Looking for Avenged Sevenfold fans!!! We have your chance to raid the A7X merch booth at RockstarUPROAR festival this Saturday. Click the Merch Raid! tab at the top of our page to enter the contest. This contest is only for Project Facebook Fans...

T-shirts are a staple of rock concerts, and while the day saw no lack of shirts from Metallica, Pantera, and all the usual metal favorites, the most popular shirt by far was Avenged Sevenfold’s tour shirt, reading “It’s your f*cking nightmare” on the back, the chorus of incredibly popular and catchy single “Nightmare.” Even though Disturbed was the top-billed act, judging strictly by apparel, fans of Avenged Sevenfold outnumbered every other band on the tour ten to one, and as darkness fell, the excitement throughout the venue reached a new peak for the night.

Avenged Sevenfold’s set was a mock cemetery, with intricate details put into the backdrop and iron gates. As the crowd waited for the band to appear on stage, a body on a noose suddenly dropped from the rigging, where it would dangle and sway for the entire first song, the much-heralded Nightmare. Pyro blasted from every conceivable nook and cranny as the five man band tore through the track, vocalist M. Shadows bellowing through his lyrics and echoed by the crowd on each final “nightmare” line. Watch fan video of the intro and Nightmare at the bottom of this page.

While the more melodic Avenged Sevenfold is rarely mentioned in the company of traditional contemporary thrash and hardcore metal bands such as Lamb of God and Shadows Fall, the California act threw down the gauntlet last night when it came to heavy metal showmanship and performance. The heavily tattooed band ran through shrieking solos, crushing breakdowns, and viciously sung vocals against a highly polished stage show which proved that there’s no such thing as too much fire and explosions. Security forces had to aim their high-powered flashlights at the roiling mosh pits in the back to prevent injuries, as fanatical fans jumped about almost blindly on the dark and sloped lawn.

Halfway through their set, the band stopped to dedicate So Far Away to their recently deceased drummer, the Rev, who was found dead of an overdose back in December. Lighters and cell phones lit up the night as fans paid tribute during the slow, moving song, easily the most touching moment of the night. Taking the Rev’s place is legendary Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who recorded already-written portions of the band’s latest record, and agreed to tour with the group as well. Referencing New Jersey as Portnoy’s home, which the Long Island native shrugged off as close enough, Shadows ended the night by demanding massive pits for Portnoy for the final song, spawning no less than four massive, dusty circles across the open ground.

After Avenged Sevenfold’s monstrous performance, any band would be hard-pressed to even match, let alone top it, but Chicago veterans Disturbed surely did their best. The venue noticeably emptied during soundcheck, with many of the Avenged fans calling it a night after a very satisfying performance, but that only served to whittle the crowd down to true Disturbed fanatics.

SCRANTON — Disturbed made a grave mistake Friday night at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain: It followed co-headliner Avenged Sevenfold to close out the Scranton stop of the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival.

It’s not to say Disturbed didn’t put on a good show or that the estimated crowd of 13,500 didn’t eat up every “ah” lead singer Dave Draiman added to the end of nearly every lyric — Avenged Sevenfold was just a tough act to follow.

Before Avenged Sevenfold took the stage, a man appeared up in the rafters and, as the crowd watched, he jumped and “hanged” himself. As he dangled back and forth, the band kicked into an explosive version of “Nightmare,” the title track from its latest CD. For the next hour, the band was absolutely riveting with its incredible set that consisted of a cemetery-like fence before a backdrop that changed three times, tons of fire bursts and in-your-face music.

The hanged man was taken away on a gurney as the violent “Critical Acclaim” kicked in. The backdrop changed to a sinister skeleton for “Welcome To The Family,” which featured amazing drum work by Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, who stepped in after original drummer James Sullivan died of an overdose last year.

The melodic side of singer M. Shadows’ voice shined on “Buried Alive,” which preceded “So Far Away,” a song Shadows dedicated to Sullivan. Another set highlight was the anthemic “Afterlife” and the fast-paced “God Hates Us,” another “Nightmare” track. The band closed out its set with an electrifying rendition of “Almost Easy.”

From the stage theatrics to the metal licks and pounding drums, one can’t help but compare Avenged Sevenfold to metal masters Iron Maiden. The band pulverized the audience — and whipped them into a frenzy for Disturbed to close out the night.

Nightmare
Critical Acclaim
Welcome To The Family
Beast And The Harlot
Buried Alive
So Far Away
Afterlife
God Hates Us
Unholy Confessions
Almost Easy

Oct. 20 - Barcelona, Spain at Razzmatazz - ON SALE Sept. 7th
Oct. 21 - Milan, Italy at Alcatraz - ON SALE INFO COMING SOON
Oct. 23 - Munich, Germany at Theaterfabrik - ON SALE Sept. 3rd
Oct. 24 - Brussels, Belgium at Ancienne Belgique - ON SALE INFO COMING SOON
Nov. 8 - Dublin, Ireland at Olympia - ON SALE Sept. 3rd
Nov. 11- Cologne, Germany at Live Music Hall - ON SALE Sept. 3rd
Nov. 12 - Luxembourg at Rockhal Box - ON SALE Sept. 3rd
Nov. 14 - Paris, Francis at Elysee-Montmartre - PRE-SALE Sept. 2nd ON SALE Sept 3rd (http://billetterie.gdp.fr/index2.php?idDirBill=15701)
Nov. 15 - Amsterdam, Netherlands at Melkweg - ON SALE Sept. 1st
Nov. 16 - Hamburg, Germany at Markthalle - ON SALE Sept. 3rd
Nov. 18 - Copenhagen, Denmark at Amager Bio - ON SALE Sept. 6
Nov. 19 - Malmo, Sweden at KB - ON SALE Sept. 6
Nov. 20 - Stockholm, Sweden at Arenan - ON SALE Sept. 6
Nov. 22 - Helsinki, Finland at Ice Hall - ON SALE Sept. 6
Nov. 24 - Oslo, Norway at Sentrum Scene - ON SALE Sept. 6

We're having a cookout Thursday night and all of the bands from the Uproar tour are coming! Oh, do you want to come, too? Stop by the Best Buy on 280 tonight after 5 or anytime tomorrow to enter for a chance to win tickets. You can also enter at the fair!

D'Addario/Planet Waves/Evans wants to give FIVE of you the ULTIMATE ROCKSTAR GIVEAWAY! Enter a chance to win $1,000 to spend on any D'Addario & Co. product! Click here to enter now!

Ultimate-Guitar.com is giving away an UPROAR Branded Schecter Tempest Guitar, 1 yr. subscription to Guitar Player Magazine, Ernie Ball Strings and more! Enter here to for your chance to win!

And you still have a chance to win the MEGA Rockstar Prize Pack. What do you get in this awesome prize pack? How does this sound: 1 Rockstar Energy Drink Skateboard, 1 Rockstar Energy Drink Wakeboard, a one-year supply of Rockstar Energy Drink and a $100 gift card to spend at www.DiNGLIFE.com! It's a pretty kick- ass package, if I were you I'd enter now! Click here to do it!

Artist Direct is giving away a pair of tickets to every date of the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival! Not only that each winner will receive autographed copies of Stone Sour's Audio Secrecy, Airbourne's No Guts. No Glory. and Hail The Villain's Population: Declining. Click HERE to enter now

Hellyeah have been announced as the support to Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold on their upcoming co-headlining UK tour this year. The sold out tour will see Avenged Sevenfold tour in support of ‘Nightmare’, their brand new and chart breaking album as Stone Sour tour their upcoming album ‘Audio Secrecy’ which is due to be released on 6th September. Metal superground Hellyeah will also be supporting their latest album ‘Stampede’ which was released on the 13th July peaking at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart.

How do you keep on top of such a busy lifestyle?
"By keeping busy! I go insane if I'm not busy. I love my family more than life itself, but I can only sit at home by my pool eating barbecue food so many days before I go cookoo. I need to be creative all the time."

What drives you as a drummer?
"Other drummers and music. I'm still as big a music fan as I was when I was 13 years old. That's the drive. I'll hear other bands I love that inspire me and give me a kick in the ass. The drummers don't have to be technical. That motivates me and inspires me to create different things on the drums. In my guest editor issue of Rhythm a lot of people were surprised that I chose to interview Nick Mason. To me a great drummer isn't always about somebody with chops who can shred. A great drummer is someone who is part of a great band."

If you could teach your younger self one lesson what would it be?
"It would probably be pertaining to the business. The business is tough. Dream Theater spent our first 15 years struggling and battling with that and all of the bulls**t politics that come with it. We spent 15 years struggling but spent the last 10 years in control. It has made a huge difference to us. Not only in terms of our career but in terms of our happiness and internal chemistry. My lesson would be to not sell yourself to anybody else and stay true to yourself. Do what you do and let people come to you because eventually they will. My lesson would be to not sell yourself to anybody else and stay true to yourself.

How do you see things panning out for the next 25 years?
"Dream Theater is my baby, that's my real gig so I assume and hope we'll have the longevity we've had. One of the things I've been able to do is branch out to other things, whether it be Avenged Sevenfold, Transatlantic, OSI, Liquid Tension Experiment. I've had the opportunity to play so many things with so many different musicians and bands. That's a really important part of who I am as a drummer and person. I'd hope I continue to get to do that, and have a home base that continues to thrive."

How do you feel to be classed as a drum icon?
"Drumming is an evolution. When I came onto the scene in the late '80s people saw what I did or what Dream Theater did as different. I was just an evolution of what preceded me. I saw myself as a combination of Neil Peart, Keith Moon and Lars Ulrich, combining those types of personalities and qualities. Now in the 20 years since I broke onto the scene you get so many other drummers who can play circles around me. There are drummers out there that blow my mind with their speed and dexterity. I can't even fathom playing like that. It's part of the drumming evolution, the drumming alphabet. Somehow you get from A-Z with a combination of all those influences and styles that develop over the years. If you look at what Ringo did 45 years ago to what Thomas Lang is doing now, it's an evolution. You couldn't have a Thomas Lang if you didn't have all those drummers that preceded him."