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Rockstar Mayhem 2008
| August 17th, 2008 @ Nissan Pavilion |
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by Courtney Campbell
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What do you get when you combine three stages, fourteen hard rocking bands, Rockstar Energy drink and Jagermeister? Nope, not a three day hangover! You get the Rockstar Mayhem Tour, yet another successful tour assembled by Kevin Lyman and John Reese. In its inaugural edition it featured Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce and Mastodon on the main stage while bands such as Machinehead, Underoath, Five Finger Death Punch, Walls of Jericho and others tore it up on the two side stages.
With Ozzfest having been scaled down to just one day in the United States this year and located in Texas, for those that were into heavy music, the Mayhem Tour was the place to be. The day kicked off around 2pm with the side stages alternating back and forth.The Hot Topic Stage featured The Red Chord, 36 Crazyfists, Suicide Silence, The Black Tide and Underoath while the Jagermeister stage kicked off with a local band, Stuck in Kaos followed by Airbourne, Walls of Jericho, Five Finger Death Punch and Machinehead. While there really wasn't one moment that stuck out more than others during these bands, they all were enjoyed by the crowd and put on solid sets. Well, Machinehead did have to shorten their set when their guitarist Phil Demmel passing out on stage in the middle of it.
The side stages were just the precursor for what was to come. Dragonforce was technically the first off the mainstage acts although Mastodon played before them. Mastodon played when the lawn area was opened but most of the crowd was still out at the side stages. A little snafu was Dragonforce went on early! It was a mad rush to get to them as we heard them start while still on the way to the covered ampetheatre. Now Dragonforce has a large following and as far as technical musicians, they are right up there but for this crowd with their long instrumental sections and drawn out songs, they lost many in the crowd. It wasn't the fist pumping hard music that most had moshed to up until this point nor what they were to be exposed to soon afterwards. It was like an intermission.
You could feel the charge in the area with the anticipation of Disturbed. With a new album coming out, Disturbed was ready to show what they could do. This is a band that always gives a solid performance while adding a bit of theatrics to their set. Tonight was to be no different as frontman David Draiman was escorted out onto the stage in a straight jacket and a mask like Hannibal Lector. Of course with a band like Disturbed, the theatrics didn't do anything to take away from the music; this was just a way to entice the crowd more. This could have been the pinacle of the day but no, there was one more band to go on stage.
Slipknot not only closed out the night, they owned the night.. Debuting their new masks on this tour and a new album to come out at the end of the tour, Slipknot tore through a set that encompased their career. While most bands with a new album coming out like to preview the new tracks to fans, tonight Slipknot only played "Psychosocial" from the new album and in a twist that fans came away shocked from, they did not play "Wait & Bleed". Having seen Slipknot 10 years ago in Iowa, here was a more mature, more polished band but that's not saying that they have sold out.
All in all, this was the way a festival was supposed to be, focused on the music. Our kudos to all the bands and to Kevin Lyman and John Reese for another successful tour! Can't wait for next year!
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