This past Saturday night, I was able to head down to Jones Beach to check out Slipknot’s Summer’s Last Stand Tour at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh, New York.  I’ve always loved going to check out shows at Jones Beach, as being a New Yorker, nothing quite says the summer quite like a like seeing a show right on the beach.  I also really appreciate that Jones Beach has done a good amount to improve over the years.  For one, the sound quality is way better now than it’s ever been.  Secondly, in recent years, Jones Beach cleared out the entire front section of seats in favor of adding a standing room only, mosh pit.  Then lastly, Jones Beach continues to partner with different local eateries in an effort to expand the food options for concertgoers.  This is great as in the past, the food as Jones Beach had been quite pedestrian.  I know people will continue to complain about Jones Beach still not serving alcohol, but they do allow for a ton of tailgating while not charging for parking.  I’m sure by not offering alcohol, the amount of drunks on the road getting out of the show is diminished, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  As for the tour itself, it was a really stacked show from top to bottom as Slipknot went out of their way to handpick bands to make this tour one of the heaviest of the summer, this included fellow heavy metal kings Lamb Of God, Bullet For My Valentine and, newcomers, Motionless In White.  Let’s get into my thoughts on the show as it went on.

Motionless In White- It’s interesting to note that despite Motionless In White coming on pretty early in day, 6:00PM, the place was relatively packed for them.  Motionless in white continues to try and differentiate themselves by having their keyboardist dressed as a nun and there guitarist dressed like, as my girlfriend put it, Edward Scissors esque, they reminded me of Mudvayne a bit.  Their seven song set consisted of a setlist including their two biggest hits Unstoppable (From NXT fame) and Reincarnate, which really got the whole crowd into it.  A couple of my other favorite tracks included Abigail and Generation Lost.  Motionless in White seemed literally touched to be apart of the show and when their half hour set was finished, it had me wanting to go see them in a headlining gig, which is the point of an opener, at least to me.

  Bullet For My Valentine- Wow these guys had a pretty big following as there were even more people in the theater by the time that they came out.  We had our seats located four rows behind the mosh pit and the pit for these guys had me wishing I was 17 again so I could be right back in there getting it going.  Bullet for my valentine did a seven song set as well which included my personal favorite song of theirs, Tears Don’t Fall as well as other popular tunes as Scream, Aim, Fire and Waking The Demon.  These guys have a lot of energy and I’d suggest that if you’re a fan of heavy metal, going out of your way to see them.  Had no idea they were from the UK, by the way.
 Lamb Of God-   I won’t lie to you, i wasn’t the most excited for Lab Of God, in fact if Lamb Of God went on first there would have been a good chance that I didn’t show up until the second act.  I have seen Lamb Of God a few times in the past and while I thought their famous “Wall Of Death” mosh pit to be a sight to be seen, i wasn’t really into them.  I remember a time I saw Lamb Of God at Free Ozzfest, where my friend and I were standing towards the outskirts of the  mosh pit and my buddy was literally picked up and launched on the ground for no real reason, just uncalled for.  That said, Lamb of God kicked ass on Saturday night.  I don’t know if there was an energy to their set that I didn’t fully appreciate the first few times I saw Lamb Of God or if it was the fact that many of the people in the crowd were really into them but they were just great.  As I always say, wrestling finds a way to follow me around wherever I go, well between songs lead singer Randy Blythe (who’s a big wrestling fan as he talked about on a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho) asked the crowd to “Give Him A Ric Flair” as the crowd followed with a huge “Whooooooooo!!!!!!”.  A very cool moment and speaking of cool, if you’ve never seen a mosh pit at a lamb of god gig, as I said earlier, you’re doing yourself a disservice.  I was sitting four rows right behind the mosh pit and I think I watched as much of the mosh pit as I did the show, it was just great.

Slipknot- This was my third time seeing Slipknot and they did not disappoint whatsoever.  Seeing slipknot live, in my opinion, is like seeing 9 different concerts going on at the same time and the result is one mega show that is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.  Every member of that band is going 100 miles an hour and give it their all every time out.  I particularly enjoyed how by the time Slipknot came out to do their set it was darker outside so that Jones Beach was able to turn on the screens.  The screens at Jones Beach are great because they allowed for each member of the band to be focused on while on the big screen.  Slipknot performed a 17 song set which clocked in at just over 90 minutes and included a three song encore of (sic), People= Shit and, of course, Surfacing.  If you’ve never seen Slipknot live, I also love the way that they do Spit It Out, as they stop and demand that every person in the arena get down real low right before the final chorus.  Then as the final chorus kicks in they have the whole stadium jump in unison.  From the top of the rafters to the bottom of the mosh pit, Jones Beach was rocking.
 Overall, this was a really good heavy metal show and a lot of fun at an outdoor venue.  Slipknot’s Summer’s Last Stand Tour continues across the US until September 5th so what are you waiting for?  Get your tickets now!  \m/