The Memorial World Tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

by American heavy metal band

Slipknot The slip knot is a stopper knot which is easily undone by pulling the tail ( working end). The slip knot is related to the running knot, which will release when the standing end is pulled. Both knots are identical and are composed of a slipp ...

in honor of late bassist Paul Gray who died on May 24, 2010. The tour was the group's first since the

All Hope Is Gone World Tour The All Hope Is Gone World Tour was a concert tour by Slipknot (band), Slipknot that took place in 2008 and 2009 in support of the group's fourth studio album ''All Hope Is Gone''. The tour consisted of nine legs and took place in the United Sta ...

which ended in 2009. The tour consisted mostly of festival dates and a small number of headlining appearances. The band headlined the

Sonisphere Festival The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It h ...

in Finland, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom and co-headlined the festival in Greece, Turkey, Switzerland and Italy with

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

. They also headlined the

Graspop Metal Meeting Graspop Metal Meeting is a Belgian heavy metal festival held in Dessel each year since 1996, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. Despite the small size of the festival grounds (upholding a perimeter of only ~4 km) the festiv ...

festival in Belgium. Finally, the band closed off 2011 by performing at the

Rock in Rio Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeir ...

festival held in Brazil alongside acts such as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. They were a major force in the groove metal, thrash met ...

and others. Drummer

Joey Jordison Nathan Jonas "Joey" Jordison (April 26, 1975 – July 26, 2021) was an American musician. He was the original drummer of the nu metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he was designated #1, and the guitarist for the horror punk Supergroup ...

announced that a live bassist, later confirmed as former Slipknot guitarist Donnie Steele, would fill in for Gray but would not be visible by the audience, instead performing behind Jordison. Vocalist

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, ly ...

stated that he was willing to perform the shows for the fans, but at the time was hesitant about recording another Slipknot album in the near future due to the absence of Gray and his involvement with

Stone Sour Stone Sour was an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000; since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand ...

. Taylor doubted the future of Slipknot if the upcoming shows were unsuccessful. Percussionist

Shawn Crahan Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder, percussionist, and only original member remaining of the alternative metal band Slipknot (band), Sli ...

along with Taylor both expressed interest in bringing the tour to the United States. Corey Taylor later confirmed via Twitter that a U.S. leg of the tour was planned. The band scheduled three headlining shows of their own on the European leg, two shows in Russia and the latter in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

to compensate for the cancellation of the Bulgarian edition of the Sonisphere Festival. On February 8, 2012, it was announced Slipknot would be returning to North America for the

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tour of 2012.Mayhem Festival 2012
Before the first show of the tour, it was reported that guitarist

Jim Root James Donald Root (born October 2, 1971) is an American guitarist. He is one of two guitarists for heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #4, as well as the former lead guitarist for rock band Stone Sour. Life and career Ro ...

would have to sit out multiple dates after his appendix had burst.Jim Root appendix

Nick Hipa Samuel Nicholas Hipa (born November 30, 1982) is an American musician. He is the current lead guitarist of Mire, lead guitarist of Wovenwar, and was the longtime former lead guitarist of As I Lay Dying (band), As I Lay Dying. He has also been to ...

and

Phil Sgrosso Philip Joseph Sgrosso (born September 16, 1985) is an American musician, best known as former guitarist of the metalcore band As I Lay Dying (band), As I Lay Dying, the rhythm guitarist of the band Wovenwar, former touring guitarist for Nails (b ...

(of

As I Lay Dying ''As I Lay Dying'' is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner. Faulkner's fifth novel, it is consistently ranked among the best novels of the 20th century.The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Lit ...

) stepped in and played guitar backstage. On July 13, Root recovered and returned to the band.Jim Root Returns
In the ongoing tour, the band members also wore their red jumpsuits from the self-titled album. Sid, Chris, and Shawn wore their old self-titled masks for the whole show. Corey and Jim wore their self-titled masks for half of the show and wore their All Hope Is Gone masks for the other half. Mick, Joey, and Craig wore their All Hope Is Gone masks for the whole show. An effigy of Paul Gray stood between Craig and Joey's drum kit. The effigy included Paul's self-titled mask, his self-titled jumpsuit and his left-handed bass guitar beside it. For the American leg of the tour, they wore their red Iowa jumpsuits along with some matching to their Iowa masks. This was the last Slipknot tour to feature drummer

before he was fired from the band in December 2013.

Tour dates

* 1 ^

appearance. * 2 ^ Headline dates, non Soundwave Festival appearance.
Cancellations

Setlist

The setlist for the tour is composed mainly of songs from the band's debut album, ''

'', to coincide with the stage set and apparel used on stage. The majority of the songs performed on the tour were written by or had a significant contribution in the writing process by former bassist Paul Gray. Gently from the album Iowa was also played in 2012 only in the United States not in Australia After each time a concert ends, the members, as a tribute to Paul, stand beside his effigy for a few minutes while "'Til We Die" is being played in the background.

Personnel

*(#0)

Sid Wilson Sidney George Wilson (born January 20, 1977) is an American DJ and keyboardist. He is the turntablist for the nu metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #0. Biography Sid Wilson was born in Des Moines, Iowa. Both of his parents are from ...

– turntables *(#1)

– drums *(#3)

Chris Fehn Christopher Fehn (born February 24, 1973) is an American musician. He was a percussionist and backing vocalist for the heavy metal band Slipknot from 1998 to 2019, in which he was designated #3. He was also the bassist for Will Haven from 20 ...

– percussion, backing vocals *(#4)

– guitars *(#5) Craig Jones – sampling, media *(#6)

– percussion, backing vocals *(#7)

Mick Thomson Mickael Gordon "Mick" Thomson (born November 3, 1973) is an American musician. He is one of two guitarists for the nu metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #7. Thomson, who originally met founding Slipknot members Anders Colsefni, Don ...

– guitars *(#8)

– lead vocals *Donnie Steele – bass (Off stage)

External links

Official website

References

{{Slipknot Slipknot (band) concert tours 2011 concert tours 2012 concert tours