A broken barricade and multiple failed attempts at fixing it resulted in Slipknot’s annual heavy metal festival, Knotfest, being unexpectedly cut short over the weekend.
The late cancellation meant that neither Slipknot nor their exclusive opening act, Evanescence (Bring Me to Life), could perform at the 50,000-strong Mexico City gig on Saturday night.
As a result, dozens of disappointed and angered fans began rioting, with many climbing onstage and stealing props and instruments from Evanescence’s set.
A large portion of the American rock band’s gear was either torn apart or thrown into the general admission standing area, where it was later set on fire by other furious festival-goers.
On Sunday, Evanescence posted an official statement (via Facebook), addressing both the cancellation and the subsequent destruction of their gear.
“Even though we are devastated by the destruction of our instruments and gear, we do not see the violent end to last night as a representation of our Mexican fans, or the Mexican people,” they wrote.
“50,000 people were there,” the statement continued, “and sadly a handful of them turned to anger and violence after the cancellation. You have shown us an incredible amount of love from the very beginning, and we will always come back for you.”
Though Slipknot did not address the “violence” and destruction that affected their special guests, the nine-piece issued a statement to its social media pages apologizing to fans and clarifying their reasoning for cancelling Knotfest.
Slipknot then accredited their decision mainly to the safety of the band and fans, citing that it’s always been “priority number one.”
“We apologize profusely and hope you all understand,” wrote the Spit it Out headbangers.
“If anything were to happen to any of you, we wouldn’t forgive ourselves. We will try to make it up to you as soon as we can.”
The band members of Evanescence even took it upon themselves, individually, to once again address the incident.
Despite losing thousands of dollars worth of equipment, for the most part, it seems, they tried to stay positive after their losses.
Frontwoman Amy Lee joked, “Now I find myself wondering if we need a flaming drum kit in The Chain video.”
The 37-year-old was referring to the band’s upcoming music video for their newly-released cover of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 smash hit, The Chain.
Bassist Tim McCord shared a picture of a piece of his own equipment which he found burned on the ground, laying in a bed of ashes on the festival grounds.
He wrote, “I’m very bummed that we didn’t get the chance to play for our fans, our REAL fans, that would never do anything like this.”
While he initially seemed upset, guitarist and primary co-songwriter Troy McLawhorn tweeted that he’s still excited to return to Mexico.
“I just want to say that I love our fans in Mexico,” he wrote. “This could have happened anywhere in the world, and I would still be p**sed at the people who destroyed our gear!”
“Thanks for the love and support from all of our fans,” concluded McLawhorn, 51.
Drummer Will Hunt, too, expressed his love for Evanescence’s fans.
In an Instagram post, however — which showed a great portion of the damage to the band’s setup — the 48-year-old had some choice words for the rioters who decided to participate in destroying his drum kit.
“Do you even riot bruh?” he joked. “Hell, if you’re gonna do it, REALLY do it! Burn the whole f**kin’ thing down!”
“What you pack of p**sies did was weak and stupid,” he added, “JUST LIKE YOU.”
Hunt continued, “If you’re gonna torch my beautiful Pearl drum kit, that meant the world to me, at least cook some meat or marshmallows over the fire! F**kin’ weak ass p**sy AMATEURS!!”
“Moral of the story is, don’t half a** anything… Least of which, your f**king riot. Which again,” he continued, “was WEAK AND STUPID JUST LIKE YOU F**KING MORONS.”
As of this writing, neither Slipknot or Evanescence have rescheduled any performances in Mexico City.
Though they have no Canadian dates booked for 2020, Evanescence will return to Japan, Europe, the U.K. and for one exclusive show in the U.S. next spring.
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Updates, tour listings and additional information can be found through the band’s official website.
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