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Having seen my favorite band live almost half a dozen times, I have gotten used to packing body bags in anticipation of their shows. This year, however, I simply did not know what to anticipate in terms of the set-list since it marked my first viewing of a show without the backing of a new album release.
Any dyed-in-the-wool fan knows that it is always better to listen to songs hardly played live over their hit singles simply because hits are always played to death.
In what can be seen as Korn's answer to fan's prayers, the third night of their Escape From the Studio 2009 tour April 27 in the Sun City, Korn played an onslaught of old-school classics such as "Good God," "Ball Tongue" and "Chi," the latter so rare live that when it was played Korn still had all five original members.
Korn plans to record their ninth studio album and return to their roots with producer Ross Robinson, who also produced their first two records.
"We want to do it old-school: 24-track tape machine, old analog board. No Pro Tools, no editing, none of that," said lead singer Jonathan Davis in a recent interview. "It's just to have that vibe back where it's not too over-produced, just slamming people's faces like we did back, in '94, '95, and '98."
That same vibe from their first couple of albums and now returning to their new album was undoubtedly present in the April 27 show, as Korn went back to basics with a simple backdrop made up of only their four-letter name in large white print reminiscent of their early touring days in the mid-1990's when they opened for Ozzy Osbourne.
Behind the H.R. Giger-designed metallic mic Davis pumped out 16 songs, more than half from their first two albums, including "Clown" and the scat-happy "Twist." For an hour and a half the walls bled from Davis' wails, sending waves down to the mosh pit from opening song "Right Now" to encore opener "Blind," the song that started it all.
Periodically stopping to suck oxygen from a tank, Davis thanked the fans for their support till midway through the show. Knowing how to work a crowd, in the anti-radio anthem "Y'all Want a Single" Davis told every Korn fan to raise their middle fingers in the air. In the song that closed the night, "Got the Life," off their third album, Davis told fans that if they didn't know the song "You're not a KoRn fan."
The same Jonathan who burned with rage in the first two albums resurrected April 27, busting out the bagpipes for "Shoots and Ladders" and emitting death-metal growls in "Fake" and "Did My Time."
For a band that thrives so much on raw emotion, a rebirth of the days of their deepest woes and passions is only natural.
Jorge Gomez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
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