In keeping with my practice of broadcasting the occasional big touring event I wanted to direct our readers attention to the recently announced “Gigantour 2013” which many know as being the concert series that is masterminded by Dave Mustaine and his merry mates in Megadeth. I’ll have more information for you after the poster below and its jump 🙂

The Gigantour for 2013 will of course feature a headlining Megadeth and joining them for the run this year will be Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah, Newsted, and Death Division. BLS needs no introduction but perhaps fans need to know a little bit more about Device (this is Dave Draiman’s new project), Hellyeah (the super group that features members of Mudvayne, Damageplan, Nothingface and Pantera) and Death Division (a band that finds Tim Yeung and Jerry Morano working together as a new face in Metal), then there is Newsted which is the band fronted by former Metallica, former Voivod and Echobrain bassist – Jason Newsted (I think his track record speaks for itself so I shall say no more); So what does everyone think of the lineup? Oh yeah, here is some of the official press copy before I continue….

“GIGANTOUR–the critically acclaimed package festival founded in 2005 by MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine—returns in 2013 with an incredible new line-up for the tour. In addition to headliner MEGADETH, the multi-artist bill features metal heavyweights BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, DEVICE, HELLYEAH, NEWSTED and DEATH DIVISION, all personally picked by MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine. GIGANTOUR “This year’s power-packed lineup is probably the best Gigantour yet, and we’ve had some pretty massive Gigantours over the years. Gigantour 2013 brings four of my favorite bands, each centered around a superstar. With Zakk, David, Vinnie, and Jason there are going to be fans from Ozzy to Disturbed to Pantera to Metallica and everything that’s metal in-between! Don’t miss the metal festival of the summer!” says Mustaine. He founded the tour in 2005 and over the years has had established artists such as Volbeat, Motorhead, Anthrax, Fear Factory and Dream Theater, as well as giving (then) up-and-coming artists Lacuna Coil, Into Eternity and Sanctity their first break on a national festival tour. GIGANTOUR 2013 continues with this tradition.”

I’ll admit that I am not as excited for this as I had expected to be but that is because I felt the first two go rounds of this festival style event were so incredibly amazing. Across the two that I witnessed as first go rounds we had Dream Theater, Into Eternity, Overkill, Symphony X, Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore, Fear Factory, Opeth, Lamb Of God and Arch Enemy and they just left me wowed. Of course I had fun at the third one with In Flames and Children of Bodom but didn’t catch last years with Volbeat and Lacuna Coil and kind of felt that the original premise of a Mega-Festival had been cut down to a handful of acts that just end up being openers for Megadeth. I see a lot of shows during the course of a year so I have gotten a lot fussier about things like this. Don’t hate me for it please. Here are the tour dates so you can mark your calendar about it.

TOUR DATES
07/03 Gilford, NH – Meadowbrook
07/05 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
07/06 Canandaigua, NY – Marvin Sands PAC
07/08 Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
07/09 Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena
07/10 Youngstown, OH – Covelli Center
07/12 Dallas, TX – TBA
07/13 Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Amphitheatre
07/14 Corpus Christi, TX – Concrete Street Amphitheatre
07/16 Oklahoma City, OK – Zoo Amphitheatre
07/18 Bloomington, IL – US Cellular Coliseum
07/19 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
07/20 Cadott, WI – Chippewa Valley Music Festival
07/22 Winnipeg, MB – MTS Center
07/23 Calgary, AB – Stampede Corral
07/26 Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
07/27 Dawson Creek, BC – EnCana Events Centre
07/29 Abbotsford, BC – Abbotsford Entertainment Center
07/30 Everett, WA – Comcast Arena
08/01 West Valley City, UT – Maverik Center
08/02 Denver, CO – 1st Bank Center
08/04 Fargo, ND – Scheels Arena
08/07 New York, NY – TBA
08/09 Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
08/10 Montreal, QC – Heavy MTL
08/11 Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

So what do you readers think about this go round for Gigantour? Does it impress you or does it leave you for want? Will you attend or will you bypass it for something else? It’s too early for me know if I’ll want to attend as a member of Metal’s illustrious press legions but if I do I am leaning on wherever that NYC show will be. My hope is that it will be either Roseland Ballroom, Hammerstein Ballroom or the Best Buy Theater. Any of those venues would work out under the circumstances. The comments are open for you to throw your two cents into the mix.

Official Links:
Gigantour: http://www.gigantour.com
Megadeth: http://www.megadeth.com
Hellyeah: http://www.hellyeahband.com/
Black Label Society: http://blacklabelsociety.com/home/
Device: http://deviceband.com/
Newsted:
Death Division: https://www.facebook.com/DeathDivision

PiercingMetal’s past coverage of the Gigantour can be enjoyed via THIS LINK. I enjoyed those events for sure but sadly also missed a couple of them so for those stories you must seek out other websites or blogs. Sorry about that. Also, I’ve embedded a bunch of recordings from both Megadeth and a number of the support acts for your examination. Perhaps they will enhance your interest in attending the tour or adding to the music library.