SLIPKNOT JAPAN TOUR - Tokyo Bay N.K. Hall (March 25th, 2002)
"I was watching AHC's performance surprisingly calmly, but as soon as it finished, AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock" started playing at full volume... and then a curtain with the SLIPKNOT logo (a modified "S" with a pentagram) came down.
The audience erupted in a roar.
Whether I liked it or not, my excitement was building, and before I knew it, people were trickling into the previously sparsely packed back block. Ah, so many people were there just to see SLIPKNOT? From here, it took about 40 minutes for the set change, but so many people came that I started to feel like, "Maybe this isn't the time to just sit back and watch the show..."
Around 7:30pm, the lights went out again. The new soundtrack began to play... Light shone on the curtain from inside, and a faint figure was reflected in it. It was a figure holding an instrument, with a head that was clearly different from that of a normal person... (laughs)
As soon as the set ended, the curtain fell and the classic "People=Shit" began.
With nine members, the drummer* was the only one who stayed in one place at all times. As soon as the show started, the percussionists and turntable players on either side of the stage left their posts and went wild. Some of them trailed behind the percussion section (lol), while others hyped up the crowd. At first, I was just watching from the back, but before I knew it, I was pushing my way to the front, joining in chanting "People=Shit".
This screaming was so much fun! (lol)
The show continued with a great flow, mixing in fast numbers like "Liberate" and "Left Behind," which has a fairly pop melody even though the second album is even more hardcore than the first, and "Get This." There were plenty of entertaining elements, like percussion instruments rising up on both sides (like a KISS drum set, lol) and spinning around. Oh yeah, the backdrop at the back of the stage (a large curtain with the Bond logo and others on it, was changed many times during the show...
And Corey's signature Japanese MCing was still going strong. He even remembers the familiar Summer Sonic tunes (lol) like "Sawage", "Tobe", "Nakayubi tatero" and "Shagande~, Tobe" (lol)*. He even remembers the greeting "Mata Tokyo ni yondekurete, arigatou" ("Thank you for coming to see us again") and song introductions like "This song is..."
In a way, he's surpassed Gene Simmons' "You are so beautiful" (lol)
After creating a dark atmosphere through the unique mid-set track "Iowa" and "Purity," the drum solo began.
To be honest, I had made up a rule in my mind that only Cozy Powell and Tommy Lee* were allowed to play drum solos, but... this really took me by surprise. I knew the drum set would rise into the air (while spinning around), but I had no idea what would happen next... Actually, when I saw the drummer sitting in a stool with a backrest, I thought, "Huh, I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?" But then the drum set tilted forward 90 degrees toward the audience, exactly like Tommy Lee did on his 1985 tour with Motley Crue! But what was different from Tommy's was that the drum set, tilted 90 degrees, then spun 360 degrees again in that position (get it?), which added a bonus (lol). I felt a little blue, thinking that the fans in their teens and early twenties already in the venue probably had no idea that MOTLEY CRUE used to do things like this.
Well, that's fine, as long as the original band doesn't do it anymore. During the tour for their album "STYLE," Shinya, still in LUNA SEA, performed a solo using the same 360-degree rotating drum set that Tommy Lee used on his '87 tour. Tommy Lee is no longer a drummer, he's a rapper (wry smile). Just this one element shows how devoted SLIPKNOT is to entertaining their audience, and to an extreme degree...Anyone who doesn't enjoy this is missing out on half their life, if you ask me (oh, is that a controversial statement again? / lol).
The drum solo was only a few minutes long, but because it was so showy, it felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Then the band members returned, and that memorable drum and bass sound began... my favorite song from their first album, "Eyeless."
I moshed and headbanged like crazy.
Wow, I never thought a live show would turn out like this (wry smile). It was seriously fun. The band was really good at getting the crowd going. Their music is extreme, brutal, and hardcore, but their spirit is fundamentally the same as bands like KISS and MOTLEY CRUE, bands I've loved and listened to since I was a kid. Speaking of current artists... I don't know if you'll agree, but I feel like they have the same kind of over-the-top entertainment spirit as Guitar Wolf or Morning Musume.
The second half of the set featured a string of catchy (but still heavy) tunes, including "My Plague" with its mellow chorus and "The Heretic Anthem," which didn't even require any prior confirmation, like "You know what I mean when I say 555, right?" (Though I did laugh when they did it with the Japanese equivalent of "go go go*" and "roku roku roku*"). The set ended with a string of hits from their first album, "Spit It Out" and "Wait & Bleed."
Midway through "Spit It Out," they got the entire audience to sit down as they always do, and they got the crowd excited with some squatting and jumping* action. There was a touching moment when they got the audience to sing along to the opening line of "Wait & Bleed," and everyone was singing along. Even the 50 minutes of their opening act felt long to me, but here I was losing track of time and going wild, so I think you can see how good this band is at getting people excited and having fun.
The calls for an encore and the applause were incredibly enthusiastic. Soon, the soundtrack from the beginning of their first album started playing... I had no idea this band would do an encore, but with such a strong desire to entertain, I had no choice but to apologize and be grateful.
We went wild again with "(sic)", and by the very last song, "Surfacing," I did the obligatory "nakayubi tatero*" raising both my middle fingers and pointing them towards the sky...I'm going to be thirty one this year. Looks like I am going to have a wonderful time!
The band, having given it their all, thanked and greeted the audience numerous times, and the satisfied audience gave the band a thunderous round of applause.
Then the lights came on...about 80 minutes in total. It wasn't too long, nor too short, just the right length, right? Come to think of it, this might actually be my first recent solo live performance by a loud band. I've seen a lot of bands like Rage, Limp, and Tool at festivals, and even saw Marilyn Manson's first visit to Japan before things got this exciting...so I can't really compare, but personally I think an hour and a half is just right. On the other hand, an hour would probably feel unsatisfying, and two hours would probably be physically demanding, so in that sense, I thought it was very well thought out. The songs played were about half from both albums, with a good balance between the first album, which has a lot of pop songs, and the second album, which has a lot of extremely brutal songs. Well, I guess it's hard to generalize on this point, as everyone has their own preferences. But, as I've said many times before, they were already winners the moment they put on those masks and jumpsuits.
The other thing is how much they can satisfy the people who are interested. In the early days, they had a violent image, like they'd get into fights on stage, but when they've grown this big, it's different. I know there are many people who don't approve of this change, but I fully support this version of SLIPKNOT. It may be transparent, but I think the difference lies in whether or not you can take that kind of childsplay seriously. That's why KISS and MOTLEY CRUE were popular in that era, and why Guitar Wolf and Morning Musume are also popular with their respective audiences. In that sense, aren't Cory's "Nakayubi Tatero," Seiji's "Disneyland, Baby," and Morning Musume's "WOW WOW, YEAH YEAH!" all heading in the same direction, just with different methodologies? I'm starting to think that...what do you think?
I want to believe in the smiles on the faces of the kids around me after a live show. Isn't that everything?
SETLIST
01. (515) ～People=Shit
02. Liberate
03. Left Behind
04. Eyeore
05. Disasterpiece
06.Purity
07. Gently
08. Turntables Solo
09. Eyeless
10. Iowa (Intro) ~ Drum Solo
11.My Plague
12. The Heretic Anthem
13. Spit It Out
14.Wait & Bleed
[Encore]
15. 74261000027 ~ (sic)
16. Surfacing
Notes
They took the stage from 19:30 to 20:50
AHC: American Head Charge
Drummer: Obviously Joey.
Summer Sonic: an urban music festival held every year in Chiba and Osaka.
Japanese phrases: Native speakers said this "broken Japanese", but basically meant things to rouse the crowd.
Tommy Lee & Slipknot's Joey Jordinson: I seem to recall that the Motley Crue book, "The Dirt" was Joey's favorite book.
Go Go Go & Roku Roku Roku: Japanese for 555 and 666.
Squatting and jumping: I think this is what this means, but it definitely involves squatting down.
Nakayubi tatero: Roughly, fuck signs, i.e. middle finger. Someone said about Corey, "Who is teaching him this kind of Japanese!?" Then again, somewhere else described him as "sex doll-like masked man".
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