Lamb of God and Slipknot slay Vancouver's Rogers Arena (PHOTOS)
Slipknot slayed Rogers Arena this week with the help of a few friends in Motionless in White, Bullet For My Valentine and Lamb of God in what has been dubbed “Summer’s Last Stand” tour.
While you read this, make sure to put both your middle fingers in the air because Vancouver just got hit with one of the best rock shows of the year. Move over Bon Jovi, the ’80s are done.
Slipknot brought their nine-piece kick ass band, along with their monster costumes and ear piercing metal anthems, to Rogers Arena on Monday night. If you didn’t have great hearing before you attended the concert, most of you are now probably deaf. But who cares… that’s Rock n’ Roll – f#$@ hearing!
The evening started with some Motionless in White followed by Bullet For My Valentine, and while they were great to listen to while standing in line for merchandise and beer, the real meat of the show was Lamb of God and Slipknot.
At around 8 p.m., Lamb of God got on stage and absolutely killed it. Lead singer Randy Blythe screamed and belted out lyrics, while the band pulsated hardcore riffs that reminded us that LoG is still metal royalty. If you have not bought their new album VII: Sturm und Drang, do yourself a favour and pick it up because it’s truly one of the best rock/metal albums of the year.
Lamb of God came out swinging with their 2006 hit Walk with Me in Hell and continued to rock through some of their oldies but goodies as the entire arena became electra-fried.
LoG really turned things to 11 as they started to melt peoples faces off with their new tracks like Still Places and 512. Of course they ended their 10-song set with the 2007 Grammy-nominated single Redneck, which I’m sure many in attendance thought was about them.
The crowd was buzzing with a big mosh pit on the floor and a few headbangers getting a little rambunctious in their seats.
Behind me was a woman who was in her early 60s. She was just this unassuming grandma who somehow got roped in taking her teenage grandson. God bless her as she got something that was the opposite of church. No, grandma, Lamb of God is not a Christian barbershop quartet.
LoG was the perfect set up for the other band people paid a pretty penny to see. It was time for some Slipknot, and if you thought the evening had reached its peak, the band from Iowa bashed some skulls with what has to be considered one of the best metal performances to hit Vancouver in a long, long time.
As the lights went dim, Van Halen’s Runnin’ With the Devil played as people waited for the big red and blue curtain to open.
All of a sudden, the soft sounds of XIX, from their new .5: The Gray Chapter album, started to play for a few moments before the curtain opened and lead singer Corey Taylor, all masked up, along with his band of monsters, jumped right into another big time hit called Sarcastrophe. That was the cue to light ’em if ya got ’em, as a typical Vancouver haze of marijuana filled the arena.
The stage had turned into Satan’s wonderland with stairs that caught on fire, pyro, a big demon’s head and drummers who pounded on industrial drums that moved up and down and all around.
https://instagram.com/p/6zCGN9M2Aj/?tagged=slipknotvancouver
If you have never seen Slipknot, their stage show is something to behold. They played all their hits and had every person in the arena head banging and jumping around. The old school fans loved hearing the Heretic Anthem with some 555 and 666.
The set was about 17 songs, including encore. They left the crowd wanting more mayhem with an encore that included (Sic), People=Shit and ended with ‘Til We Die.
When it was all over, it was time to hit the SkyTrain and head back to Surrey and the rest of the Fraser Valley. Major thanks go to the crowd of misfits who behaved themselves and top marks go to security and police for dealing with some metal’ed up hooligans. I even caught a few of VPD’s finest subtly headbanging as they helped in making sure the night was a contained type of anarchy.
As we head closer to back to school, Monday’s metal mayhem at Rogers Arena was truly indeed Summer’s Last Stand. There were a few people who went into work with maybe a black eye, sore neck and a headache. Be nice to them, they just witnessed one of the best metal shows of the year.
Thanks to everyone for their Instagram photos and videos of the night’s shenanigans at Rogers Arena. Here are some more great fan shots.
https://instagram.com/p/6y3G12nMJ5/?tagged=lambofgod
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