Deftones Headed to the Ryman; Slipknot and Marilyn Manson Bound for Bridgestone [Metal Corner]

When masked-and-not-so-anonymous patient bloodletters Slipknot last brought their traveling nu-metal Halloween party to Bridgestone Arena, near the end of the show frontman (and secretly amazing comedian) Corey Taylor somewhat ridiculously barbed fans who refused to crouch down in unison on his command. Nonparticipants were missing “an opportunity to be a part of history," he said.

Well, if you merely stood there and watched, or you missed the gig entirely (and you care), the band offers a shot at redemption on June 28, when they return to the Stone to relive that history with help from ungracefully aging shock-rocker Marilyn Manson and screamo-riffic Steinbeck devotees Of Mice and Men.

To his credit, Manson did manage to shock us when, while opening for Smashing Pumpkins at Ascend last Summer, he cut his finger open, squeezed the blood out onto this face and then shook his bloody hand like a Polaroid picture at fans. It was fucking disgusting, but perhaps not as disgusting as the fact that Manson played to so many tracks we could Shazam his set.

That act was gory (albeit mildly) to be sure, but that definition might not be what alt-metal journeymen Deftones had in mind when they decided to name their eighth studio LP Gore (due April 8). Some music fans have speculated that the title is actually a tribute to sensitive Depeche Mode guy and principle songwriter Martin Gore, the Pete Townshend of New Wave. Given Deftones' long-avowed Depeche worship (which Rolling Stone's Kory Grow explores in a rather excellent think piece from last year), said speculation isn't without merit. D-tones frontman Chino Moreno (who, notably, has a DM tattoo) even teased that talk last month when he tweeted the mock album art pictured above (though he's yet to address Reddit conspiracy theorists who suggest the album's actually a tribute former to Nashvillian and United States Vice President Al Gore). 

As Grow notes, a servant-to-master relationship with Depeche Mode and the inability to shake the Depeche influence that takes hold of their catalogs in situations like these is something Deftones and Marilyn Manson have in common. Luckily for the former, that's a very a short list. And luckily for more high-brow-leaning Music City metalheads, it doesn't include sharing an upcoming bill in Nashville. Despite more than two decades of nu-metal guilt by association, Deftones (who've toured opening for Slipknot in the past) will not appear on the June 28 Bridgestone bill, opting instead for a May 11 headlining gig at the Ryman. Not only will the Mother Church be the biggest joint the band's headlined in Nashville to date, it's also the classiest, forcing fans to trade the nuisance of navigating a general admission most pit for assigned seating and the ass-numbing awkwardness of rocking out in church pews. But seeing as how Moreno is one of metal's few vocalists who could make a genuine moment of singing off mic, this booking is nothing to complain about. In fact, it might even be an opportunity to be a part of history. 

Deftones tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. (here) for the reasonable price of $39.75-$49.75. And tickets to see Slipknot/Marilyn Manson/Of Mice and Men — a triple-threat amalgamation of literary, mass murder, beauty and Grateful Dead song title references — also drop Friday at 10 a.m. (here) for the also reasonable price of $26.26-$75.45.