Mayhem Festival

Mayhem Festival 7/12/09

Mayhem Festival 09

So there were quite a few bands at this festival but the only ones we cared about were Slayer and Marilyn Manson. I made my first trip to the San Manuel Amphitheater with Jason, Larry, and Christi. We had to travel the two hours because this was as close as the festival came to us. It’s probably a good thing that the bands we wanted to see didn’t play until the end of the show because we were all decently hung over from the Saturday before. Jason drove and I was drinking beers the whole time. I never really got drunk but definitely felt the effects the next day. So we hung out in the parking lot for about an hour before heading in. Good timing. Killswitch Engage was just getting on so we had time to get an $11 beer, etc. Apparently somebody got shanked at the show because this is a ghetto type area. Then it got dark and out came Slayer. People that like Slayer LOVE Slayer, namely Nicole, who bought tickets to this show when I did but then we had a falling out because of me meeting and falling for Ingrid. I never really liked Tom Araya’s voice but have slowly gotten more into Slayer as the years progress mostly because of the Seasons in the Abyss album.

The real reason I was here was Marilyn Manson. I found somebody nearby willing to share a joint with me and I was off. They opened with “We’re From America” and that whipped me into a frenzy. It was cool to see them play “Little Horn” because I don’t think I had ever seen them play that song in all the times I had seen them before. They played the very electric version of “Four Rusted Horses” and that was also pretty badass but I think this was a turning point in the show. The only other new song they played was “Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon.” They ended with “The Beautiful People” and just like that after exactly an hour they were gone. No encore. I guess that’s what you get when you see him at a festival. After the long ride back home and a shitty night’s sleep I woke up with sore neck and back muscles from crazy head banging. I must have had a good time…

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Mayhem Festival 7/16/08

Mayhem Festival 08

Despite the many bands playing on this day to me it was really just a Slipknot show with Disturbed opening. This combined with the fact that I had to go it alone made for an easy decision to just show up at the end of the day.

Disturbed was on tour for their fourth album Indestructible that was released in June. I had not seen them since Ozzfest a couple years prior to this and come to think of it every time I saw Disturbed was at Ozzfest except for when they opened for Korn and this time. They were good but not as good as other times I had seen them.

During the interim before Slipknot I went to relieve myself and grab a beer and ran into Bob. I am not sure how we failed to coordinate going to the show together but Bob had his 11-year-old nephew in tow and I had a floor ticket so we parted ways.

A lot happened since I last saw Slipknot at Ozzfest 2001. For starters I was now super into them thanks to Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses) so even though this would be my fourth time seeing Slipknot it was the first time I was actually excited to see them. This was about a month before Slipknot released All Hope Is Gone so the only new material we got to hear was “Psychosocial” since that was officially released a week before this show. I did not see any of the Vol. 3 tour dates so it was still quite a treat to hear those songs live. I got right up to the front and basically got pinned there for the duration of the set so I had a great view the entire time and could freak out without really being out of place. The photo I took of Joey Jordison’s drum set spinning in the air gives you an idea of how close I was. Bob later told me that his nephew was so scared of what was going on that they had to leave prematurely. I doubt that is a memory he will be forgetting anytime soon.

SETLIST: Surfacing, The Blister Exists, Get This, Before I Forget, Disasterpiece, Psychosocial, The Heretic Anthem, Prosthetics, Duality, People = Shit, (sic)