As the crisp air of fall rolls into the City of Toronto, a roaring explosion of sound blankets the lakeside venue known as Budweiser Stage, and patrons line up for Korn’s return to the city.
Fans packed themselves into the venue and the pressure begins to build as openers take the stage and fans begin to reach the ends of long beer and merch tent lines. Before they knew it, the show was underway.
While it is true that Korn is far from its peak of dominating the charts of the late ’90s, and performing in-front of crowds numbered in the hundreds of thousands, this does not mean they lack dedicated fans willing to shed hundreds of dollars to hear lead singer Jonathan Davis scream “ARE YOU READY”.
For those out of the know, Korn is an alternative metal band from Bakersfield California. Formed in 1993, they helped usher in the popularity of a new kind of sound fusing elements of hip hop and hard rock otherwise known as NU-Metal.
Korn, notorious for their live performances, really packs a heavy punch with their sound. When it comes to crowd hype, they certainly know how to build it. The Budweiser Stage was electric and fams’ expectations were most definitely exceeded.
Accompanying Korn on this leg of the tour were acts Gojira and Spirit Box who put on incredible performances, teasing fans with heavy dynamic shifting songs as they waited for the main event.
The muddied grass bank positioned behind the lower bowl of Budweiser Stage quickly turned into a sea of humans as far as the eye could see, crammed into every square inch was a person excited to see Korn.
Then it happened.
A loud piercing strum of an electric guitar by guitarist James Shaffer was projected over the speakers to the crowd and without a further ado there they were standing on the stage before the audience exceeding all expectations, their faces expanded by the large screens flanking either side of them as they broke out into the song “Here to Stay” to begin their set.
This moment really drove home the idea of what Korn is all about: being loud and not caring what others think. The September show was a perfect example of the ethos of metal, perfectly packaged into a one-and-a-half-hour set.
In an almost overwhelmingly fashion the thick, muddy tone filled the ears of the crowd as the ground beneath was vibrating in response to their movement.
The band was incredibly tight throughout the performance being kept in check by the timing of the rhythm section, where bassist Reginald Arvizu and drummer Ray Luzier collaborated to keep the mosh pit moving steadily never showing signs of slowing down.
As the band continued to check off hit after hit from their setlist, the stimulating eye show on stage continued with large multicoloured spotlights flashing the crowd while the band incorporated moving screens on stage to round out the visual element of their show.
Around the midpoint of the set Jonathan Davis ducked out of sight only to return with bagpipes to kick off the song “Shoots and Ladders” in a ferocious way, the band would ultimately surprise the crowd bridging this song into a rendition of Metallica’s “One”.
The band finished with “Y’all want a Single” and left the stage only to return to play three encore songs ending with their signature tune “Freak on a Leash”. Overall, Korn was able to encapsulate their studio sound and reproduce it in a live setting never disappointing even for a second.