Slipknot Has Its Say On Oklahoma City Concert Flap
So what really happened when Slipknot rolled into, and out of, Oklahoma City last month?
As we previously reported, the band was slated to play that town's Tower Theater on January 11 and backed out of the show after it became clear that the local promoter had oversold the gig. Specifically, the band canceled the show after learning that the local fire marshal had bumped some of the ticketholders out of the venue to get the crowd down to the legal limit set by the fire code.
In explaining the incident to MTV News last month, a spokesperson for the club claimed that the show was only oversold by 20 tickets and that several fans volunteered to turn in their tickets for refunds to appease the fire marshal.
He's got a twisted version of it. Let us give you the real version of actually what really happened," Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor (otherwise known as #8) told MTV News last week.
The band contends that the show was actually oversold by several hundred tickets,
and that the removal of fans was hardly voluntary with many fans being thrown out of the show. "We didn't find out about that until we got there," Taylor explained. "We show up, everybody's ready to play, and then all of a sudden the fire marshal starts throwing his weight around making everybody sit down, and everybody who was standing got kicked out.
Upon learning that many ticketholders had been sent packing, the band decided it was better to not play at all than to play for a depleted crowd. [article id="1450365"]"It was a hard decision for us, because we hate to cancel any show, but we thought it would be best to come back and play it when all those kids could be there. We were going to come back and play a place that wasn't as corrupt as that place and just do a better show... cut our losses,"[/article] Taylor said.
For its part, the club contends that the fans who did leave the show did so of their own choosing. The club also contended that after the band
pulled the plug on the show, the crowd took out its dissatisfaction on the venue, breaking fixtures, chairs, and other items (see [article id="1434130"]"Slipknot Fans Get Unruly As Band Pulls Plug On Show"[/article]).
The band is still trying to reschedule an Oklahoma City date and will likely make up the show during a swing through the States following its upcoming European tour. But when Slipknot rolls back through Oklahoma City, it wants nothing to do with the Tower Theater or those who promote it.
[article id="1450365"]"The guy [at the Tower] was totally cool with [our cancellation], and then he goes in the media and he says we cancelled the show for whatever reason, and he says we started a riot,"[/article] Taylor said. [article id="1450365"]"It's all a complete lie, and people need to figure that out. [RealVideo]
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"It was a bad gig, man. We learned out lesson," Taylor continued. "We're never going to play there again.We're going to play a place that will hold everybody.
And he will not be involved," percussionist Shawn Crahan (#6) added.
Other than the Oklahoma City fiasco, things are going pretty damn good for Slipknot, which has managed to go gold with its self-titled debut album despite no help from MTV or mainstream rock radio. The band staged a mainstream coming-out party of sorts on NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" last week (a moment Crahan called "a huge victory for hard music") and is now in Europe for a tour that kicks off Monday night in Glasgow.
