Mayhem Festival -- Hartford, CT -- July 24th, 2010

[DigMySpanky]

This thread is focused more on the "gig report" aspect rather than the "set list" aspect of this forum, however the sets from Cincinatti seemed pretty close.

Soooo Friday night an old friend of mine calls me up and says, "hey, I've got four VIP Box seats for mayhem fest tomorrow, do you want them?" It being an outdoor/amphitheater show in the summer and the tickets being free, of course I said yes.

We get to The Meadows (or whatever name it has now Dodge, Comcast, who the fuck knows) at 330. It's 95 degrees and humid. We drink a couple cold ones and head to the venue. At this point I would like to thank the moron in front of me who tried to get in with no shirt and no shoes. He spent forever and a day arguing with the security guy, so when it was my turn and I had pockets emptied, he let me and my hidden bottle of Beam right in.

So the girls go to the bathroom then we head to one smaller stages. Atreyu has just started playing. They play the Bon Jovi cover, the crowd goes wild. They play Someones Standing on My Chest and I'm the only one in a mile radius headbanging. Granted I'm sure all the hardcore Atreyu fans were closer to the stage, but still that's fucking sad. I remember when these guys opened for CKY in 03 I met them and drank beers with them after their set they were pretty cool. They seemed down to earth and all that but man it's a shame they still make records.

Soooo we kill sometime and then they open the doors to the amphiteather. We're taken to this spot right up front with four chairs in it. We have our own space, a waitress, and we can do whatever we want. I like this a lot.

Five Finger Donkey Punch takes the stage. I'm going to keep this short. The self-loving, pseudo-psycho, here-baby-take-my-wristband-i-know-you-want-it-cuz-i'm-such-a-rock-god image/attitude of this band coupled with the fact that they play the worst music on earth gave them the distinct pleasure of being the worst band I've ever seen perform. We're talking hundreds of shows, even more bands, and these guys were the fucking worst. This is cock-rock in its most terrible incarnation.

Well, thank god that's over with. Lamb of Mom is up next. During the stage setup Future Breed Machine came on over the PA and at this moment I did the most rocking out of the whole night. Lamb of Mom played a decent set for being them. NYGSTDF and Laid to Rest were pretty good. Out of all the Slayer rip-off bands I've seen live, these guys really have their shit together. The 2 Wall o' Deaths were even pretty decent.

Rob Zombie came up next. I've never seen this jerk live before. I liked White Zombie back in the day but never thought I'd be seeing this guy do a show. In a nutshell, these dudes absolutely brought the house down. The sights and sounds came together like the "red light/green light" portions of that stick of gum in Mission Impossible. The stage set was elaborate and made me think about how I miss out on shit like that by going to theaters and clubs all the time.

Korn came out next. When I was 13 my friends and I would play their first two albums a lot so there's nostalgia, but I saw them in 02 or 03 with Disturbed and it was the worst shit I'd ever seen in my life so I wasn't too excited. They were much better this time however it lacked some personality. On stage, the only people under any light were the three original members. The other guitarist and the new drummer were in the shadows. They didn't play another brick in the wall, thank god, otherwise I would've left.

So even though the total number of bands I even remotely like added up to 0, I still had fun. I only had to listen to stupid assholes talk about how metal they were for a little while then we had our own spot in the box. It was nice to just go in care free to a show and have a good time on my own terms. I didn't have to worry about catching this band, or that song, or worry about losing track of my friends after a pit session, or how much merch would be etc, etc, etc.

It was actually encouraging to see some younger kids there. I'm talking 12 years old, dad in tow. Although initially I was sad that the youth was into such a god awful misrepresentation of metal, I remembered that it will probably lead to them eventually liking some good shit. I mean even I wasn't born with Like and Ever Flowing Stream in my collection. I had to get there somehow.

And finally, a big FUCK YOU to the promoter who kept coming onto the stage and tellling everybody on the lawn how stupid and lousy they were for throwing dirt and grass chunks across the field. First of all, any time it rains, the lawn gets destroyed. Secondly, we're at Mayhem Fest you fucking moron, if you want Peaceful Fest then book Lilith Fair instead.

After seeing some of these terrible bands, Summer Slaughter doesn't look so bad after all. Primus Friday in Brooklyn!

[GWAR654]

anger problems man lol

[MPF]

Haha, Five Finger Donkey Punch. One of my good friends in Metal has a band called This Will Not End Well, and has a 12 minue epic called Five Finger Donkey Punch.

[imanidiot777]

Five Finger Donkey Punch.... great nickname for these chumps.

Lamb of Mom? How are they a slayer rip off in any way, shape, or form? If I had to pick someone that they are a rip off of it would be a lot closer to Pantera than Slayer. Either way I love em.

Rob Zombie's show was indeed sickly awesome and Korn was better than I thought.

[BlackmoreOfBowling]

This report has gotta be the most win I've ever seen on Metalsetlists. If not, then damn near close.

[Indestructible]

Originally Posted by imanidiot777

Lamb of Mom? How are they a slayer rip off in any way, shape, or form? If I had to pick someone that they are a rip off of it would be a lot closer to Pantera than Slayer. Either way I love em.

Someone should explain to me how Lamb of God is a pantera rip off

[daimonos]

Originally Posted by Indestructible

Someone should explain to me how Lamb of God is a pantera rip off

They definitely have some Pantera influence, but to call them a Pantera rip off is just bullshit. The bands really don't sound that alike. I think it's just because most of the Lamb of God haters don't like Pantera either, for mainly the same reasons.

I'm not planning on arguing about this any further with anybody, so don't make me

[imanidiot777]

Originally Posted by Indestructible

Someone should explain to me how Lamb of God is a pantera rip off

I'm not saying that they are a Pantera rip off. I'm saying they are closer to Pantera than Slayer. I don't see how they can be a Slayer rip off in any way at all. They share more similarities with Pantera.

BTW, Lamb of God and Pantera are my two favorite bands

[DigMySpanky]

Are we serious here?


Lamb of Mom musically is Slayer worship. Ignore Blythe, and you've entered the Church of Slayer Day Saints right down to the motherfucking guitar tone.

Re: Donkey Punch

Seriously, these guys need to Paul Gray/Heath Ledger themselves ASAP. Or maybe since they love Kung-Fu cheese they could do the David Carradine.



Please post link to 12 minute epic of your friend's band.

[Chyck]

Originally Posted by DigMySpanky

telling everybody on the lawn how stupid and lousy they were for throwing dirt and grass chunks across the field

I miss sod wars. I haven't been to a show big enough to have one for a long time.