Life is Peachy, But Remember to Follow the Nu-Metal Leader: Celebrating 30 Years of Korn at the Sold-Out Talking Stick Amphitheater in Arizona

October 3rd, 2024

Growing up, experiencing my musical journey through Metal, you can often tend to miss other aspects of music surrounding yourself. As much as you attempt to discover as many musical themes, bands, and opportunities as you can, you’ll miss some, and those you’ll regret down the line. Initially seeing Korn as just a 90s, Nu-Metal band, and enjoying a number of their classics yet not fully indulging into what makes them who they are, I realized my mistake at Day One of Knotfest 2015, in which Korn and Judas Priest co-headlined. The insanely crushing low-tuned riffs that never muddied in the amps or the ears, while possessing an underrated level of percussion and rhythm, performing more than adequately live compared to what I remember through their studio work. I was floored. Seven years later, main support for System of a Down, and my admiration for their craft reached quite the parachute-level height, I didn’t think possible. Now, headlining a marvelous tour with support Gojira, a band I deeply admire, as well as Spiritbox continuing to gain notoriety in the Metal scene, this level of unique styles of Metal, combined with a sold-out show at the Talking Stick Amphitheater, would bring out the new generation of Metal fans, as well as a countless amount of the old-school heads, ready to joyfully relive their teenage years through Korn celebrating 30 years, 14 studio albums, and I can only imagine thousands of live performances.

Although certainly not my first visit to Arizona, it would be my first time here in the Fall seasons, and due to continued global warming, the weather still reached 103 degrees. Getting into the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, it encapsuled what Arizona, knew about Arizona: Free water refilling stations and large ceiling fans upon the roof structure. The state does not hide it is rarely cool here, and seeing it take that approach to this sold-out crowd attempting to settle within the weather, was a pleasant sight. This shouldn’t be a hot take either: every concert venue should have free water available. Not up for debate.

Spiritbox opened the first half of their stellar, hypnotic set from their 2023 EP, The Fear of Fear. I was uplifted and taken back from this new sound of the band, as I’d previously seen them open for Underoath in early 2022. The vastness in difference of their overall ability, presence on stage, it felt like a completely transformed group. Hearing that off-beat 3 note pummel at 2:46 in “Cellar Door”, the exhilarated force from Spiritbox, felt monumentally upgraded, and powerfully so. The Djent influences can be felt in the piercing bellow of the strings, and never feeling copied or forced. You can clearly tell the band has gone from ‘happy to be here and excited to show you what we have’, to ‘we can be a headliner with anyone playing after us.’ Mike Singer’s haunting riffing style, filled with pummeling chords, sharpness in polyrhythm colour, has ascended Spiritbox’s level to a glorious plain, the casuals, and hardcore fans, can appreciate.

Encapsulating this latest prolific, powerful progression of their sound, it could all be heard in an organized, atmospheric, musical loop in “Jaded”, where that small pause just as Courtey LaPlante sings, “And I’ve always been ashamed…” From the woven-angelic nature in her voice, the dream vibes-like synth backing up the engulfing distortion, this song magnificently represents the current state of Spiritbox: monstrous, melodic, and memorable. Commanding the stage from left to right, and center, Courtney’s presence vocally and physical engagement to the music hypnotically swaying in headbanging and being a focal point to watch, an absolute dynamo and leader on the mic. It was telling immediately, just the flourishing in confidence and musical progression, you cannot help but smile and be wonderfully impressed seeing a band level up in this dynamic fashion. Ending their abrupt, accelerated set, “Holy Roller” brought the crowd to a joyful mood, witnessing that musical break at 1:09, a waltz of modern techno, speeding up the beat right at 1:26, “Blood into wine, take my body instead”, Courtney growling alongside a symphony of synth, down tuned mayhem, and a frenetic ball of chaos, all released in this organized, modern glow. Spiritbox has just begun to discover and hit their prime, with a Swiss-army knife live performance, levels ahead of seeing them just a few years previous. Impressive to witness and absorb.

1. Cellar Door

2. Jaded

3. Angel Eyes

4. Soft Spine

5. Circle With Me

6. Holy Roller

My mind continues to be exonerated of shock and awe, over the last 18 years listening and seeing Gojira. From being the opening band of several high-end club shows, along the likes of Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, and Lamb of God as headliners, it’s still moving that Gojira has made such a name and reputation for themselves; absolutely no small feat to be main support for Korn. And with even with this monstrous boost, their live performances still remain as gigantic, dynamic, substantial, and continually, seemingly effortless.

Starting off their 60-minute set, the bombastic riffing, crunching palm-muted headbanging sway from “Born for One Thing”, the opening track of Gojira’s recent 2021 record, Fortitude. You can hear much of the front row screaming that chorus, with that lingering octave chord, “We were born for one thing!” One of the top aggressive tracks on the album, it surely was an excellent opener on this massive tour. A rarity in countless musical groups, and Metal especially, since creating the band in 2001, there have been zero lineup changes. Thus naturally, you’re able to hear the simultaneous, dialed-in chemistry from all four members, throughout their 7-album discography, and concerts, within movement, ability, and synchronization. Jean-Michel Labadie is either running across the stage, pummeling enriching bass tones windmilling, or making one-leg jumps from the stage ledges. Difficult to get a mountain-river clear picture, to say the least.

Offering two songs off of From Mars to Sirius, personally feel to be their magnum-opus, while also having arguably the furthest devastatingly crushing production on an album, while maintaining a riveting clarity, as visual as Blue Lake itself, the opening riff and gallop to “Backbone”, continues to mesmerize and astonish the near 33 senses the human body can feel and resonate. An engulfing inferno of actual flaming pyrotechnics, timed perfectly with that counterpoint. Nostalgic, yes, but a reminder of the velocity and overall sensational ability within that record. “Flying Whales’ from it as well, dedicated to Canadian activist Paul Watson, embodied the emotional lyrics to the intelligence and often horrible suffering of the whale species, recreating their charming songs felt in each ocean pore, through massive breakdowns, accelerated pitch harmonics combined with lurking groove and harmonious, pitting notes. That album needs to be heard by all Metalheads and quality music seekers, for sonic-noise enjoyment, and diligent research purposes.

Although short in length, I found the highlight of Gojira’s set, the medley of “Mea culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)/Remembrance outro”, the former a tradition French cover, highlighted and performed, in a gore-y, decapitated visual of Marie Antoinette at the 2024 Olympics. Being from France, and the first Metal band to ever play in any Olympic ceremony, a tremendous honour that even North American audiences recognized as it was played. Shows the reach extreme music can soar to. While the latter, an ending cacophony, off-beat riffing palm-muted riffing ceremony, performed incredibly by both guitarists Joe Duplantier and Christian Audreu. A reminder of the group’s pre-dated material from The Link, 21 and a half years young. The last 1:12 of that song, the outro on subject, combined with Mario Duplantier’s electric, calculated timing and chaotic downbeat play, highlights his wonderous level of drumming ability, as well as showing the technical prowess Gojira can play barely starting their career, as well as hone it in various techniques and mindful abilities. By far and large, the grandest stage I’ve seen them perform, and with nil doubt, flashed and dazzled in daring, devastating, demonstrative colours. Another breathtaking performance from Gojira. France, and the Metal world, joyously proud.

1. Born for One Thing

2. The Axe

3. Backbone

4. Stranded

5. The Cell

6. Flying Whales

7. Grind

8. Another World

9. L'enfant Sauvage

10. Mea culpa (Ah! Ça ira!) French traditional cover/Remembrance outro

11. Silvera

12. Amazonia

With this sold-out crowd finally cooled down with the moon’s lunar company, the atmosphere and tension never left the amphitheater. “Korn!” chants, echoed throughout these Arizonian, desert-heated halls, and for the following 90-minutes, and 18 tracks of Alternative, Nu-Metal, and nostalgia.

Tonight’s set spanning 9 of their 14 studio albums, as well as particularly Korn’s first 4 records being 13 of those 18 live tracks, the audience would receive every penny’s worth of their price to admission. The intro to “Dead Bodies Everywhere”, pummeling 7th string in A that not only grips the listener with the chugging chords, grasping note-bend, but with a gritty, grimy groove, leaving you head-level up in the water. It keeps you still due to the vastness of the dissonance, yet nodding to their delightful, funky beat. The dirty distortion, and slapping Bass from a smiling and engaged “Fieldy”, embodies the heaviness, backbone, and signature sound of Korn. Remarkable focus in technique, musicianship, and delivering profound Bass work, that I feel still doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Loved seeing the visuals change into Crimson Red colours, shift into distortions of art, static, feeling like the planet would absorb itself through Osmosis, adding a layer of sinister sight to Korn’s already demented musical table of contents.

What I have found personally to be the sticking point, highlight, and overall elixir of Korn’s magic: The band’s underrated dedication, imaginative ways of percussion and rhythm. One of the key reasons I really didn’t get into Nu-Metal, or genres similar growing up, I felt the musicianship in those minuit details, lacked standing out. The portion at 1:13 into “Good God”, this head-bopping rhythm of natural harmonics on the 2nd and 4th notes in that sequence, both guitarists “Munky” and “Head”, matching one another’s intensity in keeping that hook to the liver, within that three-note guitar boom segway into those harmonics. Vicious, funky, hypnotic, all while Jonathan Davis’s angst and heart-pouring lyrics accompanying this portion containing quality early Djent qualities, “I scream without a sound, how could you take that away!” Ray Luzier’s drumming matched the volume, precision, and tightness of the stringed instruments, often providing heavy and off-time fills right at the end of different choruses, adding compounding layers to the overall percussion each member possessed. It’s just something that listening to their albums lightly decades ago, I wasn’t able to appreciate and hone in on until the last several years.

Singing as many of the words as possible, the crowd marveled at the Korn self-titled moment of the set, four songs in a row from their debut, including “Blind”, with Davis’s rap-light headbanging at the end of the song, “Hit me, clown, because I’m not from your town now”, including “Fieldy” Bass break at 3:32, setting up the outro increasing the tempo for the listener, to be incaved by the boulders and rocks they fell from, the build-up from the ground and debris, engulfing the brain of a rocky whirlwind of Metal and gritty tone. A classic that never ages on the stage, Jonathan Davis bringing out his bagpipes for “Shoots and Ladders”, completely blew the top off this portion of Arizona, with fans seeing such a rarity in Metal and generally American music alone, how that intro of the pipe’s hits. Nocturnal interpretations of classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes, depicted in this grim, Halloween-themed delicacy, the lyrics masterfully deliver in the eclectic medleys within each part of the stories, demonstrating the character in word approach, and a sinister smile while belting out these new, vicious interpretations, of these older rhymes. The bridge portion of Metallica’s “One”, ending the song, masterfully done each time Korn performs it. Luzier nailed the notorious double-bass portion, sadly Lars did not do this, seeing Metallica at the Jimmy Kimmel show in 2016, so hearing him perform this each time I’d seen Korn, a listen for sore ears.

The encore portion of Korn’s compelling set, including two songs that the casual and hardcore fan, can soar into and lose yourself in, with “Falling Away from Me” and “Freak on a Leash”, had the heavy majority of the crowd staying and re-experiencing their youth, delightfully screaming every lyric out. You can’t help but be entranced each time Davis says that signature “Go!” in the latter song, suffocation the listener with that earthquake of a breakdown at the end. The first time actually seeing Korn play a long set and headline, absolutely stupendous.

Missing out on several bands growing up, due to different musical genres, sounds, progressions, and just being in a different place, my appreciation for Korn was only realized the last 9 years, in a monstrously higher class then their various other peers in the Nu-Metal, 90s Alternative Metal era. Congratulations to Korn for 30 years of bringing countless communities together, to sing in lyrics closest to the further broken-hearted growing up, and appreciators of underrated, down-tuned Metal significance. Headlining or supporting a major band, make every show in your town a priority for Korn.

1. Here to Stay

2. Dead Bodies Everywhere

3. Got the Life

4. A.D.I.D.A.S.

5. It's On!

6. Good God

7. Start the Healing

8. Blind

9. Ball Tongue

10. Clown

11. Shoots and Ladders

12. Twist