The best way to describe the early years of Noose as a live band would be intense. A nine-headed beast brimming with bilious urge, taking the stage wherever it wanted and causing complete and utter devastation. And it was in performances like the one they gave on the first date of Ozzfest 1999 that helped them on their way to the current superstar level.
To set the scene, Ozzfest hit the road across America for the fourth time. The main stage boasted black sabbath, Rob Zombie, PanteraDeftones, Killer and System of A Down, to name a few. Yet it is on the second stage that we will talk about the city. Sandwiched between Puya and Pushmonkey, and with Fear Factory, Static X and Hed PE ready to follow, Slipknot was placed right in the middle of the bill. The first leg of the tour took place at Coral Sky Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida on May 27, just over a month before the band’s scheduled release date, and now a classic, chill self-titled album. like stone. Although their names were spoken as those to watch, no one could have been prepared for what was to come.
To watch footage of this set is to see a band at its most vicious and unstable. Dressed in their darkest suits and with their terrifying masks strapped to their faces, the way they take the stage to the sound of 742617000027 before bursting in (sic) is quite tangible. Serious, devastating and so heavy, it would be impossible not to have goosebumps in front of such a screen. From the terribly exhausting without eyes effortlessly catchy wait and bleed to the point of pure contempt for Surfacing, it was a display that took the band to the next level instantly. And that was only the first day.
Talk to rolling stone in 2016 about what it meant to be part of such a tour, Corey Taylor said, “Ozzfest gave us an amazing opportunity where we were able to really kickstart a career from there. In a lot of ways, we had a lot of advantages over a lot of other bands because of that we were able to go all over the country we had people who were really supportive from day one and helped us get to where we were We are now. The great thing about being part of this Ozzfest was that you immediately became part of the family. The Osbournes themselves really believed in this band.
And after making such an impact, Corey recently spoke to strong wire about what it was like to meet Ozzy himself for the very first time on the tour, saying, “I was sitting at a table with Sharon and Jack [Osbourne] and a few other guys from Slipknot. And out of nowhere comes Ozzy. Sharon introduces us, and he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re in Slipknot, there’s nine guys, right? I want to be number ten’. It was like being baptized and ennobled at the same time”.
At the end of the tour at the end of July, Noose was out, and the rest, they say, is history. A real monster is born.