SO THOSE RUMORS ABOUT SLAYER & MANSON CO-HEADLINING MAYHEM FEST WERE TRUE…

It was fun to speculate last about with whom Slayer might spend the summer touring, but now we have an official answer: as rumored, they’ll be co-headlining the Rockstar Energey Mayhem Festival with their ’07 tourmates, Marilyn Manson.

Of course, since it’s a fest, those aren’t the only bands playing:

MAIN STAGE:

Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Bullet for My Valentine

SECOND STAGES:

God Forbid
Trivium
Cannibal Corpse
The Black Dahlia Murder
Behemoth
Job for a Cowboy
Whitechapel
All That Remains

(Smart ass readers will note that there’s two separate second stages with two separate corporate sponsors; to which I say, “Who gives a fuck?”)

One of the (many) things I’ve taken shit for in the past is openly admitting I’m a Manson fan (even if the dude does seem to be a total shit head), and I missed the two acts’ fist co-headlining tour, so I really have no problem with them hitting the road together again.

And save for a couple of bands (Bullet for My Valentine… ugh, enough already), I think this is an excellent line-up. God Forbid? Cannibal Corpse? Black Dahlia Murder? All one show? Sounds pretty frickin’ sweet to me.

Here are announced dates:

Jul. 10 – Sacramento, CA
Jul. 11 – San Francisco, CA
Jul. 12 – San Bernardino, CA
Jul. 14 – Seattle, WA
Jul. 17 – Phoenix, AZ
Jul. 18 – Albuquerque, NM
Jul. 19 – Denver, CO
Jul. 21 – Kansas City
Jul. 22 – St. Louis, MO
Jul. 24 – Atlanta, GA
Jul. 25 – Indianapolis, IN
Jul. 26 – Chicago, IL
Jul. 28 – Toronto, ON
Jul. 29 – Scranton, PA
Jul. 31 – Cleveland, OH
Aug. 01 – Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 02 – Detroit, MI
Aug. 04 – Boston, MA
Aug. 06 – Virginia Beach, VA
Aug. 07 – Camden, NJ
Aug. 08 – Hartford, CT
Aug. 09 – Washington, DC
Aug. 11 – Tampa, FL
Aug. 12 – West Palm Beach, FL
Aug. 14 – Dallas, TX
Aug. 15 – Houston, TX
Aug. 16 – San Antonio, TX

On a semi-related note: what does this mean for this year’s Ozzfest? After 2008’s one-off date, it was announced that Sharon Osbourne’s brain child would once again be a full tour this summer. And while there are plenty of good bands who will be (presumably) touring this summer that aren’t on the above bill – Killswitch Engange, Lamb of God, Mastodon and Chimaira, to name but a few of the bigger ones – I  have to wonder if all these tours aren’t just cannibalizing one another. I mean, once you throw in Summer Slaughter (I’m assuming Sounds of the Underground is dead for good) and the fact that a few bands will inevitably (and much to our chagrin) end up on Vans Warped, you have to wonder how many $40 – $80 package fests the kids will really buy tickets to… especially once fans get wise to the fact that most of these bands will inevitably come back around in the fall on cheaper tours that will allow them to play longer sets in more intimate settings. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, though…

-AR