Rockstar Mayhem 2014
Verizon Wireless Music Center – Noblesville, IN
I look forward to Mayhem each year, because when you live in Indianapolis, it’s your only opportunity for a metal festival. Previous years’ shows have been fantastic, highlighted by an extremely memorable performance by Slipknot in 2012. Mayhem consistently brings a solid lineup of bands across the entire metal spectrum, as well as lots of different flavors of metal, and gives an all around great experience into the current landscape of metal music. Rockstar Mayhem 2014 featured sets from Texas Hippie Coalition, Mushroomhead, Miss May I, and Emmure, and more on three side stages, paired with headlining shows from Trivium, Asking Alexandria, Korn, and the mighty Avenged Sevenfold.
So here goes nothing. Mayhem 2014 – bring it!
Texas Hippie Coalition
This band was a great surprise. I have friends that have been telling me I should go see them as soon as I get the chance. They played at ROTR 2014, but I opted to go see Avatar instead. So glad I got chance #2, because as awkward as this band looks (with “Big Daddy Rich” on lead vocals, and a guitarist named Cord Pool who looked like he was about 16), they put on one hell of a show. Memorable tracks included “Who’s Drinkin With Me” and “Turn it Up”, and I couldn’t help but smile as their singer talked about whooping people’s asses Texas style. To be clear, this band isn’t winning a grammy, and their music is simple, somewhat generic, and certainly isn’t shifting the landscape. BUT, what they do offer is Octane-style hard rock, but with enough creativity to make their music fun, and enough stage presence to make their show great. I probably won’t buy an album, but I’d definitely pay to see them live again.
Mushroomhead
I’ve tried very hard to suppress my Slipknot bias and get into Mushroomhead. They have some great tracks, and have been around for a really long time with a strong following. They are also great performers, and I certainly appreciate how they do small things (like having water drums) to make the show more interesting. Over the years I have really come around, starting to enjoy some of the shows, and even picking up a couple of their albums. My major pain point, especially with their live shows, is that Mushroomhead has THREE guys that act as vocalists only (so, three guys on stage who do not play an instrument), and even with their three vocals combined, the vocals are STILL extremely weak. I did enjoy a couple songs (specifically Born of Desire and Our Apologies, off their latest album) and the show was solid, but it echoed others I’ve seen. Visually stimulating, high energy and engagement, musically sound, but severely lacking vocals.
Miss May I
I feel like Miss May I is so close. Each of their albums have been incrementally better than the previous, and they have garnered a strong enough following that they have dominated shows at Warped Tour and now have equally successful shows at Mayhem. This show was the best I’ve seen them play – they were extremely tight musically, even on songs that featured complex drumming and tricky guitar parts. Their stage presence was great, and led by strong front-man Levi Benton and his killer hair. The show would have been a solid A show, however, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention their one glaring weakness: bassist Ryan Neff’s clean vocals. Metalcore is practically defined by the clean vocals in the chorus, and rather than giving us the intended reprieve from constant screaming, Neff’s clean vocals were a distraction and sometimes even clashed with other notes in the song. He sounds fine on the albums, but unfortunately isn’t able to keep up with the vocals live. I really like this band, especially their latest album, and I hate being critical on bands I like, but I just can’t get fully on board until those cleans are…well….cleaned up. It’s too fundamental in the songs for me to ignore. I’m pulling for you Miss May I. I hope you are headlining Mayhem in 10 years.
Body Count
Body Count came out in the early 90’s, with Ice T as the lead “singer”. This was my first introduction to the band as I had never heard of them before this. I’m comfortable reporting that this show was without a doubt the worst display of live music I’ve ever seen at a professional music show in my entire life. Just awful. It wasn’t even “enjoyable” bad. I sure hope I don’t get shot for “talking shit”… (Note that is a pun on their most “popular” song, called “Talk Shit, Get Shot” which was written about people online who were saying they were terrible…My suggestion would be to just be less terrible, but they opted to write that song instead.) Avoid this band at all costs.
Overall, the side stage action was a bit weak this year. In addition to the bands that I wrote about, we caught a handful of songs (in passing) by Suicide Silence, Upon a Burning Body, Islander, and Veil of Maya, none of which really blew my mind. After hitting the restroom and taking a shot to wash the Body Count taste out of my mouth, we headed off to the main stage to catch the final four bands.
Trivium
The main stage started off with a bang. I have argued before that Trivium is a wildly underappreciated band – Their music is complex, well written, flawlessly executed, and they bring a high energy, entertaining show every single time they play. This was no exception. They again focused mainly on newer material (to the frustration of old school, diehard, Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation Trivium fans), playing songs like Strife, Through Blood and Dirt and Bone, Black, and In Waves. They also played a few older, more harmonious tracks, like Dying in your Arms, and Anthem (We are the Fire), which helped make the band slightly more approachable to the masses.
I really felt that this show was significantly stronger than their Rock on the Range set, primarily because they had 15,000 people watching them, and because they had time to play more than 4 songs. Matt Heafy did have to work a bit to get the crowd involved, as they were exhausted after 6 hours of side stage antics, but he rose to the challenge, and eventually convinced everybody in the place to stand up and lose their heads. By the end of the show, the energy couldn’t have been higher, and I was really blown away by how great they are at bringing the full picture to the stage. Trivium is much more popular outside the US than they are here, and their experience headlining massive festivals shows.
They closed the show with In Waves, which was an interesting shift as that had historically been their opener. The band did a walk off after their second to last song, and let the energy build as the killer intro to In Waves played. By the end of this show, I had chills up and down my back, and was so glad I got to catch Trivium again. Great show.
Asking Alexandria
I was a big Asking Alexandria fan through the first two albums. The band is incredibly talented, and I’ve seen them put on fantastic shows in the past. To The Stage is a great song, and this band had a ton of potential. However, throughout their relatively short history, they have constantly been hampered by ridiculous on and off stage antics by lead singer Danny Worsnop. I went into this show excited to see whats new with AA. The previous times I’d seen them, they were solid, and improving consistently, and writing good music. Unfortunately, because of Worsnop, this show fell completely flat on it’s face.
There were moments of pure bliss. Times when the music and vocals sounded so good that it was evident why they have been so successful. However, every time I started to get lost in the music, there was a visibly drunk Worsnop, ignoring an entire phrase of vocals so he could chug two thirds of a beer and laugh at himself. At one point, he literally bailed off of a high note at the climax of a song so that he could belch into the microphone. He acted like a complete idiot the entire show, with the exception of their new song, Moving On, which is a ballad. He absolutely KILLED that song vocally, which at first was awesome, but then just became a reference point for frustration. He’s obviously extremely talented. Why does he care so little? Pathetic is the word that came to mind. It’s pathetic that someone so famous, so talented, and so central to that band’s success cares so little for the product that he is putting out on stage. I feel really bad for the rest of the band. They played their ass off and it was completely irrelevant, because the interface between the band and the crowd was a complete mess.
This is a deal breaker for me. I can deal with lack of talent, or a band that’s just starting out. I refuse to support a band (and someone in particular) that just doesn’t care. I won’t be supporting Asking Alexandria with my money or my attention. At least until they get a new singer – a singer who doesn’t consistently brag about coke benders and act like an idiot on stage.
Korn
Korn is in a very unique spot. Their early material is so good, and they are such great performers, that they could never write another song and I’d still pay to see them play once a year. This show was just fantastic. In a comical contrast of professionalism with the previous lead singer, Jonathan Davis was the model performer, excellent for every minute he was on stage. He is a very interesting front man to watch – his antics and movements portray someone who is very different than most, but someone who is utterly and completely fine with being different. Davis oozes confidence and the work ethic that got him where he is. I love watching him live.
Davis and the band were in lock-step in every aspect of this show. It was particularly interesting to see them interact with Brian “Head” Welch, who recently rejoined the band after a long hiatus. Welch looked as if he hadn’t missed a step – and it felt very natural. and he flawlessly integrated with the band on stage as if he’d never left.
Korn took me down memory lane, playing smash hits Blind, Got the Life, Coming Undone, Falling Away from Me, and more. Everything was well rehearsed, and it came off as a polished, exceptionally planned and executed show. Davis played the bagpipes, as he is known to do, and overall this was a fantastic reminder why Korn is still the the king of nu-metal.
My wife, who isn’t into this type of music, said “Oh, you’re seeing Korn? That reminds me of all the weird kids from high school.” Update: We’re all still weird – and Korn still puts on a hell of a show.
Avenged Sevenfold
There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of opportunities over the past few years to see an A7X show. I’ve had the chance to catch A7X more times than any other band, as they have become a dominate force on the touring circuit, headlining festivals and tours in droves all over the world. I’m always excited to see another Avenged show – they are incredibly great musicians, and their stage construction is getting bigger and bigger. Coming off of a fantastic show at Rock on the Range, I was really excited to see them up close and personal, as well as see if anything had changed since I saw them in May.
Since I just blogged on what a great show they put on at Rock on the Range, I’ll focus here on the differences and unique things about this show.
The first major difference with this show was that I had pit tickets, and I was able to just stand and watch without fighting for my life. Being able to stand up close and really take in 2 hours of A7X performing was really just unbelieveable. There is a reason they have been so successful. M. Shadows is the best in the biz, the two guitarists pass the spotlight back and forth perfectly, and completely live up to the hype. I have also, over the past few years, been really impressed with the drummer. It’s not exactly easy to step in for The Rev but the new drummer seems to fit nicely with the group.
Second, he one thing that set this show apart from the ROTR show was their encore. After an incredible string of 10 songs, they walked off the stage, and the crowd was deafening in their screams for more. They came back out, and played my favorite A7X song, A Little Piece of Heaven, which is a…unique 7 minute masterpiece with some really dark themes. I’ve only seen it a handful of times live, and it’s fantastic. At the end of that song I thought for sure the show would be over, but A7X ended the night with a blistering rendition of Unholy Confessions. That song summed up the band perfectly – epic screams, great clean vocals, interesting dueling guitar parts, and lots, and lots, and lots of fire. 🙂
That brings Mayhem 2014 to an end. Great festival again this year. See you next year Mayhem!