Live Show Review: Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2008

Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2008
Saturday July 12th
Shoreline Amphitheater
Mountain View, CA

On July 12th, Shoreline Amphitheater looked, sounded, and smelled like Ozzfest had come to town – thousands of crazy people, overpriced drinks, and enough vendor booths to rival a shopping mall - but it was actually the local stop of the first installment of the Rockstar Mayhem festival.   It even had the same box office confusion I’ve come to expect.  So, after standing in the bands/press will call line for about an hour behind a bunch of people who didn’t seem to know what the hell was going on (and missing 36 Crazyfists and local act Stigmurder in the process) I marched through the gates towards the asphalt side lot to get my first taste of Mayhem.

I managed to catch the last few songs from Suicide Silence, and it was a revelation of sorts.  They’re one of those bands that I started to ignore once the hype machine kicked in and everybody with an odd piercing was wearing their merch.  With my expectations set so low, though, they were pretty impressive, and I’m all in favor of kids playing technical deathcore.  Equally surprising, albeit less impressive, were Five Finger Death Punch, who I had completely written off previously.  They do incorporate bits of nu-metal that I loathe, but they play hard and fast with good energy, which was appreciated by a crowd that reacted louder than I expected.

Next up was Black Tide, and I hadn’t seen such a strong female reaction to a band of their ilk since . . . well, ever.  Dozens of them were pressed up against the barrier screaming at the young Floridians as they played their heavily 80s-influenced brand of hard rock/metal.  They’re still a bit green, but I can see them growing into something more than just a footnote in music.  By contrast, Airbourne have got their act down:  they are a pure, balls-out rock n’ roll band, end of story.  Sure, they aren’t doing anything that AC/DC hasn’t been doing for years, but with hard-drivin’, head-noddin’ songs about sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, they sure are fun to listen to.

Now things were about to get tricky, as The Red Chord’s set was scheduled to end just as Mastodon’s was beginning on the main stage.  After enjoying about half of their set of death grooves, I made my way over to Mastodon – who started at least five minutes early.  You could tell the band was in the zone, but their sound didn’t translate well for me to this environment.  It’s so dense that much of it gets lost in the open air.  So then I figured I would make my way back to the side stages to catch Walls of Jericho and smoking hot screamer Candace Kucsulain.  Their hardcore fury in full effect, I was a bit disappointed to be stuck watching from the side rather than up front.  Underoath closed the Hot Topic stage.  I expected a limp, emo-centric performance, but soon found that, despite the throngs of screaming girls (yet again,) they’re not doing it all for the nookie.  Still not really my thing, though, and I soon wandered off to prepare for Machine Head to close the Jagermeister stage.

I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot as “Diary of a Madman” blared out of the speakers to precede their set.  The band hit the stage like a bomb with “Clenching the Fists of Dissent;” a great opener, but I questioned the decision to open a 35 minute set with a 10 minute song.  Firing on all cylinders, they followed that with “Imperium,” and then the surprise of the day, a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”  By the time they got to “Halo,” I figured their set was about done, and with Dragonforce about to take the main stage, I made my way over – only to find out later than I had missed their classic, “Davidian.”  Goddamnit.

The seats were about half empty when Dragonforce started their set (likely due to the crossover), but filled up nicely by the time they were done.  They can sure play fast, but they seem to be short on hooks.  Some combination of that and being forced out of the photo pit after only a few minutes without a place to sit caused me to lose my interest quickly.  They did play a new song, though, so that was a nice treat for the fans.  Afterwards I felt somewhat obligated to at least pay attention to Disturbed, who I completely blew off during Ozzfest 2006, and they actually earned a mark of respect from me.  They’re not a great band, but they aren’t a bad one, either - just a bit pedestrian.  They have good hooks and grooves and an able frontman in David Draiman.  More surprising was that I didn’t hear any of their biggest hits, and the crowd STILL gave them the biggest reaction of the day.

At this point I was burned out enough that I almost left before Slipknot even took stage, but I figured what the heck – another hour won’t kill me.  The worst thing I can say about their set is that vocalist Corey Taylor’s new mask makes him look like Judge Doom.  Starting with “Surfacing,” they played a set that drew evenly from their catalog, with perhaps a slight lean to the earlier work.  Taylor hyped up the new single “Psychosocial” a bit much, as it turned out to be one of the weaker songs included.  In the end, they showed once again why they are one of the premier live acts working today – so much energy and controlled chaos on stage.  Someday I hope to see them in a different venue, as most of my experiences with them have been here.

As their set wrapped, I trudged out of there, satisfied that my outdoor summer festival needs had been fulfilled – and what better way to wrap up a festival sponsored by Rockstar than downing one of their tasty beverages handed to you on your way through the gate?  Sure beats those mediocre Ozzfest CD samplers.  On that note, with rumors already circulating that Ozzfest will return as a touring festival in 2009, it’s going to be interesting to see if these two behemoth festivals will be able to co-exist, and if so, how far will one go to one-up the other?