GIG REVIEW: Knotfest Sydney 2024

Yesterday Knotfest Australia 2024 went down in Sydney. Turning up the heat on an already scorching hot day.

Shortly after arriving we had the honour of checking out the Knotfest Museum. Which was filled with awesome Slipknot gear such as their instruments, which you could play, as well as their masks and suits. The centre piece of the room was a wild metal sculpture made by Clown. However, the coolest thing in the collection was a solid gold Clown mask with a value of $50,000.

After the tour we had a bit of King Parrot for breakfast. A good excuse to have a beer before lunch. Their lead vocalist Matt Young reckons they were put on the line up first because their fans are a bunch of alcoholics and the event organisers wanted to increase bar sales as early as possible. Hilarious and unlikely, yet it would be a stroke of genius if true.

Even before they walked out one gigantic human was screaming about how excited he was, to the point where people were feeling uncomfortable and had to tell him to calm down. The whole band came out matching that energy and kicked things off with some mayhem. If these blokes don’t wake you up, you could sleep through an apocalypse. They were loud, fast and in your face. Running around manically and mooning everybody in the crowd.

Afterwards we went for a wander to check out the food stalls. There was a lot on offer. From german sausage, to nachos, to wood-fire pizza. We went with some brisket from Blackbear BBQ. It didn’t look to flash but it tasted fantastic, which made it worth the $33 price tag. There’s no better duo than smoked meat and metal music.

Then it was time for Windwaker, who came out and absolutely crushed it. Their new, heavier, sound mixed with big stage energy was exciting to witness. Also, who knew their lead singer Liam had bars? Not many people can pull off rapping after swaying their hips as they sing a clean emo chorus but this dude does.

During this set someone in the crowd busted out the balls. Not sure if they were tennis balls, or some other type of ball, but from here on they were chucked at the stage and around the crowd until the end of the night. Windwaker’s bass player got smacked in the head with one mid riff and the photographer became a target which you could tell was pissing him off. Liam was the only musician of the whole day that we witnessed effortlessly catch balls hurling towards him then toss them back to the crowd like it was nothing. Bloke must have played cricket as a kid or something.

Things started to get wild when Speed stormed the stage. A gang of lads came out and chaos ensued for the next half an hour. Dudes would tap in and out during certain parts of songs and it had me wondering, how many people are in this band? It’s almost like a Slipknot situation but with just a crew of unofficial band members.

Their reputation precedes them and they definitely lived up to the hype. It was awesome to see these guys perform one of the biggest shows of their career in their hometown. The Sydney hardcore scene showed up for them as well. There was a huge crowd, giant inflatable hotdogs were bouncing through the air, and people were throwing down.

Thy Art Is Murder has the award for the most brutal band of the day. They also had one of the most hectic walls of death of the entire festival. With each act the crowd was progressively getting more unhinged. This was the point where it started to amp up a few notches.

Hearing the crowd chant for The Hu is something we could listen to all day. Thousands of people repeatedly barking “Hu” with some bass in their chest almost sounds like a war cry. This coincided with the ladies starting to get the girls out on the big screen, if you know what we mean. The Hu must just bring it out in people because it continued to happen a lot for the rest of the night.

Witnessing them shred on the morin khuur (Mongolian bowed string instrument) was fascinating. However, hearing the throat singing in person was a bucket list moment. It got a lot of circle pits going. Followed by one of the biggest row pits we’ve ever seen right in front of the stage.

Then the crowd surfing really started to kick off. Right next to a massive sign that read “moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, circle pit or circle/wall of death, or such like activity are prohibited” which was kind of hilarious. We don’t think the crowd got that memo.

When Lamb of God took to the stage the crowd turned dangerous. It was the first time we’ve genuinely felt concerned for our wellbeing at a concert. A large group of people kept pushing the crowd forward but there was no where to go. It was like being caught in a riptide, sucked in against our will with no control at all. People were sandwiched against each other as they were thrown back and forth like a human body of water. Once we managed to fight our way out of the danger zone we had the best seat in the house to witness the sickest, craziest, scariest crowd we’ve ever seen.

We weren’t laughing at that no moshing sign anymore. Especially after things took a dark turn and Lamb of God’s frontman Randy Blythe stopped the show because he noticed people were trying to get his attention. After some confusion he realised that someone was having a seizure in the pit and promptly called for medical assistance. While they were responding, a girl collapsed right next to us. She got to her feet then she collapsed again. Security were on it instantly and had to carry her over the barrier to get help.

Shoutout to the Knotfest staff, security and medical team who reacted swiftly and seemed to handle everything the best they possibly could. Also, shoutout to Randy for recognising an issue in the crowd, making sure it’s addressed, getting the crowd to settle down, telling people to pull their finger out/move out the way so medical can get through and breaking the tension with some humour while we all patiently waited.

As the issue was resolving the crowd started chanting the lyrics to ‘Hey Baby’ but changed them to “Hey, Hey Randy, I just want to know, will you be my girl?”. He was flattered. Things calmed down a little after that. Not too calm though. We soon saw a guy with a broken arm in a sling and cast run back into the pit.

Eventually Disturbed came out and gave us a heavy dose of nostalgia. The highlight of the set was an awesome duet between David Draiman and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, who also put on an impressive performance with Halestorm earlier in the day. That woman is an absolute rockstar and an awesome entertainer.

As one would expect, ‘Down With The Sickness’ had everyone singing along which was the most crowd participation for the day in that regard. Watching David work the crowd like a demonic priest giving a dark surmon was another bucket list moment. Our inner 13 year olds were ecstatic.

Pantera really know how to make an entrance. Kicking things off with a video comprised of footage from their early days, which heavily featured Dimebag Darrell, while they waited behind a huge banner that dropped as they started playing. People instantly started pushing their way to the front.

This band has one of the most passionate fan bases in metal, up there with Slayer fans. Diehards seemed to be in awe and disbelief when they played unexpected songs like ‘5 Minutes Alone’. Personally, we were in awe watching Zakk Wylde shred right in front of us. Another of the many bucket list moments from the night which were amplified by the stunning lights and killer pyrotechnics. They were the only act to feature fire and it was very fitting.

Pantera walked off stage after playing ‘Cowboys From Hell’. We demanded an encore and we got ‘Fucking Hostile’. Then they took a bow before signing off by asking the crowd to assist in singing the final words to ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Followed by a mic drop and a walk off into the night.

Photos by Marc K/Nell Photography & Review by Brad Hapke

Pantera: