Slipknot’s mega-fest goes down under, with a little help from A Day To Remember, Enter Shikari, BABYMETAL and more…
Knotfest Australia has all the signature nuts and bolts of Slipknot’s eponymous festival: a strong 2:1 ratio of red jumpsuits to black band shirts, a dedicated museum granting revellers access to an immersive-style glimpse at rarely-seen memorabilia, and thousands of Maggots gathering for an almighty, ’Knotty party.
As the sun makes itself known early doors, an army of staff wielding giant sunscreen pumps appear in the pit, with fans settling in for a huge line-up that jolts between two adjoining stages. Loo breaks and bar trips require military planning as sets barely leave room for breath between them.
So, join us as we relive the action from when Slipknot went down under…
Sunami arrive with vocalist Josef Alfonso trading smiles for a confident snarl. Australia’s hardcore scene is an unstoppable force thanks to bands like Speed, AWOL and Trenchknife, which results in a huge welcome for the visiting Californians.
Given that this lot apparently started as an in-joke to parody the ignorant styles of hardcore they saw saturating the Bay Area, their set is worth taking seriously. Their abrasive brand of beatdown feels as crisp as the Saturday morning air, tightly wrapped with thrashy guitar licks and booming, ’90s-style blastbeats.
At the risk of morphing into the beast they begrudged, Sunami’s sound is synonymous with the toxic tough-guy aspects of hardcore. Thankfully, their unmistakable authenticity means it doesn’t take itself too seriously, much like their choice of bubble writing for a logo.
As the summer pollen starts to circle, their beats swirl into action. And as if on cue, a guy dressed as a sweaty Victoria Bitter bottle (Australia’s favourite full-strength beer) rolls into the pit. Beatdowns and banter? Right here.
The industrial vibrations of HEALTH offer some light relief between breakdowns. Even the weather is entranced, with a spot of rain sinking the mood to suitably somber levels. Not fazed in the slightest, the band’s infectious fusion of fuzzy guitars and electronic keys keep the crowd locked in place. In the absence of a dark and dingy dive bar, their intense reverb rings out like vibrant strobe lights, metaphorically illuminating the sea of red and orange jumpsuits beneath them.
Today’s festival context transforms the sound into a less blinding reimagination of Rammstein, if they were tossed into a Nutribullet by a cool LA hipster who grew up listening to Placebo. With all that euphoric complexity packed into their sound, HEALTH's stage set-up is decidedly more minimalistic. Unlike the rest of the day’s acts, the trio make little fuss of the digital backdrop, each member thrashing around within the neat shadows of a bold, sans serif font.
Metalcore is back in the driving seat as In Hearts Wake swarm the stage. Sadly, a dark cloud looms over the Byron Bay bruisers who operate under its weighty blanket for the majority of their half-hour set.
“We haven’t been able to reach some of our loved ones back home,” vocalist Jake Taylor pauses, acknowledging the tropical Cyclone Alfred threatening their hometown, some 700-odd miles from today’s Sydney site. Needless to say, it amplifies much of their lyrical content, poignantly related to environmentalism, social justice and tech instability.
The four-piece are still firing on all fronts, mind, and welcome a few familiar faces throughout the set. Polaris vocalist Jamie Hails is first up for a brief spot in Hellbringer, followed swiftly by Miss May I bassist Ryan Neff for Earthwalker. Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall even makes a digital appearance, his influence proving as powerful on the big screen as in real life during The Flood.
Slipknot’s influence is undeniable as Iowa’s Vended arrive in an array of face paint, jumpsuits and buckled masks. Though the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, instead of hiding behind his surname, vocalist Griffin Taylor (son of Corey) leads with genuine, fearless conviction all of his own.
Despite the absence of drummer Simon Crahan (son of Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan), the six-piece power up like pros. The stakes may be high, but Vended rise to the occasion with a fierce nu-metal formula that’s a touch nostalgic yet terrifyingly refreshing.
Spot of synths, anyone? Enter Shikari are suitably peppy today, even if their flashy stage lights are getting a little lost in the afternoon sun. Coming armed with a well-oiled festival set means the St Albans quartet could play it safe. Instead, they bounce between both ends of their catalogue, demonstrating through the power of dance, albeit of a unique, box-cutting kind, and it’s a dubstep fusion of 2007’s Sorry You’re Not a Winner that eventually jolts the crowd into something close to symmetrical motion.
Switching tempos and moving constantly like they’re trying to avoid a hefty bar tab ensures Shikari’s effortless charisma doesn’t default into being merely mechanical. The Last Garrison shuffles seamlessly into the off-beat motions of 2023’s goldfish and A Kiss For The Whole World, sending the slightly sunburnt poms on their merry way.
There’s no avoiding the low number of women on today’s line-up, and with Knotfest Sydney landing on International Women’s Day the irony threatens to dampen the spirits of anyone who’s stopped to acknowledge it. Just in time, Sharon den Adel’s signature vocals arrive like a shimmering shockwave. The sun seemingly morphs into goth-rock rays as Within Temptation make their long-awaited debut down under.
It isn’t long before the Dutch metallers look at home and their symphonic grooves are shifting the crowd into a trance-like state. If there was ever any doubt about their power, the sea of bobbing heads is proof that good things do indeed come to those who wait. A victorious whirlwind of an afternoon set showing.
Metalcore heavyweights Polaris make the most of their hometown advantage, bringing enough lightbulbs to illuminate the inner-city field like it’s an arena headliner. Jamie Hails leads with conviction, unleashing cathartic screams that suggest he’s happy to be back on familiar soil. Although his relentless stage stomps could well suggest someone messed up his coffee order.
Fatalism sees bassist Jake Steinhauser finding his groove on clean vocals. Ex Void Of Vision vocalist Jack Bergin jumps in for a swing at Hypermania, but it’s the gruesome beatdowns of Lucid and Inhumane that leave Knotfest with a sense that Polaris could be back to headline in the not-too-distant future.
If we didn’t know better, we’d say the world stops spinning altogether for BABYMETAL. There isn’t a step out of time as the Japanese trio take command of Stage 1, transcending all metal logic with their hyperpop-power-metal. Shaking up the status quo comes as naturally as their synchronised dance moves, the group barely breaking smiles as they sing over some of the gnarliest riffs of the day.
Electric Callboy are soon plastered on the big screen as collab track RATATATA ushers in the set’s biggest sing-along, somehow topping the euphoria laid down by Megitsune and KARATE. There’s simply no sense in not participating by the time Gimmie Chocolate! takes hold, with scenes that we can only imagine look like the world’s worst flash mob from the skies. Before we know it, the flags are drawn and BABYMETAL disappear like a furious fever dream. A brilliant one.
The newness of Knotfest Australia means the main stages are a tad smaller than what you’d expect from the U.S. instalment. So even with the likes of A Day To Remember packing their usual fire canons and confetti, today’s headline sets remain oddly intimate-ish. The Florida pop-punk heavyweights seem to be feeling it, too, with vocalist Jeremy McKinnon crediting the show as something special. “They’ll say the same to Melbourne,” groans one skeptic voice from behind. But even so, Jezza’s charm offensive goes over a treat.
The 16-song set lifts from the heavier side of their discography: The Downfall Of Us All, 2nd Sucks and Mr Highway’s Thinking About The End proving that there’s plenty of chugs left in the tanks yet. Having surprised fans with the physical release of their new Big Ole Album Vol. 1 a few days earlier, newbies such as LeBron already loom like permanent fixtures, soundtracking an unlikely sea of human-on-human surfboards. Even Knotfest can’t escape the band’s biggest ballad, and If It Means A Lot To You works its magic, leaving a trail of glitter and a few less vocal cords intact.
In place of the 25th anniversary set they toured around the world last year, Slipknot have spiced things up for their only Australian shows of 2025. “We’ve prepared something specifically for you,” Corey Taylor declares.
The Iowa icons announced plans to bring a deep-cuts set with them, and blimey, they weren’t kidding. “Look, it’s been going down well,” Corey admits, “so we will be taking it around the world.” It gives Aussie fans first dibs on what proceeds to be one of the best Slipknot gigs we’ve seen in yonks. The only downside is that the nu-metal titans are a member down, with Clown missing the tour due to family reasons.
Clown’s absence isn’t the only shift tonight. Spending the majority of the 90-minutes deep in their archives, it’s Sid Wilson who rightly holds much of the limelight, vaulting erratically between turntables, keys and DIY’d drum parts, which he clatters and climbs over for a remix of Tattered & Torn from their debut. The rarely-heard onslaught of 2008’s Gematria (The Killing Name) sparks a frenzy, before a blistering encore of Spit It Out, Surfacing and Scissors leads us into the night, bewildered and utterly convinced that Slipknot are still very much in their prime.
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