Live Reviews : Slipknot & Trivium – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. 1/3/2012

Soundwave Festival really did pull in a massive line-up this year. The thought of being able to see some of my favourite bands such as Steel Panther, Trivium, Lamb of God, Black Label Society and a heap of other bands that I like for only $160 was fantastic. However, my only disappointment was being a Melbourne under-ager and having limited options of Sidewave shows to go to, due to most of the shows being 18+. Honestly, I think the only Sidewave show I could get into that looked decent to me was the Slipknot and Trivium sideshow, so of course, I went to that. After an interview with Corey and Paolo earlier in the day at their hotel room, I was more excited than ever to see Trivium for my second time. Trivium was one of the first couple of metal bands that I seriously got into and was influenced by, so to meet them and talk to them three and a half years later was mind-blowing, even after all the technical difficulties I had interviewing them (voice recorder died, iPod voice recorder messed up for a bit).

But enough of me rambling on about stuff not related to the show.  Regardless of getting to the doors only 5 minutes before they opened, I managed to get myself a front row spot for a while. Trivium eventually approached the stage with Capsizing the Sea, the intro song to their new album In Waves playing over the PA, which is pretty much a lead up to the In Waves title song that was played next. Most of the front row were smacking against the back of the barrier to the drum parts of the intro. After seeing the band play In Waves, Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr and Black in the front row, I left to go into the mosh pit. This isn’t really because I felt like moshing; to be honest I didn’t want to mosh much until Soundwave the next day, but the front row spot that I had was right in front of the speaker where all of the bass and double kick was mixed into. So I couldn’t hear any of the guitars, and could barely hear Corey’s vocals.

The crowd wasn’t really active during Trivium, which was a real disappointment to me. When I got there, an average of 10 people really got into the pit and had fun, which is way less than what it was like at Soundwave the next day. Even through some of the heavier songs they played such as A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation and Like Light to the Flies, nobody seemed to get into it. Although Trivium won the crowd and had quite a few fans, I think everyone was just excited to see Slipknot. The bands performance was spot on though. The only slight problem I had with Trivium was the same problem that I had when they opened for Disturbed last year; they didn’t play any songs off The Crusade or Ember to Inferno. However, it’s cool to see that a band like them go crazy on stage yet still nail their technical music and make it sound even better. They ended their extended 1 hour set with Throes of Perdition, which me and a couple of other Trivium fans managed to get a wall of death happening for. The crowd stepped up quite a bit just for that song, but other than that most of the audience were pretty slack, regardless of the floor filling up more after every song.

I’ll be honest with you; I’m hardly a Slipknot fan. As much as I told myself “Oh, I don’t really like Slipknot, but seeing them live would be pretty cool just for the sake of it” by the time the day came I really just wanted to go to the concert to see Trivium only. However, the people I was going home with were there for Slipknot, so I couldn’t win. Now I’m not hanging shit on Slipknot, I don’t mind a few songs of theirs, but most of their stuff I just can’t get myself into. But in the end, I managed to enjoy most of their set. I was amazed at how much energy they put into their live shows, regardless of liking only a few of their songs.

[Editors note: You can view Metal Obsession’s photo gallery of Slipknot via. this link]

The show was opened with a flaming Slipknot logo and Iowa & 742617000027 being played over the PA, and after 5 minutes of the band doing nothing but warming the crowd up with Clown on Sid’s shoulders, I was starting to get pretty bored. I bet the people that were there for Slipknot had no care in the world, but I just wanted the band to hurry up and play a song. Finally, after 5 minutes, the intro to (sic) came on. Loads of pyrotechnics were used as soon as that song came on, and the whole crowd erupted. I didn’t see one person not having fun, even when I looked around at the seating area. That is with the exception of me, who stood there and watched the band like a saddo.

Alright, maybe I didn’t stand there the whole time. As I said, I do like a few Slipknot songs, and as soon as they started playing The Blister Exists, Pulse of the Maggots and Disasterpiece I started to get into the show a bit more. I had a wander over to the pits to see what they were like compared to Trivium, and wow, it was pretty obvious that most of the people on front floor were there only to see Slipknot.

One of the highlights of the show for me was while they were playing The Heretic Anthem. I was watching crazy Slipknot fans run to the back of the front floor area wildly, and all of the back floor going absolutely nuts. I couldn’t see what the big fuss was about, and I could barely see over the swarm of maggots, but all I could notice was a guy who looked like Corey Beaulieu from Trivium at the mixing booth.
After forgetting about the dude who looked like Corey Beaulieu, I watched the band play just as they finished that song and Corey Taylor told the fans to “make this next song their own”. Of course, as I presumed, the song they played was Duality. Corey started off the first few words then let everyone else sing. I didn’t see a single person not singing the start of the song, it was crazy.
Not only that, but I turned around, and that’s when I finally realised the reason behind the people on the rear floor chasing after someone earlier. Sid wasn’t on the stage, he was at the stands near the back of the arena, and as soon as the song kicked in, Sid fell backwards into a pool of Slipknot fans on the back floor area. From what I heard, Sid injured his ankle on the fall, but by the looks of it he didn’t care. He sprinted through the crowd while security failed to catch him and went back on stage to join Slipknot for one of their several anthems. I’m not an avid supporter of the band (as I’ve mentioned) but watching that was a very eye-opening moment.

Slipknot played three encore songs that night, but I couldn’t be bothered being on the floor for that, even though I like the song People = Shit, and Surfacing is my favourite song of theirs. Instead, I was up at the very top stands due to security telling me I’m not allowed to stand by the stairs, and it gave me a good view of everything. Even behind the stage, where the poor fill in bassist was sitting, not dressed up, not having fun. I wouldn’t have a clue if he offered to do that or not, but if the band made him play behind the stage, I don’t find that fair. Regardless on if he has a number or not, or if their bassist/brother died, their fill-in bassist should have been out there having a good time and checking out the wild crowd, not staring at a black curtain and being unnoticed. That’s just my opinion though, I’m not sure how many die hard fans would agree with me.

To conclude this review (which is more of me rambling on about the show than an actual review), I thought that not only I should tell you that the show was really enjoyable, but quote something for all of the Slipknot fans who have been worried that they’ll break up sometime after this tour. Corey said at the end of the show “You have never given up on us, so we will never give up on you.” I’m presuming this means that Slipknot aren’t breaking up, so I hope that makes you fans happy.