This year's edition of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival may be the must-have ticket of the summer for Bay area metal fans.
"The truth is, it's just a great tour, man," Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson offered in a recent a phone interview from the road. "I'm impressed at how wide a swath of metal is being cut with all the different bands. With us being here, we help make it more than a modern, new metal tour because of our legacy. And when you look at bands like Godsmack, Machine Head, Disturbed and Trivium, they've really done some new things with metal over the past decade."
In addition to tour headliners, the daylong event also brings a number of upcoming metal acts to the table. "Over on the side stages, there is this whole new genre coming up the ranks that is really exciting," Ellefson commented. "It's inventive; it's creative, it's not just a rehash of past glory days or more recent days of hardcore or grindcore metal. You get to hear a lot of different stuff; it's nice you don't have to hear the same old songs for nine hours in a row."
The music is presented amid a slightly carnival-like atmosphere with games, activities, vendors, food and lots of other goodies packed into the daylong fest. "Mayhem seems to have really nailed it down," Ellefson said. "There's always been good line-ups. This one seems to be a really good, well-rounded one where there's many different factions of the metal genre. Not focusing in on one particular era, but really widening it out."
Details: Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Tour with Megadeth, Disturbed, Trivium, Godsmack, Straight Line Stitch, Suicide Silence, All Shall Perish and more, Sat., Aug. 13, 1:15 p.m. doors, 1-800-Ask-Gary Ampitheatre, Tampa. Tickets start at $32 ($24 for a family-four pack of lawn tickets).
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.