KNOTFEST Roadshow Concert Review AK-Chin Pavilion 10-02-22

KNOTFEST Roadshow Concert Review AK-Chin Pavilion 10-02-22-Review and Photos by Roc Boyum

The KNOTFEST Roadshow 2022 with it’s epic lineup of Slipknot, Ice Nine Kills and Crown The Empire came down on the AK-Chin Pavilion like a metal hammer on 10-02-22 with a crushing show of metal madness that’s not soon to be forgotten!

Slipknot’s singer Corey Taylor has always stated that the KNOTFEST Roadshow has never been about one band, but rather, it’s about the collection of metal brothers that share the stage on the killer KNOTFEST Roadshow.

Rise Records recording artist Crown the Empire set the Roadshow into motion with their brand of nasty heavy riffs by Brandon Hoover-guitars and growl vocals, bombastic driving rhythms by the rhythm section of Hayden Tree-bass and Jeevos Avalos-drums and clean vocals by Andrew “Andy Leo Rockhold”.

The band gave a shredding eight song set, culling songs from all four of their studio LPs, The Fallout, The Resistance, Retrograde and Sudden Sky respectively with their latest release Sudden Sky, the LP most represented. Singer Andrew “Andy Leo Rockhold thanked the rabid Phoenix audience for being the venue with the most fans in attendance for the opening act and I can say for sure, from the start – the venue was packed! This band definitely pulled in some new fans on this show with a ripping set, that got the KNOTFEST metal madness fans fired up for a night of killer music.

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Crown the Empire Set List Ak-Chin Pavilion

Masters of horror, Ice Nine Kills hit the stage with mass of flashing strobes and lighting that was definitely fit for a horror film. Singer and founding member Spenser Charnas commanded the stage with his brutal vocals, as he paraded around the stage while wielding a shovel. The band gave a brutal nine song set of songs that were culled from only two of their six studio LPs; The Silver Scream and The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood respectively.

These fans knew these two LPs quite well as they sang along to every single song in their set from beginning to end; it was epic fan participation.

Ice Nine Kills are a theatrical metal of brutal songs that you can sing to and enjoy watching your favorite horror films played out on stage; how fun is that!

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The Ice Nine Kills AK-Chin Pavilion Set List Was:

Slipknot came to finish off this night, and they did exactly that with a brutal show that is something one has to see and hear – to fully appreciate the scope and intensity of the brilliance of a band with a 23 year history of shredding stages all over the world. Frontman Corey Taylor is by far one of the most commanding and engaging performers that you will ever see, period! This show had a long list of highlights starting with the opening track “Disaterpiece” from their Iowa LP that was released in 2001.   

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The anticipation for Slipknot’s arrival was mounting, moment by moment under a darkened sky that was lit only by the audience cell phones illuminating the night as the Slipknot curtain was still covering the stage. The band’s black curtain simply read; Slipknot that was lit up from behind the curtain and that was waving in the night air like a flag on a pirate ship that was charging towards it’s next victim; The Ak-Chin Pavilion! 

In one fell swoop, the curtain dropped and the audience went from a sea of lit cell phones to an army of pumping fists and a show of horns as the band blasted onto the stage with the brutality of “Disasterpiece”Slipknot continued the assault of their thirteen song set with “Wait and Bleed” off their 1999 highly acclaimed self-titled debut platinum release and finished the night with the two encore songs of “People = Shit and Surfacing” respectively. Before Taylor introduced “The Dying Song” off their latest LP The End So Far, he walked to the front of the stage and said; Phoenix, you never let me down!  He went on to say; We just released a new album, does anybody have that album?  Crowd Cheers! He then he said:  The name of that album is, The End So Far!  and a lot of people want to run their mouth by saying, this is it, THEY’RE BREAKING UP!  He Pauses, and then emphatically states; Those people are idiots! Crowd Cheers! Because this album simply means; the end of a very important era of Slipknot lives and a beginning to the next 10 to 20 fucking years of our career!  Crowd Roars! He then comments; Since we’re in one of the craziest cities in all of the fucking United States of America, we thought we’d come and give you just a little bit of or new fucking album, is that what you want? Crowd roars! Taylor imparts; Then Phoenix, (It’s time to sing) The Dying Song!

The band then immediately launched into a ripping version of The Dying Song (Time To Sing) that shredded on at breakneck speed with a torrent of flashing strobe lights to further emphasize the song’s message about humans and their idiocy to continue to kill and beat the shit out of each other. We’re now in a state of just watching as our leaders continue to destroy our world! This song could be considered a wakeup call but it also indicates that it’s too late to reverse the carnage that this world has been thrust into! It’s like saying; you’re standing at the ocean shore in front of a tsunami that’s right in front of you and there’s no hope for escape, so, you can only just sit back and watch. Hopefully we’re not at the point of no return but people must take action to effect change. 

“The Heretic Anthem” is another fan favorite that Taylor introduced with a lengthy commentary. The short version is; Everybody here tonight is part of the fucking Slipknot family and we have a code to recognize us from the rest of the world, would you like to know that code tonight my friends?  Taylor held up his left hand showing five fingers, he laughs, and he then imparts a segment of “The Heretic Anthem” lyrics by saying, if your 555 (the audience joins in with him) then I’m 666!  The band then exploded into this song that had everybody singing along and unanimously chanting, if you’re 555 then I’m 666!  Great fun indeed!

The band finished their regular set with four brutal songs, “Phychosocial, Duality, Custer and Spit It Out” respectively.

At the end of the songs “Duality, and Custer“; the songs would stop abruptly and Taylor would say, woah woah, hold on a second; I said, do you want to hear one more song? Each of the last three songs in the regular set had an amazing audience singing participation that definitely gave one the feeling that they were part of a crazy metal family!

The last song of the night in the encore segment was the brutal song “Surfacing” that Taylor introduced by asking everyone to put their middle fucking fingers in the air! The entire AK-Chin Pavilion was a massive sea of middle fingers in appreciation for this iconic band. Slipknot and Corey Taylor will give you a concert like no other and at least once in your life, this is a concert that you must experience; and then of course, you’ll be back for more no doubt!

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