Darien Center, NY – The Knotfest Roadshow 2019 dominated the crowd of 12,500 on Sunday night at Darien Lake Amphitheater of upstate New York. The North American tour brought together Behemoth, Gojira, Volbeat and the mighty Slipknot, for whom the anticipation of those gathered to watch them take the stage grew more intense after every set change. Taking the crowd closer and closer to the explosive energy and stage show that Slipknot delivers on a constant basis, the band is only getting better as they age…much like a fine whiskey.
Behemoth was first up, bringing their signature heavy sound, dark robes, and fire to grab the attention of fans. Starting with “Wolves of Siberia”, they also included die hard fan favourites – “Bartzabel” and “Chant for Eschaton 2000”.
Next on the stage were Gojira. Formed in 1996, they are known as one of the most extreme bands to ever come out the their home country of France. Throughout the beginning of their career, the guys would work hard among the underground metal scene, not only making a name for themselves but also building a solid as concrete fan base that continues to grow with every show and festival they play.
PHOTO GALLERY Gojira
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The evening was well underway as Volbeat arrived on stage. These four from Copenhagen, Denmark are influenced by legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Metallica, Slayer and Social Distortion. The band’s inspiration is definitely heard in Volbeat’s heavy Rockabilly sound that fans love, as tonight they echoed back lyrics from “Sad Man’s Tongue”, “A Warrior’s Call / I Only Wanna Be With You” and their last and one of the most popular songs, “Still Counting”. During this performance, vocalist and guitar player Michael Poulson brought a little girl of about 7 or 8 years of age on the stage from the front row of the crowd to dance and rock out to finish the show. No doubt they gave that young girl a memory of a lifetime!
PHOTO GALLERY Volbeat
Slipknot…what can be said about the machine that is Slipknot? After 25 years of touring, of the blood and countless gallons of sweat, along with the no doubt hard to deal with tears, this band has overcome countless odds against them. After the loss of one founding member, Paul Grey, back in 2010 due to an overdose and having the other remaining founding member, Joey Jordison, leave in 2013, the changes resulted in the band recruiting new members, Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums, for the album, .5: The Grey Chapter.
More recently the band has also had to replace percussionist, Chris Fehn, due to an ongoing legal battle from earlier this year. Replacing Fehn is an “unknown” musician that fans have dubbed, “Tortilla Man”, to which frontman Cory Taylor has admitted that even if fans guess who he is, “We will never confirm his identity.” A recent Reddit thread has suspected that the mystery member is Michael Pfaff of Shawn “Clown” Crahan’s side project, Dirty Little Rabbits. Whether or not this suspicion is correct, it will remain to be seen if Slipknot will ever officially release his identity.
Now on tour with the Knotfest Roadshow, the band is supporting their biggest release of their careers, We Are Not Your Kind, debuting on Billboard charts at #1 in both US and UK charts, as well as several others around the world. At one point during the set, frontman Cory Taylor made a point, on behalf of every band member on the stage at Dairen Lake Amphitheatre, to thank everyone who attends their shows. Taylor also wanted to remind the crowd that not only is Rock and Metal music not dead, but it is still supported and thriving by the fans that attend live shows and buy merchandise. He affirmed that we are all one big metal family supported by fans across the globe.
Slipknot hit the stage hard, fast and heavy, starting the show with a long time fan favourite, “People=Shit”. Their set list also included an array of songs from their vast catalogue, such as “Duality”, “Psychosocial”, “The Devil In I”, “Unsainted”, “Solway Firth” and the highly requested “Wait and Bleed”. Slipknot put on a show like no other – with pyro, on-screen visuals, and a performance you will never forget! Go see the tour, now!!!
PHOTO GALLERY Slipknot
Show Date : 08/25/2019
