The Rockstar Mayhem Tour 2011 - Carrying the Torch of Metal Onward
If you haven't figured it out by now, the summer festivals are a great way to see many bands in just one day. Pick your poison. For the major ones you have Vans Warped Tour, Rockstar Mayhem Tour,Rockstar Uproar Tour and this summer they launched a country tour! We at earplugsrequired.com after spending a week on the Vans Warped Tour, decided to spend a day at the Rockstar Mayhem Tour in Bristow, Va catching sets by those at the top of their game in the genre of metal.
The genre of Metal encompasses so much and here you had it all! This years lineup featured on the main stage Trivium, Megadeth, Godsmack and Disturbed while out on the side stages were Straight Line Stitch, In Flames, Kingdom of Sorrow, Suicide Silence, Unearth, Machine Head, All Shall Perish and Red Fang. This was a swan song of sorts for Disturbed as they had announced that they would be taking a break after this tour.
The two side stages brought some up and coming bands out to those that were there to see their well known favorites as well as seeing some familiar faces like Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and Kirk Windstein of Down out with their other band Kingdom of Sorrow. These festivals give those a chance to see and hear new music in an easy format. Favorite set of mine this day was Suicide Silence. As always they put on a solid set and you should have seen the circle pit that surrounded the soundboard.
The main stage kicked off with Trivium who were days away from releasing their new album In Waves. We caught up with bassist Paulo Gregoletto earlier in the day. Definitely a set I was looking forward to this day and they didn't disapoint. With the remaining three bands for the main stage any of these could have been headlining so how was it decided in order they would play? That's a question I'm not sure we will ever know. Just know that with Megadeth, Godsmack and Disturbed the fans were in for a great night. Have to say though at times the crowd was a bit more entertaining than those on the stage. During Megadeth there was this one guy on the floor that looked more like he belonged at an ICP show dancing along to the music. That being said of course a highlight was during Godsmack's set when frontman Sully Erna was on drums along with drummer Shannon Larkin. Godsmack never really has lows during their  set and in my opinion should have been headlining this tour but I guess the direct support is really the sweet spot in a tour like this as after a long day many leave early and if you are direct support you have most of the crowd still there. Anyhow, the night ended with Disturbed playing basically the same set they had on last summer's Rockstar Uproar tour. A bit of a disappointment as yes it's still the same tour cycle but this was going to be it for Disturbed. Would have loved to have seen something a bit different.
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