KoRn have said that Sleep Token “shut everybody up” with their headline set at Download Festival.
- READ MORE: Sleep Token – ‘Even In Arcadia’ review: another jaw-dropping ascent towards immortality
The anonymous and acclaimed metal band closed out the festival on Saturday (June 14), with a massive two-hour set, which marked their first headline slot at a major festival.
Upon the announcement of the line-up, some fans were sceptical of their place on the bill. Now, fellow headliners KoRn have since had their say on the band’s performance, with members Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer saying that it was good enough to “shut everybody up.”
In an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show With Daniel P Carter on Monday (June 16), Head said, “I love it because all these people – I don’t know how many – but I heard chatter about people like, ‘Sleep Token headlining?’ Some people were saying they’re so young to be able to headline so quick. And they came with that stage? Shut everybody up. They went bigger than a Slipknot stage, man.”
Munky added, “Also, the new record [‘Even in Arcadia’] is incredible. So it’s not only like the stage, yeah you can do that all day long, but they got the songs to back it up.”
At the end of last year, festival organiser Andy Copping spoke to NME in a new interview and opened up about the importance of creating a platform for new and emerging talent like Sleep Token. “I’ve always wanted to do that, and you can see it in how we’ve been developing the other stages like the Dogtooth stage and the Avalanche,” he said.
“For us, it’s about giving bands the opportunity to grow. We’ve got the platform and we want to be sending a message to those guys like ‘Come and play. We believe in you and you’ve got a great opportunity here.’ Thankfully, for the most part, these bands do step up and they do deliver.”
The band released their new album ‘Even In Arcadia’ earlier this year. In a glowing five-star review of the record, Rishi Shah wrote for NME: “‘Even In Arcadia’ shatters any pressure of expectation into oblivion, building on the bravery of its predecessor, sonically, while its lyrics reveal the most exposed version of Vessel we’ve seen yet. From Eden to Arcadia – and beyond – let the worship continue.”
In other news, in July, Sleep Token’s drummer II will appear at Black Sabbath’s final-ever concert in Birmingham. The charity show – apart from Sabbath and II – will include performances from the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Mastodon and many more.
Elsewhere, Kali Uchis accused Sleep Token of “gimmicks” and using “blackface” in their chart placement row.
