Knotfest Japan A Hit - Pollstar News

The first-ever Knotfest Japan, Nov. 15-16 at the Makuhari Messe convention center east of Tokyo, was a resounding success and a total sellout.

Both days were headlined by the hard rock festival’s namesake, Slipknot, and filled out with 13 Japanese groups (minus popular Japanese band Makuhari Messe, which canceled citing illness) and 10 foreign acts.

VIP tickets going for 100,000 yen ($856) and 50,000 yen were the first to go, according to local presenter H.I.P.

Perhaps more significantly, the two-day crowd of 50,000 pushed Slipknot’s newest album, 5: The Gray Chapter, to the top of the Oricon album charts, which is quite a feat for a non-Japanese release.

The Nov. 15 timing of the release, the first day of the fest, couldn’t have been better as most Japanese fans tend to buy CDs as souvenirs from concerts.