After the year-to-year success of the Warped Tour, founder Kevin Lyman had decided that metal fans need their own touring festival on an annual basis, thus kicking off the annual Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in 2008. Similar in concept to the Warped Tour, though not nearly as large, Mayhem recently brought three stages of metal to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL.
The Jägermeister and Silver Star stages provided a lineup of mostly metalcore bands throughout the day, though the biggest draw of the festival is on the main stage, which this year featured Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Rob Zombie, and Korn.
Lamb of God certainly had the most stripped-down set of the main stage performances, opting to skip out on pyro and other unnecessary additions and instead focus on a sonic attack of pounding riffs the band is known for. Rob Zombie stepped it up a notch in terms of production values, and provided the extravaganza that his live show is known for. With pyro blasting at every corner of the stage, Zombie dashed from one end to the other, bathed in an eerie mix of atmospheric red and green lights. Korn also did not disappoint with their stage display, playing amongst an assortment of industrial props such as oil derricks and signage. The band played a varied mix of songs from their catalog, however only opted to play two songs from their latest 2010 release, “Oildale Leave Me Alone” and “Let the Guilt Go”.