Corey Taylor pays tribute to Astroworld victims during Slipknot show: ‘I feel like it needs to be said’

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Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor urged fans to “look out for one another” as he paid tribute to the victims of the Astroworld tragedy.

Nine people died and hundreds more were injured during the “mass casualty” event at the music festival on Friday 5 November.

“I’m not going to bring everything down but I feel like it needs to be said,” Taylor begins, in newly posted video footage of the moment he addressed the tragedy.

Speaking during the show at Florida’s Welcome To Rockville festival, he continued: “One of the wonderful things about this genre, about this audience, about this family is that we look out for one another.”

“This is supposed to be a place of celebration, of love and about looking out for one another,” he said. “And everybody that’s ever been in a f***ing mosh pit knows, if somebody goes down, you get them right the f*** back up. So I want you all to hold on to the memory of those eight souls that we lost.”

He added: “But I also want you to remember this. No matter what show you go to, if you’ve got eyes, you keep them open, you keep them focused and you look out for one another.”

Video footage has showed how fans were piled on top of one another as they screamed for help, while Scott continued to perform onstage. He has said he was unaware of what was going on in the crowd during the event.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said in a press conference on Saturday morning that officials declared a “mass casualty incident” at about 9.38pm and the promoter Live Nation agreed to shut the event down.

However, the show continued and Scott continued to perform until around 10.15pm.

On Friday 12 November, the death toll rose from eight to nine after 22-year-old student Bharti Shahani died following five days in intensive care.

Her family confirmed that she had succumbed to her injuries as they demanded “justice” for her and the other victims, and revealed that this had been her first-ever trip to a music festival.

Scott has said he will cover the funeral costs of the victims.