Metal Monday: Summer Tour Rundown

posted in: Features • Rock

It’s summertime”the weather is hot, the sun is shining and bands are out on tour. Summer 2010 is an especially good season for metal tours since there’s a little something for everyone. The perennial names such as Summer Slaughter and Ozzfest are as to be expected, but newcomers The Cool Tour, Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR and Over The Limit Tour have come out with some pretty big lineups this summer. I’m here to give you the 411 on these tours, and let you know which bands to keep your eye on.

Summer Slaughter
Bands: Decapitated, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Decrepit Birth, Carnifex, Animals As Leaders, Vital Remains
What to look for: All Shall Perish (new lineup), Animals As Leaders (new material very soon), Decapitated (first US tour since death of drummer and incapacitation of their vocalist)
Start date: July 17th  in San Diego, CA
What to expect: Summer Slaughter is definitely the heaviest of the big summer tours. Headlined by Polish technical death metal masters Decapitated, the rest of the lineup is just as solid, and features super heavy and technical bands throughout the lineup. A bit out of place, but still very great, are Animals As Leaders”AAL are more of a progressive/jazz metal band than they are super heavy like all the other bands on the tour. Also, this is definitely the best value out of any of these tours, with most shows being in the $15 to $20 range (that’s like a dollar a band!) so there aren’t really many excuses to not get out to see this tour.

The Cool Tour
Bands: As I Lay Dying, Underoath, BTBAM, Blessthefall, The Acacia Strain, Architects, Cancer Bats, War of Ages
What to look for: The Acacia Strain (new album dropping as tour starts), BTBAM (always great live)
First date: July 12th in Orlando, FL
What to expect: As a whole, this tour is less heavy than Summer Slaughter, but what it might lack in heaviness is made up for by the variance in styles of metalcore. While The Acacia Strain bring the super heavy style, Underoath bring a bit of a more post-hardcore flavor and Between the Buried and Me bring a very heavy and progressive style. An eclectic bill that’s sure to quench the thirst of any metalcore fan.

Ozzfest
Bands: Ozzy, Mí¶tley Crüe, Halford, DevilDriver, Nonpoint, Black Label Society, Drowning Pool, Kingdom of Sorrow, Goatwhore, Skeletonwitch, Saviours, Kataklysm, Exodus, California Wildbeast
What to look for: Nonpoint (die hard touring band who put on energetic live shows), Exodus (old school masters of thrash)
First date: August 14th in Devore, CA
What to expect: Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Saviours, Kataklysm, Exodus, and California Wildbeast are only playing a few dates each (it’s a rotating slot)”depending on which bands are playing your area, your Ozzfest experience could be much better or worse than others. Those who get Skeletonwitch and Goatwhore are in for a treat. Regardless, every date could vary pretty heavily with older bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, Mí¶tley Crüe and Halford headlining.

Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR
Bands: Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Halestorm, Hellyeah, Airbourne, Hail the Villain, New Medicine
What to look for: Avengend Sevenfold (Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater stepping in on drums since the passing of The Rev), Airbourne (music made for large venues a lot like AC/DC, and they’re from Melbourne, Australia)
First date: Aug 17th in Minneapolis, MN
What to look for: Headlined by metal that most “kvlt” meatheads would frown upon nowadays, the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR tour is always the go-to for the mainstream metal acts on one huge tour. Any person attending one of these dates can reasonably expect a solid and tight set by all the bands on the tour, since most of the bands on the tour are used to touring on the same scale as the UPROAR dates.

Over The Limit Tour
Bands: As Blood Runs Black, Oceano, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza, Thick As Blood, Burning The Masses, Circle Of Contempt, Blind Witness, and This Or The Apocalypse.
What to look for: The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza (touring with a new lineup and a new album), A Blood Runs Black (new vocalist, have been in the studio working on a new album for a while)
First date: July 23rd in Lake Station, IN
What to expect: More kids in bright colors and flat-brimmed hats than you can shake a stick at, most of which will be flailing their arms in the mosh pit for a vast majority of the show” that’s right, this tour is filled with slam-filled deathcore. Bands such The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and Arsonists Get All The Girls will switch things up a bit with their off-the-wall brands of deathcore, but you won’t find much more variation in this lineup.