AVENGED SEVENFOLD's JOHNNY CHRIST Says Headlining ROCK IN RIO Festival This Year Was Highlight Of His Career

During the year-end episode of "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show he has hosted for the last five years, AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ reflected on his band's activities over the course of the last twelve months. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We had a hell of a year, man. It was great. We went a lot of places — a couple of new ones that we haven't been to. Couple of ones that we haven't been to in a long time. We did that whole European tour, which was a lot of fun. Before that we went back to Jakarta for the first time in — I think that was, like, 12 years, something like that, and sold out the stadium, the soccer stadium that we were in. It was amazing to see how much that fanbase had grown still. I mean, it's always been one of our strongest fanbases, to be honest, since we've been there since — I think our first time was 2007, maybe 2006. And it's always been one of those places that is kind of surreal for us, where we go in and… We're pop culture. We're like A-listers there. It's different.

"Hard rock acts here in the States, outside of METALLICA and a couple others, you don't really consider them A-listers, celebrities, where you'd be walking around and people would be, like, 'Oh, shit. I've gotta go say hi to that person.' Well, in Jakarta, that's how it is for us everywhere, what I imagine actors and stuff [experience]," he continued. "We walk around, we get people following us and everything. And it's always been that way there for whatever reason. We love it, and it's pretty amazing. But when you go away from somewhere for that long, you don't know. And we came back and it was even bigger than before. I mean, Zack [guitarist Zacky Vengeance] went to Bali right after for a quick vacation since we were already over there, and he said, even in Bali, everywhere that he went there, our music videos were being played on every TV and everything. And it wasn't just set up for him. [Laughs] Yeah, it's just a different place for us. And I'm super appreciative and super grateful that we have one of those places in the world. Brazil's another one. That's kind of like that for us too.

"We've been very fortunate in that. And it's been really cool to go back this year to some of those places after so long and kind of reconnect and see where the fans have grown and where they've gained some new ones just through the technology of streaming and everything like that. It's really interesting and cool to see.

"And, yeah, that show in Indonesia was great, getting back there," Johnny added. "I love that place. It looked like it's gotten, since 12 years prior, it wasn't quite as Third World-ish as I'd seen previous. I don't know if we were in a different area, but, yeah, it was pretty nice. I heard that they had a government switch of some kind. I don't know much. So it seems like their country in general, Indonesia in general is coming around into a different direction, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, 'cause, like I said, the first few times we went around there, I kind of felt bad, man. Not even kind of — I felt bad. You're driving around and it's amazing for me as a human being to be able to travel that far and do this thing that I love and then you look and you see the poverty on the streets. And it's not like the poverty in America — it's true poverty, families living in the mud literally and stuff like that. It's real bad. But I didn't see much of that this last time I went there, at least the areas that we were in. So that was great. I'm so pumped for that country to start flourishing a little bit.

"And then, yeah, all over Europe was great. Man, that was a really fun time 'cause halfway through, all of us had our families come out. And we were just jetting around and having a good time. All the kids were hanging out backstage, chasing each other and having a great time. We'd go to the Tivoli Circus in Denmark. That was my son's favorite spot.

"So Europe was really fun for that too. It's funny to think of now that we were still coming back from a hiatus for so long, but going out and doing those European festivals was the first time we were seeing some of our old friends that we haven't seen in a long time. Not the ones that I talk to regularly or anything like that, but just the ones that you haven't seen it in a while, but you still love to hang out and say hi to and stuff. And there was a few of those moments in Europe. And doing Download [festival in the United Kingdom] again was great.

"So, yeah, it was just really fun, really cool getting to go out there and do Europe. And then in September, 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."

Johnny said: "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. 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…

"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. 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. Still huge — don't get me wrong — but when you think of that and that chaos that must have been when they were first putting those on. They didn't have the infrastructure for that shit, but he just kind of went for it and I love that. And he's built up this huge thing… And it's a big footprint to have in Brazil. And to see that growth again, it's just so humbling, truly. 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. It was when I watched back our performance. We all got sent the stream. The stream went out to the world, mostly in Brazil or whatever. So after the fact, two days later, 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. 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 [late AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan] 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. And it was exactly what I needed at that time. As I said, [I had] tears of joy, just knowing that… 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.

"I'm so grateful, and at the same time I've never allowed myself to say, like, 'Wow, I'm living out my childhood dream,'" he continued. "But I am. As early as I can remember, knowing what I wanted to do, it's been an entertainer and music, and that's what I do for a living. And that's pretty insane. And not only that — I do it on a certain level that allows me to play Rock In Rio on its 40th anniversary. It also just seemed like the stars were just aligning and all the coins in my life were landing on heads in September. It was really wild, guys. That was the other thing. Watching that show, missing Jimmy, feeling the joy of self-recognition and self-worth and seeing my brothers up there with me and realizing that aspect, too.

"Having the dream to play music and everything is more of a professional dream in a way. It's artistic too and creative — don't get me wrong — but it's more of a professional dream. I never imagined or never even thought differently, I guess, that it would be with my best friends in the world. Like literally the dudes on the stage are the guys that my son calls uncle. And we've been through so much together, we truly are a family. And to see all of us firing on all cylinders. We got a little taste of it at Download festival in London. That was another great performance where I felt like we were just all firing on all cylinders. And 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. And I was texting everybody just saying, 'Wow.' It felt good on stage, but until I watched it back… You don't see everything when I only have this one perspective. So it was super cool. And 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."

As previously reported, AVENGED SEVENFOLD will embark on a European tour in June 2025. The 12-date trek will consist of appearances at some of the continent's biggest rock festivals, including Norway's Tons Of Rock, Czech Republic's Rock For People and Greece's Release.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD launched the 2024 leg of the "Life Is But A Dream…" North American tour on March 6 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The band's 2024 run included AVENGED SEVENFOLD's first-ever performances in Manchester, New Hampshire; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Newark. The group performed in Des Moines, Iowa for the first time in 18 years; Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the first time in 15 years.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has been touring in support of its latest album, "Life Is But A Dream…", which sold 36,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD made its first festival appearance in five years on May 19, 2023 at Welcome To Rockville at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's first concert since June 2018 took place on May 12, 2023 at AREA15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

To date, AVENGED SEVENFOLD has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and earned two consecutive No. 1 albums on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart (2010's "Nightmare" and 2013's "Hail To The King") to go along with over a billion video views and a billion-plus Spotify streams, as well as multiple No. 1 singles on rock radio.