SLIPKNOT Kicks Off U.S. Headlining Tour: Photos, Video Footage Available

SLIPKNOT began its first solo headlining tour in support of the band's latest album, "All Hope Is Gone", Friday night (January 23) in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ross Raihala of TwinCities.com writes in his review of the concert, "The 10,230 fans who filled the general-admission floor and lower half of the arena were certainly ready for the band's first gig at the X in almost four years, moshing and cheering throughout the evening, shouting along to the Grammy-nominated single 'Duality' and basking in every last chunky riff. Heck, some of them were so excited, they even cheered while the roadies did a pre-show soundcheck behind a curtain.

"Indeed, all those things that seemed so ridiculous about the band in the beginning — from the slasher-film/SM masks to the logo straight out of a 1950s horror comic — now seem like the least unusual aspects of SLIPKNOT. What's most amazing these days is that they can still figure out how to use all nine members, which include a pair of additional percussionists, a DJ and keyboard/samples player alongside two guitarists, a bassist and drummer. All that extra manpower rarely felt superfluous and, if anything, added an extra layer of muscle to the music. The lack of pyro and special effects may have been to save a little scratch in these lean times, but it only further focused attention on the music itself."

Read the entire review, and check out photos of the concert, at TwinCities.com.

The group's setlist was as follows:

01. (Sic)
02. Eyeless
03. Wait and Bleed
04. Me Inside
05. Before I Forget
06. Dead Memories
07. Left Behind
08. The Blister Exists
09. Frail Limb Nursery
10. Purity
11. Everything Ends
12. Psychosocial
13. Duality
14. People = Shit
----------------------
15. Surfacing
16. Spit It Out

Fan-filmed video footage of last night's show can be viewed below.

Frontman Corey Taylor told The Pulse of Radio that fans who saw the group on last summer's Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival trek will get a different show this time around. "I mean, obviously we'll have as much time as we want," he said. "We put a whole new stage set together. We're getting away from the pyro. We're going way more visual this time. We're incorporating a lot of video, a lot of, like, really cool elements, but we're not, it's not gonna be hokey."

Taylor added that it's important for SLIPKNOT to do something new every time it goes out on the road. "Nobody wants to do the same thing over and over, and we're a band that we work harder when we know the concept is real, and when we know it's important and it's vital," he said. "So for us, it's important to get out there and just do a new show every time, every time, every time, and really try to bring something different, because we've got people still coming to see us for, you know, after ten years, and we just want to try and give something special."

The 33-city tour will run through mid-March and feature SLIPKNOT's first-ever gig at New York City's prestigious Madison Square Garden. Joining the bill as opening acts are TRIVIUM and COHEED AND CAMBRIA.

SLIPKNOT's latest release, "All Hope Is Gone", has been certified gold for moving more than 500,000 copies since its arrival last August. It was also the band's first No. 1 debut on the Billboard chart.

"Me Inside":

"The Blister Exists":

"Purity":

Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan's new mask (photos from St. Paul, Minnesota concert):

(Thanks: Leslie Connelly a.k.a. Rezter)