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| Gigantour | ||
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| Tour by Megadeth (See: full listing) |
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| Dates | July 21 - September 11, 2005 September 6 - October 24, 2006 November 10, 2007 - May 22, 2008 |
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| Legs | 6 | |
Gigantour is the name of an annual (sometimes biennial) six-week traveling heavy metal music festival organized by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine. The tour was founded in 2005 with dates across North America, and the 2006 and 2007 line-ups also traveled to Australia. The bands appearing at the festival were chosen by Mustaine because he wanted to "put together a festival that consisted of positive bands that play heavy music in a high energy environment."[1] The tour is set as an alternative to tours such as Ozzfest.[2] The name "Gigantour" was inspired by the classic 1960s anime Gigantor.[1]
Since the formation of Megadeth in 1983, they have toured with some of the biggest names in metal — from Iron Maiden to Anthrax — and are in fact one of the biggest names themselves. However, they have also performed with several highly respected bands that are not quite as popular.[citation needed] Each of the bands that were picked for Gigantour was chosen because Dave Mustaine believed it was among the best of the bands that he had played with or heard in his career with Megadeth, regardless of how many albums it had sold.[citation needed] Such bands as Dream Theater, Nevermore and Overkill are all highly respected by members of many other big-name bands and have strong followings in the metal world, but they are not nearly as commercially successful as big-name metal bands.[citation needed] Gigantour is an event that brings bands together for no other reason than the fact that they put on a great show.
Furthermore, the tour was devised as a way to cater to fans of many different styles of metal in the one package.[citation needed] There is much cross-over appeal in each of the bands on the bill, but they normally would not appear on a bill together unless it was another mainstream festival.[citation needed] Gigantour is a chance for fans of all styles of metal to see the best of many different styles in one place, with the music solely focused on great heavy metal, and not on current trends and fashions.
Megadeth, Dream Theater (July 21 - September 3), Anthrax (September 6 - September 11), Fear Factory, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore
Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic, Bobaflex
For the San Diego show there was no space for a second stage at the venue, and so many bands were left off the bill. As a result only four bands played that day, with Nevermore opening, followed by Fear Factory, Dream Theater, and Megadeth closing the show. To compensate for the glaring lack of advertised bands, however, each band performed extended sets, with Dream Theater and Megadeth playing approximately an hour and a half each.[citation needed]
The only second stage band that got to play this show was Bobaflex, with the rest of the bands being unable to play due to inclement weather. The first stage, being covered, was unaffected. All the bands still participated in their Meet 'n' Greet sessions.[citation needed]
In honor of late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was shot and killed on stage the previous December, Dream Theater, Dave Mustaine, Burton C. Bell (of Fear Factory) and Russell Allen (of Symphony X) performed the Pantera classic "Cemetery Gates." The performance is included on the bonus disc of the DVD.
During Dream Theater's set, Mike Portnoy brought Richard Christy of Death on stage for a long drum solo. The two got on the largest drum kit and exchanged parts of famous heavy metal favorites such as Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher", Rush's "YYZ", Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and "Where Eagles Dare", Slayer's "Raining Blood" and many others — some of which featured accompaniment from John Petrucci on guitar.
The Dillinger Escape Plan were forced to pull out of their remaining Gigantour live dates because of an injury to guitarist Ben Weinman. Weinman severely re-injured his arm at the House of Blues in Atlantic City and was told by a specialist that he would be unable to perform until further notice.[3]
Dream Theater played their last Gigantour date in Toronto. As a surprise, Mike Portnoy joined Dave Mustaine, James MacDonough, Shawn Drover, and Glen Drover performing "Peace Sells". Portnoy played the drums while Shawn Drover picked up a guitar and was the third guitar player on the stage. Shawn did one of the solos and surprised everyone in the crowd.[citation needed] Unfortunately, his guitar was unplugged for a fair bit of the song. According to Megadeth bassist James Macdonough, Portnoy pulled a prank on Shawn by pouring baby powder on the snare drum when he was getting off the drum kit. As soon as Megadeth began playing "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", Shawn's snare drum "turned into a 'smoke' machine". Portnoy admitted to the prank on the DVD. This is one example of many pranks done towards the end of Gigantour shows.[citation needed]
Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, and Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, along with Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, members from Bobaflex, tour managers from Fear Factory and Anthrax, and others, joined Megadeth on stage to sing "Peace Sells".
The Portland show (which was actually played in Ridgefield, Washington) marked the end of Gigantour's inaugural year. As a special farewell, members from all the bands and crew of Gigantour sang together the Megadeth song "Back in the Day." The show was wrapped up with a surprise happy birthday song to Dave Mustaine, whose birthday is September 13.
Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Overkill
Into Eternity, Sanctity, The SmashUp
At the September 23 show in Columbus, Angela Gossow joined Megadeth onstage during the second half of "Peace Sells". Earlier in the show, during Overkill's final song, two members of Lamb of God joined them onstage.[citation needed].
At the September 25 show in Toronto, Angela Gossow, Randy Blythe, and Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth joined Megadeth on stage and sang the final part of "Peace Sells" with him.
At the September 9 show in San Diego, September 24 in Clarkston Michigan, and September 29 show in Boston, there was no second stage. The bands that performed were, in order of appearance, Overkill, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Lamb of God, and Megadeth.
Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater joined Overkill on stage for their song "Elimination".
While playing in the September 25 show in Toronto, towards the beginning of Megadeth's set, Dave Mustaine underwent technical problems relating to his guitar, resulting in him throwing his guitar across the stage and walking off. The then band finished the song without Mustaine, and then followed him offstage. After fifteen minutes of chanting from the crowd, Megadeth finally returned to the stage, and with a brief apology from Dave, continued playing through their set.
While Lamb of God was on stage performing, someone spilled beer all over the soundboard, which didn't interfere with Lamb of God's set. However, Megadeth received some technical problems during their second set. Dave Mustaine got angry and threatened to "beat the hell out of whoever did it" and asked the crowd to bring the culprit to him. Dave then walked off stage for roughly 20 minutes until the problem was fixed.
Megadeth, Soulfly, Arch Enemy, Caliban
Megadeth, Static-X, Lacuna Coil, DevilDriver, Bring Me the Horizon
Megadeth, Job for a Cowboy, Evile
Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, High on Fire.
Dave Mustaine wanted a shorter lineup so each band has a good chance to put on a show.
During the Children of Bodom performance, the barricades broke and the show was stopped for 30 minutes to repair them. Megadeth allowed Children of Bodom to finish their set and allowed In Flames to perform fully.
During the Megadeth song "In My Darkest Hour", Dave Mustaine had two shirts thrown at him by a member in the audience. Dave threatened to "beat the guy's fucking brains in"; Mustaine challenged the audience member to come up on stage and throw something at him. The member of the audience was removed by security shortly after. The crowd then continued with a "Dave" chant.
A drink was thrown onto the sound board before Megadeth took the stage, and as a result Megadeth's performance was delayed significantly and the show was nearly cancelled. Later, during Megadeth's performance of "À Tout le Monde", two people from the crowd got up on the stage and ran over to Mustaine. After the song was finished, Megadeth left the stage, and the show appeared to be over because of this incident. After approximately ten minutes, a very displeased Mustaine came back on stage and addressed the crowd. Megadeth then finished the set.[4]
During Megadeth's performance of "Peace Sells", High on Fire came out and helped sing the end. During Megadeth's performance a drunk man also got past security guards and tried to rush over to Dave Mustaine and was tackled by two security guards.
Alexi Laiho, lead guitarist for Children of Bodom, said "it's great to be back in Alberta. Fuck I'm glad we aren't Megadeth"
Anders Fridén, vocalist for In Flames, forgets the second verse to "Come Clarity."
During the Children of Bodom set, there was a mix up with the light show and instead of the intended show, the show for Van Halen, who had performed in the same venue months before, began to play. During an intermission to fix the problem, Janne Wirman started up playing Van Halen's song 'Jump' on the keyboard, soon joined by Jaska Raatikainen on drums, while back stage Alexi Laiho was quote 'Puking his guts out.' The show was filmed for the Gigantour 3 DVD and this will be first Gigantour DVD to be released as full concert of Megadeth, The other acts on the bill were apparently offered a chance to be part of the DVD but declined.[5]
During the Children of Bodom set, Alexi informed the audience of the incident last night, stating that he almost had to cancel their set that night for the sake of his health. He continued to state that he decided against it after seeing the raw energy of the Long Beach crowd. Janne and Jaska played the intro to Van Halen's Jump but stopped before the chorus.
| Year | Months | Dates | Region toured | Bands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | July-September | 39 | USA/Canada | Main stage: Megadeth, Dream Theater (34 dates), Anthrax (5 dates), Fear Factory, The Dillinger Escape Plan (31 dates), Nevermore
Second stage: Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic, Bobaflex |
| 2006 | September-October | 25 | USA/Canada | Main stage: Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy
Second stage: Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity, The SmashUp |
| 2006 | October | 3 | Australia | Megadeth, Soulfly, Arch Enemy, Caliban |
| 2007 | November | 6 | Australia | Megadeth, Static-X, Lacuna Coil, DevilDriver, Bring Me the Horizon (3 dates) |
| 2008 | February | 7 | UK | Megadeth, Job For A Cowboy, Evile |
| 2008 | April-May | 30 | USA/Canada | Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, High on Fire |
| 2010 | TBC | TBC | USA/Canada | Megadeth, TBA |
It was mentioned on a few sites, including Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow's MySpace blog, and the Music Video blog Video Static, that the October 7, 2006 show in Sunrise, Florida was filmed by director Michael Serna (also the director of the 2005 Gigantour DVD) for a possible DVD release, though with no mention of a CD (but probably due to the formats of last year's release).[6]
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   | Actual Press Release - www.MEGADETH.com » Press Release |
| | Megadeth official website - Megadeth.com - Home |
| | Gigantour 2006 - MySpace.com - Gigantour - 31 - Male - LOS ANGELES, California - myspace.com/gigantour2006 |
| | Interview with Dave Mustaine - Gigantour - Gig Reviews - Music - Entertainment - smh.com.au |
| | Video Static article about the Gigantour 2006 DVD shoot. Gigantour 2 has been released on DVD in 2008. - Video Static: Music Video News: October 15, 2006 - October 21, 2006 |
| | Eagles Ballroom Complex - The Rave/Eagles Club/Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI [Milwaukee concerts, Internet presales, concert tickets, concert photos, live music, Wedding hall, special events ] |
| | Tweeter Center - Comcast Center Concert Tickets, Schedule, Information |Official Live Nation Site |
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