Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival 2011 feat Disturbed – REVIEW

The Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival 2011 came thrashing its way to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater in Tinley Park. On this festival also came Godsmack, Megadeath, Machine Head, Hatebreed, Unearth, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, All Shall Perish, Red Fang and Straight Line Stitch. You can check out out review after the break!

After the Jagermeister band played to open the festival, Straight Line Stitch kicked it off on the Revolver Stage. What first drew me to watch them was their female vocalist, Alexis Brown, because of her awesome clean vocals. It was awesome to see a female vocalist demand the attention she did. The crowd could not help watching their set because of their tremendous amount of energy.

Next up on the Jagermeister Stage was Red Fang. The band put on an excellent show and had a great old school sound. Even though I was standing a good distance away from the stage, their powerful sound reached me just fine. Now I kind of wish I was a little closer to the stage. Oh well, I’ll definitely be in the first row the next time I see them.

After Red Fang, All Shall Perish hit the stage hard on the Revolver Stage. They put on an incredible performance and they sounded as good, if not better, on stage compared to their CD. At this point in the fest, the fans started to wake up a bit by starting a huge mosh pit.

Kingdom Of Sorrow was the next band to take the Jagermeister stage. If the audience did know at the start of their set, after the first few songs they probably recognized the vocalist, Jamey Jasta, since he is the singer of Hatebreed as well. The band impressed me with their musicianship and overall well put together set.

Suicide Silence performed next on the Revolver Stage. They seemed to be the crowd favorite thus far. Probably due to the enormous amount of energy they put into their set. I feel kind of crazy saying this, but their singer, Mitch Lucker, has sort of an evil presence, which was really cool to watch! I also liked the fact that they used the Hero cams on a lot of the instruments as well as the microphone. It was a nice touch.

My personal favorite band that played on the side stages was Unearth. I had never seen them live before and they made the ticket price worth it for me at least. Unearth put the crowd in almost a trance, everyone was moving and head banging to the beat as well as being packed shoulder to shoulder with absolutely no space to move.

Hatebreed was the final band to play before the mainstage bands rocked out in the amphitheater. Let me say, they finished off the first part of the fest with a bang. After seeing Jamey Jasta perform earlier with Kingdom of Sorrow, I was really looking forward to seeing him again with Hatebreed! They brought an amazing amount of energy and the crowd went insane for the hardcore legends.

The main stage opener, Machine Head, was fucking awesome and a great way to start off the second part of the festival. The lighting show, combine with their stage presence was impressive to watch. They were by far the heaviest band on the main stage, which didn’t bother me one bit. Their drummer, Dave McClain, was phenomenal and his performance alone made their set significantly better.

Up next on the main stage was Megadeth. In my opinion, they were the best band on the main stage because of both their music and showmanship. I also really enjoyed the political views they stated at the end of their set. Also, the smoke machines pushed their stage presence over the edge and made it unforgettable. Oh, and the lighting show wasn’t too shabby either. It gave the entire band a ghostly presence and went very well with the music.

When Godsmack took the stage, there was nothing but a sea of fists in the air. Their lead singer, Sully Erna, was all over the stage. This alone made their performance standout compared to most singers throughout the day since a lot of the others tended to stay in one place. The movement of the lead singer held your interest and made the performance more enjoyable.

The final band to take the stage that night was the band everyone had been waiting for since the festival doors opened at 1:30 in the afternoon. Disturbed took the stage to a roaring crowd. They were easily the most mainstream sounding of the night, but the crowd definitely didn’t mind. The pyrotechnics on stage made it for an epic ending of the day. The build up for Disturbed was so well planned with how it synced with the background video to the actual performance, it really caught and held my interest.

From the beginning to the end, this was a great day of music. Any fan of metal music would appreciate all of the great musicians and bands that graced the three stages throughout the day. All of the bands who played made metal music proud.

Information about the review…
Tour: Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival 2011 feat Disturbed
Bands: Disturbed, Godsmack, Megadeath, Machine Head, Hatebreed, Unearth, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, All Shall Perish, Red Fang and Straight Line Stitch
Date: August 5, 2011
Venue: First Midwest Bank Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL