As the blue and green sides of Glasgow went to war at Hampden, a darker, alternative subsection of the city’s population was getting ready to cause their own chaos across the city as Slipknot performed at the Hydro.
It was the Iowan band’s first time here in almost five years, with vocalist Corey Taylor gushing at length throughout the show about his love for the city.
Early in the show, he recalled the band’s first show in Glasgow, at the Barrowlands in 2000. At the time, Slipknot were not the global megastars they are now, with a scathing Herald review at the time branding them “profane, petty and pointless; teenage rebellion has never been this lame, nihilism this vacuous.”
Since then, the band have gone on to amass over 30 million record sales, with four of their first five studio albums cracking the top 5 in the UK charts.
Times have certainly changed since that first gig. Cheap Barras diesel is now replaced by £7.60 pints of Madri, while punters were warned via email in advance of a “dress code” in place for the gig.
Staple items in every mosher’s wardrobe like wallet chains, big belt buckles, and spiked bracelets were explicitly banned, while patrons in masks were forced to remove them while in the concourse. Quite the turnaround for Slipknot, who rose to fame on the back of an anonymous masked persona, only revealing themselves in 2004.
Even the support band, Bleed From Within, was an example of changed times. A local band who hit the big time, Glasgow’s metal gatekeepers have watched in amazement as the band they mocked 15/20 years ago went from the 300-capacity Soundhaus down the road all the way to gracing the Hydro stage as part of a European arena tour.
It was a homecoming for the band, whose catchy, yet aggressive brand of metalcore delighted the “maggots” (Slipknot’s pet name for their fans) in attendance.
As the familiar whirr of intro track 742617000027 blared through the Hydro, the crowd was transported back to 1999, as Slipknot unleashed a special anniversary set dedicated to the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut album.
The band’s trademark bells-and-whistles show was gone, with no pyro and no trademark rotating drum riser; just a simple basic backdrop as the band let the music do the talking, as they rattled through the entirety of their iconic first album, with Taylor proudly declaring there would be no songs from the new millennium in their set.
The album’s opening triple whammy of [sic], Eyeless and Wait and Bleed had the crowd roaring and gargling along in demonic karaoke style, with the circle pit whirling furiously.
And when they said they’d play the full album, they meant it. Bonus tracks hidden at the end of the album and original songs cut due to copyright claims all made an appearance for that full authentic experience.
It was a dream for the 14,500 metallers packed into the Hydro as career-defining hits were interspersed with deep album cuts. DJ Sid Wilson took the spotlight several times, remixing obscure tracks to make them even more abrasive.
By the time of the encore, with big hits such as Spit It Out and Surfacing, the Hydro was screaming in defiance with expletive-laden choruses that we simple could not print on the Clyde Insider. No doubt a few people in attendance would have been directing their ire at the beaks upstairs in the Hydro head office with their draconian dress policy.
The set ended with an extended version of brooding slow-burner Scissors, While not necessarily a first choice to close a set out, by the end the entire audience was drowning in a sea of guitar drone, floored by the intense hour and twenty minutes they had just witnessed.
It was a testament to the resurgence in popularity for heavy metal post-pandemic. Metal bands are big business, with more arena acts than ever and a revitalised fan base.
People from every background, from eight-year-old children to pensioners, dressed in everything from boiler suits to corpse paint, with the odd Old Firm shirt chucked in from those hardy moshers on double duty, all worshipping at the altar of one of metal’s crown jewel acts.
The setting and vibe may be worlds apart from that first Barrowlands show, but Slipknot showed last night that even as they mellow in their old age, they still know how to ramp up the intensity when they want.
One wonders that if that Herald writer’s views on teenage rebellion never being so lame have changed.
