Following the news that headliners Slipknot and Evanescence cancelled their sets at Knotfest Mexico, a riot ensued that saw some of the bands' stage equipment damaged and even set on fire, according to Rolling Stone.
The Mexico City festival's lineup included Papa Roach, Godsmack, Bullet for My Valentine and many more and while most bands took the stage without incident, the barricades in front of the stage were pushed down during Behemoth's set. After organizers were unable to fix the issue, Evanescence and Slipknot sets were cancelled due to safety concerns.
This caused thousands of fans to storm the stage, damaging equipment set up on stage for the bands, even lighting Evanescence’s drum set on fire.
oth bands were apologetic about the cancellation, taking to social media to explain what had transpired. "We apologize profusely and hope you all understand. If anything were to happen to any of you, we wouldn’t forgive ourselves," Slipknot wrote in a statement. Evanescence shared their own apologies about the situation via video message."The last couple of bands didn’t get to play because of a safety issue with the barricades and it wasn’t something that could be fixed. We are so sorry," lead singer Amy Lee said. The band followed up with another statement addressing the violence that resulted from the cancellation.
"Even though we are devastated by the destruction of our instruments and gear, we do not see the violent end to last night as a representation of our Mexican fans, or the Mexican people," the band said in the statement. "50,000 people were there, and sadly a handful of them turned to anger and violence after the cancellation."
Slipknot was reportedly considering performing during Sunday's ForceFest to make up for Saturday's missed show, but their gear was too damaged for them to do so. "We had hoped to be able to perform today, but regrettably, a situation arose on stage after the cancellation that damaged or destroyed gear that would have been necessary to play."
See the posts below, and footage of the damage above.
