SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor says that he hopes something like the recent Astroworld concert tragedy never happens at any one of his band’s concerts.
Ten people, including a 9-year-old and two teenagers, died while many more were injured after a crowd surge during Travis Scott‘s performance at the Houston music festival in November. The rapper has since been criticized for appearing to keep the show going despite pleas of help from the crowd. Although he paused a few times, many are saying this response was not enough. In the weeks the incident, dozens of lawsuits have been filed and a slew of questions remain unanswered about what went wrong.
Taylor addressed the deadly event in a recent interview with Fox News. He said: “It’s one of the things that scares you as a performer. The last thing you want is for anything to happen to your audience. We as a band, as an organization, we’ve always gone above and beyond to try and make sure that our fans are okay. Even back in the day when we were crazy and kind of doing insane stuff, if anything ever happened to our fans, we immediately stopped the show and made sure they were okay. We never carried on. We always made sure that security was the priority. Number one. That hasn’t changed to this day. It’s the one thing we try to focus on.”
Corey also touched upon the “security issue” which caused the cancelation of SLIPKNOT‘s November 2019 appearance at the Knotfest Meets Forcefest in Mexico City. According to reports, the stage barricade broke during BEHEMOTH‘s set and it was impossible to fix it in time for either of the two scheduled closers — SLIPKNOT and EVANESCENCE — to perform.
Taylor said: “The issue that arose at Knotfest Mexico was because there was an unsafe situation in the audience. We and our security did not feel comfortable going back out there knowing that people might get injured. There was a broken barricade that we couldn’t fix. We physically couldn’t fix it. So we had to shut down. And because we did that, most people left. There was a riot, but nobody got hurt. They were taking it out on the instruments and the grounds and whatnot. But that’s the difference between us and a lot of other bands. We wouldn’t have felt good carrying on, knowing that our fans might be in danger. It really comes down to what your priorities are.”
He added: “Obviously, I don’t know any of the people involved [in Astroworld]. And I don’t know anything more than what I’ve read in the news online. So I can’t make any judgments. All I can talk about is where we are [as a band] and where I am. And I can just say that I hope that something like this never happens at any one of our concerts.”
All ten Astroworld victims’ cause of death was listed as “compression asphyxia,” according to documents from the Houston medical examiner’s office. One victim had a contributing cause of “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine, and ethanol.” All deaths were ruled accidental.
In late December, it was reported that Live Nation Entertainment, the concert promoter behind Astroworld, was under investigation by a congressional panel.
The House Oversight Committee announced that it is launching a bipartisan investigation into “the roles and responsibilities for Astroworld Festival, security planning for the event, and the steps Live Nation Entertainment took after being made aware that law enforcement had declared the event a ‘mass casualty event.'”
SLIPKNOT made headlines last November when a bonfire was started in the mosh pit at the band’s concert in Phoenix, Arizona. SLIPKNOT was performing at the Ak-Chin Pavilion as part of its “Knotfest Roadshow” when attendees set fire to a stack of lawn chairs, with the scene captured in various social media posts from fans who attended the concert. As a result, SLIPKNOT‘s performance was stopped for roughly 30 minutes in order to allow the fire department to put out the blaze. Due to the delay, SLIPKNOT was reportedly forced to drop “Duality” and “Spit It Out” from its set.
A Phoenix Fire Department spokesperson told the Arizona Republic Engine Company 40 “responded to the pavilion and found a large contents fire… possibly started by bystanders at the event.”
The engine company established a water supply, extending handlines off the truck to the “for an aggressive fire attack,” the spokesperson reported.
“The fire was thoroughly extinguished without any extension to the major structure and no injuries were reported at the incident. The exact cause of the fire is currently under investigation and no persons were displaced at this incident.”
The “Knotfest Roadshow” tour, featuring support from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FEVER 333 and CODE ORANGE, kicked off following SLIPKNOT‘s Knotfest Iowa hometown show in Des Moines on September 25. It wrapped up at Knotfest Los Angeles on November 5 at Banc Of California Stadium.
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