SLIPKNOT Plays First Concert With New Mystery Member

SLIPKNOT played its first show with a new mystery member earlier tonight (Wednesday, June 7) at the Nova Rock festival in Austria. The concert took place hours after the band announced it had parted ways with longtime keyboardist Craig Jones.

A short time after SLIPKNOT revealed Jones's exit from the group, the band's original post announcing his departure was deleted and a photo was shared of the band's apparent new member. The same unidentified person apparently appeared onstage behind the keyboards at the Nova Rock show.

During the Nova Rock concert, SLIPKNOT played two songs — "The Blister Exists" and "Purity" — for the first time in eight years. The band also performed "Liberate" for the first time since 2016 and "Yen", a song from last year's "The End, So Far" album, was aired for the very first time.

No reason was given for Jones's departure from SLIPKNOT.

Jones joined SLIPKNOT in early 1996, shortly after the band had finished the recording of its demo album "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." He was initially brought in to replace Donnie Steele, one of the two original guitarists, though he quickly moved on to the role of sampling and keyboards.

Earlier today, SLIPKNOT announced that percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan would sit out some of the band's upcoming tour dates so that he can stay home to support his wife "through some health issues".