SLAYER, MARILYN MANSON Comment On Upcoming ROCKSTAR ENERGY MAYHEM Tour

January 28, 2009

A short video message from Kerry King and Tom Araya of Los Angeles thrashers SLAYER officially announcing the band's participation in this year's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour can be viewed below.

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the most electrifying carnival to ever hit the summer concert circuit, is back...and bigger. Organizers of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival announced today that hard music legends MARILYN MANSON and SLAYER will top the bill on this year's highly anticipated tour, which is set to kick off July 10 at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Sacramento, CA. The festival will tear through 27 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Mayhem tickets will go on sale to the public on April 24.

Like last year's Godzillian-sized lineup, the second annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival will feature a gaggle of rock's heaviest bands: the main stage will see MARILYN MANSON and SLAYER joined by BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and a special guest (rumored to be KILLSWITCH ENGAGE) that will be announced in the coming weeks; the Jägermeister stage will feature TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, GOD FORBID and the Jägermeister Battle of the Bands winner; the Hot Topic stage will feature extreme metal bands CANNIBAL CORPSE, JOB FOR A COWBOY, BEHEMOTH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and WHITECHAPEL. The World's Greatest Freestyle Motocross team METAL MULISHA will also be revving up the crowd with their unique style of death-defying motorcycle stunts on all dates.

The festival billing is as follows:

Main Stage:

SLAYER
MARILYN MANSON
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
Special Guest (to be announced)

Hot Topic Stage:

CANNIBAL CORPSE
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER
JOB FOR A COWBOY
BEHEMOTH
WHITECHAPEL

Jägermeister Stage:

TRIVIUM
ALL THAT REMAINS
GOD FORBID

"Given the great success of last year's festival, we knew that we needed to put together a stellar group of talent for 2009 — and we have," say Mayhem producers John Reese and Kevin Lyman. "This will be a blockbuster event, one that blends thrilling live performances with special music-related events and a few yet-to-be-revealed surprises. The result is a concert experience like no other. We're extremely excited to get the show on the road."

"Last year's inaugural Mayhem Festival tour was a definitive success, attracting nearly 340,000 incremental fans to our amphitheaters," said Jason Garner, Chief Executive Officer of Global Music at Live Nation, the tour's co-producer. "This year, the Mayhem team has delivered another great all-star lineup and we anticipate another huge success for Mayhem."

"I have good news and I have bad news to announce," declares Manson. "The good news is that I am completely aware now that our music and our Mayhem tour will have a negative, destructive influence on America. The bad news is that I don't give a f***."

Manson is currently in the studio working on his forthcoming album scheduled for release in May on Interscope Records. This highly anticipated record reunites Manson and Twiggy Ramirez for their first collaboration since "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)" in 2000.

Summer 2009 will also see a brand new album from the mighty SLAYER, who have already recorded three new songs and are slated to return to the studio in February to finish. Late last fall, SLAYER made one of the new tracks, "Psychopathy Red", available as a free online stream to fans, and to date, the song has been posted online at more than one million sites.

"We co-headlined with MANSON once before, a couple of years ago," said SLAYER's Kerry King, "so we all know what we're getting into. Manson and I probably drank a little too much absinthe on that tour, but we had a really good time hanging out and playing good music — we're looking forward to doing the same this summer on Mayhem."

Says SLAYER vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, "We're looking forward to some summer mayhem and playing new sh*t!"

The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is the brainchild of Kevin Lyman, John Reese and CAA's Darryl Eaton, the creative team behind some of the industry's most successful road jaunts, including the long-running Vans Warped Tour and the worldwide Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour.

Following the proven model of utilizing sponsorship to deliver a lower ticket price and an enhanced concert experience, the tour organizers have joined forces once again with Rockstar Energy Drink, the festival's title sponsor.

"We're excited to continue our successful relationship with the festival," says Michael Kelso, Marketing Director for Rockstar Energy Drink. "We're looking forward to delivering a high-energy, mind-blowing event, one that not only brings you the biggest lineup of the summer, but also at an affordable ticket price. Let the Mayhem continue."

In addition to catching a slew of speaker-shredding performances, fans can take part in a number of festival activities, including playing the newest video games, perusing vendors, attending autograph signing sessions and a host of other interactive activities that will add to the festival experience.

Stage sponsor Jägermeister will be sampling their products and providing fun surprises for attendees. "Jägermeister is proud to once again be working with Mayhem and its great staff of people in 2009," says Rick Zeiler, Jägermeister Director of Strategic Marketing. "We plan to not only rock our million dollar mobile stage again this year but SLAYER's Kerry King and a host of other great bands have agreed to sign autographs at our activation booth. Once again Jagermeister and Mayhem will prove to be a marriage made in heaven."

The dates are as follows (all dates are subject to change):

Jul. 10 - Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Jul. 11 - San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
Jul. 12 - San Bernardino, CA @ Glen Helen Pavilion
Jul. 14 - Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheater
Jul. 17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
Jul. 18 - Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
Jul. 19 - Denver, CO @ Coors Amphitheater
Jul. 21 - Kansas City, KS @ Sandstone Amphitheater
Jul. 22 - St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 24 - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheater
Jul. 25 - Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Centre
Jul. 26 - Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Jul. 28 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheater
Jul. 29 – Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
Jul. 31 - Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center
Aug. 01 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
Aug. 02 - Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug. 04 - Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center for the Perf. Arts
Aug. 06 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Virginia Beach Amphitheater
Aug. 07 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
Aug. 08 - Hartford, CT @ New England Dodge Music Center
Aug. 09 - Washington, DC @ Nissan Pavilion
Aug. 11 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
Aug. 12 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Sound Advice Amphitheater
Aug. 14 - Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center
Aug. 15 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchel Pavilion
Aug. 16 - San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

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