Last month it was confirmed that Gigantour would be back for a 2012 go-round shortly after Dave Mustaine let it slip that Megadeth would be touring with Motorhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil. Dates for the trek were released today, which you will find after the jump. But I’m still not sold on the idea of this tour as “Gigantour,” though; what’s so “gigantic” about it?

In 2005 and 2006, Gigantour’s first two years, the fest featured a two-stage / all-day format, not dissimilar to what Rockstar Mayhem does now and Ozzfest did back then. So how is the 2012 Gigantour any different than any Megadeth + special guests tour? The lineup is sweet, sure, but there’s nothing gigantic about this tour. As Axl claimed all the way back in January of 2008 when the Megadeth / In Flames / Bodom / High on Fire / Job For A Cowboy edition of Gigantour was announced, calling this thing “Gigantour” is false advertising. One’s thing for certain: with those bands on the bill the ticket price is certainly going to be gigantic.

I guess it all comes down to marketing; perhaps Mustaine and his handlers have discovered that they can sell more tickets with the Gigantour brand than they can with the Megadeth name atop a show flyer. If that’s the case, well, I guess they deserve a pat on the back for finding a clever way to get their fans to plunk down their hard-earned Benjamins when they otherwise might not.

Those tour dates after the jump:

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Back in July, Dave Mustaine announced that he was bringing Gigantour back in 2012, and now, in an interview with Street Date (above – skip to the 3:00 mark), Mustaine claims that Megadeth will soon be touring with Motörhead, Volbeat, and Lacuna Coil “this year coming up.” That’s a pretty loose time frame ,so it’s not clear if he’s referring to Gigantour or just a regular Megadeth tour. Although, come to think of it, Gigantour hasn’t had a second stage since 2006, meaning it’s usually just been a four or five band package anyway, so, uh, I’m not really sure what would differentiate this from a “proper” Gigantour.

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I was listening to an interview with Sarah Vowell last weekend, in which she proclaimed that, as a writing exercise, she did not allow herself to use any F-bombs in her new book, Unfamiliar Fishes. I decided to do her one better this week — I did not swear at all. Unless you count “crap,” “drek,” or “sucks” as swear words, which I do not.

So that was fun.

ANYWAY, here’s some stuff we did this week:

• We debuted new music from All Shall Perish and Thou.
• We debuted new videos from Valient Thorr and Meek is Murder.
• Unearth’s Buz McGrath, Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozinak, and In Flames’ Peter Iwers told us about their live rigs.
• We spoke to Aaron Turner from Isis and Helms Alee.
• We checked out new releases from The Bronx Casket Co. and Bedlam of Cacophony.
• Even though Dime would never approve, we made fun of some poor kid.
• We continued to sing Spotify’s praises.
• We voted on our favorite album from The Devin Townsend Project.
• We were sexually aroused by the prospect of Disturbed breaking-up.
• We wondered whether or not the return of Megadeth’s Gigantour is a good thing or not.

Alright, we’re out. Have a nice weekend, gang!

-AR

The Metalnets are aflutter with today’s news that Megadeth’s Gigantour will return for a fourth run in the summer of 2012 following three years of lying dormant. The travelling festival will feature only one stage (as it did in 2008), as opposed to the two-stage format of the 2005 and 2006 editions. The return of Gigantour after a three year hiatus begs the question: do we really need this?

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Axl and Vince recently had the opportunity to sit down with In Flames bassist Peter Iwers hours before the second of two Gigantour shows at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom (also featuring Megadeth, Children of Bodom, High on Fire, and Job For a Cowboy). Peter shared his thoughts about In Flames’ new album A Sense of Purpose, its success in America, the band’s writing and recording process, and the band’s mysterious guitar-tech/personal assistant Biffin (the truth is shocking!). Read the entire chat transcript after the fold.

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I stand by my assessment that Job for a Cowboy are talented Cannibal Corpse clones, but I’d be lying if I said that the fact that the band’s live show does nothing for me didn’t lower the group in my own personal estimation. Also, I think calling the band “Blowjob for a Cowboy” is, like, totally hilarious.

ANYWAY, I know a lot of the kids are still really into these dudes, and I guess I can give ‘em another chance when they come around this spring as part of Gigantour. In the meantime, here’s their new video for the track “Altered from Catechization,” from the album Genesis.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" width="430" height="346" fvars="m=25886580;type=video" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR

I’ve been away and kind of out of the loop, so I apologize that this is kind of old news, but the line-up for the 2008 edition of Gigantour (a.k.a. Megadethfest) has been announed, and besides the ‘Deth, it will feature In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, and High on Fire. Yes, you read that right: Job for a Cowboy are going on after High on Fire.

So: you may notice that this is a smaller Gigantour line-up than usual, which Mustaine explains, in a statement, as being “based on timing, set lengths, stage sizes, unions, and most importantly allowing ‘us’ — the musicians — to deliver to ‘you’ — the fans — the best shows we can.” I think that actually means that he just wanted to share the pot with fewer people, which is perfectly reasonable, but really, calling it “Gigantour” is now officially just a form of false advertising. I mean, this tour was never as big as Ozzfest, but now it’s only as big as Summer Sanitarium*. At least Limp Bizkit aren’t playing.

ANYWAY, my only real concern about this line-up is that I’m not convinced modern day Megadeth can follow In Flames, who have been really on their shit live pretty much every time I’ve ever seen them. Then again, last year Mustaine put out an album I actually listened to more than once, so I guess anything is possible.

-AR

*And by “big,” I mean in the sense that both tours have the same number of bands – not that both tours will play the same sized venues. ‘Cause they won’t. ‘Cause Metallica are bigger than Megadeth. A LOT bigger than Megadeth. Dave Mustaine cries about it sometimes. Seriously! They have footage of him weeping in Some Kind of Monster. Check it out sometime, it’s pretty rad.