Slipknot

I forgot how lousy the sound is at Arrow Hall. I mean its a fuckin tin box so it doesn't take a sound engineer to tell you the room was not built for acoustics. I saw Silverchair back in '97 in the same venue and I now remember leaving with a ring that wouldn't go away for a fuck of a long time. I recently bought the Foo Fighters DVD "Everywhere But Home" and the sound was great. Well of course. They took the sound right off the board so they could SELL the DVD. Otherwise, they woulda been in for a whole shitload of returns. Anyway, I was quite pumped for this show. I got my 13 and 14 year old kids tickets to this show and being the responsible dad I am, I just had to go too. Unfortunately, my son wasn't feeling well that night so cruising through the mosh pit was not high on his priority list. My daughter, however, had never been to a real concert before so she was very interested in trying her moshing skills. Well, she didn't get into a mosh but she did survive with minimal bruising. She's a hell of a trooper like her mom. I dragged her mom into a Rob Zombie show one time and her mom kicked ass. Anyway again... There were four bands that showed up. Well three and a half. Damn 13, Unearth, Kill Switch Engage minus their singer, and of course the mighty Slipknot. Yeah I said Kill Switch MINUS their fuckin singer. Turns out the guy blew out his vocals recently and was on the mend. So they only played about five songs and then left. Slipknot was in top form. It still blows me away that there are NINE guys in this band and to play that heavy, that fast and be that tight with NINE guys, you gotta be good. Not only that, they look awesome. Not a lot of bands out there give you much to look at but these fuckers are a photographers dream.

With three percussionists, or more, I'm not really sure, they are a very bass heavy unit. Two of the percussionists play this set of floor tom looking things with a keg strapped onto the side of it. When they play the keg, they use a baseball bat! During Duality, they grab these bats and slam the fuck outta these kegs at a certain part of the bridge just for visual effect and extra kick. Their drummer, Joey, is an incredible drummer. I was SO hoping to get a drum solo thrown at us but he didn't treat us this night. I was thinking what the fuck is up with that? That's like going to see Rush and not getting a Neil Peart solo... It's like going to see Primus and not getting a few incredible Les Claypool solos. I was hoping to get pics of that spinning pentagram drum riser they have but either it broke down or they just couldn't get it across the border. What happened to that crowd pleaser? They did announce their Canadian platinum status on their latest album and showed us the award or whatever you wanna call it. Corey said it was the happiest day in their lives. I'm sure when he finds out Canadian platinum is the equivalent of U.S. wooden nickel, it'll all be put into perspective for them and the happiness will be short lived. One other thing they did that was sorta cool, but not for a geezer like me, was this thing where everyone had to crouch down on the floor and at some point of the song, everyone jumped up. I was totally out to lunch on that whole deal, but you gotta forgive me cuz I'm a fuckin OLD MAN!! Maybe I'll be the only one to say it but crouching down in a crowd and then trying to jump up with someone's ASS in your face is FUCKED. All in all, it was a killer show, but REALLY hard to get a GOOD photo out of. Thanks for the setlist G!!

Official Slipknot Web Site

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