Some Tour Information

Since I'll need another day to polish off the update that I had planned to post tonight, I thought I might as well write an old-fashioned entry that isn't a list or a review (after all, this is the only blog I'm currently using). In the last month, details and tour dates for some major tours have been released, and I'd like to provide a bit of commentary on some of the bigger ones. The first of which is a new festival that was recently announced. It's called "Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour" and it appears to be an Ozzfest clone filled with mainstream hard rock bands that have been a part of Ozzfest tours in the past. In fact, 10 of the 13 bands are Ozzfest alumni, and almost all of them are ones that I'm personally ecstatic about not having to endure at Ozzfest again this year. The official bill is as follows:

Main Stage:

SLIPKNOT
DISTURBED
DRAGONFORCE
MASTODON

Jägermeister-Sponsored Second Stage:

SEVENDUST
AIRBOURNE
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
36 CRAZYFISTS
Jägermeister Battle of The Bands Winner

Second Stage #2:

MACHINE HEAD
BLACK TIDE
SUICIDE SILENCE
THE RED CHORD
WALLS OF JERICHO

Since this isn't a review, I can be as much of a subjective ass I want to be, and thus will say that this tour is the epitome of suck. Unfortunately, a number of my friends are huge Slipknot fans, so I will almost certainly be asked to come. Of course, I don't have to accept, but the music geek in me will likely reluctantly accept in order to see the Mastodon, Machine Head, Sevendust, and DragonForce (albeit for the third time).For what it's worth, Disturbed puts on a great live show too, although I can't say seeing them for a second time would be a selling point to me. However, the combination of Slipknot, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, Suicide Silence, and Walls of Jericho is nothing short of vomit inducing. Also, how the hell can you have a "second stage #2"? Wouldn't that just make it the third stage? And why exactly is Machine Head, probably the best band on the tour, on the third stage? I'm probably going to go to this and regret it later, but I can safely say the first Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour looks to bring the suck. The cities that will be subjected to this unfortunate tour are as follows:

Jul. 09 - Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheater
Jul. 11 - Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Jul. 12 - San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
Jul. 13 - Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Jul. 15 - Fresno, CA @ Selland Arena
Jul. 16 - San Diego, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
Jul. 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
Jul. 19 - Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
Jul. 20 - Denver, CO @ Coors Amphitheatre
Jul. 22 - Kansas City, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 23 - St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 25 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
Jul. 26 - San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless
Jul. 27 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Jul. 29 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
Jul. 30 - Miami, FL @ Sound Advice Amphitheater
Aug. 01 - Atlanta, GA @ Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre
Aug. 02 - Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Ctr.
Aug. 03 - Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Aug. 05 – [to be announced]
Aug. 06 - Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug. 08 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre
Aug. 09 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
Aug. 10 - Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Aug. 12 - [to be announced]
Aug. 13 - Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center for the Perf. Arts
Aug. 15 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center At The Waterfront
Aug. 16 - Washington DC @ Nissan Pavilion
Aug. 17 - Hartford, CT @ New England Dodge Music Center
Aug. 20 - Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Aug. 21 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center

Now we go from a terrible tour that I most likely be attending to an outstanding tour that doesn't come anywhere near me. The tour I am referring to is the 2008 run of Gigantour, which features Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, and High on Fire. With the exception of Job for a Cowboy, that is one outstanding bill! Since there is no WA date, there is a 99.9% chance that I will be missing this one, but I'd highly recommend seeing it if the tour comes near you. The tour dates are as follows:

April
Sat 12 - Denver, CO - The Fillmore
Sun 13 - Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion
Tue 15 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Theatre
Wed 16 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street Pavilion
Thu 17 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
Sat 19 - Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens
Sun 20 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
Tue 22 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
Thu 24 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
Sat 26 - Baltimore, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Mon 28 - Quebec City, QC - Pavilion De La Jeunesse
Tue 29 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
Wed 30 - Toronto, ON - Arrow Hall
May
Thu 1 - London, ON - John Labatt Centre
Sat 3 - Detroit, MI - DTE Music Center
Sun 4 - Cleveland, OH - Time Warner Cable Amphitheater
Tue 6 - Chicago, IL - Aragon
Wed 7 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
Fri 9 - Minneapolis, MN - Myth
Sat 10 - Winnipeg, MB - Convention Center
Sun 11 - Saskatoon, SK - Prairieland Exhibition Hall
Mon 12 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Center
Wed 14 - Calgary, AB - The Corral
Fri 16 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
Sat 17 - Salem, OR - Salem Armory
Mon 19 - San Jose, CA - Event Center @ San Jose State
Tue 20 - San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
Wed 21 - Los Angeles, CA - Long Beach Arena
Thu 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Mesa Amphitheatre

The final tour is by far the best, and I am thankful beyond belief that it will be coming to Seattle. That tour is called "Progressive Nation," and it features the fantastic combination of Dream Theater, Opeth, 3, and Between the Buried and Me. As some of you may know, I love Opeth as much as a 17 year old male can love a Swedish progressive metal band, and Dream Theater and Between the Buried and Me are also excellent. I've already seen Between the Buried and Me live, but I would love to see them in a longer set. They were incredible at Ozzfest in 2006, and their musicianship has been improving with each new album. I will do whatever I can to go to this tour, no matter what the cost, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a large group of us to attend. The tour dates are as follows:

May 02 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheater
May 03 - Oakland, CA - Paramount Theater
May 05 - Seattle, WA - Wamu Theater
May 06 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum
May 9-10 - Calgary, ALB - Macewan Hall
May 12 - Minneapolis, MN - Myth
May 13 - Chicago, IL - Rosemont Theater
May 14 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
May 16 - Columbus, OH - LC Amphitheater
May 17 - Cleveland, OH - Time Warner Amphitheater @ Tower City
May 18 - Albany, NY - The Armory
May 20 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater
May 21-22 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
May 26 - Washington DC - DAR Constitution Hall
May 27 - Richmond, VA - The National
May 28 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
May 30 - Miami, FL - The Fillmore
May 31 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock
Jun. 01 - Tampa, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall

Thanks for reading. An actual update will be posted tomorrow.