A ban on spiked collars at Slipknot‘s show in Glasgow tonight (January 18) has sparked anger among many fans.
The US metal band are scheduled to perform as part of their ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ tour at the SSE Hydro tonight, but before fans attend they might want to take a look at a list of banned accessories the venue have published.
Spiked collars, large belt buckles and large chain wallets are among the items featured. The full list of items include: laser pointers, fireworks, candles, whistles and signs.
Donald MacLeod, the owner of the Garage and Cathouse rock clubs in Glasgow, who had been collaborating on events with the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) for year, described the move as “a joke.”
He said: “We’ve never had issues like this on dress. It’s incredible. I must admit I burst out laughing and thought this was a joke.
“What I’ve found running the Cathouse – which is an iconic institution – is we’ve had all manners of dress codes, be it emo, goth, heavy metallers and hip hop. They all have a brand and an identity – nose rings or tattoos – and it’s probably the safest and friendliest club that I’ve had.
“Yes there have been incidents, but people police themselves and they look after each other. We have put on many shows in the SEC of a similar calibre such as Nine Inch Nails and nobody was flung out and there were no problems.
“There were more problems at Still Game and there were no high heeled buckled boots there. You get more fighting at a darts match.”
He added: “I can’t see how telling people not to wear big boots is going to prevent fires, it’s ridiculous.”
Hydro staff have said that the ban is in line with similar restrictions at other UK venues during the band’s ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ tour.
A spokesperson for The SSE Hydro told the BBC: “We want everyone attending an event here to have an enjoyable experience.
“However, there are restrictions on what is allowed into the SSE Hydro and these can vary – this is related to the safety of everyone attending events here and to the security of the venue.”
Speaking to STV News, one fan said of the ban: “I know the Hydro does tend to have a lot of security in place and that’s fair enough, but when you’re seeing that it’s belt buckles and wallets, 99% of that stuff is ideally what people who go to this gig want to wear.”
She continued: “The boots I’ve got for it are metal with spikes, can’t wear them. I had a leather jacket with spikes on it, can’t wear that. Spiked dog collar, can’t wear that. Pretty much most of the outfits that a lot of these people tend to wear are straight up banned.”
Another fan said: “I think it’s quite absurd because if you think of rock and heavy music, a lot of it is to do with fashion – people express themselves through it.
“So you’re stopping people’s expression, especially because they’re at a gig.”
Speaking in a new interview, the frontman took aim at exploitive royalty rates and revealed just how little the band receives.
Watch the band kick off first night of their ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ tour in Dublin.
