This double DVD is a great little package for both Download and Slipknot fan. if you were there you’ll know how colossal thisheadline performance was. If you were there, you have to buy this, it transports you back to those incredible moments.
The first dvd contains the full ninety minute set. Joey crawls up to his gargantuous spangly drum kit which sits atop a platform with Sid’s decks and 133’s keyboards on each side. In front of them two blocks of drums on risers ridden by the clown and chris respectively, centre stage is Corey’s domain flanked by the towering and statuesque like Mick, Jim and Paul. These are the subliminal 9 and their about to take you on one of the greatest headline performances seen at any festival in the UK, and like any other they have done before. There is a real sense of actually being there, everything you expect from a festival crowd is captured here. This is nobody else’s moment in the world other than the people on stage and the 80,000 people stretched into the distance watching them, the scale of which is enormous and truly breathtaking. They open with ‘7426’ which leads perfectly into ‘(sic)’ followed by ‘eyeless’, a perfect way of setting exactly what the mood is and also a reminder that it is the 10th anniversary of their debut album ‘Slipknot’. They then play ‘wait and bleed’ which should be an anthem of huge proportions but here this doesn’t seem to be the case, simply because of the fact that these are true fans here and they know that slipknot have a plethora of heavier, faster, better and harder hitting songs, the band knew they had to play it but wanted to get it out the way and get on with more their more complex material. At this point it’s notable to say that the crowd noises could be more prominent in parts (although this isn’t the case later on towards the end of the set)You can’t help yourself shouting along, but unfortunately it’s in these sections that you can’t hear the crowd participation which is a shame. This is made up for though by the fact that this is an incredibly well thought out set list, with superbly constructed camera angles. This is the most energetic performance i’ve seen by Slipknot, with the majority coming from Chris and Sid, who bounce all over the place, come up to the barriers to sing with the crowd, ride on security teams shoulders through the audience, hang from raised spinning drum platforms, throw beer barrels, baseball bats and microphones at both members of the band and road crew. And while we’re talking about Sid, his little interludes between songs are exceptional, quite Nine Inch Nail esque and provide a perfect background for Corey’s speeches which are touching, emotional, exciting and very thankful towards the fans, it’s incredibly uplifting, some of the best frontman speeches out there in my opinion. You get a real sense of how important this performance is for the band and how hard they have worked for it, and deservedly so.
It’s great to see some new material mixed in, ‘sulfur’, ‘dead memories’ and ‘psychosocial’ fit in perfectly amongst ‘before I forget’, ‘the blister exists’ and ‘left behind’, it proves that the band aren’t just doing a greatest hits set and that the newer material is just as important to them, this is something that the crowd agree highly with. As the light gets darker so does the music, the pinnacle of which is when they rip through ‘Vermillion’, it matches the atmosphere at this point perfectly. One of the biggest sights to behold is just after ‘Everything Ends’ when you see 80,000 maggots clapping in perfect syncopated movements, it highlights how truly epic the size of the audience is at Download. It’s at this point that the maggots are really pulsing. The last half an hour is absolutely flawless and is the best part of the gig. This is true Slipknot and every member surpasses anything i have seen or heard before at a Slipknot gig, in particular Corey’s vocals. It’s awesome, this is what the fans had been wanting the whole day at Download, it’s clear to see why. At the beginning of ‘Duality’ Corey says ‘sssshh’ and their is an absolute silence, it’s a massive contrast, its very engaging and captivating and again makes you realise the scale. The end of ‘Duality’ Corey shouts ‘oh my fucking god’ with such gusto and aggression and this sums it all up, it’s unbelievable, easily their best performance. It’s just after ‘people=shit’ (the best song in the set both visually, technically and from an audio front in my opinion) that there is a sense of real tension in the crowd and you know that it’s really going to explode out there and my god does it! The encore sees Slipknot really shining, everything that Slipknot is and stands for is during this song. Joey raises up on his drum kit and spins upside down, the clown and chris spin around on their drums, corey paces the stage, Mick, Paul and Jim are solid and technically astonishing, Sid is perfect with his interludes and its the first time the crowd participation is pushed to the absolute maximum. If your a Slipknot fan or ever seen them live before, you know what happens during this song, only this time theirs 80,000 maggots who ‘Jump the fuck up’. This is a moment for anyone that was there that they'll never ever forget i know i never will, it’s a truly epic and historical moment in time and music.
By the end every single member of the audience can be seen topless, knackered and dripping with putrid sweat. The dvd closes with footage of the band gathering together on stage and exchanging hugs as it fades to black, an emotional moment as it was one of Paul Gray’s last major performances before his tragic and sudden death. We’re all hoping a concert like this will happen again for both band and audience but at the moment we just don’t know. I’m so glad i was apart of this experience and i know that the 79,999 other fans will be too.
The second dvd of this package is a short film directed by Shawn Crahan (the clown) and is typically of his style, flittering between random images and footage of the band, whether it be close ups on stage or backstage. It’s great to see the band having fun backstage and fooling around, its a nice addition to the brutality and aggression of them on stage, it’s very human. The best part of which is when the band gather together just before they are waiting to go onstage, you can feel the excitement and anticipation as well as extraordinary focus from each member. It’s sad to see Paul Gray finishing a phone call to whom i presume is his wife saying ‘I’ll call you after the gig, love you, bye, gotta go now’. The whole of this DVD is a dedication to Paul and what a brilliant way of commemorating him for both the band and to the fans. It showcases not only the bands greatest ever performance but Paul Gray’s greatest ever performance.
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