The Mayhem Festival was a touring heavy metal festival that took place during the summer. The inaugural season took place in 2008; the festival later became an annual event across the United States. Most years also included a single date in either Montreal or Toronto, Canada. The tour had been sponsored by the Rockstar Energy Company since the time of its inception. It was assembled by

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running tourin ...

founder

Kevin Lyman Kevin Lyman is the founder and operator of thKevin Lyman Group formerly known as 4Fini, Inc., a live event production company and brand strategy firm. His most notable live production is the live music festival series Vans Warped Tour, which attrac ...

and John Reese (who was Lyman's partner on the

Taste of Chaos Taste of Chaos (or "TOC") was a live music tour that was started in the winter of 2005 by Kevin Lyman, the creator of the successful Warped Tour along with his friend and business partner, John Reese. The Taste Of Chaos tour catered to fans of ...

tour). On August 2, 2015, Reese confirmed that the 2015 staple of the festival would be the last one. On November 30, 2019, a post to the festival's Instagram account announced the festival's return in 2020. Due to the worldwide

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

the festival was postponed to 2021, then canceled. there has been social media silence concerning the next one, .

Bands and style

Special guests

On a nearly annual basis, big-name guests were occasionally brought onto the tour as temporary replacements for the main acts who were forced to cancel a few dates. The first such occurrence was in 2009, when

Mushroomhead Mushroomhead is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1993 in the Cleveland Warehouse District, the band is known for their avant-garde sound and horror film-inspired imagery which features masks and costumes as well as ...

performed instead of Bullet for My Valentine for three tour dates while they appeared at the European festival

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are ...

. In 2010,

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance ...

was added as an extra performer for two dates only, one of which was on the release date of their fifth album '' Nightmare''. In 2011,

Dethklok Dethklok is a fictional melodic death metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Metalocalypse''. The first official Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled '' The Dethalbum''. The album debuted at n ...

filled in for Megadeth on the festival's first day, while Testament replaced In Flames on the first two tour dates.

Stages and events

The festival had featured three separate stages each year since the time of its inception: the Main Stage, the

Jägermeister ( , ; stylized Jägermeiſter) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation ...

Stage, and the third stage that had gone through sponsorship changes. It was known as the

Hot Topic Hot Topic, Inc. (stylized as HOT TOPIC) is an American retail chain specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming ...

Stage from 2008 to 2009. Silver Star briefly replaced the Hot Topic sponsorship in 2010, while '' Revolver'' sponsored the stage for 2011.

Sumerian Records Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Musicians Institute Musicians Institute (MI) is a private for-profit music school in Los Angeles, California. MI students can earn Certificates and – with transfer of coursework taken at Los Angeles City College – Associate of Arts Degrees, as well as Bachelor ...

The Main Stage featured four bands each year, while the side stages typically featured four or five each. A large selection of Battle of the Bands winners were chosen to open the Jägermeister Stage upon the various dates each year, one per venue. Each year, the festival had the Metal Mulisha as a side attraction for the fans to watch. Most bands that participated in the tour had a public meet-and-greet at scheduled times throughout the day, upon each tour date. Rockstar Energy Drink, the festival's most prominent sponsor, allowed fans to enjoy numerous free samples of its new products every year.

Tours by year

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 ...

Mayhem Festival 2009 Mayhem Festival 2009 was the second annual North American Mayhem Festival founded by Kevin Lyman. In July 2009 a DLC song pack was sold in the music video game Rock Band 2. Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2009 line up Band lineup as released by the pre ...

* Mayhem Festival 2010 *

Mayhem Festival 2011 The heavy metal music tour, 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, ...

Mayhem Festival 2012 Mayhem Festival 2012 was the fifth annual Mayhem Festival. Dates were announced on October 26, 2011. Mayhem Festival 2012 lineup Main stage * Slipknot * Slayer * Motörhead * Rotating band slot Rotating bands Bands rotated between opening mai ...

Mayhem Festival 2013 Mayhem Festival 2013 was the sixth annual Mayhem Festival. Dates were announced on January 28, 2013, and lineup announced March 18, 2013. It was the first year that the Mayhem Festival had four stages. Polish death metal band Behemoth were sche ...

Mayhem Festival 2014 Mayhem Festival 2014 was the seventh annual Mayhem Festival. Dates were announced on February 18, 2014, and lineup officially announced March 31, 2014. In a January 2014 video interview at NAMM, Korn guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer revealed t ...

Mayhem Festival 2015 Mayhem Festival 2015 was the eighth and final annual Mayhem Festival. It was confirmed that Slayer, King Diamond, Hellyeah and The Devil Wears Prada will be headlining the festival, while Whitechapel, Thy Art Is Murder, Jungle Rot and Sister ...

For a list of lineups by year, see

List of Mayhem Festival lineups by year The Mayhem Festival was a touring summer music and extreme sports festival that toured annually from 2008 to 2015. The following is a partial list of bands that performed on the festival since its inception to end. References {{Mayhem Fest ...

References

External links