As I stood and waited with about 7,500 other people inside the Sprint Center Saturday night, I was puzzled. Why would anyone buy a SEAT at a Slipknot concert?

After three bodysurfers were plopped on my head, I had my answer. After being violently shoved for nearly 90 minutes, I had my answer. After getting punched in the face (accidentally), I had my answer.

Those people in the seats were cowards.

The madness is part of the experience. I was ten feet from the stage with my head up and my elbows, too. Man, am I glad I was that close because I probably experienced the best metal show of the year. I don't know if the chickens that were in the seats can say the same.

The night started with a decent bang. Trivium gave a great 35-minute performance. Behind thrashing guitars, a gunfire bass drum and the screaming vocals of Matt Heafy, Trivium pleased the crowd with some good, old-fashioned heavy thrash metal. Heafy was the most entertaining of the members. He used the entire space of the stage and got the crowd involved. That night, he was everything a metal frontman should be.

Coheed & Cambria followed with a 50-minute set. I had two major questions going into their performance:

• Will new drummer Chris Pennie be as much of a presence as Josh Eppard?
• Will Slipknot fans accept the alternative rockers?

First of all, Pennie was outstanding. The drummer was an energetic madman who didn't miss a beat. Granted, Coheed played a heavier set than they often do. This allowed Pennie to shine with pounding beats and excellent fills.

It's too bad for Pennie that most of the crowd seemed uninterested. Coheed got a great pop as they opened with "Welcome Home," but problems surfaced right away. The crowd could barely hear lead singer Claudio Sanchez. Even after he angrily requested that his mic be turned up, his voice was overshadowed by everything else.

The audience was largely indifferent through the rest of the band's set. Coheed traded hits like "A Favor House Atlantic," "Blood Red Summer" and "Devil In Jersey City" for heavier little-knowns like "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer" and "No World For Tomorrow." The result was a lot of people standing and bobbing their heads.

Besides, people were saving their energy for the battle that was about to ensue. It felt like an eternity between Coheed and Slipknot, but the masked Iowans did not disappoint. Slipknot has to be one of the greatest bands in the world to see live. Their antics and on-stage spectacle match their ability to get the crowd in a frenzy.

Slipknot didn't just play their new stuff, either. Early songs included "Wait and Bleed," "Before I Forget" and a few from the "Iowa" album. The band played more recent hits like "Psychosocial" and "Dead Memories" later in their 90-minute set. The nine men made the hour and a half fly by. Of course, the good thing about having nine guys in the band is that a few of them can take a song or two off to entertain the fans.

Some extracurricular activities included: Sid Wilson (#0) destroying part of Chris Fehn's (#3) industrial drumset, Shawn Crahan's (#6) jacked drumset spinning and elevating with a fan cam on the front, members of the band doing pull-ups on Crahan's elevated drumset, and Fehn mocking a security guard while standing on the left woofer.

It was crazier on the floor where shoving was mandatory, bodysurfing was recommended, and the smell of a certain illegal substance was in the air. One thing is for sure: The Sprint Center had yet to see a show as insane as Slipknot's.