Rockstar Energy Drinks has announced that, for the fourth year in a row, it will present the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, a touring metal festival that will make its way around the country this summer.

A post on the festival’s Facebook wall announced the headliners for the show’s main stage at each event will be Slipknot and Slayer. Additionally, the announcement lists “Special main stage guests to be announced March 5^th.” Ultimate-Guitar.com reports that the special guest is rumored to be metal legends Motorhead.

Additional performances on the main stage each day will come from As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada and Asking Alexandria, who will rotate sets to fill the fourth spot. The second stage of the festival has been upgraded this year, according to the post, and is now known as the Jagermeister Stage, and will be headlined by Anthrax. Support for Antrax will also come from a rotation of As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada and Asking Alexandria, as well as from Whitechapel and High on Fire. The post notes that “bands may vary per market.”

This year’s tour will begin June 30 in San Bernardino, Calif. and will continue through August 5 in Hartford, Conn. In between, the tour will hit 24 cities, including Mountain View, Calif.; Boise, Idaho; Phoenix, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Dallas; Tampa; Atlanta; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Cincinnati; Camden, N.J. and Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Rockstay Energy Mayhem Festival was created in 2008 by Kevin Lyman, who also created the Vans Warped Tour. In addition to the two stages, the festival typically features autograph booths, as well as video game booths and other vendors. The initial release offered no details on exactly what kind of vendors can be expected at the 2012 version of the tour.

Metallica, after performing their first show in the U.S. last week in Indio, California as one of the Big Four, suggested there might be additional U.S. dates in the works for metal’s four titans. They have kept their promise. In September, Metallica, Antrax, Megadeth and Slayer will be performing in New York City.

The news was announced on Metallica’s website with a post titled “One Show Out West Was Not Enough.” On September 14, the show will take place at Yankee Stadium. The band said, we can’t wait for that night to come to play our second U.S. show in the Bronx.

On May 6, tickets will be going on sale. Yankee season ticket holders and Met Club members will be able to purchase tickets on Wednesday during a pre-sale.

Slayer the legendary thrash kings, and Rob Zombie, the shock rock frontman, are joining forces to deliver hellfire and brimstone this summer out on the road on their appropriately named co-headlining tour “Hell On Earth.” The North American outing will be the first time the guys and Zombie have shared a billing since the 1999 Ozzfest. Expect the amps to cranked up to 11.

The 12 date outing will kick off on July 20 in Reading PA. A majority of the run will be spent in Canada before wrapping up on August 6 in Seattle, WA. Exodus, the Southern California thrashers, are set to open. That’s a smart choice considering Gary Holt, Exodus guitarist, is filling in for Jeff Hanneman, Slayer axeman, who is recovering from surgery. There has been no announcement on whether or not Hanneman will be able to return for the tour. Keep your ears and eyes open.

“Hell On Earth Tour” tickets will be going on sale via each of the venues websites starting on April 1.

Last week, the 2011 official lineup for Coachella Festival was announced, signaling that despite snow continuing to fall on a majority of the country, that the summer concert season actually is much closer that we all think. Just one week later, Coachella’s lineup has been upstaged already by another concert which will take place a week later in the same exact venue. On April 23 Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica will play together in Indio, CA at Empire Polo Club for a one day, unprecedented metal event. Although the “Big Four” did play several shows in Europe, this will be their only U.S. show. The day promises to be a huge one for anyone who has ever listed to classical metal riffs while banging their head.

What’s interesting is that it’s been quite some time since any of these bands has put out some new music. Since releasing “Death Magnetic, their ninth album in 2008, Metallica has been relatively quiet, although they have toured sporadically since the release of the album. In 2009 Slayer released “World Painted Blood,” their 10th album. The last time we heard from Megadeth was in 2009 when they released “Endgame.” Recently singer Joey Belladonna and Antrax reunited. The band will release an album in 2011. Anyone looking for the six-string stylings from guitarist Scott Ian should check out last year’s album with Damned Things. It seems the concert from the Big 4 will consists of plenty of experiments and new material from all four of the bands. It promises to be this year’s largest metal event.

Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer will be touring the US this fall for a month’s worth of arena shows for the Jagermeister Music Tour’s 17th edition.

The three metal bands, who performed together for the first time during the “Clash of the Titans Tour” of 1991, will be kicking off their fall trek with a show in Dallas on September 24.  Twenty shows have been confirmed for the month long trek, including visits to New Orleans on September 28, Orlando on October 2, Salt Lake City on October 19, and in Las Vegas Vegas on October 20.  The tour will wrap up with a show in Universal City, CA on October 21.

According to the website for the event, ticket prices start at $10 and will be available during the coming weeks from Ticketmaster.  Fans, in the meantime, can register for a chance at winning backstage passes and VIP tickets at the tour website.

Megadeth and Slayer are planning to perform their releases from 1990: “Rust In Peace” and “Seasons In The Abyss,” respectively, according to a recent press release, in their entirety.  Anthrax will also be on the tour and will be celebrating frontman Joey Belladonna returning to the group.  He performed with the band from 1985 to 1992, when he was fired.

Testament, Megadeth and Slayer currently are in the middle of “American Carnage Tour,” performing in amphitheaters and arenas across North America.

2010 Jagermeister Concert Tour
August 2010
18 – Cleveland, OH – Tower City Amphitheatre (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
19 – Detroit, MI – Joe Louis Arena (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
20 – Chicago, IL – UIC Pavilion (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
21 – Minneapolis, MN – Roy Wilkins Auditorium (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
23 – Kansas City, MO – Cap Fed Park @ Sandstone (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
25 – Denver, CO – Magness Arena (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
26 – Albuquerque, NM – Tingley Coliseum (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
27 – Phoenix, AZ – Dodge Theatre (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
29 – San Diego, CA – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
30 – Long Beach, CA – Long Beach Arena (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
31 – San Francisco, CA – Cow Palace (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)

September 2010
1 – Sacramento, CA – ARCO Arena (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
3 – Seattle, WA – WaMu Theatre (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
4 – Portland, OR – Washington County Fairgrounds (“American Carnage” tour w/ Testament)
24 – Dallas, TX – Superpages.com Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
25 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
26 – Houston, TX – Verizon Wireless Theater (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
28 – New Orleans, LA – Lakefront Arena (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
30 – Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Auditorium & Coliseum (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)

October 2010
1 – Duluth, GA – The Arena at Gwinnett Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
2 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
3 – Miami, FL – Bayfront Park (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
5 – Hampton, VA – Hampton Coliseum (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
6 – Baltimore, MD – 1st Mariner Arena (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
8 – Uniondale, NY – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
9 – Scranton, PA – Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
10 – Columbus, OH – Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
12 – Louisville, KY – Freedom Hall at The Kentucky Expo Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
14 – Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
15 – Grand Rapids, MI – DeltaPlex Arena & Conference Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
16 – Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
19 – Salt Lake City, UT- Maverik Center (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
20 – Las Vegas, NV – Pearl Concert Theater (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)
21 – Universal City, CA – Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk (Jagermeister tour w/ Anthrax)

The head banging days of Tom Araya, frontman for Slayer, have finally caught up with not only him but his band as well. Due to the chronic back problems of Araya, the band is having to cancel their European and U.S. Carnage tour. The band recently had to postpone several tour dates in Canada because of the same problem. Araya is now headed for surgery, so the entire tour has had to be canceled.

Rick Sales, manager of Slayer said, Tom tried a number of different medical treatments and gave them a fair shot. However, none of them have handled his problem. He decided to bite the bullet and he has back surgery that is scheduled for the end of the month.

The recently canceled tour had been a follow up for “World Painted Blood,” their latest album. The tour had been set to start on January 18 in Seattle. Testament and Megadeth had been set for touring with Slayer. However, because of the cancellation of the tour they are working now to schedule the shows.

Sales said, although this is very unfortunate for many people, including the camps of Testament and Megadeth as well as the concert promoters and fans, the top priority had to be Tom’s health. This just needs to happen.

The problems for Araya started in October 2009 during Slayer’s tour of Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Araya was given the diagnosis of Cervical Radiculophathy. He had tried to treat his problem without resorting to surgery. However he hasn’t been able to get rid of the pain, so is headed into surgery later this month.

Tom, get well soon.