Slipknot sets paused over fans climbing on speakers

Slipknot paused both of their sets at Knotfest Australia this week, due to wild fans scaling up massive speaker towers to get a better view.

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One fan sat on top of the speaker tower for several songs during their festival set in Melbourne last Friday (March 24). It wasn’t until ‘The Heretic Anthem’, the ninth song on the setlist, that the festival organisers finally directed the daredevil fan to come down.

“Hi Knotfest, we’ve stopped the show because there’s people up in the air,” they said over a PA announcement. “Anybody that’s up in a tower needs to get down or the show will not commence until you’re down.”

Two days later, another fan followed in the daredevil’s footsteps, scaling the same speaker tower for Slipknot’s second set at Knotfest.

Frontman Corey Taylor commented on the situation praising the Australian fans: “I can’t take you crazy motherfuckers anywhere man, Jesus Christ!”

He continued: “Got you climbing on shit, jumping off shit, rolling on shit — what the fuck? That’s fine, I can’t stay mad at you. This is by far one of my favourite fucking countries in the entire fucking world. I mean that. You guys helped put us where we are and we have never forgotten that, god damn it, so thank you so fucking much.”

Last year NME spoke to percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan about Knotfest Australia, with the bandleader explaining that his ultimate goal is for the band’s sets at their own festival was to become “a full-on spiritual and immersive experience [that goes] well past the definition of a concert” – where hordes of adoring Maggots end up “drowning in the dream.”

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