American band Slipknot on of the Rock for People festival, June 8, 2023, Hradec Králové.
Hradec Králové – The opening day of the Rock for People festival, which started today at the former airport in Hradec Králové, culminated with a metal production by the American band Slipknot. Wearing horror masks, the band served thousands of fans, many of whom arrived wearing Slipknot logo T-shirts, with their signature aggressive sound and show supported by projection and pyrotechnic effects. According to the organizers, Rock for People will present 600 artists until June 11, and visitors can expect 130 concerts and several dozen different performances or debates.
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Slipknot, whose concert was described by one of the present listeners as an “uncompromising ear wash”, shortly after starting their loud production with The Dying Song (Time to Sing), presented their seventh album The End, So Far. The approximately ninety-minute performance also featured songs from Slipknot's self-titled album, which has sold over 2.5 million copies, or All Hope is Gone, which went platinum in the US, Australia and Japan thanks to sales. People = Shit from the album Iowa, whose name was derived from the American state where the members of Slipknot were born, was enthusiastically received by the audience.
Since their beginnings in 1999, the initially underrated musicians have received a Grammy Award and ten other nominations, their music has been played over 8.5 billion times on the Internet and video clips have over 3.5 billion views.
The organizers of Rock for People, which was visited by approximately 35,000 people last year, are again expecting great interest from music fans. Already today, such a number of them have arrived that the organizers are considering expanding the camps before the weekend. Parking lots are also filling up.
The main star of Friday's program will be the American musician Machine Gun Kelly. The musician, whose real name is Colson Baker, last performed in the Czech Republic last September in a packed Sports Hall at the Prague Exhibition Centre. He reportedly earned the nickname Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) for the (machine gun) speed with which he raps. Among the domestic performers, the punk rock band Vypsaná fiXa will present themselves with a program to mark the twenty years since the release of the album Bestial happy. The accompanying program will include theaters, various performers, exhibitions and debates on sustainability.
According to the organizers, the festival's budget last year exceeded 100 million crowns for the first time, this year it is almost double. The festival has been held at the former military airport since 2007, where it was moved from Český Brod due to capacity reasons. Last year's sold-out edition of Rock for People brought many successes to the organizers, including inclusion among the Top 10 central European festivals and Top 10 promoters according to the European Festival Awards or the title Event of the Year 2022 in the Žebřík poll.
