks shot into the sky with some of the largest pyrotechnic displays the fest has ever seen. 

The group emerged in front of a massive purple column illuminated at the back of the stage. After “Devil” and “How Do You Love,” Smith addressed the crowd about emerging from the pandemic.

“Let’s take a moment to remember the ones we lost,” he said. “And let’s do it with empathy and respect.”

That speech preceded a terrific rendition of Shinedown’s latest ballad, “Daylight.” With the slow stuff out of the way, things became heavy again with “Planet Zero” and “Enemies.” The latter included Smith getting the entire crowd to jump along. After the requisite “Second Change,” the band closed with back-to-back explosive performances of “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay, Boom-Lay Boom)” and “The Sound of Madness,” alongside more fireworks.

Maggie Lindemann

Pop-punk upstart Maggie Lindemann provided a spark as one of the first acts of the day on Sunday. Influenced by artists like Avril Lavigne, Paramore and Evanescence, Lindemann brought a youthful energy with a dark edge. Playing tracks from her latest album, SUCKERPUNCH, Lindemann announced that those would be the only songs she’d play moving forward.

“This is the last show I’m going to be playing the songs from my first EP!” she said toward the end of her set. 

Lindemann had a magnetic energy, and her three-member backing band helped move the peppy performance. Lindemann mixed in her collaboration with Sleeping with Sirens’ Kellin Quinn, citing the band as one of her favorites of all time.

“How many people here like Tim Burton? ‘Edward Scissorhands?’ I think you’ll like this one,” Lindemann said before rolling out her Burton-inspired track… “Scissorhands.”

The Warning

Monterrey, Mexico sister trio The Warning may have had the early slot on Aftershock’s main stage, but the band did plenty to draw in festivalgoers with its energetic performance. Guitarist Dany Villareal strapped on a white Gibson Explorer (gifted to her on stage early in the band’s tour by Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale) on harder rocking tracks like “Queen of the Murder Scene.” That would be the only older track mixed into the set, with the remainder coming from the trio’s major label debut, Error.

The group’s time on the road with Halestorm is clearly paying dividends, with an added confidence and strut. The Warning added its cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

“We were so honored to be asked to be a part of the Metallica Black List,” Dany Villareal said.

The band concluded with some of its more dynamic tracks like “DISCIPLE” and “EVOLVE.”

Band Maid

One of the surprising larger draws of the day was Japanese import Band Maid. The band not only takes on the persona of maids, but so do some of its fans. A handful in the crowd wore matching outfits to go along with the band. It was a sight that, without context, could be a little confusing to grasp in the middle of a hard rock festival. The band played a fairly tight afternoon set mixing in just over a half dozen songs, the majority of which came from the group’s new EP, Unleash. Opening with “from now on” and “DOMINATION,” the band proficiently moved through its set.

Donning all black, vocalist Saiki Atsumi was a force on stage, adding impressive vocals to the group’s hard-rock-meets-anime sound. The band closed out with “Play,” “Unleash!!!” and “NO GOD.”

The Interrupters

One of the most surprisingly fun sets came from the ska/rock band The Interrupters. With so many heavy, “serious” bands coming in throughout the four days of the festival, it was a breath of fresh air to come across a band that was the complete opposite. Led by frontwoman Aimee Allen, The Interrupters’ performance was loose, lighthearted and most importantly, fun. Complete with a horn player, the band checked all the ska boxes on songs like “Take Back the Power,” “Title Holder” and “On a Turntable.” Guitarist Kevin Bivona showed off his guitar chops between songs.

“Take that, Muse,” Binova said, laughing.

Along with its own material, The Interrupters played an entirely non-ska, note-for-note cover of Foo Fighters’ “All My Life,” dedicating the performance to Taylor Hawkins. The band then closed out with “Gave You Everything” and “She’s Kerosene.”

Jared James Nichols

It’s been a heckuva week for singer and guitarist Jared James Nichols after he was hit by another driver then briefly held at gunpoint during a tour stop in Oregon. Nichols hurt his back but luckily wasn’t shot. With that incident behind him, he seemed no worse for wear during his Aftershock set. Tapping into Lynyrd-Skynyrd-style Southern rock, Nichols showed off his admirable guitar chops throughout the course of his set. The artist was a commanding presence on the stage, both tall and built like an ox, working the fretboard for plenty of rock and roll licks.

The Alive

Despite some technical hiccups, young Northern California band The Alive powered through to deliver a solid grunge-heavy set in the afternoon. Singer and guitarist Bastian Evans not only had two amps die early in the set, but then he lost his guitar sound entirely. The band improvised for a bit, but once the problem was not quickly fixable, the trio left the stage so the problem could be fixed. After a few minutes, all was corrected, and the band returned to finish up, maybe even being given a little extra time. Props to the band for sticking it out and turning in a solid performance.

This story initially misspelled the names of The Warnings’s Villareal sisters. We regret the error.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.