SLIPKNOT | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Wed 22 Jan
Hard to believe it’s been two decades since the nine-piece from Des Moines shocked the world with the heaviest metal and most aggressive stage performances the wider world had seen. The masks may have changed, as well as some of the faces behind them, but the band and the brand has stayed the same. After the release of their most accessible album, We Are Not Your Kind, the band see an arena gig in Cardiff as getting back to where it all began.
And, just like back in the day, the ferocity of their performance amounts to an audiovisual attack. The incredible energy and noise they create takes you on, and wins. But there’s no aggression toward the crowd, just love. “Seeing you guys reminds me of our love of music,” Corey Taylor tells us, sometimes calling the crowd his friends but usually his “family”.
In Cardiff, this family was as big and diverse as their career-spanning setlist. The Motorpoint was packed with all ages, including pre-teens in homemade masks, cheering along to Psychosocial and the new, instant classic Unsainted. The moshpit in front of the stage started off friendly enough but, as with all family gatherings, a few minor disagreements broke out after a couple of hours together.
On stage the band gave it everything in outfits that ranged from militant to martial arts. Having three drummers is visually fantastic and the energy Tortilla Man put into the night was astounding: climbing the scaffolding, rocking his drum riser until it almost lost its balance, headbanging, screaming his lines down the mic. Taylor had the screaming down too, though he also showed off his very impressive melodic chops.
The only disappointment was that they got a little lost under the barrage of sound that the Motorpoint’s acoustics just couldn’t seem to cope with. The pyrotechnics and projections may have kept the production values high, but it was obvious what Slipknot really wanted to show their audience: no matter what’s going on in the world outside, nothing breaks apart the bonds of love and music. Good, old-fashioned, Slipknot family values.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES photos MORGAN DEVINE