Recently I took a brief look at a set of data containing information about the songs played by SlipKnot at their past performances and used this to predict the set they would play when I went to see them on the 16th of January, which can be found here. The actual set played can be seen to the left below, while the figure to the right below shows how the likelihood the twenty most likely songs to be performed, with the predicted set list being the first seventeen songs in this figure (“All Out Life” to “The Blister Exists”).
Set Played:
- Unsainted
- Disasterpiece
- Eeyore
- Nero Forte
- Before I Forget
- New Abortion
- Psychosocial
- Solway Firth
- Vermilion
- Birth of the Cruel
- Wait and Bleed
- Eyeless
- All Out Life
- Duality
- (sic)
- People=Shit
- Surfacing
Of the seventeen songs predicted, twelve were performed at the concert. The songs performed which were not predicted include “Birth of the Cruel” and “Nero Forte”, which as mentioned in the previous post were likely to be played despite having only been performed once before due to being new additions to the band’s live shows. In addition to this “Vermilion” was performed, which is a fairly frequently played song predicted to be the 22nd most likely from my analysis and is the overall 16th most played song. Other songs performed which did not appear likely to be played based on the data were “Eeyore”, a hidden track from the self-titled debut and “New Abortion” from “Iowa”, both of with are songs noted for their heaviness and intensity.
Of the songs predicted which were not performed, two were from the fifth album “.5: The Gray Chapter” (“Custer” and “The Devil In I”), which is notable as there was no representation from this album at all in the performance. Other absent songs which seemed likely were “The Blister Exists”, one of my personal favourites from “Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)” and “The Heretic Anthem”, a fan favourite from the second album. The biggest surprise absence however was “Spit It Out”, a song from the debut album which is considered by many to be an essential part of the band’s live show, see here (warning, explicit language).
Looking for the most frequently played songs seems to be a relatively accurate way of predicting which songs will be played, and may be appropriate at the beginning of a tour which is not in support of a new album. It is worth noting however that the setlist performed was identical to the one performed at the previous show in Dublin, so predicting an identical set to the most recent gig may be the most accurate method for predicting songs for a concert in a tour which has already commenced.
GREAT, I can’t wait to read more.