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Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour 2009
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Fiddlers On The Green |
Denver, CO |
07.19.09 |
The second installment of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival rolled its way through the Rocky Mountains on Sunday. This years festival co-headliners featured thrash metal kings Slayer and goth star Marilyn Manson. Other bands on the bill featured All That Remains, Trivium, God Forbid, Cannibal Corpse, Job For A Cowboy, Whitechapel, The Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, Bullet For My Valentine, and Killswitch Engage. From the previous Mayhem Festival with Disturbed and the returning Slipknot, the question for this years Mayhem was, How can they top last years Mayhem? Now that this years Mayhem is over, the question again will be, Who will be on next years Mayhem? Rumors on the internet circulated that Lamb Of God was going to be one the festival headliners this year. Instead they jumped onto the No Fear tour and headlined with bands such as As I Lay Dying and Children Of Bodom.
Other than main stage bands at this years Mayhem Festival, one cant forget about the other heavy metal acts that opened before the main stage ruled the night. Local band Horse was first to appear on the Jagermeister stage. Horse is KBPI afternoon deejay Uncle Nastys band. The first act on the Hot Topic stage was Whitechapel. To follow up Whitechapels thirty minute set was local band Switch Pin. Switch Pin, who was previously on last years Mayhem Festival, was able to get back into action after winning a Battle of the Bands competition. It was the second year in a row they were a part of the festival.
To follow up Switch Pin at the Hot Topic stage was The Black Dahlia Murder. As Black Dahlia was pounding the Hot Topic stage, God Forbid was setting up to bring their heavy metal act from New Jersey to the Rockies at the Jagermeister Stage . As God Forbid performed their set, the Hot Topic stage was rocking at full force with Glendale, Arizonas Job For A Cowboy. As each act performed on one of the two stages, one act set up as the other act played. After Job For A Cowboy performed their set, All That Remains took the stage before a highly anticipating crowd. After getting off midway through their winter North American Tour with In Flames, they took the stage with a huge response from the Denver crowd after not playing Denver since late last year. After All That Remains finished their set on the Hot Topic Stage, black metal band Behemoth took the last opening slot before the headlining band Cannibal Corpse. Soon after Behemoth finished their set, headline act Trivium takes the stage at the Jargermeister. Trivium had just come off an early 2009 tour with big metal band Slipknot of Europe. To end the day, big heavy metal band Cannibal Corpse performed at the Hot Topic stage.
As fans started heading towards main stage to wait for Slayer and Manson to take the stage, the UKs metal band Bullet For My Valentine opened up to bring their British heavy metal sound to the main stage. To follow Bullet For My Valentine was Killswtich Engage.
Just coming off a early European tour and the Music As A Weapon tour with Disturbed in early 2009, Killswitch Engage was ready to rock on the in front of a bigger audience and different types of metal fans. After Killswtich Engage exited the stage to close as the last opening band of the day, fans waited for Slayer to appear and bring their thrash status to Fiddlers Green.
This isnt the first time that Slayer and Manson shared the stage together. In 2007, both acts hit the road in the summer of 2007 and set out to destroy every city they played. Now that they are together again, but on the biggest and hardest tour of the summer, expect a lot of the same from the last time they toured together. Slayer fans would yell at the top of their lungs SLAYER!!! and Manson fans would yell MANSON, incessantly bantering back and forth.
Slayer took the stage and opened up with Disciple off the album God Hates Us All. With stacks of Marshalls in the back and thrash drummer Dave Lombardo in between the amps, he showed up by taking his rightful spot in Slayer with his fast feet and lightning fast drum fills. Slayer went on to play some of their classic material such as South Of Heaven, Angel Of Death, Ghosts Of War, Mandatory Suicide, Raining Blood, Dead Skin Mask and War Ensemble. With the release of Slayers upcoming new album due in September, they have been performing a new track, Psychopathy Red every night .As Slayers set came to end, the promised Raining Blood shook Fiddlers to its foundation and left the crowd wanting more.
As Slayers set came to a close, fans waited eagerly for Marilyn Manson to bring his freak show on stage to shock everyone once again. But it appeared as though Slayer took half of the crowd with them as Manson arrived as the final act of the night which was reminiscent of the previous Mayhem Festival when Disturbed drained the Colorado crowd prior to Slipknot taking center stage as headliner. This year seemed no different, however Manson went on and delivered a spectacular performance, but somehow did not measure up to Slayers performance with non-stop head banging and not a quiet moment anywhere in the set. Manson ended with his mega hit The Beautiful People.
As the show drew to a close and people were headed out of Fiddlers Green, the bantering back and forth among fans taking either Slayer or Mansons side began. With the second installment of the Mayhem Festival this year, it has officially taken the place of Ozzfest, which has not been on tour the last few summers. Mayhem will be the summer metal festival to attend now that Ozzfest is slowing down and doesnt show any sign of returning in 2010. The question this year is, Who will be on next years Mayhem Festival and will it top this or last years festival?
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Review by: Dylan Steiner |
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Photos by: Suzanne Drager & Brandon Marshall |
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