Tonight – I know well in advance – is going to be hell on stage and in the Pit. Tonight is the masked men from Des Moines Iowa, and it’s their night, from the moment they slink on stage, basking in the insane applause of their brethren, their brothers in arms.

You Figure with a nine man band, 3 of which are drummers, that Slipknot’s relentless miserablism allied to downturned riffage would be ferocious live… And it bloody well is… Their set is well lit and theatrical as always, with power drummers, marching drummers Shawn “Clown” Crahan and Chris Fehn occupying stage left and right, to keep the utter chaos within.

DJ Sid Wilson spends as much time climbing the P.A. and Shawn’s hydraulic drum kit as he does delivering wicky -wack – boom – boom noises, mixing greatest hits with obscure sounds, and of course a massive – insane circle mosh pit ensues, with body surfers coming out of it regularly for good measure… which makes it hard on photographers like me to the best job possible of photographing documenting the chaos on stage without getting thunked in the head from someone’s Doc Martin boot… You have to expect this at a Slipknot show…

Truly, there’s no other rock show like it anywhere – and it’s hard to describe it to people who have never been to one. You kinda look dumbfounded, yet amazed, all at once to have to explain it. It is what it is… What comes to mind – Insane visuals – lots of action – pounding rythms- all making it hard to breathe… With no chance to calm down… at all.

Put it this way… They lay out one hell of a spectacle… and even though I get dinged in the head too many times to count I can’t wait for them to come back again, seriously. Slipknot will never lose their air of menace and mayhem … Get used to it!

Tags: Bobby Talamine, Chicago, Concerts, slipknot