Korn, Live in San Antonio, 8/11/00
Well, it's about 1:30 on Friday afternoon, my two freinds and I are on our way out of Houston to make the trek down I-10 to see our favorite band Korn. For me this would be my fourth time to see them, the first in two years though. To be honest I wasn't all that pumped about it I had been hearing stories on message boards about how week the second leg of "Sick & Twisted" had been and that the band didn't seem to be into it that much. They have been touring almost non-stop since February so I figured they are a bit tired but I still expected a great Korn show. Well that night at the Alamodome is what we got and then some.
First up was Pappa Roach who really impressed me live. Great sound and this band will probably be headling arenas in a year or two. Then it was Powerman 5000 who bored the fuck out of me. The cartoons were pretty funny. A lot of people in other reviews have said the cartoons sucked but I thought they were a good time passer waiting for Korn's setto get built. Next up was the boys of Korn.
The place went dark and "Dead" came blaring out of the p/a/ system. Then the opening notes of "Falling Away From Me". The intro was extened as expected and then the bass and drums kicked in and the place roared, jumped, and moshed all at once. Korn was on stage and this was going to be a hell of a night. "It's On" rocked, "Got the Life" was, well, it was "Got the Life". Then "Ball Tongue". I remember that I use to not care for this song all that much. Then when I saw it performed in 1996 on the "Life is PEachy" tour I saw how Jon would get into the song and just freak out singing it, he had me turn into a fan of the song. This night was no different. "Ball Tongue" rocked and was a highight of the night. Then it was the concert staples of "Twist" and "A.d.i.d.a.s.". Cool songs just heard 'em played to many times. After that though is where I became convinced that this was Korn's night as it should be. The band busted out a rocking "Good God" with vintage Jonathan Davis on the "won't you get the fuck out of my face" line. This lead right into a fantastic version of "Trash" and then the current radio hit "Make Me Bad". It didn't stop there cause next was one of the best Korn songs ever written, "Clown". The band nailed it dead on and you could tell Jonathan was feeling the crowd on this one as they sang along, just from the smile on his face. After this Jon had to run and change so the band ran through "South of Heaven" and the bagpipes hit with Jonathan raised up above the stage on a platform blasting away on the pipes. "Shoots & Ladders" ended with the brief "Justin" into and Jonathan introduces "Freak On A Leash" with "Check this shit out". I have to say we have all heard "FOAL" a thousand times now, but the song completely rocked this night. Maybe it was because by this point I was pulled in and the band could have jammed almost anything out and I wouldn't have cared. Then it was "Somebody Someone" with the crowd really into the song and then the first set came to a close with a awesome version of "Faget" and more vintage Jonathan on "Kill You" with him freaking out and getting deep into the lyrics. Lights out, encore time.
A few minutes later Jonathan reappeared in a black jumpsuit and belted out "4u". The rest of the band joined him and began the usual extended into for "Blind" whenever it is played live. Jonathan told everyone to go nuts when he screamed "Are You Ready?" and everyone did when those notes hit. The song rocked, the band waived goodbye and the night was unfortunately over after the song. This was the fourth time I had seen them and it was the best. All this talk about them losing it or whatever is a bunch of bullshit. The band was on fire this night, Jon sounded great, and the show rocked.
Copyright 2000 Mark Neiser