It has been more than three years since the phenomenon known as Slipknot rampaged across Europe, but tonight they finally came to the settle the score and destroy a sold out Heineken Music Hall in support of their new album All Hope Is Gone. Supporting them are special guests Machine Head and Children Of Bodom.

 

 

Openers Children Of Bodom had the honour to warm up the audience for two of the biggest metal goliaths. The band always delivers a high quality technical performance with tracks from several albums. I must admit that I lost them out of my sight the last couple of years, but it was still fun to hear all those songs I played so many times. The catchy melodies these guys play in songs like ‘Hate Me’, ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’ and ‘Angels Don’t Kill’ really stick in your head. The 35 minutes of playing time these guys had seemed to pass in an instant and left the crowd ready for the main acts. (DemonDust)

 

Headlining a sold-out show in Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall and almost a year later “just” being main-support in that same venue must at least be a bit strange. According to Machine Head drummer Dave McClain it is indeed a little bit frustrating, but judging to their performance tonight they didn’t seem to care at all. With a set that consisted of 4 songs from The Blackening and 3 older ones they definitely put down an amazing show. Especially when you take in consideration that Robb Flynn deals with a severe throat and bronchial infection. I’m very much looking forward to the time they’ll play some more intimate venues again, with some more surprises in their set list, but until that moment these kind of shows definitely suffice. (Gilles)

 

The circus is back in town! Although I was a bit sceptical about headliners Slipknot, for I really don’t like the new record all that much, I have to admit that this was one of the best shows I saw these guys play. A basically flawless and surprising set renewed my love for this nine-headed metal monster once again, for they played only two songs of their latest effort All Hope Is Gone. Too bad they weren’t my favourites, as they played the two singles ‘Psychosocial’ and ‘Dead Memories’, yet because there were only two I didn’t mind too much. They opened the show with a track that is usually somewhere in the end of their set: ‘Surfacing’. Other tracks in the set were ‘Disasterpiece’, ‘Get This’, ‘Eyeless’, ‘The Blister Exists’, and ‘Before I Forget’, but the real surprises came when they played ‘Prosthetics’ and ‘Only One’, both tracks from the debut album I’ve never seen them play before. Of course everybody sat down and jumped up during the crowd participation track ‘Spit It Out’, and it was amazing to see the amount of people singing along during the catchy choruses of ‘Duality’ and ‘The Heretic Anthem’. And if you had anything left after this devastating list of songs, you’d be dead after the encore comprised of ‘People=Shit’ and ‘(Sic)’. As always the show was a real treat to watch and despite Joey’s occasional sloppy work on the bass drum I have nothing negative to say about this show. Luckily Slipknot proved that they are still able to please me and many others, even though their last album is not so great. I just hope it doesn’t take another three years until they return to Dutch soil again. (DemonDust)