Live Review: Slipknot - Co-Op Live, Manchester 17/12/2024
Thrash metal titans Slipknot bring their debut album anniversary tour to Manchester for a show that threatens to shake the new arena to its foundations.
Though too young to appreciate the debut Slipknot on album on it’s initial 1999 release, it didn’t take long before a copy inevitably found its way into my prepubescent hands and Argos CD player. While the likes of Linkin Park, Papa Roach and Limp Bizkit were all already in regular rotation, they were about to be blown out the water by 60 short minutes of blistering thrash metal, the likes of I’d never heard previously.
Things were about to change.
Fast-forward 23 years, and metal is now something of a hit ‘n’ miss genre for me. For every band that catches my attention, there’s at least another five that do the exact opposite. Yet whilst most bands leave me somewhat cold, that debut Slipknot record remains something very special. And it’s for that reason, that tonight, we find ourselves battling the wind and making our way to Manchester’s Co-Op Arena for the very first time.
Though plagued with setbacks upon its opening, it seems everything within the arena is now running smoothly; ticket and security checks take very little time, and it only takes a little longer for us to get seated, just in time to catch support act Bleed From Within as they announce their next Manchester show before launching into fan-favourite ‘Levitate’.
It’s clear from the outset that frontman Scott Kennedy already has the 20,000 people in attendance in the palm of his hand. The sound is incredible, arguably the best we’ve ever heard at an arena, and by the time the track’s anthemic chorus erupts from the stage, the circle pits are open and the first crowd-surfers are thrown inexorably forward.
From there, new song ‘In Place of Your Halo’ takes things to a whole new level of heavy; the bagpipes leaving no uncertainty of where the band hale from; the blistering breakdowns a blatant statement of the their intent.
Indeed, as weighty and as uncompromising as their penultimate track is, it’s ‘The End of All We Know’ that whips the crowd into one final frenzy. As mosh-pits swell in size, the sheer energy and aggression of the five-piece on stage is palpable and it’s easy to see the band themselves taking a headline slot at this very arena in just a few short years.
Though there’s a 45 minute wait as the stage is readied, the nu-metal playlist that blares out of the PA, a mixture of classic offerings and lesser heard deep cuts, turns the entire arena into a makeshift karaoke night, and as such it seems that no time passes at all before the house lights dim, a deafening roar erupts from the crowd, before the discordant scratches and crackles of ‘742617000027’ sees them reach fever pitch as the nine masked men onstage explode with the first track proper, ‘Sic’.
If the energy and aggression of Bleed from Within was already impressive, Slipknot’s make them seem geriatric in comparison. They rattle through the opening trio of tracks with little crowd interaction and nothing in the way of breathing space; a blistering introduction to material from an album that shaped the lives of almost everyone in attendance. Moshpits open at an incomprehensible speed, merging into larger pits that are, somehow, deftly avoided by the army of crowd-surfers that are thrown forward throughout fan-favourite ‘Wait and Bleed’.
‘Get This’ provides the evening’s first moment of respite; a spot lit Corey Taylor emerges back on stage, taking his place front and centre before welcoming the crowd “back to 1999 motherfuckers” before being joined by his bandmates and proceeding to once more, blow the roof off the venue.
‘Tattered and Torn’ provides DJ/turntablist Sid Wilson with a chance to showcase just how vital he is to the band, especially on this album. An extended version of the track sees black and red strobes throb in time with the scratches and break-beats that made the record stand out so much from its peers.
By this point, we’re already halfway through the album, and as such the evening. The speed in which the band tear through tracks is both impressive, and a little disorientating. However whilst most bands would be content with just celebrating an album’s anniversary, tonight is more about recreating, or at least reliving, this seminal moment in the band’s, and indeed their fan’s, lives, such is the sheer speed and power with which they plough through their set.
Even in the all-too-brief moments of respite between tracks, the constant crackle, whirr and buzz from Sid’s electronics never quite cease. It’s an auditory barrage from start to finish, and it’s difficult to imagine experiencing it without earplugs. Many seem to be doing so however, making it something of a shame that, given the amount of times we have to stand up to let people out of the row to the toilet, bar or both, the bladder of the average Slipknot fan seems to have much less fortitude than their hearing.
From here, it’s clear we’re into the home stretch, with frontman Taylor asking us if we’re “ready for one more song?” before heading into the angular and aggressive ‘Only One’. Of course, the crowd know this won’t be the last song. And whilst the band make their exit and the house lights dim once again, the anticipation that ripples through Co Op Arena becomes tidal wave as the nine-piece stroll back on stage before launching into a seriously heavy version of fan-favourite ‘Spit It Out’.
‘Surfacing’ follows, and the mosh-pits in full view of us below erupt once more. It’s both blistering and breathless. There’s been not so much an ebb and flow through tonight’s set, more an ever-mounting tsunami, the speed of which might slow on occasion, but the final result is no less devastating.
An extended version of ‘Scissors’ sees the band close the set out properly, Taylor, now seated on the steps up to the drum riser, seems in literal pain as makes his way through the gut-wrenching lyricism. His bandmates however lose their shit for a final time, oil drums are battered, a garage door spring is used as an instrument, the aforementioned Wilson leaves behind his decks and joins his band front and centre. All the while Taylor sits and surveys his kingdom, relishing in the chaos happening around him both on and off the stage.
And then just like that it’s over. The houselights flick back on. The stage is empty. And the crowd look around them, stunned, battered, bruised from the assault they’ve just witnessed, but ultimately cleansed as a result.
Here’s to another 25 years.
Words by Dave Beech
Photos: Dan Virchow
