Mayhem Festival -- Mountain View, CA -- July 10th, 2011

[brutal_descent]

Great show. Arrived around 12:30, and quickly found Seb (slapguitarer) in line. Thanks for chilling all day with me, man.

The first band of the day (Jager local band) was Valdur, a local kvlt black metal band. They played from 1:45 - 2:05, with a 4-5 song set. They weren't as good as I was expecting, but then again, I wasn't expecting any god black metal bands to come out of the Bay Area. Instead of leaving to the Revolver stage to see Straight Line Stitch close-up, I kept my rail spot for Red Fang, up next. It so happened that I left (for a second, initially) to meet Testament, but I quickly realized that the autograph sessions for Testament, Trivium, and Machine Head would end up finishing around 10 minutes after Red Fang, but I still decided to go for the autographs over seeing Red Fang. They still sounded good from afar, although.

VALDUR (1:45 - 2:05)

Set Missing

STRAIGHT LINE STITCH

Set Missing

RED FANG (3:10 - 3:40)

Reverse Thunder
Sharks
Malverde
Wires
Into the Eye
Good to Die
Prehistoric Dog

I finished my autograph-hunting around 10 minutes into Kingdom Of Sorrow, already after All Shall Perish's set, but I left the line for Machine Head's session for about a minute or two to hear All Shall Perish's first song. The Rockstar Energy Drink signing tent was right in front of the two side-stages anyway, so it wasn't as if I wasn't watching them. On record, All Shall Perish will always be one of my favorite deathcore bands, but they didn't seem that amazing as some people say today. Either way, it was pretty fucking cool to meet Chuck Billy, Matt Heafy, and Rob Flynn, all musicians I've looked up to (either in the past or present). Kingdom of Sorrow seemed pretty good as well, and Jasta seemed to be having fun.

ALL SHALL PERISH (3:05 - 3:35)

Set Missing

KINGDOM OF SORROW (3:35 - 4:05)

Enlightened To Extinction
Led Into Demise
Lead the Ghosts Astray

Set Incomplete

As Kingdom of Sorrow were finishing up their set, I got a second-row spot at Revolver's stage (where Suicide Silence were playing next). Maybe I was considering sitting through Suicide Silence to get a good spot for Testament, but I ended up leaving it to go see Unearth with Seb (slapguitarer). As I got there, Kingdom of Sorrow's guitar tech was coming out from backstage with picks, and I managed to get one from him (my only one of the day). We got a rail spot, and we (or I did, at least) lasted about two songs into their set until the crowd-surfers got the best of us, and we left to watch from afar. We left for the Revolver stage, and got our spots for Testament!

SUICIDE SILENCE (4:05 - 4:35)

Set Missing

UNEARTH (4:35 - 5:05)

Watch It Burn
The Great Dividers
Endless
This Lying World
Eyes of Black
Sanctity of Brothers
My Will Be Done

Set May Be Incomplete

Testament was arguably the best band of the day for me. Their sound was EXCELLENT (unlike Disturbed's, ironically), and their set was pretty badass for a festival set. The crowd was great, and the pit was brutal! I hope I see them again soon, they're definitely still going strong. As we left the Revolver stage to go get some drinks, Trivium had already begun In Waves, and in the 45 minutes I spent hydrating myself / chilling with the guys from Unearth, they disappointed the fuck out of me. With a setlist shitty enough not to include my favorite song, Like Light To Flies, they would only really not suck in my eyes if they put on a good show. Unfortunately, that option seemed off the menu for Heafy and Co. Meh, it'll definitely be a long time until I see them again afterwards.

TESTAMENT (5:05 - 5:40)

Over the Wall
The Preacher
The New Order
More Than Meets the Eye
Into the Pit
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days in Darkness

TRIVIUM (5:40 - 6:15)

In Waves
Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation
Down From The Sky
Throes Of Perdition
Dusk Dismantled
Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr

During the walk to main-stage was when I realized what the difference between lawn tickets and seats was in the actual amphitheatre, so by the time Machine Head came out I was feeling like total shit. They had to be the band I was waiting to see the most from the lineup, and here I was, squinting to tell who was who, a whole amphitheatre away. But luck was on my side! Apparently there was a seat vacant in front of Slap, and he managed to cleverly get me through. Thanks, bro. Next came Megadeth - I wasn't expecting much good, to be honest. After the major disappointment that was European Carnage, I had lost all hope in their live experience. Thankfully, Mustaine was pretty good all the way through (apart from some of Trust, but who cares about that song), and even though I spent about 15 minutes listing songs that they could've played, it was pretty good. Respect to them for flying out of France and managing to pull themselves together for us.

MACHINE HEAD (6:20 - 6:55)

Beautiful Mourning
Locust
Aesthetics of Hate
Halo

Set Incomplete

MEGADETH (7:15 - 8:05)
Trust
Wake Up Dead
She-Wolf
Hangar 18
Public Enemy No. 1
Symphony of Destruction
Head Crusher
Peace Sells
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

Next came the two (if you don't count Straight Line Stitch) shittiest bands of the day - Godsmack and Disturbed. After all of NickLed19's ranting about how missing Godsmack was a mistake, I felt that he was partly right, and that I should give them a chance. After all, even a shit band like Bullet For My Valentine had managed to redeem themselves to me by putting on a good show. Unfortunately, Godsmack sucked. Everything sounded the same (same thing with Disturbed too, unsurprisingly). I spent their set tolerating the bore that they were. Sorry, guys. Disturbed were on next, and they were actually, spot on to my expectations. Shit with a capital S. Donegan (I think that's his name) can't sing. I don't know if Disturbed were ever good live, but they sure as hell weren't tonight. He even managed to ruin Down With the Sickness, one of three Disturbed songs I consider decent in the least. Not much more to say about them. Slap and I spent the second half of their set wandering outside the amphitheatre

GODSMACK (8:30 - 9:30)

Cryin' Like a Bitch
The Enemy
Forever Shamed
Straight Out of Line
Awake
Speak
Love Hate Sex Pain
Voodoo
Batalla de los Tambores
Whatever
I Stand Alone

DISTURBED (9:55 - 10:55)

Remnants
Asylum
The Game
Prayer
Liberate
The Infection
The Animal
Inside the Fire
Warrior
Another Way to Die
Stupify
Ten Thousand Fists
Indestructible
Down with the Sickness

Overall, Mayhem was fun as fuck. Despite some of the bands on the lineup (and me watching Machine Head from fuck knows where), I had a lot of fun watching bands, meeting musicians, and hanging out with Slap, and I'll definitely go next year (with seat tickets, next time! ). One complaint is the spontaneity of the running order - I found myself having to run over to the next stage after bands, with the next band literally beginning their set mere seconds after the other had turned off their amplifiers. After Graspop (a festival with 10+ min breaks in between bands), it was sort of harsh.

Who I met:
Testament
Valdur
Unearth
Machine Head
Trivium

[kommie]

lol @ at 'hour long' Megadave setlist.

[jd091]

No Great Dividers in Unearth's set... Hopefully they pull that out when I see 'em put on a headlining set in a couple weeks.

And you're crazy for skipping out on All Shall Perish! And a Suicide Silence set would have been nice for me...

And Trivium set looks different this time. Interesting. "Duck Dismantled".

[Xenocide]

That sucks about your experience with Machine Head. That was pretty much my Lamb of God experience last year.

[makethemsuffer12]

Originally Posted by Xenocide

That sucks about your experience with Machine Head. That was pretty much my Lamb of God experience last year.

This. Bands like MH and LOG just suck in amphitheaters and arenas (experienced both bands in both environments).

Also, not like anyone really cares, but Dan Donogan is Disturbed's guitarist. David Draiman is their fruity-looking singer.

[idrinkwine732]

Originally Posted by BrutalDescent

I wasn't expecting any god black metal bands to come out of the Bay Area.

I ended up not attending, but...

[TiradesOfTruth]

Where and what time was Machine Head signing at. Did they advertise where and when the bands were signing.

[llama lom]

Sounds like it was fun! To be honest despite the shit bands in the past two years, I'll probably go next year no matter what. I just miss the general outdoor festival setting and it was a blast when I went in '08 and '09.

[daimonos]

Isn't Lightning Swords of Death from the Bay Area? Or somewhere else in Cali?

[Wrecking Crew]

Was Testament just at this particular Mayhem stop? I didn't see them mentioned as being on the Mayhem tour at all.