Mayhem festival
Encyclopedia
The Mayhem Festival is a touring metal festival that takes place during the summer. The inaugural iteration took place in 2008; the festival has since become an annual event across the United States and Quebec, Canada. The tour has been sponsored by the Rockstar Energy Company
Rockstar (drink)
Rockstar is an energy drink created in 2001. With 14% of the US market in 2008, Rockstar is a leading energy drink brand. Rockstar is based in Las Vegas...

 since the time of its inception. It was assembled by Vans Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...

 founder Kevin Lyman
Kevin Lyman
Kevin Lyman is creator of a touring music and extreme sports festival called the Warped Tour, the Taste of Chaos, and the Mayhem tours. He also is a partner at SideOneDummy Records. He owns 4FINI which annually produces the above-mentioned tours as well as produced past tours such as the Down From...

, and by John Reese
John L. Reese
John L. Reese is a Phoenix-born music executive who got started in the music industry by owning a concert security company in Phoenix...

 (who is Lyman's partner on the Taste of Chaos
Taste of Chaos
Taste of Chaos is a hardcore tour that was started in the winter of 2005 by Kevin Lyman, the creator of the successful Warped Tour along with friend and business partner, John Reese. The Taste Of Chaos tour caters for fans of the post-hardcore, screamo, and metal genres, while offering the same...

 tour).

Bands and musical style

All of the touring groups that participate can be classified as hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

, and most are considered metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

. The bands represent a broad range of sub-genres, including thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

, death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

, nu metal
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...

, metalcore
Metalcore
Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...

, deathcore
Deathcore
Deathcore is an extreme metal music genre that combines elements of death metal with elements of metalcore or hardcore punk, or both. It is defined by an "excessive" use of death metal riffs, blast beats and use of hardcore punk breakdowns...

, power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

, industrial metal
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...

, progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...

, and more.

Special guests

On a nearly annual basis, big-name guests are occasionally brought onto the tour as temporary replacements for the main acts who are forced to cancel a few dates. The first such occurrence was in 2009, when Mushroomhead
Mushroomhead
Mushroomhead is an American industrial metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1993 in Cleveland Warehouse District, the band's music can be described as a synthesis of alternative music, heavy metal, and electro-industrial...

 performed instead of Bullet For My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matt Tuck , Michael Paget , Jason James , and Michael Thomas . They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana...

 for three tour dates while they appeared at the European festival Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...

. In 2010, Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....

 was added as an extra performer for two dates only, one of which was on the release date of their fifth album Nightmare
Nightmare (Avenged Sevenfold album)
Nightmare is the fifth studio album by American rock band Avenged Sevenfold, released on July 27, 2010 through Warner Bros. Records. It was produced by Mike Elizondo and mixed in New York City by noted engineer Andy Wallace...

. In 2011, Dethklok
Dethklok
Dethklok is both a virtual band featured in the Adult Swim animated program Metalocalypse, as well as a real band created to perform the band's melodic death metal music in live shows. The band was created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The music heard on Metalocalypse is performed by Brendon...

 filled in for Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...

 on the festival's first day, while Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

 replaced In Flames
In Flames
In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. Since the band's inception in 1993, they have released ten studio albums and one live DVD...

 on the first two tour dates.

Stages & events

The festival has featured three separate stages each year since the time of its inception: the Main Stage, the Jägermeister
Jägermeister
Jägermeister is a German 70-proof digestif made with 56 different herbs and spices. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.- History :...

 Stage, and the third stage that has gone through sponsorhsip changes. It was known as the Hot Topic
Hot Topic
Hot Topic is an American retail chain specializing in music and pop culture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music on CD. The majority of the stores are located in regional shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden, who retired as CEO in 2000...

 Stage from 2008-2009. Silver Star briefly replaced the Hot Topic sponsorship in 2010, while Revolver
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...

 will sponsor the stage for 2011. The Main Stage features four bands each year, while the side stages typically feature four or five each. A large selection of Battle of the Bands winners are chosen to open the Jägermeister Stage upon the various dates each year, one per venue.

Each year the festival has the Metal Mulisha as a side attraction for the fans to watch. Most bands that participate on the tour have a public meet-and-greet at scheduled times throughout the day, upon each tour date. Rockstar Energy Drink, the festival's most prominent sponsor, allows fans to enjoy numerous free samples of its new products every year.

Tours by year

  • Mayhem Festival 2008
    Mayhem Festival 2008
    Mayhem Festival 2008 was the first iteration of the annual concert festival created by Kevin Lyman.-Mayhem Festival 2008 tour information:The Mayhem Festival, like most large festivals of a similar caliber, feature bands that recently released or are just about to release a new album...

  • Mayhem Festival 2009
    Mayhem Festival 2009
    Mayhem Festival 2009 was the second annual North American Mayhem Festival founded by Kevin Lyman.-Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2009 line up:Band lineup as released by the press release from the Mayhem Festival website and bands page of the Mayhem Festival website.-Main Stage:* Marilyn...

  • Mayhem Festival 2010
    Mayhem Festival 2010
    Mayhem Festival 2010 was the third annual Mayhem Festival created by Kevin Lyman. The 2010 edition of the festival was co-headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie. As in previous years, the main sponsor of the festival is Rockstar Energy drink, and each date had a different Battle of the Bands winner...

  • Mayhem Festival 2011
    Mayhem Festival 2011
    Mayhem Festival 2011 was the fourth annual Mayhem Festival created by Kevin Lyman. The official lineup was announced on January 31, 2011. It was the first year that the festival utilized a rotating main stage slot, and the first year that the tour had more than one act returning from previous...

  • Mayhem Festival 2012
    Mayhem Festival 2012
    Mayhem Festival 2012 is the fifth annual Mayhem Festival. Dates were announced on October 26, 2011. Lineup information is planned on being released in January 2012.-Tour dates:...


For a list of lineups by year, see List of Mayhem Festival lineups by year.

See also

  • Ozzfest
    Ozzfest
    Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...

  • Uproar Festival
    Uproar Festival
    The Uproar Festival, also called the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival, is an annual hard rock/heavy metal tour inaugurated in 2010 by John Reese and sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink. The tour was also created by John Oakes, Darryl Eaton and Ryan Harlacher from the Creative Artists Agency,...

  • Sounds of the Underground
    Sounds of the Underground
    The Sounds of the Underground tour was a festival-like tour that rivaled Ozzfest in its first year of existence .The tour features extreme metal and metalcore, and hardcore bands. The existence of this tour, which was held in national arenas, was to attract the rising interest of metal, hardcore,...

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