Between some Knotfest and other metal festivals like Wacken, SlipKnot headlined some mainstream festivals way different than the usual rock/metal festivals! Pukkelpop was a surprise… Cabaret Vert in France is even more strange! Sharing the headlines of this French festival with Stromae, Orelsan, Liam Gallagher or Pixies and Laylow for their dat, it was weird. But we love weird things and we gave them a chance… What a good idea we had!
About 2h drive from Brussels, a few miles after the border, this small festival (about 25k daily) is in the lovely town of Charlevilles-Mezière especially known for his Arthur Rimbaut museum. That being said, it’s not really the first city you’d have in mind for holidays or even a city-trip. And even less for a show of SlipKnot! But that’s what is happening on this Thursday 18 August 2022.
The festival opened late, around 4pm, even if they have 5 stages. We really are in the countryside with familial vibes but it’s a really good mood. The first thing we noticed is that maybe 5% of the people looks like metalheads. Do they know who the headliner is? Will they have a look or the field will be empty? So many questions we’ll have to wait until to 10pm to have the answer. Until then, for the few metalheads there, the Cabaret Vert booked some local/small metal bands like Protogonos and Disconnected. But we ran away after a few songs. Way too generic. Sadly we hoped to catch Byb Vylan but due to administrative issues, he didn’t make it on time on Mainland Europe as he also had to cancel Pukkelpop the same weekend.
The only proper show we’ll see before SlipKnot is Pixies scheduled as sub-headliner… well, why not. For the first time since the festival opened, there’s a massive crowd in front of the Main Stage. But without a lot of ambiance. Except the fans, the major part of people there don’t know the band… except their huge hit Where’s My Mind. It was funny to see many people running to the Zanzibar aka Main Stage just for this last song. And go back to what they were doing right after the song. In a few minutes, the field was really empty and only remained a couple of SlipKnot in the front row.
When you have the habit to attend Graspop, you know you can’t be in the first rows for SlipKnot if you arrived only 40 minutes before their set. But it’s because you have 55k metalheads waiting the band from Des Moines there. Here, it’s way more different. And we didn’t refuse to enjoy the show in the pit from the first rows! Because yes, spoiler alert: there have been many pits during the SlipKnot show!
At 10pm, after the too long intro, the curtain with the band’s logo felt and let the 9 crazy guys appear on that Zanzibar Stage. A stage bigger than the previous editions to be able to install all the material from the band. Many LED screens, pyros, effects and all their big production on stage. That’s something!
Started with Disasterpiece is a classic and we’ve been surprised from the first notes: yes, the field is full; yes, people know the band; yes, we gonna have a blast! Because, yes, Corey is in a good shape and everything is ready to have a sick night! Wait And Bleed, the newest All Out Life or Sulfur were perfect to make us ready for one of the highlight of the set: Before I Forget! The beginning of something big? Well, sadly not. Right after, they continuted with the brand new single The Dying Song… boring in studio and boring in live. Fortunately, they only play half of the song live.
A very short break and we were on the way for an intense marathon of songs: Unsainted, The Heretic Anthem, Psychosocial who seems already be a very old song and, the one and only, Duality. After seeing so many Tomorrowland or Werchter looking faces in the afternoon, it was fun and great to hear so many people singing one of the biggest anthem of SlipKnot. You can not look like a metalhead (sorry for the cliché) but still be a metalhead!
Custer and Spit It Out finished to kill us before the encore. The full field did the famous “Jump The Fuck Up” during Spit It Out like you see in the video below. The encore was also a classic one with People = Shit and Surfacing.
Set-llist: Disasterpiece, Wait And Bleed, All Out Life, Sulfur, Before I Forget, The Dying Song, Dead Memories, Unsainted, The Heretic Anthem, Psychosocial, Duality, Custer, Spit It Out // Encore: People = Shit, Surfacing.
What a nostalgic night! It was the first time since 2013 we saw SlipKnot and if we were a bit afraid about the show before it started due to some conditions (not a metal festival, Corey voice, potential set-list), we’ve been reassured from the first song of the show that we gonna have a good time! Now we are waiting – a bit worried – the brand new album and to see them live again at Graspop 2023 – there’s absolutely not suspense.