Slipknot are currently in the middle of their We Are Not Your Kind tour, moving across the UK before moving into Europe.
My Girlfriend and I managed to get tickets to see them in Nottingham, at the Motorpoint Arena on Tuesday 21st January.
The line-up was Slipknot with the Extreme Metal band Behemouth as support.
I went to the gig with my usual music festival crew: my girlfriend Esther and our friends Steve and Nick.
Now, the gig was a bit expensive at £53 a ticket, for just two bands (Including booking fees), but its not MCR levels yet (Seriously: £82!), which is a plus.
So, how was it?
Behemouth
I know nothing about Behemouth.
They play Extreme Metal, which is heavy and loud and I never really got in to. I was aware they existed, but that’s about it.
The day of the gig, I listened to one song, Bartzabel, to see what I was in for.
My first thought was that they were: ‘non-offensive extreme metal’.
It does the job, it sounds okay, but it’s not my kind of deal. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t exactly excite me either.
So we got in to the gig and Behemoth were a few songs into their set.
Visually, the band is very religious/satanic (I honestly know nothing about the band, so I cant go any further into detail without wild speculation).
What I can say is that visually, the band was stunning, amazing and really fun to watch.
The music itself was also far better than I was expecting. Maybe they’re just a better live band than recorded.
In fact, after a few songs I got pretty into it.
There isn’t much melody there, but when the guitar sound comes through, it really does make for some enjoyable, head-banging music.
I’m still not exactly sold on the band, but if they were supporting a band I was going to, or they were playing a festival, I think I’d go see them again.
Now, before we discuss the headliner, let’s talk about the place.
The Venue
The Motorpoint Arena is a great arena, with varied events and shows on.
I have been there several times in the past to see the Nottingham Panthers play, and I found out that the Harlem Globetrotters are playing there in March!
My only real issue with the arena is the bar.
First off: £5.50 for a can of Guinness. I mean what is the world coming to?!
Secondly, the bar has no real queueing system, and with toilets on either side, it’s already a confusing space, full of foot-traffic.
I got in a queue, but so many people just side-stepped the whole queue and snuck in in front of me that it look me at least 20 minutes to get served.
But anyway, onto the main event…
Slipknot
So we got our (ludicrously expensive) drinks and headed back into the arena for Slipknot.
We ended up at the front of the middle of the crowd: Just behind the mosh-pits, but close enough to get a decent view.
I want to start with the good, so I’ll say this:
Corey Taylor continues to be a fantastic front-man and knows how to work a crowd. He doesn’t need to constantly hype up the audience: he knows when to talk and when to shout.
Now for the issue, and it’s a big one: the sound.
For their entire set, the band sounded very quiet and echoey. It was like we were still stood in the bar, hearing the band play in the next room.
This meant that I could barely hear Corey Taylor singing. If I didn’t already know the lyrics to the songs, I wouldn’t have heard them here, which is very much not the norm for Slipknot.
I put this opinion out on Twitter, and I got a lot of responses from people saying they felt the same.
This is really strange, because Behemouth had fantastic sound!
Even with their extreme music, I could hear everything perfectly well, and they actually sounded better than the recorded song I listened to earlier in the day.
This just makes me wonder what on earth happened in the switchover from Behemouth to Slipknot!
Something else frustrating was a lot of people taking photos and videos of the entire set (including a guy who tried to record the band while also jumping around the mosh pit).
They could have benefited from my tips on when to take a photo at a gig.
Now to end on a good point again: Slipknot did, as always, put on a fantastic set.
Again, visually, the show was stunning: projections, fire, smoke and the actual band members going out of their way to perform.
Any gig with a flaming baseball bat is a good gig in my books.
The setlist was a mix of Best Of’s as well as older B-sides (Younger readers can Google it).
It was really cool to hear some of their lesser-played stuff, especially for a band with that many hit songs. They could easily just play their Greatest Hits at every show they do.
There was no Devil In I, or anything from the Gray Chapter actually. However with a discography this big, they had to cut some things out, and what they did choose was brilliant.
Wrap-Up
Slipknot continue to put on a great show after 20 years, and show no signs of coming down from this high.
The issue for me (and others) was the sound, but even so, it wasn’t a gig-ruining experience.
If you are seeing the band at one of their future shows, maybe just be prepared for this issue, to save your ears.
And go to the pub beforehand for some cheaper beer, to save your wallet.
