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Who are Slipknot’s fans?
We head down to Slipknot’s Here Comes The Pain tour in Manchester to meet the Maggots that had their lives changed forever by nine masked men from the cornfields…
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Slipknot’s Clown on their 25th anniversary tour: “We haven’t had this much fun as a band in a long time”
Things seem to be going very well for Slipknot right now on their current Here Comes The Pain tour, with Clown explaining that the Iowa metal legends have really come “together to figure out what it is we want”.
- Words:
- Emily Carter
- Photo:
- Jonathan Weiner
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has spoken about how well things are going right now – both for Slipknot, and on a personal level.
Backstage at New York’s Madison Square Garden on the band’s current Here Comes The Pain 25th anniversary tour, the percussionist tells Rolling Stone that they’re “having a blast”, and all these shows have been “great”.
“We haven’t had this much fun as a band in a long time,” he enthuses. “I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t been this happy in a very, very long time, and I’m not saying there’s any one reason for that other than us coming together to figure out what it is we want, and that’s what we did. We came together and we decided what we want and we’re doing what we want. So not going to let anybody get in the way of that or interfere with pure love.”
However, Clown acknowledges how “awkward” it feels to be missing two key members, who of course played on Slipknot’s self-titled debut and yet aren’t here to celebrate this milestone: late bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison.
“Something like a 25-year anniversary seems like a big selling point for a tour like this,” Clown explains, “but it’s really awkward for me because two of the most important people for all of this, for any of it, have both passed. So I want to express that I feel blessed to be in this band and still be alive and be here.”
As for what else is to come? Well, he teases that there’s a song from the ’Knot’s 1999 era that has still never been performed live, even on this tour. But Maggots can possibly expect to hear the elusive Diluted at some point… “I’m sure that’s going to show up any show now,” Clown teases.
Catch Slipknot back in Europe and the UK at the end of this year:
December
5 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
6 Dortmund, Germany – Westfalenhalle
8 Stuttgart, Germany – Schleyerhalle
9 Leipzig, Germany – Quarterback Immobilien Arena
11 Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
12 Paris, France – Accorhotel Arena
14 Leeds, UK – First Direct Arena
15 Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
17 Manchester, UK – Co-op Live Arena
18 Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
20 London, UK – The O2
21 London, UK – The O2
Read this: Slipknot: Every song on Iowa, ranked from worst to best
