Pedal to the Metal Tour

With Ozzfest on hiatus this year as Ozzy Osbourne works on a new studio album, the summer festival circuit seemed ripe for a new entry in the heavy metal market. Unfortunately, the few festivals that have attempted to fill the void haven’t given fans much to get excited about. Last month’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival came close to replicating the Ozzfest vibe, but the show was marred by production problems, brutal heat, and an overabundance of cookie-cutter metalcore bands. Mötley Crüe’s creatively named Crüe Fest is bypassing the Valley, but with bands like Godsmack and Drowning Pool on the bill, Arizonans aren’t missing much. Then there’s the Pedal to the Metal Tour, which stops in Mesa this week. The lineup features such perennial Ozzfest mid-carders as Mudvayne and Static-X. While the bill is thankfully devoid of metalcore, the nü metal-heavy lineup seems like a hard sell in the late ’00s (the recent Limp Bizkit reunion notwithstanding). With tickets going for nearly $50, disaffected 20-somethings weaned on Korn and the Deftones might not be so eager to leave their parents’ basements to relive the faux angst of their teenage years.