NEWS
Corey Taylor of Slipknot performs on stage during day 2 of Download festival 2019 at Donington Park on June 14, 2019 in Castle Donington, England.
Joseph Okpako/WireImageSlipknot frontman Corey Taylor debuted a frightening new mask at Rocklahoma 2021 in Pryor, Okla., on Saturday (Sept. 4).
Slipknot's appearance at Rocklahoma marked the rock band's first live show since performing at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, in February 2020.
"Good to be back. Thank you, @rocklahoma," Slipknot captioned a photo on Instagram showing the skeleton-like mask.
The annual three-day Rocklahoma launched Friday with other performances by Rob Zombie, Halestorm, Mastodon, Steel Panther, Andrew W.K., Puddle of Mudd, and others.
In May, Taylor gave fans a teaser of what to expect from his latest creepy mask during an interview with Des Moines, Iowa's LAZER 103.3.
“The mask has been a part of us forever,” the singer told the radio station. “The mask is king. And for us, especially people like me and Clown and the guys in the band that really allow those masks to evolve, it’s important for it to be a reflection of who we are in that music. And I can tell you that the mask I’m working on is very disturbing."
He added, “It’s gonna be hard to look at. And it’ll probably be my favorite mask that I’ve ever put together. It’s little bits and pieces of things that have intrigued me, of masks that I’ve had in the past. And it’s gonna have a devil-may-care kind of terror to it, let’s put it that way.”
Last month, Taylor revealed he was battling COVID-19 even after being vaccinated. “I woke up today and tested positive and I’m very, very sick,” he said in a video posted Aug. 20 on Facebook.
Check out Taylor's scary new mask on Rocklahoma's Twitter account below.
NEWS
Music photographer Jill Furmanovsky said she wasn’t taken aback by the overwhelming excitement surrounding the Oasis reunion tour.
The photographer has been capturing the Wonderwall hitmakers for more than thirty years and shared that the Oasis Live '25 Tour, which brought Noel and Liam Gallagher back on stage together for the first time in 16 years, worked so well because the concerts have always been “about the audience”.
Jill, who first crossed paths with Oasis at one of their early shows at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1994, explained to NME: “It didn’t catch us off guard, because Oasis have always been about the crowd. Always. There was never much to shoot on stage.
“Even at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, the performance itself was simple, but the people in the crowd knew every word and were completely swept up in it.
“And that hasn’t really changed over time. They just bring out that songbook and deliver it. Liam is still magnetic and captivating, even when he keeps it minimal. It remains incredibly powerful. That’s the essence of their show.”
Furmanovsky, who has photographed icons like Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin over the course of her fifty-year career, added: “What they’ve done with this new tour, the production, and the visuals… it’s something special.
“The mix of generations in the crowd is also striking. I went with my 13-year-old granddaughter, and there were plenty of kids her age singing along word for word. It’s incredible.
“‘Biblical’ is the term people throw around. It sounds almost silly, but when two brothers who’ve been at odds for years come together again, there really is something biblical about that alone. Combine it with what they’re putting on stage… it’s unlike anything else.”
Jill’s latest book Trying To Find A Way Out Of Nowhere reflects her years documenting Oasis, and she shared that no current act matches what the Supersonic band represents. She was also able to photograph them once again at one of their massive Wembley Stadium shows during the reunion tour.
She said: “There aren’t many artists today who can step into the space Oasis occupies and actually live up to it.
“We’re in a different time now, a kind of in-between phase. It feels like the closing of a rock ‘n’ roll chapter. That doesn’t mean talent or creativity is gone. It’s like with painting — we still have great impressionists, but we’re no longer living in the impressionist era.”
