Photo: Redferns
Slipknot performed “Gematria (The Killing Name)” for the first time on Friday night (February 28) while kicking off their Knotfest Australia tour in Melbourne. The track's featured on 2008’s All Hope Is Gone, and as Revolver points out, Corey Taylor's said in the past that they'd "never play it" live.
“I’ve always wanted to open a concert with ‘Gematria,'” the singer admitted in a 2023 interview before divulging that his bandmates have other thoughts. “There are certain odiums around the way that that song was created and recorded, which is why some of the guys in the band are like, ‘F**k that, we’ll never play it.'”
“[The reason] isn’t even sentimental…It’s resentment," he added. "But for me, man, it’s such a f**king burner that I just love that song. I can listen to that s**t all f**king day. It just comes screaming out of no-f**king-where. But it’ll never happen. Unless the Pope ends up opening up for Slipknot someday, that s**t will never happen.”
Although they didn't open the show with the song (it was third in the setlist), Taylor finally got his wish to perform it live. The band's currently on tour in Australia and New Zealand before heading to Europe for a slate of festivals. As of now, their only US date this year is June 19 at the Inkcarceration Festival in Ohio.
Watch fan-shot footage of Slipknot performing “Gematria (The Killing Name)” for the first time below.