The Bar

Let me begin by saying that this festival was fucking awesome. It had its ups and downs, it was very hot and the stale stench of sweaty assholes and arm-pitts filled the air. We were surrounded by metalheads getting geared up to see their favorite bands, and everyone was partying and having a good time.

Me and Monkey split up to cover more ground and of course we both wanted to see different bands at the same time so we really got a feel for every set. The Nissan Pavilion is always cool and I enjoy seeing shows there, I like the set up a lot. My only bitch is that other than the music and the band tents, and the Metal Militia Bike show (that was the shit) there wasn’t much to do other than buy merch. It seems like Ozzfest has more for a festival than Rockstar Mayhem, but it was the first annual tour so I’m sure it will get better and pick things up along the way.-Wendell

The day kind of got off to a rocky start as even though we made terrific time getting to the venue our press passes hadn’t been delivered to the office yet and my contact person wouldn’t get off the phone long enough for me to sort to mess out. So instead of waiting around outside and potentially missing some bands we said fuck it and went in determined to have a blast anyway. However due to said circumstances you won’t see any pictures.

As for as the festival, I’m torn. On one hand I kind of agree that there wasn’t as much going on here as some other festivals but on the other hand it was very well put together and flowed seamlessly once the bands started. As opposed to a fest like Ozzfest which typically becomes a big clusterfuck and you end up sitting around waiting for someone to play a lot of the time, this festival has almost no downtime as both side stages constantly had a band playing on one of the stages. The second one band stopped another started on the other stage, and the stages were right beside each other which made it damn convenient.

For the stages themselves, the Hot Topic stage has awesome sound. The Jagermeister stage was a bit lacking on the sound system though as really the only bands that sounded loud enough were Airbourne and Machine Head. As for Main Stage the sound as usual was a little lacking for the two openers but was really on point for the festival headliners.-Dr. Monkey

The Hot Topics Stage

Black Tide

This was the band I came to see (other than Disturbed) and I was really pissed when they didn’t play on time, they were supposed to open the show but for some reason they were delayed and came on mad late and I missed the first few songs, including from what I heard a pretty sweet Iron Maiden cover. What I did catch from them was the shit they sounded great live and ended with a great song from their new up coming album. I wish I could of seen the whole set though, I love this band and can’t wait to see them again, maybe next time I won’t miss the beginning.- Wendell

As Wendell stated this band didn’t open the show as advertised (never found out why) and thus it kind of screwed things up for me pretty bad since I ended up having to leave in the middle of their set to make it to the main stage in time to see Mastodon. Still the guys sounded even better live than on c.d. and really killed the tracks they did play, especially the single Shockwave. These guys really deserve their props as the entire band is under 20 with the singer being only 15-16. Funny enough the singer’s voice has literally changed since the album was recorded thus making the songs sound even better now. Still bummed I only caught 2 1/2 songs by them but they slayed what I heard and have a bright future ahead of them. Good to see kids their age appreciated true metal and good old fashioned hard rock.Dr. Monkey

Set List (In no particular order)

(Forget the opener)
Shockwave
Iron Maiden Cover (I was too far away to hear what song it was but I heard them announce they were doing one as I walked away)

The Red Chord

I wasn’t too impressed with the Red Chord, I thought they were goofy and I couldn’t understand anything that dude singing was saying. What I did like about their performance was all the crazy shit they talked. -Wendell

I actually loved the Red Chord but understand that you really need to be familiar with their material beforehand as they don’t strike me as the type of band that are going to win people over based on live performance alone. They opened the show and had one of the most violent performances of the day surprisingly enough. Guy making fun of crowds that will cheer anything especially if you say fuck in front of it was gold. “Let me hear a turd burger chant.” “Did you have breakfast this morning?” “I said did you have fucking breakfast this morning?” Though there was some comment about fucking a ladder that went over my head. Was weird seeing them close with Antman over Dreaming in Dog Years. Overall a great performance if you dig the band, also got a much bigger reaction than I expected. Dr. Monkey

Set List (In no particular order)

Dread Prevailed
It Runs in the Family
Fixation on Plastics
Black Santa
Dreaming in Dog Years
Antman (Closer)
(a couple more songs off Prey for Eyes)

36 Crazy Fists

This band sucks, the only thing they had going for them was they were loud that was it. -Wendell

I agree with Wendell, I try to give everybody a chance live and these guys just suck. If you were a fan I’m sure you had a blast as they sound just like on c.d. and have tons of energy but are just way too whiny for me.Dr. Monkey

Set List

We Gave it Hell
(No Clue what else as I only know a few songs by name)

Suicide Silence

I didn’t get a chance to see them live, I heard them while I was watching The Metal Militia bike show and I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. -Wendell

Better than I expected live but still just come off as a lighter version of The Black Dahlia Murder, plus the pig squeals (BREES as some call them) get annoying if you overuse them. Still I enjoyed them a decent amount but couldn’t see going out of my way just to see them. Not sure what to make of the singer flapping his arms like a bat during their set. Plus somebody give the singer something to eat before he dies. I’ll give them props for the Family Guy sound byte though. Ended up leaving before their set was finished but over time their material gets repetitive anyway so I’m sure I didn’t miss too much.-Dr.Monkey

Set List (as best as I can remember and in no order)

Unanswered (Opener)
The Price of Beauty
Girl of Glass
Hands of a Killer
(a track off the E.P. that I’m not sure of)
Not sure the rest of the set

Underoath

I had no desire to see these guys. -Wendell

The best part about these guys playing was all the scenesters left after them. Good energy but horrid music. -Dr. Monkey

The Jagermiester Stage

The Jager Band: Stuck In Chaos
These guys won some kinda battle of the bands to get their spot on the festival. They are just an un-signed band out of Martinsburg W.V. but they where pretty fucking awesome. They had a great sound and put on a good show. This was a great opportunity for them and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from them in the near future. -Wendell

I’d agree with you Wendell if it weren’t for two main things: First the style of music died in about 1998, secondly they sounded like shit. I mean they were actually laughably bad as me and my wife literally were laughing at them. -Dr.Monkey

Airbourne

I wanted to see this band some kinda bad, and I was not disappointed at all. From the first note of the first song, Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast the crowd exploded, the mosh pit kicked off and crowd surfers began surfing from all directions. I didn’t expect the crowds reaction to Airbourne, mainly because they where one of the few Rock bands that where there, but it was pretty intense. I even got to punch someone in the mouth causing them to bleed all over Comedian Kevin Dodd who attended the show with us.

As far as the performance, they were really loud and on point, they sounded great, almost identical to their CD. They also done a great job pumping the crowd up and talking shit. My favorite song performances where Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast, Black Jack, & Runnin Wild which they closed with. If you ever get a chance to see Airbourn live, do it, I had a great time. -Wendell

Not a fan of them really (rather listen to AC/DC and hear the real thing) but I’ll give credit where credit is due, they really put on a good show. Like Wendell said the reaction was sick, I mean how people were straight up moshing to this band is beyond me. Outside of Machine Head they also had the best sound on this stage too it seems. I’d see them again live but couldn’t see buying an album.-Dr. Monkey

Walls of Jericho

Unfortunately much as I’ve already stated the sound wasn’t that great for this stage, almost every band suffered from music that wasn’t loud enough which really hurt the performance. Candace is a great front woman though like the band or not and her energy alone gets the crowd pumped and she was genuinely having a blast and you could see it in her face that had a smile the whole set. The highlights included Candace getting a ton of people to crowd surf to the front to get free shirts and them pulling out “All Hail the Dead.” Good job but not as good as it should have been nor as good as last time I saw them.-Dr. Monkey

Set List (In no order)

The New Ministry
A Trigger Full of Promises
The American Dream
The Prey
All Hail the Dead
(Missed the closer)

Five Finger Death Punch

The knuckles heads where all really pumped up by the time FFDP played, and the crowd went hay wire. They kicked off with my favorite track Ashes and Ivan Moody had a sweet FFDP chant going that really got the crowd riled up to the point where the crowd surfers stayed on our heads throughout the whole performance. They had the most surfing I seen that day and it got pretty violent in the pit, I seen people getting carried out left and right. I expected them to be awesome live but I had no idea how pumped the crowd would get.

They played all of their best songs, and were really cool cats. They sounded really good too, but I think they were having some technical difficulties because they didn’t sound as loud as they should of. The vocals where fine but the guitars should of been louder. None the less it was an awesome show and I would love to see them headline a tour. -Wendell

This was the only band that I didn’t hear even one song from and I was pretty bummed about it as they were one of the main bands I wanted to see but a scheduling conflict had them playing while I was watching Mastodon. I’ll be sure to catch them next time though. -Dr. Monkey

Machine Head

These guys really stole the show and were not only the best side stage band but one of the best performances of the day period. Stage was packed for them and the reaction was intense from the insane amount of moshing (easily the biggest pits of the day) to the loudness of the crowd as they sang along. Only two pet peaves would be the lack of old material as well as the lack of Aesthetics of Hate and the shortness of their set (not talking about the tragedy but I’ll get to that) as 35 minutes really isn’t enough time for a band that has songs over 10 minutes. Though a longer set wouldn’t have mattered at this particular stop as on their next to last song “Halo” guitarist Phil Demmel collapsed from dehydration and the set had to be stopped as medics attended to him. I was right at the stage when it happened and the fall looked brutal (he’s a pretty big dude) but good to hear he’s doing fine. Still a bad ass performance, minus the less than diverse set list.-Dr. Monkey

Set List

Clenching the Fists of Dissent
Imperium
Now I Lay Thee Down (memory is a bit foggy on this one by I’m pretty sure they played it)
Halo

The Main Stage

Mastodon

Despite the shittyness of them being on mainstage (I’m happy for them it just sucks because the openers for main stage always have less than stellar sound) the band really put on a tremendous performance. Still this is a band that really would have thrived from being on the side stage but hey at least they are getting bigger and bigger. I was actually surprised by Mastodon truth be told even though I’m a huge Mastodon fan. They had a few strikes against them as they opened main stage which is never a good thing in terms of sound quality as you are usually the band they use trial and error on to get the sound system right. They also were playing during the day with most of the people there to see them on the lawn which meant no video wall which meant they weren’t the easiest band to see. Still the impressed the hell out of me and rocked through their set. Only issues were their set list (which it seems almost every band suffered from) that needed some more old tunes and the fact that they had zero interaction with the crowd. I understand they were trying to make the most of the amount of time they played but they literally sad nothing. As each song ended they would stretch the riff and turn it into the following song.-Dr.Monkey

Set List (From What I remember)

The Wolf is Loose
Crystal Skull
Capilarian Crest
Circle Cysquatch
Colony of Birchmen (awesome song and even more awesome live)
Aqua Dementia
Iron Tusk
March of the Fire Ants

Dragon Force

I am not a Dragon Force fan at all the only song I like from them is Through the fire and the flames and that is only because of guitar heroes. In fact the only reason I watched them perform was because I wanted to secure a nice spot on the lawn to watch Disturbed. To me they didn’t fit in with any of the other bands playing and I don’t know why they were there. They sounded o.k. live but nothing to brag about.-Wendell

Not liking the handful of songs I’ve heard by them and hearing they aren’t that great live even if you are a fan me and the wife decided it’d be a good time to grab some food. Heard them from the distance, sounded ok if you were a fan but as Wendell said nothing to brag about.-Dr. Monkey

Disturbed

In my opinion Disturbed stole the show and put on the best performance of the day. They played all of their hits and caused the entire lawn to go nuts. They sounded so clear and very loud, I have seen them twice now and have yet to be disappointed with their live shows. The mosh pit was pretty violent as well, even a guy in a wheel chair moshed away to Indestructible, I thought that was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed hearing Criminal live being as that is my favorite track on their latest album. I also enjoyed the little joke they played on us during Down With The Sickness, when the lights went out after the first riff, then Draimen hit the OOOOWAAAKKKAAHHHKKAAHH. The entire place went crazy.

I also thought it was cool when in between songs Draimen brought a 9 year old girl from the front row on stage and talked to her, he told her to use ear muffs during the cuss words I bet she had the best time out of everyone there. Like I said from what I seen, Disturbed put on the best show, even their stage set up was awesome, it always helps when I see a band at night, I really enjoy the lights and pyro’s and you just can’t get that same feel during the day. that adds to the experience to me.

Every song they played sounded as if you had the CD playing it was that clear, Disturbed is by far one the best bands I have seen play live and I cannot wait to see them again. From beginning to end their set was the best. -Wendell

I agree with Wendell, say what you will about the band but they really stole they day putting on the best performance (Machine Head needed a better set list or that honor would have been theirs) of the day. Much like Wendell this was also my second time seeing them and regardless of how much I like to make fun of David Draiman his band has never failed to disappoint in a live atmosphere. Another thing that helped them is they had a very strong set list.-Dr. Monkey

Set List (I’m sure I’ll miss something)

Liberate
Prayer
Indestructible
Inside the Fire
Deceiver
Criminal
Voices
The Game
Stupify
Down With the Sickness
(Know I’m missing 3-4 songs)

SlipKnot

I enjoyed seeing SlipKnot again, but was a little disappointed in their set list the only songs they played that I enjoyed was People=Shit, Before I Forget & Pychosocial. They sounded awesome, and I liked the show but I was wanting to hear more of my favorites. -Wendell

Slipknot was good but this was the worst I’ve seen them. The music was good I just don’t think they are best suited as a festival headliner they are best suited for indoor venues where they slay live. It seemed that the lawn had better pits than the seats which made no sense whatsoever, the least violent Slipknot show I’ve ever seen. Plus to say their set list was lacking would be an understatement. Good performance but should have been better. New track sounded awesome live much like Wendell said. -Dr. Monkey

Set List

Surfacing
Get This
Prosthetics
The Blister Exists
Duality
Before I Forget
The Heretic Anthem
Disasterpiece
People=Shit
(Sic)

Overall I had a blast I just was shocked by a lot of the set lists, for example: Mastodon only playing one pre-Leviathan track, No love for Sleeping Giant or Blood and Thunder, and not even one song off the new album. Machine Head only playing one song that wasn’t off the Blackening, it’s a good album but the songs are so damn long they ate up most of the set. Slipknot failing to play Wait and Bleed, Vermillion, My Plague, Spit it Out, Eyeless, or even Eeyore was shocking. Maybe I’m just spoiled since last time I saw them they played for about 90 minutes and played a perfect set list but I really felt their set was the most lacking out of all the bands. Not saying they weren’t badass because they always are, but that setlist was weak. It almost seemed as if Corey ate too much of their time up talking (he talks a ton) and they had to cut tracks out because their set just flew by. Hell they played a better set on the side stage of Ozzfest a few years back and they only had 45 minutes, how does 15 minutes more equal less songs? Oh well I still had fun and that’s the main thing.

Side note though, having been to the venue a ton of times me and my wife have never had any issues going home yet got stuck on route 66 thanks to a shitty detour that dumped you on a road going about 30 minutes the wrong way, which lead to us driving 30 mins back and then finally getting on the interstate just to run into nearly two hours worth of traffic thanks to road work closing two lanes. Nothing like a 80 minute trip turning into a 240 minute trip. Plus having to piss about two hours in didn’t make things any better. Minus the trip home I’d give the day about 4 beers. -Dr.Monkey

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