Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival 2010

	Korn's Jonathan Davis

August 8, 2010
Jiffy Lube Live
Bristow, Virginia

By JEFF MAKI

Now in its third year, the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival officially has replaced the downsized Ozzfest as the summer metal festival.

In the U.S., it’s not like there’s much competition—this is it. Veering away from 2009’s more extreme metal lineup, which featured the likes of Slayer, Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth, among others, the 2010 bill aimed to be the festival’s biggest mainstream draw yet with headliners Korn and Rob Zombie.

With a stageshow rivaling Alice Cooper’s or even KISS’, Zombie literally set the night on fire with his space-rock-Zombie-party, complete with dancing robots and aliens, video, bursts of flames and elaborate costume changes and, of course, makeup. The hits were all there: “Living Dead Girl,” “More Human Than Human,” “Thunderkiss ‘65” and the closer, “Dragula.” “Mars Needs Women” and “Sick Bubblegum” were included from Zombie’s latest album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Although Zombie’s last two studio efforts haven’t been widely popular or critically acclaimed, with his massive catalog and career, it’s almost like he doesn't need to release any new albums. He’s close to reaching that AC/DC, Metallica status of a concert draw. Zombie’s show was bigger, better and a shitload more fun than I anticipated.

Korn brought the house down. Their detailed, elaborate stage set looked great, with huge oil rigs and fire, giving us Korn’s own twisted version of their hometown of Bakersfield, Calif. The band truly has embraced its status as one of rock’s biggest long-running acts, something they didn’t seem so eager to accept not long ago. The set list relied on the band’s most well-known hits—the ones that best translate in front of a huge audience for a huge show. “Right Now,” “Here to Stay,” “Did My Time,” “Freak on a Leash” and “Got the Life” were custom-made for a hot summer concert, and the band looked and sounded great—maybe the best I've heard them yet. And I've seen them now nine times, I believe. The last few Korn albums have been met with mixed opinions, but much like Zombie, Korn is established enough already that it doesn’t matter.

The venue formerly known as Nissan Pavilion isn’t one of my favorite places, yet its 20,000 capacity and large grounds easily accommodate a festival like Mayhem. The problem is that a huge concrete bowl surrounded by dust and gravel isn’t kind to concert-goers on 90-plus-degree, humidified summer days in Virginia. Did I mention there’s only one way in and out of this place? If you don’t get an early jump, you’ll be stuck in the parking lot for two hours after the show. I’ll stop here—there’s only so much complaining I can get away with after getting free tickets.

All the usual suspects—sponsors, vendors, record labels—were on site. This included band signings at the record label tents and free signings at the Jagermeister tent. This is all great for the younger audience, but at age 33, do I really have any use for another grown man’s autograph?

No, I was there for the music and our scheduled interviews that you can check above.

Five Finger Death Punch opened the main stage, a large accomplishment for a band that only two years ago played the side stages. The formula for this band isn’t exactly rocket science—in-your-face, patriotic, pompous rock—yet they’re immensely popular, and their fast rise to success can’t go unnoticed. Let's not forget that Live-Metal.net has followed this band closely from the beginning.

Lamb of God is the next-generation Pantera, minus that one-of-a-kind charisma. Vocalist Randy Blythe staggered about, leading the band’s raw, southern, barroom-brawl-metal. Their show, though better suited for packed, sweaty clubs, held its own. The stand out was the crowd participation of “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For.”

Of the second stage bands, Winds of Plague stood out for me, much like Behemoth did last year. Their shirtless, tattooed, muscle-bound vocalist, Johnathan "Johnny Plague" Cooke, pounced back and forth like a vintage Henry Rollins, and their newest addition, keyboardist Alana Potocnik, provided eye candy as the next best thing to Marta Peterson of Bleeding Through. “Decimate the Weak” is one son-of-a-bitch of a song to hear live.

	Winds of Plague's Johnathan "Johnny Plague" Cooke

We had to miss a few bands due to our interview obligations, but it happens. Nevertheless, along with Winds of Plague, I was able to catch Shadows Fall, In This Moment and Chimaira. Having seen these bands live before, I kind of knew what to expect. The second stage works more like a showcase than anything else. Basically, the bands each have 25 minutes to play their asses off—their best, most aggressive and well-known material—and win over as many fans as possible. If you can pull this off, the stop is considered a success. And for the most part, this is what happened. For whatever reason, Shadows Fall didn’t receive a big reaction; the underrated and often overlooked Chimaira was rock-solid as usual; and the circle pit of the day went to In This Moment during their closer, “Daddy’s Falling Angel.”

In the last two years, we’ve seen both sides of the metal spectrum: extreme and mainstream. This year’s show at Jiffy Lube Live wasn’t a sell-out, but it seemed like there were considerably more people here than the previous year. And it was of all ages and colors. Was it due to the fact that major acts like Rob Zombie and Korn were here, or is metal truly growing more popular as I write this? It’s probably a lot of both. What will next year’s Mayhem Festival bring? Thrash? Death? Rock? Nickelback? Metallica? Who knows, but whatever it is, I—and 15,000 to 20,000 others—are sure to be there.