Review: KNOTFEST 2025 - Brisbane
Finding Jesus at KNOTFEST 2025
Written by: Tom Wilson + Rashid AlKamraikhi
Photos by: Tracy McLaughlan >> SEE PHOTOS <<
“The whole thing, we think, was (sic)”
We started our day with a guided tour of the Knotfest Museum before gates open, and are led into a dimly-lit space full of SLIPKNOT memorabilia and blasting music. Their stage overalls from every era of the band line the walls, and I can’t resist sticking my head through the door from the Spit It Out video for a photo op.
Once we’ve had our fill, we head into the grounds and watch Californian hardcore troupe SUNAMI take the stage. The sound is damn near immaculate throughout the Showgrounds, even holding its integrity in the grandstands (which normally turn even the finest audio into soup), and we watch the first circle pits of the day start to swirl as the frontman loses his shirt and loses his shit.
Image: SUNAMI
VENDED are up next, performing with a fill-in drummer as both Simon Crahan and his father, SLIPKNOT’s Shaun Crahan, have had to miss the festival due to a family emergency. They impress with syncronised headbanging and sound as tight as a drum (Griffin Taylor might have better cleans than his father, but he also probably didn’t chain smoke for years), but it remains difficult to judge VENDED on their own merits given that two of their parents run the festival. During a lull in the set, there is a roar from the crowd, and we look down to see someone dressed as Jesus being held aloft over the crowd in crucifix position and delivered into the waiting hands of security. All this talk of finding Jesus, and he was at Knotfest the whole time!
Image: VENDED
MISS MAY I are up next, and their booming metalcore sends the pit into hysterics. They have heaps of energy, and there is great interplay between Levi’s harsh vocals and Ryan’s cleans. Breakdowns abound, and circle pits are requested and delivered in due course, as new member Elisha takes on the duties of both founding guitarists who recently left the band.
Image: MISS MAY I
HEALTH are up next and quickly establish themselves as a sonic point of difference on the lineup, with a minimalist setup and backdrop and a sonic vibe that has more in common with FILTER and THE PET SHOP BOYS than with metalcore. Despite seeming at odds with the weather – they would be better suited to a dimly-lit underground club than an outdoor stage in the glaring midday sun – they show off some incredible vocal hooks and crackling synths perfect for a Thomas the Tank Engine techno-goth rave under a bridge.
Image: HEALTH
IN HEART’S WAKE waste no time in bringing the rage back and reassuring us that we can let loose. “This is a safe space to feel what you feel,” frontman Jake Taylor tells us. Hopefully the way you feel isn’t “afraid of crowd surfers”, because they bring out a masked man who tries to surf the crowd on a mat like riding a Sandworm in Dune, before the stunning Orphan (lᴉʌǝp ǝɥʇ) sees dancers join them onstage as they crush what’s left of their audience. Awesome stuff.
Image: IN HEARTS WAKE
Up next is the mighty HATEBREED, who break their eleven-year Australian drought with a set celebrating their 2002 album Perseverance. “Rule number one: everyone leaves with a smile on their face,” Jamey Jasta explains. “Rule number two: everyone leaves with no voice.” I Will Be Heard sees a thousand fists in the air, and for anyone burnt out on walls of death, they offer the “Ball of Death”, a massive oversized black beach ball emblazoned with the HATEBREED logo, which they send bouncing across the crowd.
Image: HATEBREED
Next, ENTER SHIKARI get down to business, another band who seem slightly out of place playing in the daylight. They throw riffs, dance beats and even the occasional trumpet into the mix, and while the lighting rig, the backdrop and the band themselves do their best to bring the party vibe, it doesn’t hit the same as a club show.
Image: ENTER SHIKARI
This is WITHIN TEMPTATION’s first trip to Australia, and like HEALTH, they stand out on the lineup, their epic symphonic metal unfurling across the sunlit showgrounds. Sharon den Adel is mesmerising onstage, wearing a gold mask and a corset wrapped in an Australian flag, and she has Knotfest in the palm of her hand as the crowd rises and falls with the down-tuned guitar riffs.
Image: WITHIN TEMPTATION
Next up, it’s time to SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, and the Russian deathcore sensations storm onstage … only to be immediately hamstrung by sound problems. Alex Terrible does a great job of keeping the audience enthused as the audio issues are subdued, and when they get the green light, all bets are off. Wearing a black plate carrier with “MADE IN RUSSIA” stencilled on the back, Alex is a sight to behold, and it’s clear to everyone here that this is a band at the very height of their powers. The pit is so intense that a dust storm is kicked up, and we’re coughing up a lung before the crowd splits down the middle for a wall of death to rival the Battle of the Bastards from Game of Thrones. They bring out a young man called Oscar to play guitar on Vikings, and Alex shows off vocal power that would make NAPALM DEATH’s Barney Greenway sit up and pay attention. Absolutely stunning.
Image: SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL
POLARIS kick things off by detonating so many streamer cannons that it looks like half of the Brisbane Showgrounds have been overtaken by some tendrilled extraterrestrial. Rashid and I take the opportunity to smash some food in our heads and sort our lives out for the rest of the festival as the Aussie metalcore champions throw shapes in front of pyro jets, and we take up our positions at Stage 1 to prepare for the best thing to come out of Japan since the Toyota Corolla.
Image: POLARIS
The masked musicians of BABYMETAL take up their instruments as the epic intro movie plays on the screens, before the trio of singers emerge and Babymetal Death sends the pit into hysterics. It is a truly surreal experience to be getting your arse kicked in a furious mosh pit while three smiling Japanese women do choreographed dancing onstage, but that is just one of the many things that make BABYMETAL special (whether you love them or hate them – there seems to be no in-between). An amazing set.
Image: BABYMETAL
A DAY TO REMEMBER are a strange band to look at from the outside. The same band who told us to disrespect our surroundings (the crushing breakdown made famous by countless memes) also make saccharin pop-punk. It seems like an odd mix to me, but it goes down a storm with the crowd, so I’ll shut my mouth. They invite the crowd to crowdsurf on top of one another, and give a shout out to the security diligently catching them in the pit. The sun has set, and SENSE gets a good spot in the pit as the giant SLIPKNOT banner is unfurled while Gary Wright’s Dream Weaver plays over the PA. Suddenly, WHACK. I am randomly nailed in the chest with a shoe thrown from across the showgrounds (I’m just glad it hit my amazing pecs instead of someone’s face, as it was a pretty decent hit from a very thick shoe).
Image: A DAY TO REMEMBER
The ominous warble of 742617000027 vomits forth from the speakers, and SLIPKNOT take to the stage and plunge into (sic), drummer Eloy hammering the kit like it owes him money. A much more stripped-down stage setup than their previous visit to our shores, they let the music do the talking, and the pit becomes a warzone as thousands of Maggots scream “HERE COMES THE PAIN!” Tonight’s set is an odd one. Celebrating 25 years since the release of their self-titled album, many of us in the crowd were hoping for classics like ‘Eyeless’ and ‘Liberate’, but they are left out for newer tracks like ‘Yen’, ‘Gematria’ (The Killing Name) and ‘Unsainted’.
Image: SLIPKNOT
Whatever grumbles I may have with these choices, one thing that is not up for debate is the sheer power of SLIPKNOT as a live band. Surfacing is as insane as ever, before Taylor teases their closer. “Are you ready to go somewhere really fucking dark with us?” Corey asks, and Tortilla Man starts whacking his keg to open Scissors, a track they haven’t played in Australia in over two decades. We are taken to the very heart of darkness, and as it crashes to its finale, the band say their goodbyes, and we stagger dazed and sweaty into the humid night.
Image: SLIPKNOT
Photos by: Tracy McLaughlan
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