Aftershock brings 140-plus artists to Sacramento with MCR and Pierce the Veil

Aftershock returns to Discovery Park in Sacramento for a four-day run from Oct. 1-4. More than 140 artists are booked across five stages, with My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Limp Bizkit and Tool topping the bill.

The daily breakdown shows how widely the festival casts its net. Thursday opens with Mayday Parade, the Starting Line, the Used, Free Throw, the Offspring and the Pretty Reckless. Friday features Drain, Haywire, Alexisonfire, Vianova, Underoath, Public Enemy, Senses Fail and Atreyu. Saturday stacks Sleeping With Sirens, the Story So Far, La Dispute, the Wonder Years, Counterparts, A Day to Remember, Thursday and a newly reunited Circa Survive. Sunday closes with AFI, Queens of the Stone Age, From First to Last — now fronted by Lil Lotus — plus Sleep Theory, Jutes, Holywater and President.

Among the sets flagged as essential by Alternative Press is AFI, whose three-decade catalog stretches from the atmospheric Sing the Sorrow to the colder Bodies, anchored by Davey Havok's vocals. Drain bring Bay Area hardcore filtered through SoCal thrash, with live shows that double as beach parties: shark costumes, inflatables, circle pits and the band's Kewpie mascot riding a boogie board over the crowd, drawing from last year's …Is Your Friend.

Frank Iero works twice at the festival, appearing with My Chemical Romance and with post-hardcore outfit L.S. Dunes, the band he shares with Anthony Green, Travis Stever, Tim Payne and Tucker Rule, backed by Violet and Permanent Rebellion. Stever also pulls double duty with Coheed and Cambria, whose sci-fi saga comes with Claudio Sanchez's showmanship and an inflatable villain during "Blind Side Sonny."

Hot Mulligan round out the picks, with material from you'll be fine and Why Would I Watch built for mass shout-alongs.