Slipknot at Choctaw Grand Theater in Durant, OK

Slipknot @ Choctaw Casino And Resort, Durant | Photo By Jeff Anderson

Knotfest Roadshow made its way to Durant Oklahoma with possibly the most intimate venue of the tour, giving fans a closer visual experience.

Wage War opened up the concert with their infamous metalcore sound. Compared to their tour counterparts, the band is more or less a newcomer who has gained some traction in the past couple of years. They played a super fast 11-song set that touched the four albums they have released but concentrated mostly on the 2021 album Manic. During the last song “Stitches,” the audience celebrated the finale of the performance with a circle pit.

In This Moment had the Black Widow scrim up covering the stage so you could not see what was being done behind the scenes while “My Hero” played in remembrance of Taylor Hawkins’ untimely passing. The lights dimmed and there were some very bright stage lights flashing behind the covering. Once the scrim dropped and lead singer Maria Brink came out on a pedestal draped all in white with a crown that resembled something out of Pan’s Labyrinth.

They started the shorter set with “Burn” and the crowd went wild. The occult theme was running deep with numerous witch-style outfit changes. The dancers coordinated with Maria all night, especially on “Adrenalize.” Midway through “Adrenalize,” Maria used a smoke gun to add some atmospherics to the already packed stage. Right before the band played “Whore,” the lights pulsed red and there was a 12-foot podium wheeled out to center stage which Maria Brink climbed with dancers on both sides. As the song kicked in, white and black balloons dropped with the band’s logo. The dancers alternated signs up and down saying “shame” and “whore.”

Slipknot started off strong, opening with “Disasterpiece” which they started playing behind the black stage scrim with the Slipknot logo illuminated. It dropped when singer Corey Taylor screamed, “Nobody stop me!” From that second on, it was exactly what you would expect from the high-energy concert that Slipknot put on. The band seamlessly rolled into fan-favorite “Wait And Bleed” which was many fans’ first introduction to the band.

The lights dimmed with only Corey Taylor on the stage. He stated, “the crowd was in for a treat tonight because they are pulling lots of old songs out for this run, and this is the smallest stage we have played in 15 years. Being here in Oklahoma/Texas is just like breathing in sulfur.” With that, the lights turned yellow and the band ripped right into “Sulfur.”

“The Chapeltown Rag,” which is a song from the new album that is coming out later this year and has some very experimental elements to it. The band had Tortilla Man running back and forth, beating kegs and jumping around. They came to rock and have a good time doing it. Clown and Tortilla Man came out halfway through the song and played marching snares. The lights went blue and maggots appeared to be crawling across the screen as Corey cane out and stated, “The crowd is getting better and better. Jinjer was sadly not here because of the conflict going on in their home country, and when that conflict is over, they will for sure be touring with them.”

When it came time for the next song, Corey said, “You know over all of the years of us playing concerts, we have figured out the equation for how f***ed up Slipknot fans are and its if you’re 555 then I’m 666, take it away Mr. Wilson.” With that, DJ Sid Wilson started the infamous intro sample from “The Heretic Anthem.”

The most pyro-heavy song was “The Devil In I” which had bassist V-man shooting flames out of the side of his bass and walking between fire shots from the canons at the back of the stage. The LED panels on the stage lit up and the background was playing a video of what appeared to be a black hole exploding. This, along with all of the pyro, made it to be a very visually appealing song and video collaboration. 

Slipknot played a massive twenty-one song setlist that also included, “Dead Memories,” “Snuff,” “Unsainted,” “Psychosocial,” “Vermillion,” “Custer,” “Duality,” and many more. The encore consisted of three of the oldest songs from the band that have been in rotation since 2001 which included “People = S**t” and “(sic).” The band finished off the night withSurfacing” from their 1999 self-titled album. It was full of middle fingers from Corey, and Sid came out from behind his turntables and did a dance while also flipping everyone off. The grand finale consisted of pyro explosions, including flames being shot across the stage.

Knotfest Roadshow is just getting started and the first leg has two more weeks left, before picking up again in May for a second leg.

SLIPKNOT
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IN THIS MOMENT
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WAGE WAR
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CHOCTAW CASINO AND RESORT GRAND THEATER
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About Jeff Anderson 19 Articles
Jeff is located in Dallas, TX and has been photographing concerts since late 2009. His main musical tastes are metal, rock, pop punk and pretty much all music. He is comfortable covering small intimate gigs up to full day festivals. When he is not photographing, he is usually cooking at home or traveling with his wife.