Sevendust: The sound was generally pretty strong during the festival’s two days, especially for a makeshift outdoor venue, but the unfortunate guys in Sevendust got stuck with a muddy, bass-heavy mix that nearly drowned out the guitars and Lajon Witherspoon’s voice.

Other than that, the performance was as solid as you’d expect from the mainstream metal stalwarts, who’ve been basically pumping out the same album (but a pretty good one) over and over again since 1997, even through the departure and return of original guitarist Clint Lowery. Witherspoon introduced “Crucified,” from 2001’s Animosity, as “a song we used to play at a place called the Huntridge Theater,” marking the weekend’s second onstage reference to the Huntridge, as good a reason as any for the band to break out a dependable tune they hadn’t played in a while.

Three Days Grace: This is one of those bands you might have heard on the radio dozens of times without even realizing it, but the people who pay attention to faceless hard rock bands filled the 48 Hours audience. Which meant a lot of audience participation for popular radio singles like “Home,” “I Hate Everything About You” and “Animal I Have Become,” plus chanted outrage when frontman Adam Gontier claimed that the band had been asked not to play “Riot” (another clearly fake bit of controversy along the lines of yesterday’s much more drawn-out Five Finger Death Punch charade). The band took advantage of the crowd’s enthusiasm to indulge in some rather meandering mid-song breakdowns, and Gontier’s rapping on a verse of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” inserted into the middle of “Home” was a little embarrassing. Manufactured conflict aside, TDG’s live show was as straightforward and unremarkable as its music.

Godsmack: Straightforward is the best way to describe Godsmack as well, and the Boston band’s set was heavy on the hits, without any distractions (“We brought no videos, and we brought no goddamn pyro,” singer Sully Erna declared). Compact riff-rockers like “Awake,” “Whatever” and “I Stand Alone” don’t really sound much different from each other, and newer singles “Love-Hate-Sex-Pain” and “Cryin’ Like a Bitch” fit right into the same mold, making for a cohesive if somewhat repetitive set. The highlight was the duet featuring Erna and drummer Shannon Larkin manning facing drum kits in the center of the stage (with guitarist Tony Rombola and bassist Robbie Merrill backing them up from behind), trading beats and inserting familiar bits from “Back in Black,” “War Pigs” (for which the audience provided impromptu vocals), “Creeping Death” and other rock classics. It may have taken up a big chunk of the hourlong time slot, but it was a nice departure for the otherwise somewhat monotonous festival.

Korn: Despite being the night’s nominal headliners, the metal veterans in Korn barely played longer than Godsmack, leaving the stage after less than 45 minutes to allow for four straight minutes of ambient electronic noise (perhaps a preview of the band’s upcoming dubstep-inspired album?), followed by an encore that included a rote drum solo (especially lame in contrast to Godsmack’s earlier take on the rock-show cliché) and a bunch of singles crammed into a rushed, disjointed medley. That the band has enough popular songs to toss off that many in one lump is a testament to its enduring popularity (new single “Get Up!,” which closed the main set, is already a radio hit), and the audience response to well-known singles “Freak on a Leash,” “Got the Life” and opener “Blind” was strong. The set closed with “Y’all Want a Single,” and judging by their loud chants of the song’s refrain (“Fuck that!”), the 48 Hours crowd clearly did want more, but Korn wasn’t interested in obliging.