Sacramento loves music. With dozens of music venues and one of the largest rock and metal concerts in the nation calling the state capital home, it’s not hard to recognize the city’s adoration for the art form.
However, the city has never been particularly known for producing big names. Only a handful of musicians and bands hailing from Sacramento have found major commercial success. But this year at the Aftershock music festival, two of those bands returned to remind the hometown crowd what Sacramento is capable of.
Oleander, a rock band most popular in the late ’90s and 2000s, and Dance Gavin Dance, a beloved group with a mural immortalizing its name in downtown Sacramento, performed at Aftershock on Sunday.
Oleander performs at Aftershock at Discovery Park in Sacramento on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com Back on the home stage, 10 years later
The last time the Oleander crew looked out onto a crowd of Sacramento fans was more than seven years ago. In September 2018, they played a show at Thunder Valley Casino’s outdoor amphitheater in Lincoln.
That was the band’s final performance before taking a multi-year break from performing, which ended in April when they joined Creed on the Summer of ’99 and Beyond Cruise. According to Oleander’s lead vocalist, Thomas Flowers, the vacation was “100%” needed to bring back a love for touring.
“We just did 1,600 miles in four days in an RV that went 60 miles an hour, and we loved it,” he said. “I’m ready to do some more of that.”
Oleander first played the inaugural Aftershock concert in 2012, when it was a single-day event featuring only 14 bands. Since then, the festival has “quadrupled in size,” said bassist Doug Eldridge.
“It’s amazing,” Flowers said. “It’s a testament to what we have here in Sacramento. You know, they’re single-handedly putting Sacramento a little bit more on the map.”
Thomas Flowers lead singer for band Oleander during rehearsal for a show on Aug. 14, 2010. Oleander has performed on-and-off throughout the nation in the years since, including a festival run in 2026 that concluded with a hometown show at the Aftershock festival in Discovery Park on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. Manny Crisostomo mcrisostomo@sacbee.com
On Sunday, crowds gathered near the Shockwave Stage under unseasonably high temperatures to welcome the group home. It was evident the time off did the band members good, as they were engaged with fans while on stage and seemed to enjoy every note played.
Guitarist Dan Camacho even took time out of his 17th anniversary with his wife to reunite the band at home, but he made sure to wear a muscle tank featuring her likeness on it.
Oleander most recently released a single titled “Fourth of July” during the eponymous holiday. The band said its newest track, “Bruise,” will come out later this month.
“After that, every six to eight weeks, our goal is to put out more music and keep going,” Flowers said.
Oleander performs at Aftershock at Discovery Park in Sacramento on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com Dance Gavin Dance: A return feature
Though the band has expanded from its native Sacramento, Dance Gavin Dance does not forget its origins.
The band last played a Sacramento-area concert just over a year ago, in June 2025, at the Hard Rock Live venue in Wheatland. However, the last time Dance Gavin Dance performed in Sacramento proper was during Aftershock 2023, which marked the third time the band played its hometown festival.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been in actual Sacramento,” said the band’s drummer, Matthew Mingus. “I grew up here in Sacramento, so to play in front of friends and family is special.”
Dance Gavin Dance performs at Aftershock at Discovery Park in Sacramento on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
Though not all of Dance Gavin Dance’s current members have Sacramento roots, the band’s strong tie to the capital region has created some honorary Sacramentans.
“I’ve been with (the band) over a decade, and so I’ve been coming here for 12 years, like constantly. It’s like my second home,” said vocalist Andrew Wells, who is based in Utah. “Out here it’s just a different energy, it’s a different vibe. I love the music scene, I love the culture.”
For its fourth time performing at Aftershock, Dance Gavin Dance helped close out the festival on the Faultline Stage. While headliner Tool performed its atmospheric, powerful metal sound at the main stage, the hometown band kept the party going as fans gave all they had to one last mosh pit.
Fans cheer as Dance Gavin Dance performs at Aftershock at Discovery Park in Sacramento on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com
Before the band even took the stage, crowd members surfed overhead, eventually turning into a traffic jam of horizontal bodies on extended arms. Swirling pools of moshers developed during every song, spurred on by Wells.
“They’re so rowdy, they’re so fun,” he said. “They sing louder, they party harder, it’s just fun. I love Sacramento.”
Dance Gavin Dance plans to release a new album in 2027, Wells said Sunday. To accompany the release, the band will set off on a tour across the country, which of course, will once again make a stop at home.
“We have some of our eldest fans that have been with the band the longest here, so it’s really cool to see,” Mingus said. “We’ve gotten to connect with a lot of them in different ways, you know, out and about. I run into people sometimes in the grocery store. It’s cool.”
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee
.jpg)
The Sacramento Bee
Camila Pedrosa is the California Diversions Reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She previously worked on The Bee’s service journalism team and was a summer reporting intern for The Bee in 2024. She graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s degree in mass communication.