Slipknot

If the devil took a 1600 pound shit and split it into 9 equal pieces, and those pieces dawned masks and matching jumpsuits on stage with various instruments and started thrashing around with reckless abandon, that would be Slipknot. They played last night at Jobbing.com arena in Glendale, AZ - promoting their new album 'All Hope is Gone'. At a glance to the untrained eye if you saw this spectacle you would think that there was an escape from the local insane asylum and you should call the authorities. But Slipknot has set themselves apart from most bands with their raw energy, the crazy masks that they wear and their over the top theatrics. I didn't quite know what to expect out of this concert but I figured if nothing else it would be entertaining and make for good people watching. But I must admit, it was a much better show than I had expected. The best way I can describe their show is a cross between the energy of early raw Metallica, the theatrics of Kiss, and the showmanship the Blue Man Group.

I haven't seen a connection with between a band and it's audience like this since the early, angry Metallica days on their Justice tour. Slipknot consists of nine members including the lead singer Corey Taylor, two guitar players, a bass player, three drummers, a DJ and what they call a 'sampler' (not sure what the purpose of that guy is). The stage setup is unique. It's unlike anything I've ever seen - and I've seen a LOT of rock concerts in my time. The main traditional drum kit is placed in the back as it typically would be. But there are two other sets of what I'm going to call 'super drumsets' up front on the sides of the stage. Those two drum sets consist of several very large garbage can style percussion's; no symbols; just loud noisemakers. One of the super drumsets actually rose up about 15 feet in the air and rotated around which was really cool. And at various points in the rotation some of the band members actually scaled the apparatus and hung on for dear life while the drums rotated around. During the final song the main drum kit also rose up about 15 feet in the air, rotated around horizontally 180 degrees, and then inverted itself 90 degrees ala Tommy Lee circa 1991. That was really cool! Meanwhile, I don't know if the actual show was more entertaining or the crowd. There was some really intense mosh pits going on down on the floor. People were literally getting tossed 6 - 8 feet in the air. It was crazy. I actually spotted several paramedics ready for action in various locations before the show just for damage control - literally. The audience really responded to the band and their music. It was intense. Fists were flying, heads were banging, and the audience came together like once huge wave of intensity. For the final song of the night they did something kind of interesting that I hadn't seen before. They didn't even really say anything about it, but most of the audience kind of knew what to do and the others just followed along. The music went really quiet for about 5 minutes, and the singer basically announced that everyone was supposed to jump... but not until he gave the signal. A slow lull came over the crowd. Everyone gradually crouched down into almost a sprinter stance awaiting the starting gun. Then after a few minutes of posturing like this the band started playing and Cory gave the signal to unleash hell and the whole place jumped up and exploded in unison. The place burst into pure energy and everyone went ballistic.

Overall one of the more memorable concerts I have ever seen. I would recommend checking them out if you have any interest in that type of music.

-Jim