When we woke up in the morning, quite early, receiving a message from Robert that he’d left his residence in Stockholm towards Gothenburg, we simply laid there and didn’t really feel like going up. But you know, out of all the days I’ve used “XIX” to get myself to do shit, I guess this was the day it fit better than ever seeing we were going to see SlipKnot. “But I have to – so it might as well be today”. We still overslept a bit, but a little bit before noon we were on our way to Gothenburg and the second and sadly last date on this tour for us.
It was quite a nice ride. We put on some stupid old 90’s music, that isn’t really 90’s music, but people refer to it as, and discussing future plans that won’t probably ever happen, stopping by McDonalds in Säffle on our way down. It was a smooth ride until we reached Gothenburg and learned there had been a huge accident right on the road we were supposed to go, but gladly, we took the wrong turn and managed to dodge it all by a breath. We got to Focus, painted on our faces and then we went down to Scandinavium.
Robert had already left for the meet & greet once we made it, and when we got there we got numbers on our hands for the queueing system and then… we stood there. SlipKnot has this weird habit of always coming in the winter, and we always have the habit of being underdressed. Or actually, that is on purpose because I don’t wanna deal with the whole wardrobe thing. But it’s not so fun when it’s like -15 degrees or whatever.
While waiting in line, there was this one guy who kept walking off and about, in and out of the line before he remained behind us in line. I observed him for a while, stared at him, narrowed my eyes to my fox-face and then I took a turn around Michelle and asked him if he was here alone. For the moment he was, but his friends were about to come. And this is the story on how we met an amazing person called Fritiof. Thanks to us starting to talk to him the hours passed by very quickly, and he held our spots while we got some hot chocolate to warm up. After a while his friends Sebastian, My and Jesper joined us as well and we had a hella good time before they let us in.
So.. at the gates I learned I may not be able to take my wallet-chain in. And the security must be a joke, because I asked him what the hell this was about, and he said “it’s new rules, all over the world!” so I made a snide comment about this not being the rules in Finland, in which he responded “But that’s Finland..” and I thought to myself, but hey, you said the world?! Isn’t Finland included? FOOL! Anyway, they let me in with the chain regardless, but I think they’ll want to have better information on what you can and cannot bring.
We went right into the venue and saw that all front rows were taken, but we figured we’d say hi to Robert at least. Then we met up with our newely-found friends, but we said good bye because we wanted to look at the merchandise and then we got popcorn and drinks and went back to our new friends and spent what must have been the most pleasurable wait for Suicidal Tendencies, which began right on time at 19.30.
I must admit, I was feeling it a bit more this time around. Maybe it is because I already saw them once and therefore were a little bit more familiar, or if it simply was because they seemed to be in a better mood, I don’t know. They still delivered a good set, and the crowd was feeling it as well. There were even a couple of wall of death’s in the midst of everything! Says a lot I guess.
After this, the wait for SlipKnot began which also went by very quickly. Due to the amount of moshpits and wall of deaths that had occurred already during Suicidal, we decided, Michelle and I, that we’d head back a bit in the venue like we did last year in order to not be stuck like packed fish. So once “Be Prepared for Hell” began, we head off backwards.
They opened up strongly with “The Negative One” and seriously. This is one of the best songs they have, I shit you not. Once this songs comes on it’s like I’m electrified right through the body. The build up, the heaviness… Seriously this song. I’m so happy it’s back in the set, but also a bit bummed that it’s the first track! When not being taken so much by surprise, I enjoyed it more as an opener!
“Disasterpiece” was the next song on the list and it was just as powerful as in Helsinki. The one major different thing is the crowd. The crowd was like… so much better than in Helsinki. No offence my amazing finnish friends, but seriously, it wasn’t… quite the same.
“Eyeless” and “Skeptic” – my two lovebirds on this tour was next on the list. Seriously, I’ve been so lucky with getting “Eyeless”. “I am Hated” followed by the ever so melancholic “Killpop”. But seriously… the venue… hearing the crowd… it gave me chills. Hearing the crowd do the chorus of “Killpop”… seriously, the chills!
By the way. I don’t remember exactly where in the set this happened, but today was no other than Sid Wilsons birthday! So we all got together and sang Happy Birthday to him while he was running around on stage doing his thing. He’s seriously my spirit animal, and exactly the kind of show-person I strive to be, would I ever be on stage.
“Dead Memories” again, it’s good you know, makes up for Michelle missing out on it last year. “Everything Ends” followed by “Psychosocial” my lord, what a rush! I don’t understand what was different – perhaps the band was in a better spirit, or perhaps it was the crowd, but something just simply made it so much better.
And then there’s “Wait and Bleed”. Now look – “Wait and Bleed” was actually cool already in Helsinki… but in Gothenburg. With this crowd… Oh my fucking God man, as Corey Taylor would put it. I’m amazed the roof is still on top of Scandinavium. It was followed by “Duality” which got the same treatment from the crowd.
“The Devil in I”, “Metabolic” and “(sic)” wrapped up this amazing set before the band left the stage and that Going to Hell dance-y hippity hoppity song came on which made pretty much everyone around us dancing and bouncing around.
The band came back on stage and started off with “Surfacing”. Ahh, the arena went wild. “Left Behind” was ripped off before the last, and the best part, of the entire show started “Spit it Out”.
Seriously, I am not lying to you when I tell you this – “Spit it Out” is my favorite part of the entire SlipKnot show, and I think you all know exactly what part I’m referring to. Seriously, you just feel the blood pump in your veins when you are sitting there and Corey is going down the verse before everyone in the arena just explodes all on the same time when the chorus hits off… And of course, this would be better if everyone actually sat down. Fucking hell, I don’t get people some times.
After this, the band said good night and left the stage for good. And with that said, the tour was officially over.
We reconnected with Robert after the show, also said hi to Janie again which we had met earlier in the day before going to pick up our car. Focus closes at midnight, and we figured it’d be better if we moved it outside just in case. Robert drove us there, and when we got back to the parking lot I found this weird little muffin staring at me through the window of the door next to us. Seriously, Robert is that kind of weirdo we really need in our life.
We went to McDonalds where we met up with our newely-found’s and sat down for a late night snack talking about music, life, everything, and Robert went over how the meet & greet had gone down and showed us his signed leg.
One by one did out company start to drop out, and about half past midnight we also decided to start going home. It was insanely cold outside for someone so lightly dressed as me, and then began our ride home.
This was an amazing night. I’ve said this many times before, but seriously. I love the bands I have in my life, and I love the people I get to meet and have in my life thanks to these bands. Thank you SlipKnot for everything, thanks Fritiof, My, Jesper and Sebastian for the company and to Michelle and Robert. I love you all.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 