Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in Camden, NJ 2014

August 1, 2014

Susquehanna Bank Center- Camden, NJ

It was a long but exciting day for heavy music fans all across the globe at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ. The best way to describe Mayhem Festival would be a metal or heavy music Warped Tour which seemingly caters more-so to the older crowd. It’s another music festival that is highly anticipated by die hard fans every year. The three festival stages consisted of [far left] Headband For Highway/Sumerian Stage, [center] Coldcock American Herbal Whisky Stage, and [far right] the Victory Records stage. Lastly, as per usual, you can find the main stage inside the amphitheater.

Local band and champion of the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival battle of the bands, opened up the Headbang For Highway/Sumerian stage for the festival. Following local winners on the Headbang/Sumerian stage was Veil of Maya, Upon A Burning Body, and Darkest Hour. Closing out the stage was a band many fans anticipated the moment the lineup was announced, Body Count. Best known for rapping and acting, Ice T fronted the thrash metal band. Body Count was a band that initially formed back in 1990. After about a 3 year hiatus, the band came back in 2009 stronger than ever. On a stage decked out with cop car sirens and brass knuckle accented mic stands to match the theme of popular Body Count song Cop Killer released back in 1992, the band was extremely entertaining and put on a great performance. Hailing from NJ, you could find Coco, Ice T’s wife, their pit bulls, and various friends and family showing their support. After the band’s set, you could find Coco swarmed with religious fans asking for photos and autographs; she stood there and signed and took photos with just about, if not, every fan standing there. It was awesome to witness her being so kind, approachable, and genuine with her fans, posing for ‘selfies’ through the fence.

From start to finish it was an extremely overcast day with scattered showers throughout, but that didn’t stop anyone. Luckily the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as what they had been calling for. The Festival carried on and fans were going nuts!

On the far right side of the venue, you would find the Victory Records stage; this stage showcased talents Erimha, Islander, Wretched, III Nino, and Emmure. Emmure closed out the stage with a bang– fans screaming along to their favorite lyrics, with a set ranging from both old and new songs.

On the center Coldcock Whisky stage, a band known as King 810 opened up the caution taped stage. Fans seem to be really into the band as that put on a killer performance. Their set was full of drama, from coming out to a stage with caution tape stretched across it, immense amount of fog, dramatic expressions etc, it was a set worth catching. After a certain point in their set they had a man, covered in black paint and shiny underwear, roam the stage with a go-pro on his head. It was a fun and unique way to capture some pretty sweet footage. Following King 810, was Texas Hippie Coalition, Mushroomhead, Miss May I, Suicide Silence, and Cannibal Corpse.

Mushroomhead put on one of the best performances of the day. It was a performance that you couldn’t turn your head for even a second, without missing something. Each of the 9 or so members were wearing masks and entertaining the crowd in their own way. The drums on both sides of the stage were transparent with colored lights shooting through them, with top hat’s full of water that would explode when hit. One of the members went out into the crowd at one point during their set, among many other things. The band’s energy was incredible from crowd involvement to movement, squirt guns, spiffed up instruments, etc. Mushroomhead set the bar rather high for other bands performing the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival.

Inside the Amphitheater is where all the Mayhem on the Rockstar Energy Drink, considered to be “Main” stage, went down. This stage consisted of bands- Trivium, UK based Asking Alexandria, Korn, and headlining act, Avenged Sevenfold. Trivium was a nice touch in terms of opening up the Main stage. The band displayed enough passion and energy to get the crowd pumped up for the rest of the night. Following Trivium was Asking Alexandria. These lads are known for their explosive performance. The lighting was on point, as usual. The band also utilized CO2 canons timed to set off a particular segments of their set. For this tour, they added two large lit up A’s on both sides of the drum riser making for an even more appealing light show. With the amount of passion an emotion behind the lyrics they sing and their body language alone, their performance was incredible. Asking Alexandria put on one of the best performances of the night.

Korn was next to take the stage. The 5-piece considered to be “Nu Metal” or “Alternative Metal”, had the fans practically in tears with excitement yelling at the top of their lungs to try and get the band’s attention. Korn’s fan base flooded the amphitheater with singing adults and children of all ages. After Korn, was Avenged Sevenfold. The band came out and stole the show! Being known for putting on a real dark and dramatic performance, once again, Avenged saw that they delivered. The band’s set up took place against a castle-themed, bat-accented backdrop, displaying live footage from the show in place of the windows. Throughout the duration of their set they utilized mass amounts of pyro, and fog coordinated with specific segments of their performance. Their lighting too was somewhat dark, and incredibly red and blue a majority of the time, which worked well with the overall theme of their set. The set was rather light and colorful at times, as well, which would make for great photographs even for fans in the front row with their Iphones. With energy pouring from the stage, Avenged Sevenfold closed out the night with another fantastic performance leaving fans begging for more.