Mask mandates are a controversial thing these days.
But not when Slipknot comes to town.
Anthony Scanga/Slipknot
Sid Wilson stands in a red robe as Slipknot performs in Milwaukee. (Anthony Scanga/Slipknot)The masked and theatrical behemoth from Iowa brought its latest Knotfest Roadshow back to town Saturday night, Oct. 2, at the DTE Energy Music Theatre, shaking the venue with five and a half hours of the heaviest of metal. Joined by pals Killswitch Engage, Fever 333 and Code Orange, Slipknot reveled in the presence of what frontman Corey Taylor frequently called “family,” a torqued-up crowd of more than 13,000 — many of whom sported their own Slipknot-styled masks in homage to the headliner.
An early eyebrow-raising stunt came from Fever 333 singer-bassist Jason Aalon Butler, who set up a pair of ramps to execute a somersault that took him out of his pants and down to his briefs. But it was, of course, Slipknot that brought the real show, a grand spectacle that blended elements of high concept art, horrorshow macabre and intricately layered rock for a pyrotechnic-packed hour and 40 minutes that was characteristically captivating. There are lots of big rock shows out there, but few fuse the pieces together as well as Slipknot.
There was a sense of occasion on Saturday, too, even beyond the return of yet another familiar and favored band from the pandemic pause. Taylor noted Slipknot’s 22 years of playing in the metro area, and often at DTE — which is, of course, “still Pine Knob” to him — starting with an OZZFest second stage appearance in 1999. It was also guitarist Jim Root’s 49th birthday, which Taylor announced before “The Heretic Anthem” and led the crowd in singing to his six-foot-six bandmate.
Later, Taylor — who battled a hard case of COVID-19 earlier this year — celebrated the hared Midwest roots between Slipknot and the metro area and preached community to the band’s Maggot faithful; “There’s a lot of crazy (stuff) going on in the world right now, and it’s very important that we be able to come together in a place where we can all feel like family,” he declared before “All Out Life.” “As long as we stay together, they can’t beat us.”
Slipknot, meanwhile, was as together as it’s ever been on Saturday. The nine-piece group played a tightly locked-in fusillade from its tri-level stage, covering its six-album catalog with ferocious renditions of favorites such as “Disasterpiece,” “Wait and Bleed,” “Vermillion,” “Pit It Out,” “(sic)” and “Surfacing” — all anthems, and unapologetic celebrations, even, of alienation and angst. “There’s a dark place we just…live in inside our hearts,” Taylor explained before “Solway Firth,” and the robust singalongs indicated the Maggots were happy to let the songs exorcise their demons too.
There was as much sight as sound going on as well. Video walls threw images at the crowd from on and above the stage, while percussionists Shawn “Clown” Crahan and Michael “Tortilla Man” Pfaff banged on an array of instruments from raised platforms on either side, the former taking a flaming bat to a beer keg during “Duality.” Fire regularly shot from torches on the third level, and from Alessandro Venturella’s bass during “The Devil in I,” and full-scale fireworks accented several songs. And DJ Sid Wilson, sporting an Obi-Wan Kenobi robe and laying ambient interludes between many of the 17 songs, was in constant motion from his turntables to the stage front and dancing along a conveyor belt in front of his station.
It was, in short, everything you go to a Slipknot show to see — as good as and perhaps even better than ever. The best news? “We love you…and we WILL be back,” Taylor said before the “Surfacing” finish. And for the Maggots, that can’t come too soon.
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Slipknot’s Roadshow makes for heavy happiness at DTE - The Oakland Press
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