Sully Erna’s Heartfelt Message After Godsmack’s Pol’and’Rock Show

Final Thursday (July 30), Godsmack headlined the thirty second annual Pol’and’Rock Competition in Czaplinek, Poland. In response to vocalist Sully Erna, their set was considered by 700,000 individuals, and in commemoration of that accomplishment, Erna shared a heartfelt video message thanking all concerned for serving to them obtain the milestone.

Sully Erna’s Message About Pol’and’Rock Competition

Erna posted the video to his private Fb and Instagram pages on July 31, starting:

“Hell, web individuals. I needed to cease by and offer you guys just a little little bit of an replace of what’s been taking place. . . . I needed to inform you about this present that we did final night time.”

He defined:

Though all of Europe has been actually lighting up for us, and we’re so comfortable about that as a result of we have been doing loads of labor out right here, and they’re exhibiting up by the hundreds in each nation, and all these international locations have been nice. Athens, Serbia, Bulgaria. [It’s been] top-notch all over the place we have performed. However final night time, we did a present in Poland – on the Pol’and’Rock fest – and we headlined this pageant that drew 700,000 individuals. That is an actual fucking quantity. You possibly can look it up. And, yeah, so fairly surreal. Not even certain it even occurred, but it surely did, and I simply gotta say, “Holy fucking shit.” I’ve by no means seen something like that in my life. . . . Madness.

From there, Erna mirrored on what he felt was “essentially the most heartfelt half” of the occasion:

I used to be chatting with the promoter and the proprietor of the pageant, [and] he was telling me how this entire factor began. He visited some youngsters’s hospitals, and these children have been on the ground. They did not even have furnishings, and he sort of obtained along with all people, and he simply mentioned, “You understand what? As a group, we will not permit this to occur. It isn’t who we’re as individuals. It isn’t who we’re as a rustic.” And he began reaching out to all these sponsorships.

So, this whole pageant yearly that pulls greater than half 1,000,000 individuals is totally free to the followers, and 100% of the proceeds above that goes to all the youngsters’s hospitals. I do not know if it will get any extra honorable than that for me.

Lastly, Erna concluded:

So, I simply wanna say props to the Pol’and’Rock fest and Jurek [Owsiak, festival founder] for doing such a tremendous job. It is a top-notch pageant, and I couldn’t imagine how huge this was. It was two and a half miles deep – the viewers – and I am solely saying this as a result of I’ve by no means fucking seen something like that in my life, and I am fairly certain I by no means will once more in my profession.

So, I hope this units a typical to the opposite promoters on the market and helps educate them how this does not at all times should be about cash and large revenue. Generally, it is concerning the communities getting collectively, doing the correct factor and sharing this stunning present of music that we have now to share with all these individuals. Whenever you do it proper, they present up within the a whole lot of hundreds. Even Woodstock again in ’99 was 200 and fifty thousand individuals. I believed that was gonna be the most important crowd we ever performed in entrance of — till final night time.

You possibly can see Erna’s put up beneath:

Clearly, Godsmack weren’t the one act to profit from the massive turnout, both, as Dropkick Murphys, Orbit Tradition, Vended, P.O.D. and plenty of different acts performed the multiday pageant (which ran from July 29 to August 1).

READ MORE: Ex-Godsmack Drummer Shannon Larkin Shares Video Response After Nikki Sixx Calls Him Out

What Did Godsmack Play at Pol’and’Rock Competition

As for what Godsmack performed at Pol’and’Rock Competition, they understandably targeted totally on their singles (“I Stand Alone,” “When Legends Rise,” “Awake,” “No matter”). Within the course of, they spanned their whole LP catalog, starting from 1997’s All Wound Up… to 2023’s Lighting Up the Sky.

You possibly can see Godsmack’s full setlist – in addition to KręciołaTV’s professionally shot footage of them doing “Awake” – beneath:

Godsmack’s Pol’and’Rock Competition Setlist – July 30, 2026 (Czaplinek, Poland)

1. “When Legends Rise”
2. “You and I”
3. “Cryin’ Like a Bitch!!”
4. “Straight Out of Line”
5. “Awake”
6. “Preserve Away”
7. “Batalla de los Tambores” (with snippets of “Again in Black”, “Stroll This Approach”, “Enter Sandman” and “Tom Sawyer”)
8. “No matter”
9. “Give up”
10. “Beneath Your Scars”
11. “I Stand Alone” [via setlist.fm]

Godsmack, “Awake” (Pol’and’Rock Competition 2026)

Different Godsmack Information

Again in June, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx referred to as former Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin a “hater” after Larkin posted a video to YouTube during which he “name-dropped Sixx and alleged that Motley Crue play to a click-track throughout their stay performances” (as Loudwire beforehand wrote). For context, Larkin’s video targeted on him addressing criticisms relating to his alternative – ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini – and clarifying that Godsmack don’t use click on tracks throughout concert events.

Particularly, Sixx wrote:

Who’s this Shannon Larkin hater?

It’s humorous how so many B- and C-level bands appear to spend extra time speaking about us than writing songs individuals really bear in mind. Perhaps it’s jealousy, perhaps it’s insecurity, perhaps ticket gross sales are just a little gradual. Both method, borrowing another person’s highlight has by no means been a lot of a long-term profession technique.

I genuinely really feel for musicians who by no means found out that the very best publicity is writing nice songs—time and again, decade after decade for followers not critics.

It jogs my memory of the countless bimbo podcast crowd that builds an viewers by speaking about everybody else as a substitute of making one thing price speaking about.

Anyway, perhaps he’s must take a nap earlier than he does extra press.

Shortly thereafter, Larkin apologized to Sixx throughout a 55-minute Fb Dwell stream.

“I put my two cents in after which the place I tousled and began this fuckin’ drama is I used Nikki Sixx for example of somebody that I’ve seen singing at a mic after which strolling away from it and his vocals have been nonetheless going or no matter,” Larkin acknowledged (as transcribed by Loudwire).

He continued:

I referred to as him out I assume, but it surely was taken out of context. . . . I am apologizing for utilizing you for example. I used to be not doing that to assault you. I had your first report [‘Too Fast for Love‘] on Leathur Information. I’ve nothing however respect for you, you are a legend and also you deserve all of the accolades that you’ve got gotten. . . . I do not like beefs, I do not like that L.A. fuckin’ like the way you guys all hate one another and shit. Beefs suck, I do not wanna be in a beef and I did not do that for fuckin’ publicity, I do not give a fuck. I walked away from this shit. . . . A few of my greatest pals are in bands which can be fuckin’ rock stars proper now, headlining levels they usually’re operating tracks. And I do not give a fuck, I do not say something about in public. I simply — I should not have used you for example and I am sorry.

Did you see Godsmack at this 12 months’s Pol’and’Rock Competition? How do you are feeling about Erna’s message? Tell us!