10 Biggest Hard Rock & Metal Gigs Of All Time
4. Slipknot At Download - 2009
Since day one, Slipknot has been known as one of the gnarliest stage acts to come from the metal world. From the ongoing antics of DJ Sid Wilson to the thousands of moving parts going on onstage, every show seems to be an unleashing of anarchy masked as performance art. However, once the band set up shop at the Download festival in 2009, they had come into their own as one of the greatest bands on the planet.
From start to finish, the set is perfectly balanced, with the band going from softer songs like "Vermilion" and "Dead Memories" to tearing your head off with "Disasterpiece" and the initial set closer "People = Sh*t." On the other hand, things don't go completely off the rails until we get to the last encore.
Closing out the night with "Spit it Out," Corey Taylor gives one of the greatest crowd experiences on Planet Earth, as he gets an entire audience of English Maggots to the ground. Just as the song kicks back into high gear, the crowd explodes into one of the biggest moshpits ever put to film, which Taylor himself likened to watching an ocean erupt. Slipknot can be an acquired taste in the world of metal, but it's pretty hard to find any issues when it comes to this show.