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It feels like forever since the 9-man musical tornado that is Slipknot last visited the UK, so unsurprisingly, their return for their 25th Anniversary shows was completely sold out across the UK.

The much sought-after support slot for the tour went to Scottish metalcore bruisers Bleed From Within, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands, delivering a crunching performance as the likes of “I Am Damnation” rattled around the arena with vocalist Scott Kennedy relentlessly whipping the crowd on this opening night into a headbanging mess.

You will not hear anything tonight from after 1999,” roars Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor as he addresses the sold-out crowd at Leeds First Direct Arena. Performing nothing after their 1999 debut album for these anniversary dates, this is Slipknot, for want of a better phrase, in the raw.

As the iconic “742617000027” intro to “(sic)” grinds out around the arena and the nine make their arrival, this is the cue for pandemonium both on and offstage. Returning to their roots, gone are the elaborate stage productions replaced by a band who are performing like it’s 1999 again.

Gone are the revolving drumkits and treadmill ramps instead replaced by a simplified setup and a sinister atmosphere. While there have been various line-up changes over the years, watching the band tear through the likes of “Eyeless, “Liberate”, and “Surfacing” and seeing Clown and Co tear up the stage, that musical cocktail was as volatile as it was 25 years ago.

Sure, “casual fans” will argue that all the big hitters were missing from a set list that lasted just over an hour but tonight was exactly how it was for those of us who remember that original show at the London Astoria or that first tour where the band brought carnage to the UK and hit the headlines across the UK mainstream press.

The interludes, DJ-remixes, the boiler suits and masks, and the creepy lighting just added to the intensity of the performance while watching the band barrel through “Eeyore” and “No Life,” both casuals and hardcore maggots were witnessing a band that have never sounded more exciting, more savage and, quite frankly, like a band who have rediscovered exactly what it was that made the UK fall in love with them 25 years ago.

Slipknot Set List:

1. 742617000027
2. (sic)
3. Eyeless
4. Wait and Bleed
5. Get This
6. Eeyore
7. Tattered & Torn (Sid Wilson remix)
8. Me Inside
9. Liberate
10. Frail Limb Nursery
11. Purity
12. Prosthetics
13. No Life
14. Only One
15. Mudslide
16. Spit It Out
17. Surfacing
18. Scissors

I have an unhealthy obsession with bad horror movies, the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap British game shows. I do this not because of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it affords me but more because it gives me an excuse to listen to bands that sound like hippos mating.

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