The 6th annual Rockstar Mayhem Festival made its closest stop to San Diego this year nearly 2 hours away in San Bernardino, CA.

The temperature on Saturday, June 19th was a scorching 108, but this didn’t stop a huge crowd of devoted southern California metal fans from descending on the sun baked San Manuel Amphitheater. This venue, although it has changed names many times, is still the largest outdoor amphitheater in the United States and it’s a unique experience to see a show at a venue this big, to say the least.

The Mayhem Festival provided three stages with a lineup of many bands, as well as a large midway, and extreme sports demos to keep the folks entertained over the vast real estate. The photos below are just a sample of some of the bands that played the Festival.

New York based deathcore band Emmure played a high energy set on the Musicians Institute Stage, followed by well known Finnish metal band Children of Bodom, who feature guitar phenom Alexi Laiho. Their set was overrun with a ridiculous amount of moshers and crowd surfers who made the pit look like a sea of moving bodies. Arizona death metal band Job For A Cowboy were openers on the nearby Jagermeister stage, which was headlined by well known metal band Machine Head. The band played a relatively short set of songs ranging from older hits to several tracks off their 2011 release Unto The Locust. But, they still stirred up a huge crowd and sounded amazing.

Overall, the day involved lots of metal music, lots of people, lots of walking, and lots of drinks; many smiling faces were seen making the long trek back to the beer can strewn parking lot at the end of the night.

Photos – Emmure at Rockstar Mayhem Festival

Children of Bodom

Job For A Cowboy

Machine Head