All The Reactions From Knotfest Melbourne

The first-ever Knotfest Australia took place in Melbourne yesterday. Tens of thousands of maggots descended upon the Flemington Racecourse for a long day of pure metal music: shredding, screams and circle pits were the themes of the day.

With the highly-anticipated event finally happening, did it live up to expectations? 

Punters who arrived in the morning lamented the lines just to enter the venue - VIP entrants were particularly upset about not having their own entry and instead having to use the General Admission entrance - while the merch lines, especially the tent beside the main gate, were hours long. 

How about the music and the vibe? 

Well, Trivium’s Matt Heafy thought that yesterday’s crowd was “the best Australian crowd we’ve ever seen in our FOURTEEN tours here!” 

The audience was certainly wild, forming circle pits at the drop of a hat, rowing boats for Amon Amarth (you’ll get it when you see it), and climbing a tower during Slipknot’s set (which briefly stopped the set until the attendee climbed back down), but overall, everybody looked after one another. 

Swedish death/Viking/Lord Of The Rings metallers Amon Amarth had the set design of the day, with imposing statues and their drummer situated on a massive wooden boat. 

Parkway Drive had pyrotechnics, and Winston McCall crowd-surfed during the Deep Blue classic, Karma.

Spiritbox converted a few fans who were previously unfamiliar with their music, and Malevolence put on a brutal set to start the day. View some reactions from the first-ever Knotfest Australia below.

Melbourne!
Thank you for attending the first ever @KNOTFEST Down Under!
What an incredible day 🔥
See you this weekend Sydney & Brisbane 🎪

📷 Jordan Munns pic.twitter.com/1RiToFI91Q

— Knotfest Australia (@KnotfestAu) March 24, 2023

Can anyone top Melbourne knotfest?!

Yesterday was the best Australian crowd we’ve ever seen in our FOURTEEN tours here! pic.twitter.com/wFpyUK8xJq

— Matthew kiichichaos Heafy (@matthewkheafy) March 24, 2023

A festival with only 2 stages where you get to see every quality band is so much better than a festival with like 5 stages where you have to run around all day to see like 20 half sets and half a dozen filler bands. Knotfest format is the way

— Luthen Rael (Alpha Male) (@lochlanrocks) March 24, 2023

First day of @KnotfestAu ruled!
Thank you Melbourne.

See ya in a few hours Sydney! #KNOTFEST #knotfestau pic.twitter.com/lUhwqfIv6a

— Story of the Year (@StoryoftheYear) March 24, 2023

This is @KNOTFEST Australia.

📸 Jordan Munns pic.twitter.com/rHYgyBEoHC

— Knotfest Australia (@KnotfestAu) March 24, 2023

Heavy metal is a "niche" genre 🙄@parkwayofficial at @knotfest, always proving the naysayers wrong 🤟🤟 📽 @rickysaul90 pic.twitter.com/z5arAGy8hz

— Wall Of Sound (@wallofsoundau) March 24, 2023

.@parkwayofficial : "You're about to die."@slipknot: Plays Dolly Parton as intro track.

— Monica Strut (@MonicaStrut) March 24, 2023

I'm absolutely wrecked today! @KNOTFEST Melbourne was a new level of crazy for Aus. @parkwayofficial had the hardest going put of the day, @AmonAmarthBand had the world's biggest row pit 🤣 what an epic fucking day. More spam later! pic.twitter.com/tunCVjTgV2

— Darkmech (@Darkmechx) March 24, 2023

@AmonAmarthBand #knotfest#knotfestau pic.twitter.com/cnrNnogHIf

— shaun (@666shaun666) March 24, 2023

Final spam dump from Knotfest (sorry!) I'm just so happy live music is back and thriving!! pic.twitter.com/p1PxEHuLHo

— Darkmech (@Darkmechx) March 24, 2023

What an unreal start to @knotfestau last night🔥🇦🇺🔥 You set the bar high, Melbourne. Let’s see what you got tonight, Sydney. pic.twitter.com/fOsrbQCs5j

— Jay Weinberg (@jayweinbergdrum) March 25, 2023

Alpha Wolf with a couple of friends in Melbourne @sharptonerecs @AlphaWolfCVLT pic.twitter.com/sa2SNkAClw

— Third Eye Visuals (@Thirdeyevisual1) March 24, 2023

Knotfest was fucking insane! Being a part of history by being at the FIRST Knotfest in Australia EVER is something special. Here's a Sneak Peek of the action, full review will come out through the week (once I've got my voice back!). Thankyou, @slipknot! #KNOTFEST @KnotfestAu pic.twitter.com/sm8DdIJ6uS

— Trent Cornell (Zirra: The Gaming Kaiju) (@ZirraTGK) March 25, 2023