Earlier this week, Slipknot announced the UK/European leg of a 2024 tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their seminal 1999 self-titled LP. In a new interview, percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan confirms that Slipknot will perform the album in its entirety, and hints that the band may play some intimate club shows, as well.
When asked straight-up by Kerrang! if the band planned to perform the full album, Clown responded, “Are you joking right now? You’re talking about the anniversary of one of the greatest metal albums to ever release in the thought process known as reality. … You think for one moment that this album isn’t going to be played in its entirety in front of, like, a hundred people, 200 people, 300 people, 50,000 people. I’m not going to live forever, man. Neither is everybody else. Things are changing very quickly. I ain’t got no more time to fuck around.”
Clown then alluded to the band playing smaller gigs, saying, “We’re going to have fun, too. So that means small shows and you won’t know until you hear it. And if you heard it, you’re already too late and you’re not going to see it. So you better open up your soul, because then you’ll feel it and you won’t have to hear it, because I’m being very serious.”
He continued, “It’s really going to be an exciting 2024, and I think things are going to happen that you wouldn’t think ever could.”
While Clown mentioned that he’s “not going to live forever,” he doesn’t see an end to Slipknot anytime soon, adding, “Sometimes I’m scared to think that I’ll be 70, pretending to myself that I’m going to slam while playing the song ‘(sic).’ But the crazy thing is, you and I both know that it’s possible. I don’t know exactly what it looks like, but if I get there, I will have worked it out in my own self and I will work out what it means to the unit, as will everybody else – however it is and whoever it is. But the point is, that’s the gift. We just have this thing that I’m really blessed to be a part of.”
In addition to the UK/European tour, which will take place in December 2024, Slipknot have three US festivals lined up in the spring: Sick New World, Welcome to Rockville, and Sonic Temple. Tickets for the UK/European shows are available here, while passes for the US fests can be purchased here.
Meanwhile, Slipknot’s stand-alone 2023 single “Bone Church” recently made Heavy Consequence‘s list of the 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Songs of 2023.
