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Lamb of God Frontman Randy Blythe Returns to the Stage

Randy Blythe

After spending over a month in a Czech prison on charges of manslaughter, Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe made his first public appearance with the band since his release. The thrash band played both dates of Slipknot’s Knotfest in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Somerset, Wisconsin. “I’m so glad to be here,” he told the Iowa audience to massive applause. “I have never, ever, ever in my life been more excited about being in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa.” Then, later, he said nonchalantly, “I’ve been away for a little bit, but I’m back now.” And again the crowd cheered.

The set list for the Iowa show, which is the only one on setlist.fm now, shows that the band played a mix of testosterone-pumping aggressive fan favorites from all of their albums. Among them were rage-fueled tunes like the anti-war song “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For,” off 2004’s Ashes of the Wake, and “Redneck,” off 2006’s Sacrament, which contains the lyric “This is a motherfucking invitation / You try me.” Blythe even made a guest appearance during Prong’s set at the Somerset gig to perform the Misfits’ “London Dungeon” (viewable in fan-filmed footage below), which he introduced by saying, “This song is about going to prison in a foreign country.”

Mostly, though, the shows seem to have been a celebration of his return. At the Somerset show, Blythe announced, according to Minneapolis’ City Pages: “Slipknot said, ‘You cancelled the tour, but could you still do the two Knotfest dates?’ I said ‘Fuck yeah.’ You think Britney Spears or Ke$ha or whoever’s fans would be out here in this? No, they’d be sitting on their fat asses at home.”

But don’t think Blythe is taking what happened to him in Prague lightly. He has said he wants to clear his name and that, if called, he will stand trial.

Check out fan-filmed video of Blythe’s return, including the first song he played since getting back (“Desolation,” off the group’s most recent album Resolution):

Lamb of God Perform “Desolation” at the Iowa Knotfest

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hZ5CY_ueXBI%3Fversion%3D3

Lamb of God Perform “Ruin” at the Somerset Knotfest

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NjBRqR_XSR0%3Fversion%3D3

Randy Blythe and Prong Perform “London Dungeon”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zqq78wAQ97E?version=3