Slipknot / Machine Head / Children Of Bodom

Slipknot / Machine Head / Children Of Bodom
2 December 2008
Hammersmith Apollo, London

A late arrival at the Hammersmith Apollo meant that I missed both Children Of Bodom and Machine Head, though Johan was present in the photopit so check out his photos.

Children Of Bodom set list:
Living Dead Beat / In your face / Blooddrunk / Angels dont kill / Silent night, bodom night / Hate crew deathroll

Machine Head set list:
Clenching The Fists of Dissent / Imperium / Now I Lay Thee Down / Ten Ton Hammer / Old / Halo / Davidian

This was the middle of a three night stint for Slipknot at this venue. Tickets had shifted very quickly proving that Slipknot remain a top draw nearly ten years after their self titled album emerged. Looking at tonight’s setlist it looked like that was the album that was being promoted tonight with six songs taken from it, whilst latest album All Hope Is Gone was only drawn on twice. Maybe it was a case that Slipknot’s touring cycle started so soon after the new album’s release that they simple haven’t had time to work more new material into the set, but it would have been nice for a couple of others to have been aired.

Complaints aside about the lack of new material, this was an impressive display by the Des Moines nine-piece, right from the moment the curtain went up to reveal Joey Jordison behind his kit eerily waving twig fingers at the crowd. Opening with Surfacing ensured Slipknot had this crowd from the start as the hive of activity on stage commenced. Percussionist, and mentalist, Shawn “Clown” Crahan’s oil barrel drum set up started spinning and raised up on hydraulics, revealing a TV screen fed by two video cameras.

As The Blister Exists followed, the Clown was joined centre stage by fellow percussionist Chris Fehn, both with marching band drums. The opening was completed by the manic Eeyore and once again it was the Clown’s set up that drew attention as it rotated upwards with Craig Jones hanging off it. Something he repeated throughout the set.

Frontman Corey Taylor, wearing a full head mask which rendered him expressionless, greeted us with, “Look at you crazy muthaf**kers”, and noted this was “Day 2 of Slipknot destroys Hammersmith”. Polls of the audience of who was here last night and who had seen the band before ended with who was at their first Slipknot gig to a surprisingly overwhelming show of hands. Guitar Hero has proved beneficial to a lot of bands and perhaps it was the next song, Before I Forget, that had hooked some of the new “maggots”. Certainly the response to this one was loud and violent.

The mayhem continued with Eyeless, to such an extent that it was impossible to write notes whilst the crowd around me barked out “You can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes!”, followed by a vicious Disasterpiece*. What was particularly pleasing after the poor sound experienced at the Filth Fest the previous night, was the roaring guitars of James Root and Mick Thomson. Of course this was a multi-night stint so there was more opportunity to refine the sound.

Taylor commented that Slipknot should have been in the UK a while ago, in reference to the band’s cancelled Reading and Leeds slots last year following Jordison’s broken ankle. Dead Memories from the new album followed. A song so melodic it could pass as a Stone Sour song. While the crowd sang along to the chorus, Jones went walkabout, clambering up onto either speaker stack. Continuing with the All Hope Is Gone material, the marching beat of Psychosocial kicked in with the crowd clapping along. The day after this show, this song received a nomination for the “Best Metal Performance” Grammy up against Metallica, Ministry, Judas Priest and Dragonforce.

Taylor noted that the uncomfortable sounding Prosthetics was a song not played too often and brought memories back of Slipknot’s first UK shows. In order to ensure the maximum number of people jumping to Spit It Out, Taylor impressively managed to get pretty much the whole downstairs section of the venue to sit on the floor. Predictably as the song kicked in it was utter mayhem with people bouncing around all over the place. Taylor concedes that it’s not often night two surpasses the first night but it had happened today. Duality was never going to dampen the atmosphere and the main set wrapped up with Only One.

For the encore Slipknot pull out fan favourites People=Shit and (sic) and there’s even a rotating drum solo from Jordison thrown in. I have to say this was a show for which I didn’t have major expectations and Slipknot surprised me. Whilst the sheer scale of a show of this nature warrants significant planning and hence the band’s early dangerous “what’s going to happen next” feeling is really no longer there, the performance tonight was top draw.

Slipknot set list:
Surfacing / The Blister Exists / Eeyore / Before I Forget / Eyeless / Disasterpiece / Dead Memories / Psychosocial / The Heretic Anthem / Prosthetics / Spit It Out / Duality / Only One / (515) / People = Shit / (sic)

* [Today’s nursing fact from my wife is that people sometimes do indeed make noises when they’re sick!]

LINKS:
Slipknot
Machine Head
Children Of Bodom