Knotfest is a music festival created in 2012 by American heavy metal band Slipknot. The event has been held both as a touring festival and a destination festival in several countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, France and Chile. Aside from Slipknot, Knotfest has featured a diverse alumni of past performers including

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan Fis ...

, Prong,

Deadly Apples Deadly Apples is a Canadian rock / industrial metal band based in Montreal, Quebec. The band consists of frontman / lyricist Alex Martel (vocals) and main composer Antoine Lamothe (drums), with live musicians joining them on stage. An early ver ...

, In This Moment,

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

Butcher Babies Butcher Babies is an American groove metal band from Los Angeles, consisting of frontwomen Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, guitarist Henry Flury (Amen), bassist Ricky Bonazza, and drummer Chase Brickenden. Their debut album, ''Goliath'', was re ...

and Prayers.

History

Creation

Knotfest was officially announced on June 4, 2012. Among the activities the festival offered as part of its "dark carnival experience" were 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. "It's all about having fun and going crazy, bringing it to the standard it used to be," Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. "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... When everyone leaves their senses ill beoverloaded, and I'm talking about smells, sights, hearing, your body, everything is overloaded with stimulation, because that's what Slipknot does." The inaugural Knotfest was a two-city event and took place on August 17, 2012, in

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

and August 18, 2012, in

Somerset, Wisconsin Somerset is a village in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, along the Apple River. The population was 2,635 at the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Somerset. History Somerset was named by General Samuel Harriman after his fath ...

. Among the line-up were bands such as

, and

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radi ...

. On March 24, 2014, it was officially announced that "Knotfest Japan" would be held in November 15 and 16 at Makuhari Messe, Tokyo. Headliners were Slipknot.

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...

Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers. The band's music is marked by D ...

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

Papa Roach Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther. After t ...

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...

and

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During the ...

. On the first date of the

Mayhem Festival 2014 Mayhem Festival 2014 was the seventh annual Mayhem Festival. Dates were announced on February 18, 2014, and lineup officially announced March 31, 2014. In a January 2014 video interview at NAMM, Korn guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer revealed t ...

, Knotfest 2014 was announced, with it being held at the

San Manuel Amphitheater The Glen Helen Amphitheater (originally Blockbuster Pavilion and formerly Hyundai Pavilion and San Manuel Amphitheater) is a 65,000-capacity amphitheater located in the hills of Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California. It is the l ...

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 ce ...

, on October 24–26. Knotfest 2015 was to be held at the same location, from October 23 through 25. In December 2019, it was announced that Knotfest would be held in the United Kingdom for the first time in 2020.

Broadcast

On July 11, Slipknot announced that their closing performance at Knotfest would be broadcast via a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

streaming website. 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."

Performers

2012 line-up

2014 line-up

California

Japan

2015 line-up

California

Mexico

2016 line-up

"Ozzfest Meets Knotfest" California

Mexico

Japan

2017 line-up

Mexico

Ozzfest Meets Knotfest 2017

2018 line-up

Colombia

Mexico

Canceled due to lack of organization.

2019 line-up

Knotfest meets Hellfest 2019 France

Knotfest Roadshow 2019 USA & Canada

Knotfest meets Forcefest 2019 Mexico

Colombia

2021

Iowa

Knotfest Roadshow USA

Los Angeles

2022

Knotfest Roadshow USA & Canada

Jinjer was announced to appear in the first leg, but cancelled due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, their homeland.

Germany

Finland

Knotfest Roadshow Argentina

Colombia

Chile

Brazil

2023

Australia

Japan

Italy

References

{{Rock festival Heavy metal festivals in Mexico Heavy metal festivals in the United States Music festivals in Iowa Music festivals in Wisconsin Music festivals staged internationally Slipknot (band)