Before I went to Rotterdam I only knew 2 songs of Mastodon but right after their performance I regretted the fact that I didn’t know more material from them already. This is one of the first bands in my whole life that created a sound in which I could feel like I was in the speakers myself. I felt like I was in the music, a very weird but pleasurable feeling, that’s for sure. An incredible good quality of the sound and a tight set list, which unfortunately lasted for only 25 way too short minutes, made me a real Mastodon fan. The only songs I remember they played were 'March of the Fire Ants' and 'Blood & Thunder'.

I was glad to be in front of the venue so I could see the stage act from this band as well. The guys were playing with three guys in a row with all their guitars put into the air, definitely great to see! Two thumbs up for Mastodon!

Slipknot

Yeah it happened, my first live view for METALRAGE.COM!!! The last time I would write a live view, it was of Dirty Americans, but I was too drunk. I didn't remember anything from the concert .

After the performance of Mastodon it was time for the Knot to play and fuck up the crowd.

The first thing I noticed was that there where only eight members on stage. I thought my mind was fucked up and kept recounting and recounting. But I saw it right, Craig wasn't there because he had a surgery.

The Knot gave a very energetic show. The sound wasn't too great though, but Sid went crazy on stage, climbing in the speaker towers and slamming his head against Chris' percussions. Corey was screaming his lungs out. It was a typical Knot show and as always it was sick, it is great to watch eight people going crazy on stage and entertain the crowd.

They played some songs from their new album like Pulse Of The Maggots, The Blister Exists and of course Duality. A couple of old songs like The Heretic Anthem, Spit It Out (with the sitting act, always fun to watch) and as always they played Surfacing at the end of the show.

After the performance of Mastodon, Slipknot and Slayer we went to an after party where Sid was turning the tables as DJ Starscream (if you like drum and bass or jungle you should get a copy of his album Sound Assault and Abunaii Sounds - Tataku On Your Atama). A couple of the other band members also appeared at the after party.

Stay (sic) you maggots!!

Set list:
Prelude 3.0
The Blister Exists
(sic)
Disasterpiece
Three Nil
Vermillion
Iowa
The Heretic Anthem
Duality
[515]
People = Shit
Spit It Out
Wait And Bleed
Surfacing

Slayer

After seeing them giving a hell of a performance at the Dynamo Open Air festival, I was curious to see if they could do better. And for those who were at DOA, they were better, a lot better!! Even though they played almost the exact same set.
Because I was tired of headbanging with Mastodon and Slipknot, I decided to sit this one out in the back of the venue, where I had a excellent stage view. Unlike at Dynamo, where I had to see between everybody’s head. They (still) started with the intro from God Hates Us All, Darkness Of Christ, to kick of with Disciple. The sound appeared better than with Slipknot, so I was in for a hell of a ride. From the back of the venue I had a good overall look on the crowds reaction, which was quite enthusiastic, I might say. All of the classic songs were played, like South Of Heaven, War Ensemble, Dead Skin Mask, Mandatory Suicide, Seasons In the Abyss, At Dawn They Sleep, Hell Awaits, Chemical Warfare and Die By The Sword, but also a couple of lesser known tracks, like Fight Till Death and Hallowed Point. And when all of this brutal thrashing mayhem was over, they came back to kill the remaining survivors with Angel Of Death, in which you could really notice that Tom was suffering from vocal fatigue because he probably didn’t even sing half of the lyrics to the song. But hey, they are all past fourty already, they won’t last that long anymore.
After Angel Of Death they played Postmortem, which triggered the insanity button in the heads of a couple of maniacal fans behind us, seats were almost flying over our heads. And then they played the best metal song ever created, Raining Blood. That even triggered my insanity button, because I had to bang just a little bit more, to be secured of neckpain the rest of the evening. Words can’t describe how brilliant this intro riff is, nor can words describe the best solo ever written. I like the way Dave Lombardo (whom I consider the best drummer in the world after seeing him with Fant�mas) pushes up the tempo during the solo to a speed that is literally death metal. It’s cool to see, that it actually rains blood during the solo part, but you have to look real well to see it. I only noticed that their hair became really wet.

After witnessing this there’s only one conclusion to find in all this chaos, you can't die as a happy metalhead without having seen Slayer perform their asses of. Period!