Furnace Fest


Furnace Fest is an American music festival held over three days at the Sloss Furnaces National Historical Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama. It ran annually each August from 2000 to 2003, and ran again from September 2021 to October 2024 when it was thought to be the final run, but in November 2024, Furnace Fest announced it would return in 2025.
The festival was founded in 2000 by Chad Johnson, then-owner of Birmingham-based Christian hardcore record label Takehold Records. Though a great many performers at Furnace Fest were Christian hardcore, metalcore and emo bands, the event itself did not focus on religious beliefs. After Takehold Records was bought-out by Tooth & Nail Records in March 2002, which required Johnson moving to Seattle, Washington, the future of the festival was uncertain. Johnson successfully hosted a third edition in August 2002, and then briefly considered relocating the festival to Seattle. In August 2003, a DVD containing footage of Furnace Fest 2002 was released by 3B Studios.
In 2003, the organization of Furnace Fest was passed on to Shannon Schlappi, then-owner of Independence, Missouri-based hardcore record label Anxiety Records, who successfully organized a fourth edition of the festival at the same location. Schlappi intended to continue the festival in 2004, but due to heavy financial losses incurred from the 2003 event, and the owners of the Sloss Furnaces demanding an increase in rental price for the site, Furnace Fest was put on hold. Schlappi hoped to resume the festival in 2005, but it did not happen.
In mid-2019, Johnson revived Furnace Fest and scheduled the fifth edition to take place from September 18–20, 2020. The official press release of the revived festival, along with news of the first confirmed band to be booked, Beloved, was announced on November 29, 2019. A Nashville, Tennessee-based limited liability company, Furnace Fest LLC, was formed on April 10, 2020, to control the legal interests of the festival. The new corporate structure is a four-way partnership divided between Johnny Grimes, Mike Ziemer, Ryan Luther and Chad Johnson. On June 1, 2020, it was announced that the festival's fifth event had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most bands were automatically re-booked to perform at the rescheduled event, set to take place between May 14–16, 2021. By March 2021, the event had again been rescheduled, this time for September 24–26, 2021. The festival's sixth event took place from September 23–25, 2022. The final event of Furnace Fest was supposed to take place in October 2024 but in November 2024, Furnace Fest announced it would return in 2025. The Chariot is going to play 2026.

Furnace Fest lineups by year

August 11–13, 2000

Notes: Overcome played its farewell show, and Strongarm performed a reunion show, both on Saturday, August 12, 2000. Caption, Pensive and Reach the Sky were also booked but did not perform.

Friday August 11

Notes: Squad Five-O was booked but did not perform.

Thursday August 2

Notes: The third edition of Furnace Fest was originally scheduled for the weekend of August 8–10, 2002, but it was moved up by a week. It was the first year to feature two stages; the Side Stage was sponsored by Century Media and its subsidiary Abacus Recordings. Zao announced that it would be playing its farewell show at Furnace Fest 2002, though the band ultimately decided to reform. Eso-Charis performed a reunion show at the festival. Coheed and Cambria, Meshuggah and Welton were booked but did not perform.

Thursday August 1

Main Stage
Main Stage
Main Stage
Notes: Stretch Arm Strong's album Engage was released at Furnace Fest. Bayside, Evelynn, My Hotel Year, Rifles at Recess, Rogue Nation, Spitafield, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Death Campaign and The Backup Plan were booked but did not perform. Fordirelifesake was booked early on but pulled out due to a scheduling conflict with their Canadian tour.

Friday August 15

Main Stage
Main Stage
Main Stage