On a rainy day this past Friday, August 10th, I went to Slipknot's Here Comes The Pain tour with my friend. It was my first Slipknot show, and also my friend's first ever metal show. Supporting them on the East Coast leg of the tour was melodeath band Orbit Culture and metallic and beatdown hardcore band Knocked Loose.
As we walked into CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, the venue was packed but not sold out. We could see people were already pregaming, and watched as two drunk people were kicked out. At the bar, we found that drinks like the “Eyeless” had a $17 price tag. Everything from merch, to seats, to food and drink was overpriced. I don’t go to many arena shows so I found that I had to rely on the music, the deep cuts, and 1999 hits from Slipknot to enjoy my time. I had to be blown away. I was blown away.
The first opener, Orbit Culture, came on quickly and ended quickly. Even if you're not a melodic death metal fan, this band should be on your radar. I didn’t really know what to expect from a band named Orbit Culture; I thought they might be really crappy djent. However, I was not just pleasantly surprised–you may even consider me a new fan! The guys in Orbit Culture knew what to do, how to work a crowd and be humble all at the same time. They seemed like fans but didn’t really want their music to outshine Knocked loose and Slipknot. Their music was melodeath too, which I’m very picky about. It’s a very fine line. When it’s simple, it loses the plot. Too much death metal shred and it’s pretentious and not catchy. Orbit Culture definitely adds something new with melodeath including really cool industrial and groove metal elements. Sadly, they played a pretty short set of around 30 minutes. The band abruptly ending early made me want more in a good way.
Next came Knocked Loose. Like with Slipknot, I know a lot of their material from front to back so I was very excited. Unlike Slipknot, Knocked Loose played almost all new material. A lot of those tracks I didn't mind, but in retrospect, I was kind of hoping they’d play hits from Laugh Tracks, A Different Shade of Blue, and maybe even Pop Culture. However, Knocked Loose only ended up playing 4 songs for the old fans (“Billy No Mates”, “Counting Worms”, “Mistakes Like Fractures’, and “Deadringer”). It seemed like this set was geared towards new fans. Those songs don’t work with a push mosh crowd that doesn't like or get karate moshing, but this didn’t stop them from mastering crowd participation. Bryan Garris (lead singer of the group) along with Issac Hale (Guitarist) dominated over the crowd like a drill sergeant; even out of their element, Knocked Loose are masters of their craft.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour (the venue had played “Break Stuff” by limp bizkit 3 times at this point), the kings of nu metal, Slipknot, came on stage. I was admittedly really tired after an hour of sitting, but the flashing intro of “Dreamweaver” and “Green Lights” kept me and my friend excited. We totally geeked over the interlude of “sic (742617000027)” and the many deep cuts and hits; while nothing was new material, it was all killer no filler. Slipknot kept up the well oiled-machine vibes, not even skipping a beat when the sound tech messed up in certain parts. Corey Taylor kept to his word between songs: “You came to us on a very special night…Let me be the first to say welcome to 1999, you crazy mfers." He continued, saying, “Tonight we are celebrating 25 years. Every song you hear tonight was written in 1999”. He wasn’t wrong. Songs like “(sic)”, “Eyeless”, “Wait and Bleed", “Frail Limbs Nursery” and “Purity”, “Eeyore”, and even a “Tattered and Torn” remix from Sid Wilson. They even played “No Life” and “Scissors” in the encore for the one of the first times in 24 years, and “Only One” for the first time in 12. This set was definitely for the maggots like myself who have never ever heard these songs live, or at least not in a long time. Slipknot was an absolute treat to see live, and they and the other supporting acts did not disappoint. Please do yourself a favor and see them play this set before it's too late.
