Watch rare, newly unearthed, footage of an unmasked Slipknot soundchecking for a hometown club show in 2000, plus footage of that wild Des Moines gig

Slipknot in 2000, unmasked — (Image credit: Slipknotvideos_ Instagram)

Rare, newly unearthed, footage of an unmasked Slipknot soundchecking for a hometown show Des Moines on New Year's Day 2000 has been posted on an fan account on Instagram.

Having played the Super Toad Entertainment Center with Coal Chamber, Dope and Powerman 5000 on October 17, 1999, their first major hometown show following the release of their self-titled Roadrunner records debut, The Nine returned to the venue for a special New Year's Day celebration on January 1, 2000, as part of their World Domination Tour.

And now, thanks to the people behind the Slipknotvideos_ Instagram account, fans can watch footage both of the soundcheck - during which the band are unmasked, and wearing regular clothing - and a clip of the gig itself, when their trademark red boilersuits and masks disguise their true identities.

Speaking to Metal Hammer last year, producer Ross Robinson revealed that the very first time he saw the band play, on they were unmasked.

“We’d arranged to meet them at Sid’s parents’ house, and they were all waiting for me, unmasked, on the deck,” he recalled. “As we drove up, I saw them run off, like excited children, into the basement where they rehearsed. Then they put on their instruments, and, oh my God…”

“Without the masks, I could see their facial expressions,” he says. “All that insanity was fully visible. I was kind of bummed out knowing that they wore masks because they were so expressive without them.”

Watch the rare soundcheck footage plus footage of the group's homecoming gig below:

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Shawn Crahan is currently over-seeing a deluxe re-release of the band's seminal debut.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.