Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2012

Jenn Cohen | August 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Rhapsody Berg

The 2012 Mayhem Festival, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink and Jagermeister, is a multi-stage festival featuring Asking Alexandria, the Devil Wears Prada, Slayer, Whitechapel, Motorhead, and Slipknot, as well as many others. It came rocking through Denver on July 8. With tents handing out free Rockstar Energy Drinks and Jager shots (for those of drinking age), merch tents for all the bands, as well as a secondary stage, Comfort Dental Amphitheater wasn’t big enough to contain everything, and had to use the parking lot to accommodate the show.

Gates opened at 1pm, and it was already packed with everyone from hardcore metal heads to families with kids. Hitting the Jagermeister stage early on was Whitechapel, a heavy death-core band hailing from Knoxville, TN. As I Lay Dying played an amazing set starting with “Condemned,” and stirred the audience into all out warfare, before encouraging everyone to swarm the sound tent, which earned fans the crowd favorite, “the Sound of Truth.” Later, metal core playing Brits Asking Alexandria opened with the fittingly named “Welcome.” The crowd became noticeably agitated at the gate blocking the amount of people allowed near the stage, but everyone still seemed to enjoy the set, especially when they ended with “Morte et Dabo.”

Over at the main stage, attendees were sorted into the various sections indicated by their ticket, and anxiously awaited the Devil Wears Prada. TDWP, originally from Dayton, OH, have been taking audiences by storm since 2005 with their Christian metal core. Opening with “Born to Lose” off of their 2011 album Dead Throne, they instantly won over the crowd and kept the momentum going from there. They followed in quick succession with “Escape,” “Outnumbered,” and “Assistant to the Regional Manager,” before playing three tracks off their newest release Dead & Alive, released June 26.

Headlining the main stage was well-known heavy metal act Slipknot. With easily distinguishable fans wearing facsimiles of the bands trademark masks (including a jester, a pinhead, a crash-test dummy, among others), they took to the stage amid a sea of cheering and screaming. Front man, Corey Taylor, has incredible charisma, whether taunting the audience about their lack of rhythm or mourning the loss of founding bassist and major songwriter, Paul Gray, who died of an overdose in 2010. They didn’t fall prey to the folly of many bands, only playing songs off their latest albums, but instead, played a perfect mix of classics from the entire discography