SLIPKNOT 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR – CO-OP LIVE ARENA MANCHESTER; 17TH DECEMBER 2024.

On the 17th December, ALL ABOUT THE ROCK attended the 25th Anniversary tour “Here Comes The Pain” of Slipknot with solid support from Bleed From Within. I feel like I start all my reviews lately with “on today adventure” but I tell you  this one actually was and I’m about to tell you how we almost were super late to a Slipknot show thanks to Santa claus… For real. On the way up to Co-Op Live from where I live, we had a Santa float in front of us for the little kiddies as we’re drawing more to christmas but we must have been behind the bloody thing for at least 20 minutes. You can’t make this shit up, you really can’t. Back to the actual point of this review I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Slipknot 25th Anniversary tour at the Co-Op Live arena in Manchester. It’s noted I wasn’t doing photography tonight as I usually would be however, I did manage to snap a few pictures from our seats on the good ol’ Iphone 15.

This is the first time I’ve actually attended this venue and I’ll be honest, I like it. Co Op Live arena has a capacity hold of 23,500 compared to it’s similar sized AO arena which holds a capacity of 23,000 however I feel compared to the AO arena, the CO-OP live arena is a lot more organized and laid out so much better. I’m definitely interested at attending more shows here as the experience was enjoyable.

Supporting Slipknot solo and opening for them this evening on their 25th Anniversary tour was Glaswegian metallers Bleed From Within. Bleed from Within are a band I’ve grown up throughout my teenage year with since first hearing them in 2006 and attending a show with them performing back in 2007, I adore the fact that Bleed From Within are doing so well in their musical career and got the opportunity to showcase their talent with the gigantic titans, Slipknot

When they took to the stage I already felt like this was going to be a good performance and boy was I not wrong, they were fucking superb. Playing fan favourites such as “Pathfinder”, “I am Damnation” and a very dramatic “levitate” which featured the whole audience lifting their phones up with lights was for sure a highlight of the performance for me. In their set too they also showcased their newest release “In Place Of Your Halo” with bagpipes during the song, big shout out from the guys to their heritage. We love to see it!

And for the main act, the one everyone had been waiting for Slipknot. Now hear me out when I give me opinion on their performance, read this with a clear and open mind as I know some of my feedback would happily draw out the local basement dwelling keyboard warrior out. I’d like to start by saying overall their performance was fucking fabulous but there was some negatives and one being it didn’t leave me feeling like “Woah, that’s phenomenal” as I’ve felt previously with Slipknot when I’ve attended their live performances. I spoke to a few people after the show and there was a fair few people who voiced this same opinion. There was a lack of pyrotechnics, extraness alongside lack of mechanical elements that were present in previous tours, which left open criticism from fans and myself of the overall performance and the usual inclusion of these from a Slipknot show. I do have to give a positive though on the lighting however that was blooming amazing to watch albeit if you were epileptic or photosensitive, you would have not had such a good time.

Throughout the set there were many call outs for cheers for Bleed from Within from Corey Taylor and constant praise towards the audience expressing gratitude for the fans’ continued support throughout the years since release of the first album back in 1999. There was one notable part where he was praising even “casual fans” and people boo’d and Corey was quick to tell them to “fuck off with the negativity towards ALL MAGGOTS”.

The show tonight consisted of their debut album hits only with nothing being played that was released after 1999 and was made clear to fans before the show that this would be all that would be played, no new stuff, no mid-way stuff just the first debut album RAW.

The full set list for the evening was:

1. (sic)
2. Eyeless
3. Wait And Bleed
4. Get This
5. Eeyore
   – Tattered & Torn – (Sid Wilson remix)
6. Me Inside
7. Liberate
8. Purity
9. Prosthetics
10. No Life
11. Only One

Encore:
Spit It Out
Surfacing
Scissors (Extended version)

Highlight for me for the night was getting to see “Wait and Bleed” live again for the 5th time, this song has always had a soft spot in my heart and still gives me goosebumps hearing it live. I feel like I need to give feed back for drummer Eloy Casagrandes‘ performance for the evening being beautifully executed, although there was not upside down drum playing and the drama that Joey Jordison brought with his stage shows Eloy smashed it out of the park.

Overall, I’d honestly say the show was a great success with the fans and it was great to see the unison of so many generations of Slipknot fans from young children to older adults alike. Musically both bands absolutely annihilated that stage and did really well, it was polished and clean from both Slipknot and Bleed from Within. It did have it’s negatives as I’ve listed along but maybe that is because subconsciously I’m trying to compare it to their old tours. I have factored into mind that they are a lot older now too so even though the energy from the band was on point, it was not quiet the same level as in their ‘golden days’.

 

The feel and vibe of the gig as a whole was a whole mood of sense of community and belonging among fans who find solace and strength in the music and people from all levels of life who have come together to watch the bands this evening. As Slipknot’s Corey Taylor once said, “Metal is about unconditional love. Metal fans are there for each other when no one else is.” Slipknot tonight surely proved that this is true and definitely still standing strong in the crowds and music of live metal music.

For everything SLIPKNOT visit >> HERE <<

For merch from the “Here Comes The Pain” tour visit >> HERE <<

For more photography from shows visit my INSTAGRAM >> HERE <<