Knotfest

Knotfest
Genre	Heavy metal, groove metal, death metal, metalcore, deathcore, thrash metal, nu metal, alternative metal, j-rock, black metal, deathgrind, hip hop
Location(s)	Council Bluffs, Iowa (2012) Somerset, Wisconsin (2012) San Bernardino, California (2014-present) Chiba, Japan (2014) Toluca, Mexico (2015)
Years active	2012, 2014-present
Website
http://www.knotfest.com /http://knotfestjapan.com/ http://knotfestmexico.com/

Knotfest is a music festival created by American metal band Slipknot. The inaugural Knotfest was a two-city event and took place on August 17, 2012 in Council Bluffs, Iowa and August 18, 2012 in Somerset, Wisconsin.^[1] Amongst the line up were bands such as Deftones, Lamb of God, Cannibal Corpse, and many more.^[2] On March 24, 2014, it was officially announced "Knotfest Japan" will be held in November 15 and 16 at Makuhari Messe, Tokyo.^[3] Headliners of both dates are Slipknot. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, Bring Me the Horizon, Trivium and In Flames were announced to perform. On the first date of the Mayhem Festival 2014, Knotfest 2014 was announced, with it being held at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino, California, on October 24–26.^[4] Knotfest 2015 will be held once again at San Manuel amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA during October 23 through October 25

History

Creation

Knotfest was officially announced on June 4, 2012. Among the activities the festival offered as part of its "dark carnival experience" circus big-top tents, pillars of fire, amusement park rides, burlesque performers, firebreathers, stilt walkers, drum circles made of junkyard cars and graffiti walls. The two shows also debuted a Slipknot museum.^[2]

"It's all about having fun and going crazy, bringing it to the standard it used to be," Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan tells Rolling Stone. "It's time for us to really engulf this idea known as Knotfest where we're in control, we make a day devoted to our mindset, our ideas, the people that we want to play with, the people that we think our fans want to be around." Slipknot, of course, is about a whole aesthetic, not just the music. "When everyone leaves their senses [will be] overloaded, and I'm talking about smells, sights, hearing, your body, everything is overloaded with stimulation, because that's what Slipknot does," Crahan says.^[2]

Broadcast

On July 11, Slipknot announced that their closing performance at Knotfest would be broadcast via a pay-per-view streaming website.^[5] Shawn "Clown" Crahan said "It means everything for everyone to see the live spectacle we're creating in the flesh, but we understand some fans around the world can't be at the show. We've now made it possible for you to be there in spirit - so join us live on August 18.".^[5]

Performers

2012 lineup

Friday 17 August		Saturday 18 August
Main Stage	Second Stage	Main Stage	Second Stage
Slipknot Deftones Serj Tankian Prong	Lamb of God Machine Head The Urge Dirtfedd	Slipknot Deftones Serj Tankian Dillinger Escape Plan	Lamb of God Machine Head Cannibal Corpse Prong Gojira

^[6]

2014 lineup

California

Friday 24 October
Stage 002	Stage 003	Campground Stage
Suicide Silence Butcher Babies Alterbeast	The Black Dahlia Murder Chelsea Grin	The Athiarchists

Saturday 25 October
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage	Stage 002	Stage 003	Headbang For The Highway Stage 004	Extreme Stage 005	Campground Stage
Slipknot Danzig Anthrax Black Label Society Hatebreed	Testament Carcass Maximum The Hormone King 810 Man with a Mission	In This Moment The Devil Wears Prada Butcher Babies Miss May I One OK Rock	The Faceless Stands with Fists Dehumanizer Kings Of Carnage Play for Blood Shortfuse	Fear Factory Otep Prong Amen Immolation	The Athiarchists

Sunday 26 October
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage	Stage 002	Stage 003	Headbang For The Highway Stage 004	Extreme Stage 005	Campground Stage
Slipknot Five Finger Death Punch Volbeat Tech N9ne Atreyu Hellyeah	Of Mice & Men DevilDriver Veil of Maya Nothing More	Killswitch Engage Whitechapel Upon A Burning Body Anti Mortem	Dead For Denver Motograter Fire from the Gods I, of Helix A Threat to the Enemy Still Not Dead	Napalm Death Avatar Attika 7 Exmortus Rattlehead	The Athiarchists

Japan

Saturday 15 November	Sunday 16 November
Slipknot Limp Bizkit Lamb of God Papa Roach Bring Me the Horizon Miss May I One OK Rock SiM Crossfaith Coldrain Meaning Crystal Lake HenLee	Slipknot Korn Trivium In Flames Five Finger Death Punch Amon Amarth Maximum the Hormone Man with a Mission Wagdug Futuristic Unity AA= Knock Out Monkey Make My Day Silhouette From The Skylit

2015 line-up

California

Friday 23 October
VIP + Camping Kickoff Party
Sepultura The Faceless Rings of Saturn Khaotika Motorbreath

Saturday 24 October
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage	Stage 002	Stage 003	Extreme Stage 004	Headbang For The Highway Stage 005	Campground Stage
Judas Priest Korn Mastodon Trivium Corrosion of Conformity	Body Count At the Gates Red Fang Battlecross	Gwar Born of Osiris Earth Crisis Goatwhore	Kataklysm Belphegor Inquisition Abysmal Dawn Her Name in Blood Khaotika	Fire from the Gods Buried under Texas Doomsday Mourning Born for War A Tragedy at Hand Grand Lord High Master Piece in Terror Short Fuse Green as Emerald Kaustik Skyburial This Place is a Zoo Chasing the Bullet	Street Drum Corps

Sunday 25 October
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage	Stage 002	Stage 003	Extreme Stage 004	Headbang For The Highway Stage 005	Campground Stage
Slipknot Bring Me the Horizon Clutch Ghostface Killah Mobb Deep	Suicidal Tendencies All That Remains Beartooth Kyng	Cannibal Corpse Helmet Snot Devour The Day	Dying Fetus Disgorge Internal Bleeding Green Death The ReAktion Kings of Carnage	I, of Helix Proletariat Avoid the Void Abhor A Threat to the Enemy Stands with Fists Paranova Everybody Panic! As Oceans Dead Animal Assembly Plant Speaking with Ghost Xero for Life The Darkest Day	Street Drum Corps

Mexico

Saturday 5 December
Main Stage	Tecate Stage
Slipknot Megadeth Lamb of God HIM A Day to Remember Trivium Atreyu Asking Alexandria Tanus	Cradle of Filth Ill Niño The Dillinger Escape Plan Brujeria Resorte 36 Crazyfists Here Comes the Kraken Everyone Likes Cathleen

Future

Corey Taylor said on his Twitter "Don't worry, UK: this won't be the last Knotfest...". This suggests there will be more Knotfests in the future, including in the UK.^[7]

References

1. Smith, Jay (2012-06-04). "Slipknot’s ‘Knotfest’ Lineup Revealed". Pollstar. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
2. Baltin, Steve (2012-06-04). "Slipknot to Launch Own Music Festival, Knotfest". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
3. http://knotfestjapan.com/
4. Kaufman, Spencer (2014-07-04). "Slipknot Announce 2014 U.S. Knotfest Featuring Danzig, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat + More". Loudwire. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
5. "Slipknot to pay-per-view stream their Knotfest headline set". NME. 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
6. Freeman, Phil (2012-06-04). "Slipknot Announce Knotfest'". Roadrunner Records. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
7. "Slipknot announce first ever Knotfest". Kerrang!. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-09-26.