Fresh off the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, Slipknot played a very special show in Holmdel, N.J. last night (Aug. 8). As a band that rarely slows down, the guys are gearing up for their two-day metal festival, Knotfest, in the Midwest on Aug. 17 and 18. While some bands might take a break after a month-long festival run to get ready, Slipknot do the exact opposite, playing a handful of shows leading up to Knofest.

Lead singer Corey Taylor and company tore into their opening set of tunes at PNC Bank Arts Center, including ‘Eyeless,’ ‘Sulfur’ and ‘The Blister Exists.’ During his first break to address the crowd, Taylor said the best thing he could have said to the legions of Maggots standing in front of him. “Tonight, we’re going to make more f—ing mayhem.” Fortunately for the thousands in attendance, Taylor and the other seven members of Slipknot lived up to that promise.

To deliver more mayhem, Slipknot performed an expanded set, unleashing more songs than at any Mayhem tour stop. Songs like ‘Everything Ends’ and ‘Snuff’ made their way onto the setlist, much to the delight of the fans. When the metal octuplet ripped into ‘The Pulse of the Maggots,’ the arena went nuts, screaming the anthem for ‘Knot fans across the world.

Before tearing into ‘Duality,’ Taylor reached out to the crowd very solemnly, saying that this night, and every night for that matter, exists to “celebrate the life and music of Paul Dedrick Gray,” the late bassist and founding member of Slipknot. After that tune, still on an emotional high, Taylor opened up and explained to the crowd that Slipknot have been touring for 13 years, and somewhere along the way things changed. “It stopped being about the band and the fans and we all became family,” he said. With that, the band began what would be a crushing performance of the classic ‘Spit It Out.’

Even with 10,000 screaming fans in an open air arena, somehow this show seemed intimate for Slipknot. Song after song, explosion after explosion, the band destroyed the 90+ minute performance, delivering what they promised from the very beginning — more mayhem.

Check out our Exclusive Photo Gallery of Slipknot’s Aug 8. Performance
Slipknot Set List at PNC Bank Arts Center on 8/8/12

‘(sic)’

‘Eyeless’

‘Sulfur’

‘The Blister Exists’

‘Wait and Bleed’

‘Before I Forget’

‘Disasterpiece’

‘Gently’

‘Vermillion’

‘Pulse of the Maggots’

‘Everything Ends’

‘The Heretic Anthem’

‘Psychosocial’

‘Duality’

‘Spit It Out’

Encore:

‘Snuff’

‘People = S–t’

‘Surfacing’

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