GIGANTOUR IS BACK: 'THE MOTHER OF ALL SHRED FESTS' TO KICK OFF SECOND YEAR IN SEPTEMBER; MEGADETH RETURNS AS MAIN STAGE HEADLINER WITH LAMB OF GOD CONFIRMED


GIGANTOUR is back.

The fast and furious traveling festival that was hailed last year by Revolver magazine as "the mother of all shred fests" will kick off its second year in early September.

Look for the tour--the brainchild of MEGADETH frontman DAVE MUSTAINE --to launch in the Northeast and to work its way through 25 major markets before wrapping in mid-October, with Xbox's "Gears of War" sponsoring the trek. MEGADETH will return as the festival headliner on a bill that includes fellow heavy-hitters Lamb of God, plus Opeth, Arch Enemy, Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity and The Smashup all confirmed for these mostly outdoor shows. Other second stage artists will be announced soon.

MUSTAINE personally hand-picks all the GIGANTOUR bands, with a sharp eye on true musicianship. He says GIGANTOUR is a great place for like-minded music fans to see a full day of music on two stages without breaking the bank, and he's glad the tour is back in '06. " This is the concert that I, as a heavy metal music fan, would want to see," says MUSTAINE. "It is going to be something to look forward to each year, to see what kind of tremendous talent we can assemble, for GIGANTOUR festivals in the years to come."

Lamb of God's Mark Morton says, "Megadeth is one of the main reasons I started playing metal guitar in the first place. To finally tour with them is really exciting and it's a great way to start off our world tour supporting Sacrament . We've been dying to get the new material up and running on the live stage. We've worked so hard on the new record--it's really a great sense of accomplishment to see the new tunes come to life in a live setting. We're really looking forward to this one." The group's Chris Adler says, "Teaming up with Megadeth on GIGANTOUR is a metal dream come true. The lineup represents some of the most proficient metal bands and players from across the world and we are looking forward to joining forces and kicking ass. We're planning on a nice long set, introducing a lot of new and very heavy material from Sacrament as well as keeping the brutal live tracks from our previous albums. We can't wait to take the stage and destroy it."

Last year's inaugural GIGANTOUR was a six-week trek that was hailed by the Miami Herald for featuring "only bands whose musicianship matches their ability to melt faces with sheer volume and power." The Orange County Register agreed, saying, "...it does a heart good to see Mustaine able to buck the chameleon trend of rock and stay firm to his ideals, keeping the music the priority and not the image."

As for joining forces with GIGANTOUR, Craig Davison, Director of Global Games Marketing for Xbox, says, "We're totally jazzed about the partnership between Gigantour 2006 and our forthcoming Xbox 360 blockbuster, Gears of War ! Partnering a music extravaganza like GIGANTOUR with the launch of a mega-hit game like Gears of War captures the excitement around two awesome happenings for fans of music and video games!" Gears of War is a blockbuster video game exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system that blends tactical action with survival horror. Gears of War thrusts gamers into a harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival and is available this holiday.

In other GIGANTOUR news, Image Entertainment will release two-DVD and two-CD sets of GIGANTOUR 2005, which included Megadeth, Dream Theatre, Fear Factory, Anthrax, Nevermore, Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex. The CD is out August 22, with the DVD hitting stores September 5--just in time for this year's tour.

Stay tuned for more details, or check out http://www.GIGANTOUR.com , http://www.megadeth.com , http://www.myspace.com/gigantour2006 , and http://www.myspace.com/megadeth .

The current itinerary is below (note: exact line-up for shows subject to change).

September:

7 San Diego - TBA
8 Oakland - Oakland Coliseum
9 San Luis Obispo - Pozo Saloon Amphitheatre
10 San Bernardino - Hyundai Pavilion
12 Las Vegas - TBA
13 Phoenix - Dodge Theatre
15 Salt Lake City - USANA
16 Denver - Coors Amphitheatre
17 Albuquerque - Journal Pavilion
19 TBD
21 Milwaukee - Eagles Ballroom
22 Chicago - Congress Theatre
23 Columbus - Nationwide Arena
24 Detroit - DTE Energy Amphitheatre
25 Toronto - Molson Amphitheatre
27 Montreal - Bell Centre
28 Uniondale - Nassau Coliseum
29 TBD
30 Holmdel - PNC Bank Center
October
1 TBD
3 TBD
5 TBD
6 Tampa - St Pete Times Forum
7 Orlando - Hard Rock Live
8 Sunrise FL - Bank Atlantic Center

Source: Megadeth.com

Awesome stuff. This kicks the shit out of Ozzfest and SOTU.

Screw Mustaine and his tour.

(Even though the last one was good, save for Bobaflex, Nevermore, and a few others)

I'll probably go this year. Overkill is supposed to be playing and I've enjoyed most of their music over the last 20 years.

I've already seen Overkill, LoG, Megadeth, and Opeth. I don't have any desire whatsoever to see any of the other bands or to see those four again.

Screw Mustaine and his tour.

(Even though the last one was good, save for Bobaflex, Nevermore, and a few others)

Save for NEVERMORE?

Nevermore is one of the few unique sounding and most consistent bands of the scene and one of the best metal acts of the last ten years. "This Godless Endeavor" was in the 2005 top three of many metal fans and journalists (as well as mine, right behind "Ghost Reveries" and "Alien").

Warrel Dane is up there with the best metal singers and lyricists like Dio, Halford, Dickinson, Tate, Patton and Devy; Jeff Loomis is up there with the legendary Skolnicks and Schuldiners of the scene.

Put simply: You must be on crack!

I didn't think it was THAT good, not from a musical standpoint at least - though it was better than the average metal album. But the reason I don't like the band is because that guy has one of the most annoying voices I've ever heard.

Screw Mustaine and his tour.

(Even though the last one was good, save for Bobaflex, Nevermore, and a few others)

Save for NEVERMORE?

Nevermore is one of the few unique sounding and most consistent bands of the scene and one of the best metal acts of the last ten years. "This Godless Endeavor" was in the 2005 top three of many metal fans and journalists (as well as mine, right behind "Ghost Reveries" and "Alien").

Warrel Dane is up there with the best metal singers and lyricists like Dio, Halford, Dickinson, Tate, Patton and Devy; Jeff Loomis is up there with the legendary Skolnicks and Schuldiners of the scene.

Put simply: You must be on crack!

I just cannot stand the singer. He makes me want to throw up. His wailing is just sickening. I'm feeling bad just thinking about it.
Musically, yes Nevermore is great. But the singer makes it that I can't listen to them. They don't have instrumental songs too!!


(By the way the best 2005 releases were Akercocke - Words that go unspoken, deeds that go undone and Non-Human Level!)

I just cannot stand the singer. He makes me want to throw up. His wailing is just sickening. I'm feeling bad just thinking about it.

Meh, all those younglings who grew up on metal with cookie monster vocals à la At The Gates (nothing wrong with cookie monster vocals btw). I take it you don't like Devin Townsend's vocals either...

They don't have instrumental songs too!!

They have instrumental interludes and excessive instrumental parts. Listen to "The Learning" from Politics Of Ecstacy, come back and tell me how much this song sucks, vocals included!

(By the way the best 2005 releases were Akercocke - Words that go unspoken, deeds that go undone and Non-Human Level!)

No, they are not.

Um, if we don't like his voice then we simply don't like his voice. It won't really change. It's just like how some people loooove Geddy Lee's (Rush) vocals and some can't stand them. Same goes for Coheed and Cambria, and well even Devin Townsend just to name a few. The Nevermore guy just has a really polarizing voice because it's so unique.

And I don't like cookie monster vocals as well

Um, if we don't like his voice then we simply don't like his voice. It won't really change. It's just like how some people loooove Geddy Lee's (Rush) vocals

Uääähhh! I cannot stand his voice!

This years line up is pretty good, but nothing can compare to last years Gigantour...hopefully Dave will consider having SYL on next years festival. I remember Glen Drover talking to me about SYL, he mentioned that they did try and ask them to play on the first Gigantour...but as you all know they had festivals in Europe and everything else goin on.

Here's hopin.

I just cannot stand the singer. He makes me want to throw up. His wailing is just sickening. I'm feeling bad just thinking about it.

Meh, all those younglings who grew up on metal with cookie monster vocals à la At The Gates (nothing wrong with cookie monster vocals btw). I take it you don't like Devin Townsend's vocals either...

I just really really really can't stand his voice. He may be a good singer, his voice still makes me sick, literally.