the biggest gig of the year: Slipknot The Subliminal Verses World Tour LIVE IN SINGAPORE!!

today was THE day. Slipknot was gonna perform in sg for the first time ever! Pavel and I had gone down to Shenton Way during the June hols to get the tix way in advance, and we couldnt help but wait in anticipation for this day.

Pavel, my brother and I reached fort canning green at like 7.50pm. the ticket said it started at 8 but it was obviously gonna be delayed. the Green was already crawling with maggots!! but thankfully we had vip cage tickets. the unspoken dress code was black, and we got into the 2nd row. we waited anxiously for the band to appear, with the crowd getting increasingly restless and chanting "slipknot slipknot!". then the PA started playing my chemical romance. the congregation of metalheads weren't in the mood for any punk-pop teen-angst laden music!!

dry ice kept being emitted and the PA played Prelude 3.0. before long the band appeared: drummer was the first, followed by the rest, lastly Corey. the crowd went BALLISTIC. i was crushed by the onslaught of crazy people. and i dun mean to be racist, there was an Indian guy in front of me who kept swinging his long hair back and forth, and my face, mouth and hands were often smothered by it!! i wasn't the greatest of fans, but i was awe struck seeing them in the flesh for the first time, when i could only hear them in the past.

"Are you ready Singapore for the chaos?!" Corey growled out to the ecstatic fans. the band broke out into The Blister Exists. "they said it would never happen, we would never cross the border. and now here we are."

the crowd had formed what was probably the largest and most intense mosh-pit ever seen in Spore. it was non-stop moshing and jumping, what a mosh pit really should be! i was obviously sandwiched worse than sardine and sweat was free flow. my ribs were compressed and the gig wasn't for the faint-hearted. nevertheless, the crowd though brutally aggressive, looked out for each other (corey: "we're all here to enjoy music right? not get hurt. we're family. and family takes care of each other"). thats smth i love about moshes. the feeing is warm.

the band played all the favourites. some i could recall were Left Behind, the heretic anthem, purity, spit it out, people = shit, everything ends, vermilion, before i forget, pulse of the maggots, duality, wait and bleed, surfacing.

although the band was given a long list of do-nots, they managed to deliver a spellbinding performance. they gave their all and sweat was flowing down their drums, guitars, and sleeves. they have the ability to reproduce what u hear on their CDs. not many bands can do that. their sound is unmistakable: drums, guitar, bass, synthesizer, metal cans as percussion. what u get is noise, pioneering of great noise. heavy metal masterpieces. the band kept going backstage after almost each song, and for one song they came out unmasked.

before i knew it, the gig had ended in about 1hr40min. my ears were ringing. i was covered in sweat (my own and others'). but i was part of the greatest gig of the century.

here's a pic. i'm inside!!! behind the long-bearded guy (photos from soft.com.sg, i'm sorry i forgot to credit them previously. all apologies!)