The first few months of the year may be cold and dreary, but they always bring the promise of something exciting - the announcement of spring and summer tour dates. 

While all the usual suspects were announced as expected, (with some pretty impressive lineups, I might add) hard rock fans were treated to a pleasant surprise: the “Mass Chaos Tour”. 

The Mass Chaos Tour features hard rock powerhouses Godsmack & Staind, with support coming from special guest, Halestorm. The New England heavy tour was announced at the end of January, after fans were given the unique opportunity to name the tour via a poll on the bands’ official Facebook pages. However, one question still remained in the forefront of many fans’ minds: who will be filling in the “headlining” spot and closing the show?

Up until this past Friday, this detail remained shrouded in ambiguity. There had been rumors that the bands would be alternating daily in the closing spot, which had fans on either side concerned that the night the show stopped in their city the wrong band might be closing. Other questions then came up, such as “will they both play the same length set?” - to which no answers were provided. 

Good news came for Godsmack fans, though, when a source close to the band confirmed that the Godsmack would be closing all dates on the tour. It seems that Staind has offered the spot to Godsmack, who happily obliged. Though no official word has yet been provided, the source is reliable and the information is expected to be confirmed as correct. It sure seems to make sense, as Godsmack is certainly the more high-octane of the two and would serve better closing rather than having the energy lowered at the end. More information will be provided as it becomes available.  

I don’t know whether prior ticket sales, album sales, or some other statistic is what truly dictated this decision, but regardless of the reason many Godsmack fans are rejoicing. While no further information is available regarding the lengths of the sets, it's a safe bet that Halestorm will be on the shorter end of the spectrum around 45 minutes or so, with Godsmack and Staind both coming in on either side of the hour and a half mark. Though it's a bit unconventional, my money is on both bands playing the same length set. Only time will tell. 

The Mass Chaos Tour will be visiting the Tri-State area when it makes stops in Hartford, CT on May 19 at the Comcast Theater and May 20 in Camden, NJ, at the Susquehana Bank Arts Center. Tickets and the rest of the dates are available here. Another fun little detail - the bands gave fans a chance to design the tour's poster and all of the awesome entries can be viewed here. 

Check out the trailer for the tour, below. For coverage on the "Mass Chaos Tour", the release of Sully Erna's "Avalon: Live" concert film & more, "like" Tri-State Rock on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our posts here at www.tri-staterock.com!