Slipknot & Lamb of God
26th October 2016
Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.
Seeing Slipknot on their showcase tour for Roadrunner Records in Melbourne 16 years ago was a raw, explosive performance that I truly felt no one would be able to top. I was wrong. Absolutely commanding The Vector Arena in Auckland like the metal gods that they are, Slipknot treated the collected maggots to a memorable evening, expertly ripping through their high quality catalogue of tunes that have structured much of the modern metal landscape.
Arriving at Vector it was clear what sort of an evening it would be; lots of smiling fans, parents bringing their larvae to burst forth into full Slipknot maggot-hood and a general – ‘hey we’re all in this together’ chilled and co-operative vibe pulsed through the merch areas outside and throughout the entire near to capacity venue.
Kicking off with New Zealand’s premium quality hardcore band now based in Melbourne, Antagonist A.D. knew what they were there to do, impress, be quick and get the hell out of there. Support bands overstaying their welcome when the collected are this electrically excited about the main event is always a bad move and ‘Antags’ burned through cuts from 2012’s Nothing From No One and 2015’s Haunt Me As I Roam to a warm response.
The atmosphere thickened and rolled over the crowd like a fog as the anticipation for Richmond Virginia’s Lamb of God gracing the stage deepened; a band New Zealand love so well that we’ve almost adopted them as our own. Vector looked like a glow-worm cave as hundreds of smartphones illuminated little patches of fans awaiting the gospel from Randy’s mouth to spit forth and they weren’t dissatisfied. Warmly Randy enthused that he and Lamb of God were excited to be back in the “land of the long white cloud” and they blistered through a taut set of hits with by far, Now You’ve Got Something to Die For from 2004’s Ashes Of The Wake and Redneck from 2006’s Sacrament being the killer tracks of their set; inducing a sizeable stew of writhing humans into a tumultuous circle pit on Vector’s main floor.
A swathe of red silky curtains emblazoned with a set of familiar S’s dropped to the stage as we waited for Slipknot to corrupt us for the evening, which only made all the maggots go even more mental…if that’s possible. Delivering more steaming cuts from 1999’s self-titled album than this original maggot dared dream they would. Eyeless, Surfacing, or (sic) showcased Clown’s vital baseball bat keg-drum hits as he manically spun and danced on one of two fully automated rising and rotating percussion risers. Boredom is impossible at a Slipknot gig as 9 of the devil’s harlequins rampage the stage using every piece of it to express their brutality; in conjunction with an impressive set of horror imagery projected onto the giant screen behind them and a kaleidoscope of lights and lasers.
Our prophet, our ringmaster – Corey Taylor commanded us so effortlessly; constantly requesting that as many house lights as possible be used here and there, to reveal his ‘family’ sprawling out before him. Taylor wanted us to know that while so many touring bands ‘act as if you owe them something’, Slipknot are very aware they ‘owe everything to us’, the maggots and they’ll never forget that. Taylor hit notes perfectly for big tracks like Psychosocial, Dead Memories, Duality, Before I Forget, The Heretic Anthem or even Left Behind from Iowa; which I’ve got to admit was a bit of a moment for me. Cementing his metal sex symbol role that Taylor’s so reluctantly had to take on; he wooed us, by reminding us that no matter how long between visits, New Zealand maggots like to make Slipknot feel that: “every time we come and play here, you make us feel like we’re from here…so thank you, we fucking love you”.
As Vector Arena melted into one many headed and goat-horned mass Slipknot knew all the pauses, rises and gallops to bring us to madness before leaving the stage to return for their most triumphant encore featuring even more goodness squeezed from their game-changing self-titled album; finishing us off with Wait And Bleed and the searing Spit It Out. Professional, tight and completely at their pinnacle, I hate to be that reviewer but; if you weren’t there to witness the Slipknot faith last night, then you most certainly missed the fuck out.
Equipment: Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS, Sigma EX 20mm f1.8
Were you there at Vector Arena to witness this amazing show? Or have you seen Slipknot or Lamb of God somewhere else? Tell me about it in the comments below!
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