There are checkmark moments you take note of in any band’s growth, but for the first time in his life, Avenged Sevenfold’s Johnny Christ feels he “made it” by fulfilling one professional dream in 2024. That would be headlining and selling out the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil.
Johnny Christ’s 2024 Career Highlight
While speaking on his Drinks With Johnny internet TV show, the bassist took some time to reflect on 2024 as the year starts to wind down. While recounting some of the big things that happened for Avenged Sevenfold in 2024, he made note to mention one specific event that he called “the culmination of everything” for him.
“I think the culmination of everything for this year kind of for me was Rock In Rio 40th anniversary in September, which was unbelievable. It was really cool to reconnect again with Brazilian fans and just to be a part of Rock In Rio,” shared the bassist.
He later explained, “”There’s a lot of times in my career where I’ve been asked, like, ‘When was the time that you felt like you made it over the years?’ And I’ve never had a good answer for it — just never have. There’s been several moments I could say, ‘Oh, that was a big jump.’ ‘Bat Country’ on TRL. I can even go back to ‘Unholy Confessions’ getting played on Headbangers Ball was a huge thing. Metallica taking us out for the first time. Again, there’s just several things that I could point to as big steps in our career, but never at any of those points did I ever just kind of go, like, ‘Oh, I’ve realized my dream,’ until we did Rock In Rio. And I’m being 100 percent honest.”
Why Rock In Rio Meant So Much to Johnny Christ
Like many young musicians, there are certain things that resonate with you that make you want to take that journey. For the bassist, he recalled, “I grew up listening to live albums and live performances from Rock In Rio from some of my favorite bands. Iron Maiden, probably one of the most famous ones of it. But even before you become a musician, that’s something that you’ve heard of and you know about.”
He then adds another big step for the band. “First, years ago, we did main support for Iron Maiden at Rock In Rio, and just to see what that was, my mind was blown, I think. Shit, I must have been 23, 24 years old at the time, and it felt massive. And then to come back and do the 40th anniversary, headline it and sell out our date…”
Johnny Christ’s Experience at the 2024 Rock in Rio Festival
Recalling why the gig stands out so much to him, the bassist offered, “Everything just lined up really oddly for me on that. It’s 40-year anniversary. I was turning 40 that year. I got to meet the guy who created Rock In Rio back in 1984, right before I was born, in September, and got to talk to him about all the different years that he’d been doing it and all the different acts and the different sizes. I mean, back in the ’80s, they didn’t have the regulations that they have now for throwing on concerts. So, they’d have nine million people for the week there — like, 300,000 people a day. And now with all the regulations and scales there, I think sellout’s a hundred thousand. With some extras, it was like 125,000 people there.”
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He added, “Getting to headline the 40th anniversary of such a coveted festival in the world, to sell it out, play in front of that many people, feel the joy and the love that was there, everything about it was just so humbling and so amazing. And even in the moment — I was so happy, we celebrated afterward, we had a great time, and it wasn’t until I got home that I still can answer that question now and say that it was Rock In Rio [was my career highlight].”
Avenged Sevenfold Recap the 2024 Rock in Rio Festival
Why Else Rock in Rio Was So Special for Johnny Christ
Not only was headlining Rock in Rio 2024 the culmination of his lifelong dream, but it also brought forth a lot a memories of the journey to get to that point.
“It was when I watched back our performance. We all got sent the stream … I was able to watch it myself and I had tears of joy, straight up, while I was watching. I never had that before in my life,” said the bassist.
“I’ve watched a lot of our performances before. There was a lot of mixed emotions. I was up here in my room right here watching on my computer screen or my studio screen. I got The Rev stuff here. I think you can see the guitar here and I got my posters and I still keep all my Rev stuff around in this room that I was watching it. So it was a lot of mixed emotions, too, ’cause as much as I’m realizing I’m living my childhood dream and this is insane, I’m missing my best friend still and my older brother, my mentor. A lot of mixed emotions in that, but still overjoy is really what I felt. And humility at the same time of just being, like, ‘Holy shit.’ It was a weird, weird time when I watched that back. I was very emotional.”
“[I had] tears of joy, just knowing that [I was] finally putting myself into that perspective and thinking about when I was a kid, what I imagined being a musician was going to be like. It’s really what I was trying to do. And that experience and so many others, when I’m being honest, have exceeded those expectations so many times over,” he continued.
“To watch Rock In Rio back and see all of my brothers and myself doing what we love to do together in front of so many of our fans and just that energy, that experience, everything, the culmination of it all, I was filled with emotions, man. And I have to admit, I had a big smile on my face with tears running down,” he concluded. “Shoutout to Rock In Rio, man. I mean, they always have an amazing festival every year and [I was] honored and humbled to be a part of that. Absolutely. That was really cool.”
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