Dreams of Mayhem and Metal : Mayhem Festival 7/27/10 Comcast Center Jul 28 '10    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line Was it a dream? It was Mayhem! I was standing in a crowd and the National Anthem was being played. Everyone was singing along. I was in the middle of a hot parking lot surrounding by people. Suddenly loud electric guitars filled the air with intense drumming and a heavy bass beat.  The crowd around me went mad, slamming into each other, flailing about wildly.  A young man on the stage, Jamey Jasta was singing / screaming at the top of his lungs. A banner behind him had one word on it, Hatebreed.  I had to put my arms up to protect myself from the moshers. I could see my son and his friend right near me, but why couldn't I see their faces?  Who were all these crazy people in the parking lot?  I tried to figure things out, I remember that Hatebreed is a metalcore band from Connecticut, I had seen them before with Cannibal Corpse.  I had to find out how I got here. Earlier in the day, I remember being in a suit at a court hearing. I had my client's case scheduled to go first because I had concert tickets to take my son and his friend to see a show in Mansfield Massachusetts. Yes, that's it, I had tickets for Mayhem Festival at the Comcast Center. We drove there and arrived at about 1:30 p.m.  I remember that J. Costa of Thy Will Be Done was in the parking lot, he had come just to see the show.  We chatted with him for a bit.  We walked and walked then waited in a long ticket line. After a problem with our Ticketmaster tickets (surprise, surprise) we finally got in. We went to the first stage, the Silver Star stage just in time to see Massachusetts metal band, Shadows Fall.  Brian Fair was singing, his dreadlocks flailing about as he screamed into his microphone. Their songs were great, my son was happy that they played his favorite song The Light that Blinds. Chimarra was next, they put on a great show on the Jaegermeister stage. I remember going to the venue booths with my son and getting water. We ran into Chris Harrell and Jason Fitzgerald of Acaro. They were just there to enjoy the show.   Now it is all coming back.  We went back, Atreyu was playing on the Silver Star stage, we grabbed some free Rock Star Energy drinks and then headed to the Jaegermiester stage.  Hatebreed came on. They played the national anthem over the PA before kicking into their set.  I remember hearing Destroy Everything, and several other of Hatebreeds fast paced metal core songs. They closed the show with I will Be Heard  Now is the time for me to rise to my feet.  A body hit me hard, jolting me to fall backwards. I wake up, I don't know where I am.  A beautiful woman with wings walked towards me.  The place looks surreal, like from a movie. The winged woman looked at me and said You are going to be okay. Are you an angel? I asked. She said Yes, you can call me Lucy. Where am I?  Am I in Heaven?  I asked She laughed and said, You are a lawyer who loves heavy metal music. Where did you expect to be? I asked about Five Finger Death Punch.  Lucy told me that they performed on main stage while Hatebreed was on the Jaegermeister stage. Their set was over we had missed it. I told Lucy I wanted to see Lamb of God.  Lucy's eyes glowed with fire and she said I needed to go to the pit. I looked at her. Lucy smiled and said I will have to mark your wrist so you can have access to the pit.  I got a blue band affixed to my left wrist with numbers on it. Soon we were descending, down, down into the pit.   Hundreds of people were there staring up at a large main stage.  Suddenly the large black curtain came down and Lamb of God was onstage.   A man in the center was screaming Take Hold of my hand, for you are no longer alone. Walk with me in Hell, Walk with me in Hell!  Everyone around me was jumping up and down fists or devil horns pumping into the air.  Mark Morton and Willie Adlerand provided crunching fast paced guitar chords ground out together with fast solos as Lamb of God drove the pit into a frenzy.  Another song came on, dedicated to the troops. Randy Blythe was screaming Now you've got something to die for! Blythe is a great thrash metal vocalist, his lyrics are clear but gutteral and deep.  The whole crowd joined in the chorus screaming it back to him Now you've got something to die for! John Campbell layed down a heavy bass line and Chris Adler kept up a heavy beat on drums. Send the children to the fire, sons and daughters stack the pyre Stoke the flame of the empire, live to lie another day Face of hypocrisy, raping democracy Apocalyptic, we count the days. After an insane 45 minutes and several great songs in the pit with Lamb of God, I left to get water. As the cold water splashed on my face and head, I awoke.  My son and his friend were with me, we were at the Comcast Center in Mansfield. I could hear Avenged Sevenfold playing in the background, but I don't really like them. I would note that the drumming was fantastic since Mike Portnoy filled in for their departed drummer.  We wandered around all the merchandise booths checking out the shirts.  Nick saw Chris from Acaro again, and we talked with him and Chris LeBlanc, their guitarist. They were also enjoying the concert.  We bought ourselves a Mayhem Festival T-shirt, as well as Rob Zombie shirt and a Lamb of God shirt with tour dates. Nick wanted shirts that were "innappropriate" as possible.  We settled for a few mildy innappropriate T-shirts. My biggest complaint about the Comcast Center is that the water is incredibely overpriced at $5.00 a bottle.  At least Rock Star Energy drinks were free that day,thanks to a promotion.  At Mayhem festival, not only are their vendors with the bands concert T-shirts, but Harley Davidson was there giving away a motorcyle and other vendors sold a variety of clothing, and jewelry. We were really having a good time walking around, but we seemed to be stuck in a loop because we came back on the same passageway that led down to the pit. We descending back down. A large curtain fell down, and smoke filled the stage. A large ominous looking robot stood in the center of the stage and several weird skeletons stood at the front. Flames shot up 20 and thirty feet high in the back, I could feel the heat from them I was so close. John Five came out in corpse paint and a long leather jacket. He started to play a droning buzz saw like sound on his guitar. "Piggie D" also decked out in corpse paint and leather pounded out the Bass while Joey Jordison kicked in with drums.  Suddenly Rob Zombie appeared in the middle of the stage with a huge metal hand and began to growl in a raspy voice Superbeast. The flames shot higher and the crowd around me started to writhe.  Soon we all had our hands up in the air in fists and "devil's horn" gestures and began to jump in unison. We all joined in on the chorus. Hey, Yeah - I'm the one that you wanted Hey, Yeah - I'm your Superbeast As the flames burned, and large robots roamed the stage, Rob Zombie performed a great selection of songs including stuff from his new album Hellbilly Deluxe II like Mars Needs Women (no relation to the Hoodoo Guru's song). Anime and sci fi images flashed across the screen Mars needs women, angry red women  Of course the crowd favorites were classics like Living Dead Girl, the chorus sung by the throngs of fans Blood on her skin Dripping with Sin Do it again Living Dead Girl!   Zombie dug back even deeper than that too, John 5 broke out the slide and started sliding down his custom Fender Telecaster  for More Human than Human!  Beach Balls were shot out into the audience and bounced about for several songs.  Later John 5 broke out into an intense solo as images of pentagrams flashed across the screens. Horror film fans and Zombie fans alike delighted as he played clips from his two horror films House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects while playing songs from Educated Horses.   One of the crowds favorite songs though, wasn't by Rob Zombie or even White Zombie, it was the Alice Cooper classic, School's Out. Everyone knew and sung along with that one. Zombie closed the show with huge soldiers beating on drums and clips of the old Munster's TV show on the screen behind him. All the band members now had on red leather, and Rob Zombie stood atop a giant ominous metal skull.  The video images showed Herman Munster racing in his car.  Yes, it was crowd favorite Dragula! a song written about Herman Munster's roadster. Almost the entire crowd knew all the words   Dead I am the one, Exterminating son, Slipping through the trees, strangling the breeze, Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry, While they slowly turn, conquering the worm If they didn't, the words flashed on screen kareoke style. Of course everyone knew the chorus Dig through the ditches, And burn through the witches I slam in the back of my Dragula! Feathers and confetti shot into the air, covering the crowd in the pit.  Everyone near the front of Zombies set was covered in feathers and bits of bright shiny confetti. Everyone in the pit was literally coughing up feathers as Rob Zombie left the stage. Everything seemed to change then. I was still in the pit, but a giant oil refinery was ahead of me. Drills pumped up and down, and giant oil towers loomed behind. Flames continued to shoot up, I could still feel the intense heat of fire.  Korn came out and performed the final set of this Mayhem nightmare.  Although, I've never been a big Korn fan, I have to admit that their live set was pretty cool, although not as uber cool as Rob Zombies.  I stood near the stage, and Nick and his friend were deeper in, I could see the backs of their heads.  Everyone jumped up and down, the mosh pit circle throbbed in rhythm to the music.  Flames, flames and explosions and blinding light.  I recognized one song, Freak on a Leash Life's kinda always been messing with me You wanna see the light? Can't they chill and let me be free? So do I Can't I take away all this pain? You wanna see the light? I try to every night, all in vain, in vain The TV is on, a movie on cable. I was in my bed.   Shutter Island was on cable.  You are a patient here Teddy, you think you killed your wife, you can't accept that she is dead.  I could see Leonardo DeCaprio onscreen.  My name isn't Teddy, my name is Cobb. Leonardo looked directly at me, Were there really feathers, or did you eat your pillow? The alarm clock rang.  I woke up wearing a Lamb of God T-shirt. I felt inside my black cargo shorts pockets.  A guitar pick, it seemed like the right shape, weight and feel, I was in my home. I went into my son's room. I saw his sleeping face, calm and serene. He was wearing a Rob Zombie T-shirt.

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