Mayhem Festival Concert Tips

I don't get out nearly as much as I'd like to (or need to), but I can almost always count on our yearly trip to the Rockstar Mayhem Festival.  I backed out last year thanks to 100 degree temperatures and this year looked like it was going to be the same way.  We had just set record high temps and the thought of standing outside all day on a concrete parking lot didn't seem very appealing.

When I'm at a heavy metal concert I want my face melted, not my rubber soles.  Lucky for us, it was overcast all day.  We hadn't received a drop of precipitation in almost three weeks and it looked like Satan was about to rain hell all over the amphitheater.   Thankfully, there was only the threat of rain, which was enough to keep us cool through the breakdowns and blast beats.

Festival Tips

The Parenting Dad isn't just about mildly helpful parenting advice, it's about bestowing knowledge upon all, so use these concert-going tips the next time you head out to a show.

Make it easy for your friends to find you.  With the amount of people attending these outdoor concerts, it's easy to get separated from your pack.  If you're a short fella, you may want to make yourself easily identifiable in the crowd.  Gel the gravity right out of your mid-back-length hair and gain a full heads-length above the competition.  Spiking your hair might not be enough; mo-hawks are not lacking at metal concerts.  You may want to consider painting a symbol on your "do" as our fine metal friend demonstrates in the picture above.

Wear your cargo shorts.  This will be the only time you use all twelve pockets.  Every band, label, and promotion company has their own tent.  Usually you can get free stuff like cd samplers, stickers, buttons, and more.  You don't want to have to carry your plunder around all day.  Stash it and move on to the next tent.  I came home with four Cd's, two stickers, an energy drink, and a 2XL t-shirt all tucked safely into my shorts.  When you're planning your concert-going attire, it's "Cargo or No-Go".

Wear a white t-shirt.   When it comes to metal t-shirts, black is usually the way to go, but you don't want to be in the sun all day wearing black.  White will reflect rather than absorb, keeping you cooler than your metal-tee wearing friends.  Also, sharpies don't show up well on black, as in, not at all.  Most bands do signings and while your black-shirted crew is buying up posters for the band to sign, you can just bust out your white tee with pride.  On a side note, posters don't fit well into cargo pants.

Bring your binoculars.  Unless you spring for seats, which we didn't do this year, your view of the main stage will probably be something like this.  You're not going to see much of anything other than what is displayed on the jumbo-tron.  Thanks be to the Sumerian Records Side Stage which is changing the festival experience.

Bring your camera.  You're going to want pictures to prove how awesomely close you were to the drummer (the most important member of any metal band), plus you can get some sweet videos of crowd surfing and moshing.  But most importantly, when you get to be a middle-aged parent of three, it's the only way you'll remember being there.