Slayer, Blink-182, and Bikini Kill to headline Riot Fest’s massive 15th-anniversary show

Hold onto your mohawks guys, because Riot Fest’s 15th-anniversary show is going to be one for the books. On Wednesday (May 29), festival organizers unveiled the massive lineup for this year’s weekend-long event. Blink-182, the newly reunited Bikini Kill, The Raconteurs, Rise Against, The Flaming Lips, Jawbreaker, and Bloc Party are just some of the bands headlining the show.

Also getting a spot on the large print portion of the festival poster is Slayer. Their appearance at Riot Fest will be the iconic metal band’s final performance in Chicago (and Milwaukee).

Joining the already stacked lineup are Taking Back Sunday, Rancid, Descendents, Manchester Orchestra, Dashboard Confessionals, the B-52s, the Starting Line, Streetlight Manifesto, The Get Up Kids, Senses Fail, Less than Jake, Anti-Flag, Cursive, Save Ferris, Frank Iero and the Future Violents, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, and a slew more.

As per Riot Fest tradition, many of the bands on the roster will perform some of their albums in full. Those acts include the Flaming Lips (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots), WEEN (The Mollusk), Bloc Party (Silent Alarm), Taking Back Sunday (Tell All Your Friends and Louder Now), Dashboard Confessional (The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most), Against Me! (Reinventing Axl Rose and Transgender Dysphoria Blues), Glassjaw (Worship & Tribute), Senses Fail (Let it Enfold You and From the Depths of Dreams), and AVAIL will reunite to perform Over the James.

Tickets for Riot Fest 2019 are currently available for purchase on the festival’s website. Considering the colossal lineup, it may be wise to get your tickets as soon as possible instead of risking the event selling out.

Riot Fest returns to its home of Douglas Park in Chicago during the weekend of Sept. 13- 15. For more information about the lineup, tickets, or general inquiries, head on over to Riot Fest’s website.

Slayer unveil new North American 2019 tour stops

Slayer’s farewell tour just keeps on going and going. On Monday (Dec. 10), the iconic metal band announced the fifth leg of their “final” world tour. The upcoming trek, their third North American farewell jaunt, will find the group performing at venues across the north and southeastern parts of the continent during the month of May.

The 16-date tour will include stops in Albuquerque, Dallas, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Columbia, Camden, and more. The trek will begin on May 2 at the Ak-Chin Amphitheatre in Phoenix and conclude a few weeks later on May 25 at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

According to a press release, there are still a slew of tour stops that have yet to be announced, but fans should expect them to be confirmed at a later date.
Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, and Cannibal Corpse will act as Slayer’s supporting acts throughout the upcoming tour.

Tickets for the springtime jaunt go on sale this Friday, Dec. 14, at 10 a.m. local time.
The newly announced dates will be sandwiched between the band’s previously announced fourth and sixth leg. The fourth leg of the farewell tour will find Slayer performing in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the Philippines while the sixth leg will include stops in Europe.

As if the new tour dates wasn’t enough, Slayer was confirmed as one of the many bands who will make their way to Canada in the summer for Montreal’s Heavy Montreal music festival. As of now, Slayer is the only band confirmed for the event set to take place in July.

For now, the complete list of newly announced tour dates can be seen below.

SLAYER’S NORTH AMERICAN FAREWELL TOUR: FIFTH LEG DATES:

May 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Amphitheatre
May 3 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheatre,
May 5 – El Paso, TX – UTEP/Don Haskins Center
May 7 – Edinburg, TX – Bert Ogden Arena
May 8 – Dallas, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
May 10 – Tampa, FL – MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 11 – West Palm Beach, FL – Coral Sky Amphitheatre
May 13 – Huntington, WV – Big Sandy Superstore Arena
May 14 – Columbia, MD – Merriweasther Post Pavilion
May 16 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
May 17 – Bonner Springs, KS – Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
May 19 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Center
May 20 – Youngstown, OH – Covel Centre
May 22 – Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Tire Centre
May 24 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
May 25 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

Chicago Open Air 2017 lineup unleashed

The lineup for the second annual Chicago Open Air has been unveiled and it looks like rockers and metal heads alike will be stoked. On Tuesday (Jan. 17), festival organizers unveiled the lengthy list of  artists set to hit Chicago in mid-July. KISS, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Anthrax, Korn, Godsmack, Seether, Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Stone Sour, and Lamb of God are some of the over 40 performers scheduled to take over Toyota Park.

“Walking through the site last year, I saw people from all over the world. Different ages, different races – people celebrating rock culture. When curating the 2017 version of Chicago Open Air, we wanted to find that balance for everyone who attends the festival. From iconic artists like Ozzy, KISS, Korn and Slayer to Rob Zombie, Godsmack and Stone Sour to Amon Amarth, Meshuggah and Behemoth. If you are a rock fan, this is a must see experience,” said Danny Wimmer, founder of Danny Wimmer Presents.

In addition to the rocking music, Chicago Open Air will also feature craft beer, the Gourmet Man Food festival, as well as several parties and experiences.

Chicago Open Air will return to this home of Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, just outside Chicago, during the weekend of July 14-16. Tickets for the music festival will go on sale beginning this Friday, Jan. 20. At that time, there will be four different options to choose from. The three-day general admission field pass that will cost you around $209.50. the three-day general admission bowl pass will cost around $119.50. For those not sure if they want to go one day or all three days, single day passes will cost $50. If you want to experience the music festival and not to worried about prices, there will be a three-day VIP pass that starts at $425.00. For more information about passes or the artists, head on over to the music festival’s website.

For now, the daily list of artists can be seen below so you can begin to pan accordingly.

Friday, July 14: KISS, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Anthrax, Meshuggah, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Falling In Reverse, Vimic, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Crobot, Code Orange, Hell or Highwater, Failure Anthem

Saturday, July 15: Korn, Godsmack, Seether, Clutch, Steel Panther, Body Count, Avatar, Mushroomhead, Metal Church, Pig Destroyer, Dragonforce, Cane Hill, Night Verses, Black Map

Sunday, July 16: Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Stone Sour, Lamb Of God, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Hellyeah, Demon Hunter, DevilDriver, KYNG, Norma Jean, Whores., DED

Riot Fest Announce Final Album to Be Played in Full

When Riot Fest announced that this year would mark the festival’s tenth anniversary and their plans to make it an anniversary to remember, they told fans and future attendees that ten of the acts would be playing one of their hit albums in full.

Until now, the acts that had been confirmed to be doing this would include, The Offspring (Smash), Samhain (Initium), Weezer (The Blue Album), The Descendants (Milo Goes to College), Naked Raygun (Throb Throb), Jane’s Addiction (Nothing’s Shocking), Slayer (Reign in Blood), NOFX (Punk in Drublic), and the Get Up Kids (Something to Write Home About).

To keep fans intrigued, festival organizers have waited until today to reveal the last act and their album.

It’s Cheap Trick performing Heaven Tonight.

Check out the official flyer from Riot Fest here.

Watch Fall Out Boy Participate in a Drum-Off

Fall Out Boy has just begun their “MONUMENTOUR” Summer tour with Paramore and New Politics this past week, and we have already begun to get some cool videos from it.

Yesterday, video surfaced of FOB covering Queen’s iconic song, “We Are the Champions” and today, video was released of frontman Patrick Stump and drummer Andy Hurley having a major drum-off to the tunes of, get this, Slayer AND Jay-Z.

Quickly, it seems like these kind of drum-offs will be a major staple of Fall Out Boy’s set during this tour, because video of them doing similar antics during their stop in Mansfield, MA and Hartford, CT has already made its way onto the internet.

Check out the video below and if you haven’t already gotten tickets to an upcoming date of the “MONUMENTOUR,” you might want to reconsider that.

Riot Fest Announces Line-ups For All Three Editions

After waiting for what felt like ages to see who would be performing at all three Riot Fests, the festival organizers have revealed all the acts that will be taking the stage at the three different incarnations of it.

The line-ups are proving to be a who’s-who in the rock genre with acts like The Cure, Jane’s Addition, the National, Weezer, Social Distortion, Slayer and The Offspring which we assumed would be true following the reveal of all their upcoming tour dates in support of the 20th anniversary of their album, Smash.

Chicago, which leads the pack with the most artists will take place at Humboldt Park during the weekend of September 12-14. 

The Denver edition of the festival which will take place at May Farm in Byers, CO during the weekend of September 19-21 will also feature some of the same artists as the Chicago version, but not as extensive as the parent festival.

As for Toronto, The National, City and Colour, Rise Against and Billy Talent had already been confirmed, but now the full line-up for that show which will take place at Downsview Park on September 6 and 7 including a last-minute addition of The Cure to the list.

If you’re drooling over the complete line-ups, then don’t bother reading anymore and just head on over to the festival’s official site and get your tickets because we can guarantee you that they will be sold out soon, but if you want to continue down to the line-up lists, please do.

CHICAGO:

DENVER:

TORONTO:

Slayer Reveal Official Cause of Death of Jeff Hanneman

A week after Slayer guitarist, Jeff Hanneman, passed away an official cause has been revealed by the band.

At the beginning, it was thought that the root of Hanneman’s death was due to liver failure and some people even started to believe that it was due to the necrotizing fasciitis infection.

Read the band’s full statement about the cause of death below:

“We’ve just learned that the official cause of Jeff’s death was alcohol-related cirrhosis. While he had his health struggles over the years, including the recent necrotizing fasciitis infection that devastated his well-being, Jeff and those close to him were not aware of the true extent of his liver condition until the last days of his life. Contrary to some reports, Jeff was not on a transplant list at the time of his passing, or at any time prior to that. In fact, by all accounts, it appeared that he had been improving – he was excited and looking forward to working on a new record.”

Slayer Guitarist Dies of Liver Failure

Today marks a sad day for the world of metal.

Slayer guitarist and founding member of the iconic band, Jeff Hanneman passed away at the age of 49 due to liver failure. On their website, the band posted the following message to fans about the passing of Hanneman:

“Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 – 2013)”

Hanneman’s death comes after a long ordeal that was brought on by a spider bite. Yesterday, the band posted on their site a little bit of information about Hanneman’s situation:

“It’s been about a year since he got out of the hospital, and since then, he had to learn to walk again, he’s had several painful skin grafts, he’s been in rehab doing exercises to regain the strength in his arm,” the statement said.

The letter also revealed that even though Hanneman was looking forward to rejoining the band soon, he had also told them that “he need [ed] to take more time to continue his rehab.”

RIP