Live Blogging From The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival In Camden, NJ

It’s METAL MANIA at Moe Train’s Tracks all day, as we are about to head to the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival in Camden, NJ today! We’ll be live blogging all day while on-site (and dodging stray Camden bullets), so be sure to check the site for updates…

9am – We’re up and ready to go! Doing final checks and preparations, and then headed over the bridge from Philly to the Camden Waterfront. Interview with As I Lay Dying is at 2pm in the media area, so we’ll be wandering around the grounds shooting photos and talking with the legions of metal heads! We’ll be wearing black shirts, so make sure you come say hi if you see us! (ha. With the sea of black shirts destined to be there, it’ll be like Where’s Waldo to find us!)

2:30 – Just dominated the As I Lay Dying interview and saw ANTHRAX! Wandered around the grounds, checking out the scene and the multitude of black clad people. The sweet twinge of ganj permeated the air from corner to corner. None for Excelsior. Beverages only please.

3:16 – Said I just whipped your ass. Ha. Just got a signed copy of Shawn “Clown” Crahan’s (from Slipknot) new photo book, and an epic pic with him! Looking forward to seeing them later tonight.

As I Lay Dying destroyed it! Tim, their singer, is an absolute beast. When he came over to the table in the media room, I thought it was someone from the WWE coming to do the interview! There’s something about the daytime sets at Mayhem that bring the animal out, because the entire crowd was going apeshit. Tight as hell, super high energy, and great crowd interaction made their set a “must see.”

5:30- Anthrax is on! They are tearing it up beyond belief. There is NO reason why they should be playing a side stage. They’re one of the most legendary metal bands around. Joey Belladonna hasn’t missed a step one bit. Best set of the fest so far.

(Late edit: Anthrax was the undisputed set of the entire day. I heard they didn’t want to be the Main Stage opener, but it turned out to be a great move. 95 degree weather, mosh pits and beverages don’t make for a very lively late evening crowd. They should have played another half hour… At the least. They were THAT good.)

6:15 – Asking Alexandria jus opened up the main stage, and is tearing it the fuck up. Are they the new face of metal? Some would say yes, others still look to the classic sound of Slayer and Anthrax. By the way, did we say how fucking AWESOME Anthrax was?! Top three metal performance that we’ve ever seen.

7:00- Motörhead is playing the Main Stage right now… We were up front jammin along, but we quickly lost interest. I dig Lemmy, but there really isn’t a whole lot of energy left in Motorhead’s step. Much respect to the band for still going all of these years. On a side note, the drummer can solo his ass off!

(Late edit: Motörhead was voted our biggest disappointment of the day. I’m going to chalk it up as that they were tired from touring and they had an off day. I understand that the guys aren’t the spring chickens that they once were, and that accounts for a lot… Part of it seemed “phoned in,” which we couldn’t stop talking about. It’s tough to follow younger bands who are practically spontaneously combusting onstage from high energy. I guess that I’ll stick to listening to their albums from now on. TIME TO PLAY THE GAME…
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More to come soon… It was tough to live blog as day turned into night. Overall, we had a great time at Mayhem Fest. Mostly highs, a few lows, but a ton of moshing, sweating, singing, amazing concert photos, and left with a parting gift.

Ringing ears.