SLIPKNOT LIVE AT CONCORD PAVILION IN CONCORD, CA ON 8/13/16

PURGING THE ROAD TO OZZFEST MEETS KNOTFEST

Slipknot and Ozzy Osbourne recently announced that their individual festivals would be combining this year to create Ozzfest Meets Knotfest. As Slipknot prepares for this major event, the band is making the rounds completing rescheduled dates on their North American Summer Tour 2016.

The reason for the rescheduling was that in early June Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor announced he broke his neck a while back & didn’t realize it and had to have two disc replaced & work on his vertebrae. With the rescheduled dates in full effect, on August 13^th, Slipknot made their way to the Concord Pavilion in Concord, Ca. and Mayhem Music Magazine was there to partake in the event.

I will say that growing up and going to concerts was more than just seeing the band. It was hanging out with friends, meeting new people, having tailgate parties, listening to people blast the favorite bands in their cars in the parking lot, all this in preparation for the show. It was a ritual. It’s a tradition that has disappeared over that last few years. When I pulled into the parking lot for Slipknot, a car space away from where I parked were several friends talking about life, sports, music, having drinks, and ridiculing the line of people rushing to get inside just to wait for the show. These guys understood the ritual. As I grabbed my gear and made sure I had everything I needed, I talked to these guys and we shared drinks, and got to know a little bit about each other. It was that bonding with new people over music. These guys showed me that there was still hope for the future generations.

I made my way into the Concord Pavilion. The venue can be set up with seats all the way to the stage or they can be removed to allow an open area. For this night those seats were removed so that the fans can get as close as they want and that a mosh pit can be formed.

Slipknot hit the stage and I myself was curious on how frontman Corey Taylor would be after the recent surgery. To my pleasure Corey was still the aggressive maniac on stage that I hoped for. The crowd erupted in a loud roar as guitarist Jim Root and Mick Thomson started to play ‘The Negative One”.

Slipknot played ‘The Devil & I’, ‘Skeptic’, and ‘Killpop’ off their current album ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’. They also performed songs throughout their catalog including tracks off their first album ‘(sic)’ and Eyeless. The song I am glad they kept in their set was ‘Wait and Bleed’.

Slipknot showed the crowd that they were going to annihilate everything in their path and not even the maggots (Slipknot fans) were going to be safe. Tonight was another night that Taylor had a disruptive fan kicked off the premise from the crowd. This was the second time this has happened during these rescheduled dates. Taylor also had even knocked the cell phone out of a person’s hand who was at the front of the stage texting instead of enjoying the show. Some criticize Taylor for these antics but I commend him for taking charge and letting the crowd know that if they are on stage giving their all, they ask for the same in return.