Saturday was as much of a blast and a half as Friday was. The lineup was killer, the attendees were friendly, and the amount of times I failed at Pac-Man were plentiful.

Personal favorite moments of Saturday would include:

- Seeing Lutharo again. Singer Krista Shipperbottom has such a unique voice - smoothly transitioning between clean and scream with such ease, it’s like flipping a vocal light switch that surprises me every time.

- Striker! Due to a series of unfortunate events, they had to leave the 2024 November-December tour with Seven Kingdoms before they made it to Detroit for that spot. Striker is one of the bands I listen to when I need motivation to get up and move, maybe try jazzercise. What I mean is they getcha pumped up and ready to take the day by the horns.

And shoutout to the guitarist John Simon Fallon, who rocked so hard that they got injured but just kept truckin’ along.

- Mini photoshoot session with Druid Nocturna and Mike! I’ll post some of those here, as well as some crowd shots and candids from the weekend.

This was my first time at Mad With Power and I realize I didn’t mention this in the Friday review page, but you know what else is so appreciated about this Festival? There’s a dinner break. Three bands in and then they have an hour break built into the schedule where not only do you get a chance to eat, but also get a moment to enjoy the free arcade games without a missing any bands play, and catching up with your friends/metal family.

At the end of Saturday the fate of future Mad With Powers was uncertain. But in the afternoon of Thursday June 12th they announced that Mad With Power 9 will be June 5th & 6th 2026! I am excited to see which bands they have on the lineup for next year, and I’ve already got that weekend blocked off!

Just like for Friday night I’ve challenged myself to do a one word description/review for each band based off of their set. They’ll be above their photo sets here in the italics.

Enough words - it’s picture time!