Slipknot, Lamb of God, Bullet For My Valentine, Motionless In White; 08-19-2015

Slipknot, Lamb of God, Bullet For My Valentine, Motionless In White
Summer’s Last Stand Tour
August 19th, 2015
Morrison, Colorado
Red Rocks Amphitheater
Review by Nathan Pickering with Adam Tibbott

The Colorado Rockies were going be the perfect backdrop for Slipknot’s Summer’s Last Stand Tour as it stopped in Morrison, Colorado at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater. For the Summer’s Last Stand Tour, Slipknot would bring Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine, and Motionless In White along for the final tour in support of the band’s 5th studio album, .5, The Gray Chapter.  Having already made their way across the world in the past year, and headlining the largest U.S. summer festivals since their latest album’s release, Slipknot made one last trek across the U.S. this summer before the two day Knotfest this October.
Close to ten thousand Maggots filled the historic natural amphitheater for tonight’s sold-out show.  The evening would be filled with mosh
pits in the aisles, and each band’s signature horror style costumes. and set designs.
Motionless In White were first to take the stage. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, MiW embody the horror-metal genre of music. The band’s 7 song set was dominated by tracks from the band’s latest release, Reincarnate. Vocalist and founder Chris Motionless conducted the crowd like a psychotic ring master and worked ten thousand screaming Maggots into a frenzy. Bass player Devin “Ghost” Sola switched out his Leather-Face costume for that of The Jackal from the movie 13 Ghosts. Sola wore the loosened straitjacket for the band’s entire set, but the head cage, whose front bars have been snapped apart, for the band’s first song. During the set vocalist and founding member Chris Motionless mentioned that it was one of three venues in the world that they always wanted to play and was a dream come true. I’d agree as a huge music fan it is the mecca of concert venues that any fan should attend at least once. This venue has so much history behind it.
After MiW, next up were the men from across the pond, Bullet For My Valentine. Hitting the stage with Your Betrayal which I believe is an awesome opener. During the set, they mentioned the new album they had coming out and how it reached number 1 in England, and how they wanted to be number one in the US also.
After the quick change over, the group from Virginia, Lamb of God, hit the stage with the crowd chanting their name over and over. By the time they hit the stage the crowd of 9,500 were ready to rock. Richmond, Virginia metal Lamb of God continued to work the crowd into frenzy.  Lamb of God’s brutal live show pushed the crowd to the edge of insanity and left security guards scrambling to break up fights that had erupted throughout the amphitheater. Several oddly placed mosh-pit even opened up in a few of the aisles.
With no place for a mosh pit amongst the reserved seats, it was interesting to see how the crowd reacted to Lamb of God’s brutal live show. It was really kind of nice to be close and not worry about getting knocked around and the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Lamb of God’s 10 song set saw a mixture of songs from each of their album and not to much focused on one particular release. The band’s stage set up consisted of two video monitors which played videos that went along with the song lyrics.
Vocalist Randy Blythe addressed the crowd a few times during the band’s set. “I’ve had three bucket list venues and Red Rocks was one of them,” said Blythe told the crowd. “We just came from one of them in Sweden, but this place is it!”
After Lamb of God’s set, the big red curtains with the tribal “S” were raised, and everyone knew who was about to hit. Being my 13th time seeing Slipknot it never gets old. As Van Halen’s Running With the Devil rang out over the PA, the time was near. XIX was being played which has been the normal for this tour cycle and cut straight into Sarcasthrope as the curtain rose.  Slipknot’s stage setup is like a twisted carnival. Lights were strung around the ceiling, and the crazy fun house mirror dominated the backdrop beneath the sneering devil’s head that gazed viciously upon the crowd.
One thing noticeable during Slipknot’s set was that bass player Alex “V-Man” Venturella found his comfort zone moving around the stage more and not staying in one place as he was on the Prepare For Hell tour. Also added to the band’s set was Psychosocial, which was absent before.. The track replaced My Plague from the Prepare For Hell Tour  There was also more Pyro than before. Fire burst from all corners of the stage during Heretic Anthem, and spread along the ramps during Vermillion, and Killpop. As a fan of the new album I’m glad they added Kill pop to the set which is my favorite track off the new album.
Also during the fan favorite Spit It Out, the lyrics were changed as they have been in past years. “Were ya gonna be in the next 5 years” was changed to 10, and now 16 years. Can you believe it’s been almost 20 years since the band formed? Imagine what the next 10 years will bring. Are you ready?