Machine Gun Kelly has once again felt the spleen of angry metal fans during his set at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California on Saturday, October 9th.
Following his highly-publicized quarrel with Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, Machine Gun Kelly received a cold shoulder from punters at the annual metal festival.
Though MGK devotees near the front of the stage cheered on the rapper-turned-pop-punker, the crowd towards the back adopted the persona of The Ancient Booer, bombarding the stage with bottles, tree branches, and liquids.
“How the fuck you feelin’ Aftershock?” MGK asked at the beginning of the set. “Mixed opinions. I love you so much.”
He continued, “This morning I was like, ‘Do we get on the plane and go to this?’ I was sitting there thinking about the last festival we did where this 10-year-old got her poster ripped up just for liking me.
“I’m doing this show for her and everyone who came to see us.” Watch footage from the performance below.
If you haven’t been totally engrossed by the catty and deliciously petty discord between Machine Gun Kelly and Slipknot, here’s a primer:
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Since early September, Machine Gun Kelly and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor have been engaged in a warring of words. The beef was sparked after MGK’s performance at Riot Fest in Chicago, which saw him launch into a tirade against Slipknot, who were playing a competing set on a neighboring stage.
“Hey, you want to know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old wearing a fucking weird mask on a fucking stage, talking shit,” Machine Gun Kelly said during his set.
The snide remarks were traced back to an interview Corey Taylor gave to Cutter’s Rockcast back in February. In which Taylor lamented the state of rock music, seemingly taking a stab at MGK’s propensity for genre-hopping.
“I hate all new rock for the most part. Well, the ‘artists’ who failed in one genre and decided to go rock — I think he knows who he is. But that’s another story.”
It was later unearthed that the tension between the two artists stems from a failed collaboration for MGK’s 2020 album, Tickets to My Downfall.
“Corey did a verse for a song on Tickets To My Downfall album, it was fucking terrible, so I didn’t use it,” MGK wrote on Twitter. “He got mad about it and talked shit to a magazine about the same album he was almost on. Y’alls stories are all off. Just admit he’s bitter.”
Corey Taylor was quick to rebut MGK’s claims that he delivered a “terrible verse,” taking to Twitter to share screenshots from an email correspondence discussing the collaboration with Tickets for My Downfall producer and blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
“I don’t like people airing private shit like a child. So this is all I’ll say: I didn’t do the track because I don’t like when people try to ‘write’ for me. I said no to them,” he wrote. “So without further ado…. #receipts. This is all I’m going to say about it.”
In the email exchange, Barker passed along notes from Machine Gun Kelly praising Taylor’s contribution, whilst offering suggestions on how he thought Taylor should deliver the song.
Taylor admitted that following MGK’s feedback, he felt like he was not “the right guy for the track.”
“Nothing personal, I just think if this is what MGK is looking for, someone else is the guy to do it,” Taylor wrote. “It’s all good and I’m stoked for him — I hope you guys find the right fit for it.
“Hope you understand and I wish you guys the best with it. If I can help in any way, let me know.”
Following the public dummy spit, Machine Gun Kelly performed a set at Louder Than Life festival, which saw the musician greeted with a symphony of boos from diehard Knot fans at the close of almost every song.
Tensions rose and the performance culminated in a verbal altercation between MGK and a punter, in which he threatened the audience member with… a lightsaber.
“I see you dude, I see you mad as fuck in your weird fucking outfit. I’m here for the same shit you’re here for, so it’s all good. Clearly, I’m not going nowhere, so just enjoy.” he said. “You keep fuckin’ with me, homie? Trained Jedi, bitch!”
There was a brief physical altercation between MGK and fans after the singer entered the photo pit and threw a punch at an audience member before security ushered him away.
