CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE SHOW HERE.
The evening was quite an eye-opener, with all walks of life creeping out from the woodwork. I was questioning the type of folk that were to be at Vodafone Arena, after I had almost put myself into a tussle with a lone sailor who was also heading to the venue. When we arrived, we were introduced to some tight latex corsets, lace-up leather boots, pin-up tartan pants and slash look-alikes with hi-top hats. It had it all, and there certainly wasn’t a shortage of black amongst the field, that’s for sure.
Korn, among very little, could only pull this crowd off, but many were merry and looking forward to a decent Friday night. Another problem that we did encounter was not realising the doors opened at 5.30pm, thus missing the first support act Bloodsimple. Nevertheless, I didn’t receive any negativity from those who did arrive on time. Although we had general admin/floor tickets, nesting in a prime location was very simple because it wasn’t exactly a sell-out. In fact, I was shocked to see that the surrounding seats within the arena weren’t even half full, nor was the floor.
Right to the front of the stage was where we caught a solid glimpse of second supporters Chimaira, who managed to slip in a few tracks off most of their four LPs. Pass Out Of Existence, Power Trip and some newies from Resurrection were all in there and were making the floor rumble with intensity.
Throwdown, being one of my hardcore favourites, are leaning more towards the likes of Pantera nowadays, but they stormed on stage with nothing but pure brutality from frontman Dave Peters and his troops. Clean and crisp was the perfect description for their set. The likes of Vendetta, You Can’t Kill Integrity and Burn were all thrown in and a few riffs from their most recent Trustikill Records release, Venom & Tears. No Love, I, Suicide and Americana closed their set with nothing but chaos to those hardcore fans. Although I’m not a true believer of groups who choose to steer from their roots, the Orange County four-piece performance was superb – but I personally prefer the original Throwdown.
Another favourite of mine is Biohazard. I don’t think I was at an acceptable age when my parents would let me infiltrate my ears with the sweet sounds of hardcore, but ten years ago when the boys from Brooklyn lastly toured Oz with Pantera, would have no doubt been epic. Vocalist, come drama actor, come porn star, and now husband to US porn mistress has seen Evan Seinfeld have a dip in a little of everything: literally. Apart from Evan’s interesting lifestyle, early 2008 arrived and the line-up of original members Seinfeld, Billy Graziadei, Danny Schuler and Bobby Hambel had announced a reunion tour to commemorate the band’s 20th anniversary.
Biohazard opened their night with Shades Of Grey, What Makes Us Tick and a cast of numbers followed from their original LPs. After Punishment and Chamber Spins Three there was an announcement from Seinfeld of their final tracks, but was cut short with his attempt to get the pit circulating, whilst telling us how it goes in the States. Mind you, there wasn’t all that much participation from the onlookers. The atmosphere and energy was non-existent still to this point of the night, and certainly wasn’t propelled by the lack of ticket holders. Eventually, there was cooperation and minor movement on the floor for the first half of Urban Discipline but died off within seconds. As most were waiting for Korn to take the lead, Biohazard closed their sound-distorted set with Hold My Own. The vocals didn’t have sufficient punch, but I guess it can’t always be on the money.
As I previously mentioned, seat allocation wasn’t exactly strict, but our attempted persuasion of a female security guard had been rejected. Instead, some crafty improvisation saw me and my mate relocate to the rear seats facing the stage. The sound balance was much better than where we were before, and we were just in the nick of time for Korn’s opener. Following were hits from their ’07 and most recent releases Untitled, Follow The Leader and Untouchables. The majority were waiting for a few traditional, heavier tracks. Back in the day, Korn’s recognition developed after the release of Life Is Peachy, so our ears were teased with ADIDAS followed by another recent number, Falling Away From Me then another ‘94 hit Faggot. You can easily notice the difference in aggression of Jonathan Davis’s vocals and body language from the original to recent songs he performs. This could possibly be more of a reflection of his darker side when he was a minor.
The bagpipes where then introduced to the stage and I knew it was time for Shoots And Ladders – but I was mistaken. The individual showcase continued with unsigned drummer Ray Luzier and Reginald ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu leading the way with a drum and bass solo. Freak On A Leash came out with a blast, the midway breakdown encouraging the atmosphere to escalate. This is what I’m talking about: fans standing from their seats fisting the air. It was about time. This prompted a short and sweet encore to bring the night to an end with Blind, and everyone’s commercial favourite, Got The Life. The lighting for Korn’s set was excellent, as was the sound and vocal quality – but they needed to work on that a little more for the supports acts.
