Slipknot: Live In Cardiff
The Eighteen Leg Wrecking Machine Bulldozes The International Arena!
Dec 11, 2008 Tim Bolitho-Jones
One of the many criticisms shot at Slipknot over the course of their career is that they are more about the image than the band, as if they're more concerned with selling merchandise than actual albums and have no genuine love for the unholy racket they make.
If there is any truth to this statement though it is well hidden as witnessing one of their live shows is testament to just how passionate they are. Tonight's performance at the Cardiff International Arena, while not quite as impressive as Machine Head's earlier support role, is conclusive proof of their devotion to their craft.
All Hope Is Gone: Live!
The Arena itself is sold out completely and packed to the rafters with fans from all across the country. Listen closely and a whole multitude of accents can be made out among the large body of Welshmen. There are Scots, Irish, English and even a few South Africans in attendance tonight, an obvious sign of just how dedicated their fanbase can be. If travelling hundreds of miles to see them is impressive though it's nothing compared to the near-hysteria that occurs when the band finally take the stage.
Striding onto the stage clad in some colourful new masks and flanked by drum risers, they launch into a double whammy of Surfacing and The Blister Exists that sees the entire floor erupt into a frenzy. Before they even finish this opening duo the number of crowd surfers spilling over the barrier has reached double figures and several unlucky souls have emerged from the mosh pit clutching bloody noses.
Corey Taylor: The Great RingmasterLeading the arena through this wave of carnage is frontman Corey Taylor, clad in a bizarre new mask and looking like he just walked off the set of the new Death Race movie. A natural showman, his foul mouthed machine-gun rants whip the crowd into a frenzy each time it appears as though things will slow down and nowhere is this more clear than during Spit It Out. On command he gets two thirds of the audience to kneel down and then leap up as one, triggering some demented pogoing all across the floor.
A Slipknot show is far from a one-man concert though and at times it's hard to take everything in. DJ Sid Wilson leaps all over the place, climbing up hydraulic drum sets like a hyperactive Rhesus Monkey while percussion duo Chris Fehn and Shawn 'Clown' Crahan prowl every corner resembling serial killers doing a Laurel & Hardy impression.
As for the songs themselves, they're sadly a mixed bag. There's no doubting the fury of Liberate or Pulse Of The Maggots and new single Dead Memories is a soaring highlight but one or two tracks are distinctly less-impressive. Disasterpiece for example is still universally popular despite being perhaps the worst song they've ever recorded and Duality is similarly overrated. The decision to end the main body of the set with the solid-but-unremarkable Only One is another bizarre choice.
Slipknot: Nine Man Metal Machine
All is forgiven though when The Heretic Anthem is this punishing but it is the encore that really leaves the mark. Leaving the stage for a few tantalising minutes, the Iowans return to knock out a perfect one-two finale of People=Sh*t and (sic).
By the end there are bodies spilling everywhere, explosions blasting out the back of the stage and Joey Jordison spinning around in a rotating drum-platform without missing a beat. A rousing and triumphant end to an occassionally patchy but ultimately excellent evening of heavy metal.
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