GIGANTOUR IS RETURNING: IS THAT A GOOD THING?

The Metalnets are aflutter with today’s news that Megadeth’s Gigantour will return for a fourth run in the summer of 2012 following three years of lying dormant. The travelling festival will feature only one stage (as it did in 2008), as opposed to the two-stage format of the 2005 and 2006 editions. The return of Gigantour after a three year hiatus begs the question: do we really need this?

First of all, the idea of dubbing Gigantour a “festival” if it only has one stage seems kind of misleading to me. The 2008 lineup only consisted of five bands; how exactly does that qualify as a “festival” and how is it any different from any ordinary Megadeth headline run? To me a “festival” consists of a minimum of two stages, or at the very least an all-day format with a stacked lineup of bands, ala Summer Slaughter. Something bigger and better than your average bear’s tour, one way or the other.

More importantly than semantics, I think Dave Mustaine and co. should ask themselves whether there’s really a market for another big package tour at this point. With Rockstar Mayhem, Warped, Summer Slaughter, Slaughter Survivors, The All Star Tour and all the regular package tours that inevitably go out every summer, the tour’s organizers should be legitimately worried whether the market can bear yet another big summer package. But with three bands already confirmed, I suppose that the deciding factor will ultimately be the lineup; if the bands are good the people will pay. For my buck I’m not really sure I need to see Megadeth yet again… so it’ll come down to who else is on the bill.

-VN