THE NEXT BIG SUMMER PACKAGE TOUR: IS IT COOL?
When we announced the Summer Slaughter 2010 line-up last week, Vince wrote the following:
“Summer Slaughter is by far the best metal tour of Summer 2010. Rockstar Mayhem is lame, Ozzsharonfest is surely gonna be lame, and ‘The Cool Tour’ is, uh, not cool at all save a couple of bands.”
At least one reader asked, “What the heck is the Cool Tour?” While rumors of the package trek have been floating around the net for weeks, it was only officially announced at midnight: The Cool Tour seems to be the next of what could reasonably be called “The Ozzfest Second Stage Tours” – basically mid-sized package tours that take the best part of Ozzfest (the second stage – duh) and do away with the rest. And while any tour with that many bands on it is bound to have at least a few you don’t like (this year’s Summer Slaughter being a pretty remarkable exception to that rule), I have to agree with Vince: The Cool Tour does not really seem all that cool.
Of the eight bands here, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about half – As I Lay Dying, Between the Buried and Me, The Acacia Strain and Cancer Bats are all aces in my book. And I was pretty excited about Architect being on the tour, until I realized that Architect are not on the tour – that band Architects is. Underoath are not for me, War of Ages are not for me, and blessthefall have to be one of the worst bands out there right now. (And, by the way, before some smart ass in the comments section says “Oh, you just don’t like the Christian bands,” I’d like to point out that AILD are Christian and I have no problem with them – Underoath, blessthefall, and War of Ages just happen to be religious and bad.) When I was younger and less jaded it might have been entirely feasible that I’d go see a tour where I only like half of the bands; at this point, not so much, especially when those bands have either been touring all year (BTBAM) or are just at the start of their next touring cycle (AILD, TAS) and I’ll have the opportunity to see them again in the not-too-distant future.
(Also, on a side note: this tour needs a better name. Never mind that “The Cool Tour” doesn’t sound very metal; it also doesn’t sound very, well, cool.)
Your turn to to weigh in: is The Cool Tour cool or not? I’m really curious to get everyone’s take on this, as I imagine if it’s successful, it will become another annual summer event. If you are into it, far be it from me to stop you from having a good time; you can get the complete itinerary and ticketing info here.
-AR
