ROCKSTAR ENERGY MAYHEM TOUR: OH, THE CONFUSION AND DILEMMA
Over the past several days there have been a spate of press releases more or less confirming that the biggest metal tour this summer is going to be the newly corporate controlled christened Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour, whatwith Sharon Osbourne promising a limited run of Ozzfest dates this summer. So far the lineup is shaping up as follows:
- Slipknot and Disturbed will be co-headlining
- Dragonforce and Mastodon will round out the mainstage lineup
- Two sidestages:
- Sevendust, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, and 36 Crazyfists on one.
- Machine Head, Black Tide, Suicide Silence, The Red Chord and Walls of Jericho on the other.
What a mess of conflicting emotions I have about this. I think it’s safe to say that no one who comes to this site gives two shits about Disturbed. I’m not big on Slipknot but I certainly respect what they’ve accomplished and haven’t ever witnessed the spectacle that is their live show, and I know Axl is gonna be psyched about this. Dragonforce and Mastodon: sweet. As for the side stages, there could be some difficult choices to make but hopefully the timing will stack up in such a way that Five Finger Death Suck and Black Tide are playing while other, cooler bands are on the other stage. Machine Head? Seen ’em twice in 2007 but still, sweet. As for Sevendust, say what you will about their past several very mediocre albums, but the band always brings it live, and this is the first package tour of any sort they’ve been a part of since… man, I can’t even remember. Airbourne could be a good time in that AC/DC sort of way, and Axl’s been hyping Suicide Silence so I’ll give ’em a shot. Our boys at Metal Injection love the Red Chord, so I’ll check that out too. Couldn’t care less about Walls of Jericho, except that my friend is in their music video.
On second thought, I guess there isn’t really that much of a dilemma: the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour is the tour to be at this summer, despite a few shitty acts. But when are there ever not any shitty acts?
-VN