Kickoffs, farewells, and the first names locked in for festivals that haven’t happened yet. Everything moving through the touring circuit right now.
MetalMania Live · Tour Wire
Six Dispatches
From The Road
Kickoffs, farewells, and the first names locked in for festivals that haven’t happened yet. Everything moving through the touring circuit right now.
Just InManifest · 6 EntriesFiled This Week
Dimmu Borgir Opens The Serpent’s Road In Times Square
Norwegian symphonic black metal titans Dimmu Borgir kicked off their North American run this month at the Palladium Times Square, an opening night built almost entirely around their new album, Grand Serpent Rising. The set leaned unexpectedly deep into the catalog, debuting six songs live for the first time, including the eerie opener “Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel” and a surprise revival of “Reptile” that hadn’t been played in years. Suffocation held down support duties for the tour’s first two stops before Swedish veterans Hypocrisy were set to join. That never happened. Days before the tour launched, Hypocrisy announced they were pulling out entirely, citing visa complications beyond their control. Dimmu Borgir pressed on anyway, and by every account, New York got a set worth the wait.
Zakk Wylde Doubles Down On Berzerkus
Zakk Wylde is no longer satisfied with a single stage. His Berzerkus festival, born in 2024 as a modest one day gathering, returns this August as a two city takeover, hitting Montage Mountain in Scranton on the 28th before rolling into Jones Beach the following night. Lamb of God headlines both dates, with Wylde himself pulling double duty fronting Black Label Society and his own Sabbath tribute act, Zakk Sabbath. Down and Suicidal Tendencies round out the main bill, while the Scranton stop tacks on a battle of the bands, a strongman competition, and, for anyone determined to suffer in more ways than one, a hot sauce eating contest.
Two Nu Metal Landmarks Hit The Road Together
Twenty five years after Sinner and Every Six Seconds defined a certain strain of early 2000s rock radio, Drowning Pool and Saliva are marking the milestone with a joint fall tour. Expect Bodies and Click Click Boom in the same set, alongside newer material, since Saliva is releasing a fresh album, Breaking Through, just weeks before the trek begins. Drowning Pool is bringing along a small, final run of anniversary vinyl pressed specifically for the occasion. Worth noting: nobody currently in Saliva actually played on the record being celebrated, a fact that has stirred real friction with the band’s original frontman. The nostalgia, it turns out, comes with an asterisk.
Megadeth Brings The Farewell Tour Home To The UK
Dave Mustaine is closing out Megadeth’s story with a proper victory lap, and next spring that lap finally swings back through the United Kingdom for the first time in over a decade. Breakout: Hibernation Of The Nations kicks off in Belfast and winds through 24 dates across Europe, with Black Label Society and Testament along for the entire run. The tour follows the band’s self titled farewell album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in January, the first time in four decades Megadeth has topped that chart. Mustaine has been clear this isn’t a somber goodbye. It’s a celebration, he says, of everything the band built over more than forty years on the road.
Wacken Drops Its First 2027 Names Before 2026 Even Ends
Wacken Open Air barely let its 35th anniversary crowd leave the field before announcing who’s coming back next year. Five Finger Death Punch, Helloween, and Electric Callboy lead the first wave, with Helloween’s appearance folded into their ongoing 40th anniversary run and Electric Callboy finally graduating from a side stage stunt into an official festival debut. Dragonforce will play their only European festival date of the summer, arriving with new co-vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, who will also take the stage separately with her other band, Blue Medusa, giving her two sets in one weekend. More than fifty acts are already confirmed, and organizers say they are just getting started.
Bloodstock Hands Out Three Headline Slots Mid Festival
Bloodstock didn’t wait for its 25th anniversary weekend to finish before locking in next year’s headliners. Mercyful Fate returns to close out Friday with new material finally in tow, King Diamond promising the wait was worth it. Electric Callboy takes Saturday for their first ever Bloodstock appearance, bringing their chaotic blend of metalcore and EDM to a festival built on considerably heavier tradition. Sunday belongs to Motionless In White, who called the invitation one of the most requested slots in the festival’s history and confirmed it will be both their first European festival headline set and their only UK show of the entire year.
MetalMania Live · Tour Wire updates as routing is confirmed