Mayhem vs. Warped

So I got to go to both Mayhem Fest and Warped Tour, and the two are completely different animals. I was actually at Mayhem Fest last night, so I'm still soar as all hell from the pits. Anyway, there's a few things I've noticed that go well for each and things that make each one a bit on the pain in the ass side.

For one, even though this is only the second year of Mayhem Fest, it is way more organized that Warped that's been going on for years. Actually, it's kind of ironic how organized Mayhem Fest was. Unlike Warped where all 6 or 7 stages will play at the same time, each band would be playing without any other stages active. It made it great because I literally got to see everyone that played in Dallas (except Black Dahlia Murder because I showed up a little late) as appose to Warped where I had to actually plan out a schedule to try and see bands I knew of and try to see the ones I haven't. With Warped you almost have to go to two or three shows just to see everyone.

But, Warped Tour is more fan orientated where every band has a tent set up with merch, and signings/picture ops at some point during the day. It's cool getting to talk to up and coming artists and ones that have been around awhile but just aren't quite famous (like the ones from Europe). And getting pictures taken with famous people always rocks. Mayhem Fest, I didn't see one chance at signings, but maybe I just missed it. Only a few bands in Dallas had a tent (Trivium and Cannibal Corpse are the ones I actually saw) anyway.

Also, I don't know if it was just the different venues, but at Warped in Indianapolis, it was all general admission, which was cool and annoying at the same time. Whereas in Dallas, the main stage was part of the venue and had seating levels. They actually made the people who bought seats sit in their seat, no one could stand in the aisles (which I thought was weird because I remember standing in the aisle at Family Values tour). Again, organization at Mayhem Fest, but in this case it was annoying. But, the one good thing about the seating was I could actually sit there and see everything on the main stage, as appose to finding somewhere for a decent view or shoving my way to the stage area.

I don't know, it just seemed interesting to me with all the differences between the two shows. Oh, and I don't care how old they are, Slayer still fucking rocks! They had a better set than Manson, and he was the top headliner!

slayer will always blow manson away

Mayhem has Slayer

Warped has Katy Perry

Hm... tough choice.

The Warped I went to had Flogging Molly and the Ataris. Plus Tat, In This Moment, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Anti-Flag. It had enough good punk/alternative and metal bands to compete with the majority of Mayhem's line-up.