Gigantour

One of many Gigantour Web-banners, before Anthrax was announced to join the festival.

Gigantour is the name of a six-week traveling heavy metal music festival organized by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine, which visited several cities throughout the United States and Canada starting late July 2005. The bands appearing at the festival -- Megadeth, Dream Theater (the trek's co-headliners), Fear Factory, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Nevermore -- 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 comes after a break from Megadeth's last tour in support of their latest offering, The System Has Failed, and coincides with the release of Dream Theater's eighth studio album, Octavarium. This tour was set up to rival such Heavy metal tours as Ozzfest.

A second stage catered to fans of slightly less prominent -- but no-less respected -- bands Dry Kill Logic, Life Of Agony, Bobaflex and Symphony X. For the five shows after Toronto, Anthrax replaced Dream Theater on the first stage.

Among the stated goals of the tour are to cater to fans of many different styles of metal, as well as introduce fans to less familiar acts, such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Symphony X, and Nevermore.

Gigantour name was inspired by the classic 1960's Anime "Gigantor".

Gigantour logo was inspired by The Terminator logo. The logo was conceived and designed by Dave Mustaine and Megadeth Webmaster Dave McRobb.

Tour Dates

Announced tour dates and locations were as follows:

Date		City	Venue
July	21	Fresno, CA	Selland Arena
	22	Las Vegas, NV	Thomas and Mack
	23	Phoenix, AZ	Cricket Amphitheatre
	24	Irvine, CA	Verizon Wireless
	26	Sacramento, CA	The Cove
	28	San Diego, CA	Open Air Theater
	29	Tucson, AZ	Casino Anselmo
	30	Albuquerque, NM	Journal Amphitheatre
August	1	San Antonio, TX	Sunset Station
	2	Dallas, TX	Nokia Live
	3	Corpus Christi, TX	Concrete Street Amp
	5	Atlanta, GA	Gwinnett
	6	Orlando, FL	Hard Rock Live
	7	West Palm Beach, FL	Sound Advice Amphitheatre
	8	Tampa, FL	St Pete's Times Forum
	10	Detroit, MI	DTE Energy Amphitheatre
	11	Ft. Wayne, IN	Coliseum Expo
	12	Chicago, IL	Tweeter Center
	13	Milwaukee, WI	Eagles Ballroom Complex
	14	Cleveland, OH	Tower City Amphitheatre
	17	Pittsburgh, PA	Chevrolet, Amphitheatre
	19	Portland, ME	Civic Center
	20	Manchester, NH	Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
	21	Poughkeepsie, NY	Mid-Hudson Civic
	23	Wantagh, NY	Jones Beach Theater
	24	Holmdel, NJ	PNC Bank Arts Center
	26	Boston, MA	Bank of American Pavilion
	27	Reading, PA	Sovereign Center
	28	Atlantic City, NJ	House Of Blues
	30	Buffalo, NY	Darien Lakes Amphitheatre
	31	Huntington, WV	Big Sandy Superstore Arena
September	2	Montreal, QC	Bell Centre
	3	Toronto, ON	Molson Amphitheatre
	6	Edmonton, AB	Shaw Conference Centre
	7	Calgary, AB	Stampede Corral
	9	Vancouver, BC	PNE Coliseum
	10	Seattle, WA	White River Amphitheatre
	11	Portland, OR	Clark County Amphitheatre

The Festival

In the 20 years since Megadeth first formed they have toured with some of the biggest names in music - from Iron Maiden to Anthrax - and are in fact one of the biggest names themselves. As well as bands that are well-known in the mainstream, Megadeth have also performed with some highly respected bands that aren't quite as popular. Each of the bands that were picked for Gigantour were chosen because Dave Mustaine believed they were the pick of the bands that he has played with or heard in his career with Megadeth, regardless of how many albums they have sold. Bands like Dream Theater, Nevermore and The Dillinger Escape Plan are all highly respected by members of many other big-name bands and have strong followings in the metal world; when compared to the major names of heavy metal, they are not nearly as successful. Gigantour is an event that brings bands together for no other reason than the fact that they put on a great show.

As well, the tour was devised as a way to cater to fans of many different styles of metal in the one package. 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. 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 music, and not on current trends and fashions.

Tour Notes and Highlights

"Cemetery Gates" - Tribute to Dimebag Darrell

August 2, 2005 - Dallas, TX
Special Tribute to Dimebag Darrell by Dream Theater, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, and Russell Allen of Symphony X performing "Cemetery Gates".

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 of Atlantic City show and was told by a specialist that he will be unable to perform until further notice. His arm was 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. (Unfortunately, Shawn's guitar was unplugged for a fair bit of the song).
According to Megadeth Bassist James Macdonough, Portnoy pulled a prank on Shawn Drover by dumping baby powder on the snare drum when he was getting off the drum kit. As soon as Megadeth ripped into "Holy Wars", Shawn's snare drum turned into a "smoke" machine. This is one example of many pranks done towards the end of Gigantour shows.

"Peace Sells" - featuring Gigantour bands and tour managers

September 10, 2005 - Seattle, 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 Megadeth's "Peace Sells" song.

"Back In The Day" and happy birthday wish to Mustaine

September 11, 2005 - Portland, OR
The Portland show (which was actually played in Vancouver, 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 on September 13th.

The First CD & The DVD

The maiden voyage of Gigantour was documented since the pre-production stage. The Montreal concert on September 2 and Vancouver concert on September 9 (exclusively to include Anthrax, since they joined much later) were filmed and recorded for the Gigantour DVD and Gigantour CD. Both the CD and the DVD will be released by Image Entertainment sometime in 2006.

The DVD is said to include the special Dallas Tribute to Dimebag Darrell.

Gigantour 2 (2006)

Dave Mustaine is hinting on a Gigantour 2 in 2006.

March 18, 2006 - Gigantour Official Website (http://www.gigantour.com/) is in "Gigantour 2" preview mode. It reads, "GIGANTOUR 2: COMING LATE SUMMER 2006". Dave Mustaine is expected to announce the Gigantour 2 lineup.

May 5, 2006 - Michael Amott, guitarist for Arch Enemy , confirmed that his band will definitely appear on the main stage of Gigantour 2.

May 11, 2006 - DragonForce may be a possible choice to joing in on the tour. [1]

Opeth is being considered for the tour.