Ft. Lauderdale Folklore: Mayhem Tour 2008

Mayhem Festival

Written by: Carla Wright

Photos by: Carla Wright

Slipknot is fucking ridiculous. I don't mean the literal definition of "ridiculous" but in the slang sense, that this band is nasty, grungy, and by far one of my favorite bands to see live.

Have you heard "Surfacing"? How about "Before I forget", "People=shit", or "Tattered and Torn"? If you answered "no" to any of these songs, then I highly suggested you get these songs, download it to your Itunes, and set your speakers to the loudest setting, sit back and enjoy.

One of the reasons I love watching Slipknot live, is mainly because it reminds me of a deranged circus with Corey Taylor directing the mayhem. I envision that the members of Slipknot emerged from the dark inner bowels of music hell to disrupt the peace, sanity and all round cleanliness of pop music. It excites me to actually see the insanity play out in front of me. Especially since I shot (photographed) the show.

I think I know why the tour was called "Mayhem festival", because shooting the band was one of the hardest shows I've ever had to do. I was so overwhelmed, visually and auditory that at one point I had to stop and just watch members 0-8 play to a testosterone driven crowd. Slipknot's music really makes you want to just turn around and punch the person closest to you; at least that's what was going on in the lawn during Slipknot's performance. The band played some classics: "Wait and Bleed", "People=Shit", "Before I forget" some new stuff: "Psychosocial", and rarities that haven't been played in many years: "Prosthetics".

If slipknot ending the night wasn't bad ass enough, Disturbed played for an hour and half before Slipknot took the stage. I must say, Disturbed has been living up to their reviews from past shows in previous cities, Disturbed definitely gave Slipknot a run for their money for best performance. David Drainman (lead singer of Disturbed) was wheeled out on stage on a dolly, bond and gagged; an obvious homage to Silence of the Lambs's infamous character, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Actually come to think of it, all the bands gave each other a run for their money. Every band on the tour came out and played in our staggering South Florida heat and afternoon storms with no complaints. Underoath was one the bands that got caught in the storm but come to find, inspired one of the sickest pits of the day. Walls of Jericho kicked up quite a dust storm by the end of their performance. Many fans had resorted to tying a piece of cloth around their face to keep the blinding dust out of their mouths.

Dragonforce, however, was one of the few bands on the Mayhem tour that I haven't seen before. In fact, I've only heard about Dragonforce from word of mouth; before Mayhem, I never heard their music. So seeing the English based band for the first time was interesting. I say interesting because I was expecting something completely different than what I heard. I knew that Dragonforce was in the metal category, but when you say metal to me I think of a band that is somewhere in between Megadeath and Cannibal Corpse. This was like watching an 80's glam band mate with a gothic crystal meth addict. It was interesting to watch and the duel guitar solos grabbed my attention in particular. That and the fact that Zp Theart (lead singer of Dragonforce) had a visible cross that he held in his hand while performing.

The Mayhem festival was, for lack of a better word, mayhem, in every definition of the word. There was so much going on at once, I ended up standing between both side stages with the hot topic tent in view while the motorcycle demonstration was going on.M

How I love the chaotic presence of in your face music.

For those of you who don't know, Slipknot has emerged from the inner depths of rock-n-roll hell to capture their fans attention with new masks, a new cd, and a new tour. Releasing their new single psychosocial off their highly anticipated album "All hope is gone", leaks of the new album are already floating around the internet.