Gigantour

Gigantour is the name of an annual six-week traveling heavy metal music festival organized by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine. The tour was founded in 2005 with dates across North America, and the 2006 and 2007 line-ups also traveled to Australia. The bands appearing at the festival were chosen by Mustaine because he wanted to "put together a festival that consisted of positive bands that play heavy music in a high energy environment." The tour is set as an alternative to tours such as Ozzfest and Hellfest.Fact|date=January 2008

Among the stated goals of the tour are to cater to fans of many different styles of metal, as well as to introduce fans to less familiar acts. This is accomplished through the second stage, which hosts less-well-known metal bands.

The name Gigantour was inspired by the classic 1960s Anime "Gigantor". The Gigantour logo was inspired by The Terminator logo. The logo was conceived and designed by Dave Mustaine and Dave McRobb, webmaster of http://www.megadeth.com.

The Festival

Since the formation of Megadeth in 1983, they have toured with some of the biggest names in metal — from Iron Maiden to Anthrax — and are in fact one of the biggest names themselves. However, they have also performed with several highly respected bands that are not quite as popular.Fact|date=January 2008 Each of the bands that were picked for Gigantour was chosen because Dave Mustaine believed it was among the best of the bands that he had played with or heard in his career with Megadeth, regardless of how many albums it had sold.Fact|date=January 2008 Such bands as Dream Theater, Nevermore and Overkill are all highly respected by members of many other big-name bands and have strong followings in the metal world, but they are not nearly as commercially successful as big-name metal bands.Fact|date=January 2008 Gigantour is an event that brings bands together for no other reason than the fact that they put on a great show.

Furthermore, the tour was devised as a way to cater to fans of many different styles of metal in the one package.Fact|date=January 2008 There is much cross-over appeal in each of the bands on the bill, but they normally would not appear on a bill together unless it was another mainstream festival.Fact|date=January 2008 Gigantour is a chance for fans of all styles of metal to see the best of many different styles in one place, with the music solely focused on great heavy metal, and not on current trends and fashions.

The First Gigantour (2005)

Line-Up

Main Stage

Megadeth, Dream Theater (July 21 - September 3), Anthrax (September 6 - September 11), Fear Factory, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore

econd Stage

Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic, Bobaflex

Tour Dates

July

*21 Fresno, CA - Selland Arena
*22 Las Vegas, NV - Thomas and Mack Center
*23 Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Pavilion
*24 Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
*26 Sacramento, CA - The Cove
*28 San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater
*29 Tucson, AZ - Casino Del Sol
*30 Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion

August

*01 San Antonio, TX - Lonestar Pavilion
*02 Dallas, TX - Nokia Live
*03 Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street Amphitheater
*05 Atlanta, GA - Arena at Gwinnett Center
*06 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
*07 West Palm Beach, FL - Sound Advice Amphitheater
*08 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
*10 Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
*11 Ft. Wayne, IN - Coliseum Expo
*12 Chicago, IL - Tweeter Center
*13 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom Complex
*14 Cleveland, OH - Tower City Amphitheater
*16 Cincinnati, OH - Annie's Outdoor Pavilion
*17 Pittsburgh, PA - Chevrolet Amphitheater
*19 Portland, ME - Civic Center
*20 Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
*21 Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center
*23 Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach Amphitheater
*24 Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
*26 Boston, MA - Bank Of America Pavilion
*27 Reading, PA - Sovereign Center
*28 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
*30 Buffalo, NY - Darien Lake Amphitheater
*31 Huntington, WV - Big Sandy Superstore Arena

eptember

*02 Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
*03 Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
*06 Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Center
*07 Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral
*09 Vancouver, BC - PNE Coliseum
*10 Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheater
*11 Ridgefield, WA - Clark County Amphitheater

Notable Incidents

Lack of a second stage on some tour stops

July 28, 2005 - San Diego, CA

For the San Diego show there was no space for a second stage at the venue, and so many bands were left off the bill. As a result only four bands played that day, with Nevermore opening, followed by Fear Factory, Dream Theater, and Megadeth closing the show. To compensate for the glaring lack of advertised bands, however, each band performed extended sets, with Dream Theater and Megadeth playing approximately an hour and a half each.Fact|date=January 2008

August 7, 2005 - West Palm Beach, FL

The only second stage band that got to play this show was Bobaflex, with the rest of the bands being unable to play due to inclement weather. The first stage, being covered, was unaffected. All the bands still participated in their Meet 'n' Greet sessions.Fact|date=January 2008

"Cemetery Gates" Tribute to Dimebag Darrell

August 2, 2005 - Dallas, TX

A special tribute was done for Dimebag Darrell by Dream Theater, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, and Russell Allen of Symphony X by performing "Cemetery Gates". This performance is included on the bonus disc of the DVD.

Mike Portnoy joined by Richard Christy on stage

=August 23 and 24, 2005=

During Dream Theater's set, Mike Portnoy brought Richard Christy of Death on stage for a long drum solo. The two got on the largest drum kit and exchanged parts of famous heavy metal favorites such as Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher", Rush's "YYZ", Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and "Where Eagles Dare", Slayer's "Raining Blood" and many others — some of which featured accompaniment from John Petrucci on guitar.

The Dillinger Escape Plan were forced to cancel the tour

August 30, 2005

The Dillinger Escape Plan were forced to pull out of their remaining Gigantour live dates because of an injury to guitarist Ben Weinman. Weinman severely re-injured his arm at the House of Blues in Atlantic City and was told by a specialist that he would be unable to perform until further notice.Fact|date=January 2008 His arm had previously injured several months before.

Mike Portnoy jams with Megadeth

September 3, 2005 - Toronto

Dream Theater played their last Gigantour date in Toronto. As a surprise, Mike Portnoy joined Dave Mustaine, James MacDonough, Shawn Drover, and Glen Drover performing "Peace Sells". Portnoy played the drums while Shawn Drover picked up a guitar and was the third guitar player on the stage. Shawn did one of the solos and surprised everyone in the crowd.Fact|date=January 2008 Unfortunately, his guitar was unplugged for a fair bit of the song. According to Megadeth bassist James Macdonough, Portnoy pulled a prank on Shawn by pouring baby powder on the snare drum when he was getting off the drum kit. As soon as Megadeth began playing "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", Shawn's snare drum "turned into a 'smoke' machine". Portnoy admitted to the prank on the DVD. This is one example of many pranks done towards the end of Gigantour shows.Fact|date=January 2008

"Peace Sells" featuring Gigantour bands and tour managers

September 10, 2005 - Auburn, WA

Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, and Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, along with Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, members from Bobaflex, tour managers from Fear Factory and Anthrax, and others, joined Megadeth on stage to sing "Peace Sells".

"Back in the Day" and Happy Birthday Wish to Mustaine

September 11, 2005 - Ridgefield, WA

The Portland show (which was actually played in Ridgefield, Washington) marked the end of Gigantour's inaugural year. As a special farewell, members from all the bands and crew of Gigantour sang together the Megadeth song "Back in the Day." The show was wrapped up with a surprise happy birthday song to Dave Mustaine, whose birthday is September 13.

Gigantour 2: North America (2006)

Line-Up

Main Stage

Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy

econd Stage

Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity, The SmashUp

Tour Dates

eptember

*06 Boise, ID - Idaho Center
*08 Oakland, CA - Oakland Coliseum
*09 San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
*10 San Bernardino, CA - Hyundai Pavilion
*12 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
*13 Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
*15 Salt Lake City, UT - E Center
*16 Denver, CO - Coors Amphitheatre
*17 Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion
*19 Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre
*21 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
*22 Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre
*23 Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
*24 Detroit(Clarkston), MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
*25 Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
*27 Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
*28 Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum
*29 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
*30 Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center

October

*01 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
*03 Portsmouth, VA - Ntelos Pavilion Harbor Center
*04 Charleston, SC - The Plex
*06 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
*07 Sunrise, FL - Bank Atlantic Center
*08 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live

Notable Incidents

Guest Singers

At the September 23 show in Columbus, Angela Gossow joined Megadeth onstage during the second half of "Peace Sells". Earlier in the show, during Overkill's final song, two members of Lamb of God joined them onstage.Fact|date=January 2008.

At the September 25 show in Toronto, Angela Gossow, Randy Blythe, and Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth joined Megadeth on staqe and sang the final part of "Peace Sells" with him.

Lack of a second stage on some tour stops

At the September 9 show in San Diego, and September 29 show in Boston, there was no second stage. The bands that performed were, in order of appearance, Overkill, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Lamb of God, and Megadeth.

Mike Portnoy jams with Overkill

September 30, 2006 - Holmdel, NJ

Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater joined Overkill on stage for their song "Elimination".

Molson Amphitheater

While playing in the September 25 show in Toronto, towards the beginning of Megadeth's set, Dave Mustaine underwent technical problems relating to his guitar, resulting in him throwing his guitar across the stage and walking off. The then band finished the song without Mustaine, and then followed him offstage. After fifteen minutes of chanting from the crowd, Megadeth finally returned to the stage, and with a brief appology from Dave, continued playing through their set.

Gigantour 2: Australia (2006)

Line-Up

Megadeth, Soulfly, Arch Enemy, Caliban

Tour Dates

October

*21 Brisbane - Riverstage
*22 Sydney - Hordern Pavilion
*24 Melbourne - Festival Hall

Gigantour 3: Australia (2007)

Line-Up

Megadeth, Static-X, Lacuna Coil, DevilDriver, Bring Me the Horizon

Tour Dates

November

*10 Perth - Metro City
*12 Adelaide - Thebarton Theatre
*13 Melbourne - Festival Hall
*15 Sydney - Luna Park Big Top
*16 Sydney - Luna Park Big Top
*18 Brisbane - Riverstage

Gigantour UK: (2008)

Line-Up

Megadeth, Job for a Cowboy, Evile

Tour Dates

February

*17 Norwich - UEA
*18 Nottingham - Nottingham Rock City
*19 Glasgow - Carling Academy Glasgow
*20 Newcastle - Carling Academy Newcastle
*22 Birmingham - Carling Academy Birmingham
*23 Manchester - Manchester Academy
*24 London - Brixton Academy

Gigantour 3: North America (2008)

Line-Up

Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, High on Fire.

Dave Mustaine wanted a shorter lineup so each band has a good chance to put on a show.

Tour Dates

April

*12 - Denver, CO - The Fillmore
*13 - Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion
*15 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie
*16 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street Pavilion
*17 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Ampitheater
*19 - Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens
*20 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade Music Park
*22 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
*23 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
*25 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
*26 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
*28 - Quebec City, QC - Pavilion De La Jeunesse
*29 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
*30 - Toronto, ON - Arrow Hall

May

*1 - London, ON - John Labatt Centre
*3 - Detroit(Clarkston), MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
*4 - Cleveland, OH - Time Warner Cable Amphitheater
*6 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom (Chicago)
*7 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
*9 - Minneapolis, MN - Myth
*10 - Winnipeg, MB - Convention Center
*11 - Saskatoon, SK - Prairieland Exhibition Hall
*12 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Center
*14 - Calgary, AB - The Corral
*16 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
*17 - Salem, OR - Salem Armory
*19 - San Jose, CA - Event Center @ San Jose State
*20 - San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
*21 - Los Angeles, CA - Long Beach Arena
*22 - Phoenix, AZ - Mesa Amphitheatre

Notable Incidents

Louisville, Ky

During the Children of Bodom performance, the barricades broke and the show was stopped for 30 minutes to repair them. Megadeth allowed Children of Bodom to finish their set and allowed In Flames to perform fully.

Edmonton, AB

A drink was thrown onto the sound board before Megadeth took the stage, and as a result Megadeth's performance was delayed significantly and the show was nearly cancelled. Later, during Megadeth's performance of "À Tout le Monde", two people from the crowd got up on the stage and ran over to Mustaine. After the song was finished, Megadeth left the stage, and the show appeared to be over because of this incident. After approximately ten minutes, a very displeased Mustaine came back on stage and addressed the crowd. Megadeth then finished the set. [ [http://draven99.blogspot.com/2008/05/gigantour-megadeth-incident-on-may.html Incident at Gigantour in Edmonton] ]

Salem, Oregon

During Megadeth's performance of "Peace Sells", High on Fire came out and helped sing the end.During Megadeth's performance a drunk man also got past security guards and tried to rush over to Dave Mustaine and was tackled by two security guards.

Saskatoon, SK

Alexi Laiho, lead guitarist for Children of Bodom, said "it's great to be back in Alberta."

San Diego, CA

During the Children of Bodom set, there was a mix up with the light show and instead of the intended show, the show for Van Halen, who had performed in the same venue months before, began to play. During an intermission to fix the problem, Janne Wirman started up playing Van Halen's song 'Jump' on the keyboard, soon joined by Jaska Raatikainen on drums, while back stage Alexi Laiho was quote 'Puking his guts out.'The show was filmed for the Gigantour 3 DVD and this will be first Gigantour DVD to be released as full concert of Megadeth, The other acts on the bill were apparently offered a chance to be part of the DVD but declined. [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=106257]

Long Beach, CA

During the Children of Bodom set, Alexi informed the audience of the incident last night, stating that he almost had to cancel their set that night for the sake of his health. He continued to state that he decided against it after seeing the raw energy of the Long Beach crowd. Janne and Jaska played the intro to Van Halen's Jump but stopped before the chorus.
*The members of every band repeated the San Jose incident, coming out and singing the end of "Peace Sells".

Phoenix, AZ

*It was consistently raining and cold during the show, an unusual occurrence in Phoenix. This notable fact was addressed on stage by the frontmen of all the bands. Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom can be quoted as saying, "I didn't know you guys had rain in Arizona."
*The members of every band repeated the San Jose incident, coming out and singing the end of "Peace Sells".

Gigantour history summary

Discography

CD releases

* Gigantour (2006)

DVD releases

It was mentioned on a few sites, including Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow's MySpace blog, and the Music Video blog Video Static, that the October 7, 2006 show in Sunrise, Florida was filmed by director Michael Serna (also the director of the 2005 Gigantour DVD) for a possible DVD release, though with no mention of a CD (but probably due to the formats of last year's release). [ [http://www.videostatic.com/vs/2006/week42/index.html#entry-13525962 Video Static article about the Gigantour 2006 DVD shoot. Gigantour 2 has been released on DVD in 2008. ] last accessed Feb. 17, 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.gigantour.com/ Gigantour official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/gigantour2006/ Gigantour 2006 at] MySpace
* [http://www.megadeth.com/ Megadeth official website]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/gig-reviews/gigantour/2006/10/12/1160246251367.html Interview with Dave Mustaine, "The Sydney Morning Herald",] October 13, 2006