'What a ride it's been!' Korn's fiery (expletive) Phoenix concert banged
His bandmates had already whipped the crowd into a frenzy by teasing the opening notes of “Blind” after piping in “Michael & Geri,” a dialogue sample hidden on their 1994 debut, when Jonathan Davis of Korn took a moment to acknowledge what their 30th Anniversary Tour that made its way to Phoenix on Thursday, Oct. 3, is all about.
“Tonight, y’all, we’re celebrating 30 mother (expletive) years of Korn!,” the dreadlocked singer shouted midway through their concert at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre.
“What a ride it’s been! We’re a band that came from (expletive) nowhere! We came from nowhere! We came from nothing! And we turned this (expletive) around with the help of you beautiful mother (expletive) people.”
It was oddly touching in a way my mother would not have been able to appreciate.
And with that, the stage was set for an electrifying trip down memory lane with “Blind,” the song that opened that first album all those many years ago.
Much to their credit, Davis and his bandmates — including fellow founding members James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch on guitars — did all they could to make it feel like time had barely moved a muscle since they emerged at the head of the nu-metal pack on the strength of such career-defining albums as “Korn,” “Life Is Peachy,” “Follow the Leader” and “Issues” in the ‘90s.
Davis was more or less rocking his signature look — a red Adidas tracksuit, hair in mangy dreads.
Bagpipes came out for Korn's 'Shoots and Ladders'
He brought out the bagpipes to introduce the first Korn song to feature bagpipes — “Shoots and Ladders,” a hypnotic highlight of a debut Metal Hammer summed up as “a record that remains as integral to modern metal as the first Black Sabbath album or Metallica's 'Master of Puppets.'"
Speaking of Metallica, Korn took a detour during "Shoots and Ladders" through one of Metallica's most enduring triumphs, "One."
The setlist put the focus squarely on those early albums that continue to define them, including such crowd-pleasing highlights as “A.D.I.D.A.S.,” “Good God,” “Got the Life” and “Make Me Bad” before ending the set with an f-word-slinging singalong on “Y’all Want a Single” from 2003’s “Take a Look in the Mirror.”
They held off on “Falling Away from Me,” the biggest hit on "Issues," as a great way to open an encore that ended, as anyone at all familiar with their place in the culture zeitgeist would've wagered, with “Freak on a Leash.”
The crowd was in their corner from the time they hit the stage and launched directly into “Here to Stay,” sprinkling in a handful of more recent songs, including “Start the Healing” from their latest album, “Requiem.”
Davis sounded like a Korn fan would’ve wanted him to sound in 2024 and his bandmates definitely rose to the occasion, from Munky and Head to drummer Ray Luzier, who stepped in for David Silveria in 2008, and touring bassist Ra Diaz, a talented musician whose enthusiasm was beyond contagious.
Korn setlist 2024: Every song they did in Phoenix, from 'Blind' to 'Clown'
Spiritbox made the most of their limited-time opening for Korn
Spiritbox, a progressive metalcore band from Victoria, British Columbia, fronted by Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer, her husband, greeted early arrivals with an opening set that crashed the gate with “Cellar Door,” the single that opens their latest release, “The Fear of Fear.”
LaPlante, who previously fronted iwrestledabearonce, is an imposing presence whose throat-shredding vocals effortlessly rose about the fray. And her vocals were just as commanding on the songs that called for something more subdued — the haunting industrial vibe of the verses on “Jaded,” in particular.
They didn’t get much time on stage but made the most of it, squeezing in three songs from that new EP and sending “Soft Spine” out to “everybody that we love to (expletive) hate” before bringing the set to a punishing finish with “Circle With Me” and “Holy Roller.”
Opening for Korn, Gojira delivers the heaviest set of the day
The first French band to top the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, Gojira followed Spiritbox with an awe-inspiring show of force and the face-melting pyro to match.
Their set was arguably heavier than Spiritbox and Korn combined, making its way through such headbanging highlights as “Born for One Thing,” “Stranded” and “L’Enfant Sauvage” in a head-on collision of feral intensity and technical precision.
Guitarist Joe Duplantier howled the lyrics like a man possessed (or something more demonic) with a brooding magnetism duly reinforced by dressing all in black.
Gojira left me wondering how a band as guaranteed to put the fear of metal into casual observers managed to become the only metal act in history to perform at an Olympics ceremony last summer in Paris.
Duplantier and his bandmates briefly left the stage at the conclusion of “Another World” as the animated story of a noble quest for peace on other planets played out on the massive screen behind the stage, a team of astronauts discovering the Eiffel Tower overgrown with forestation like a scene from "Planet of the Apes," which may have been the visual high point of a set with no shortage of visual high points.
Gojira returned for four more songs after "Another World," ending their performance with the brutal majesty of “Silvera” and “Amazonia” after dusting off the song they played at the Paris Olympics.
Korn setlist 2024: All the songs they played in Phoenix
Here's every song Korn played on their 30th Anniversary Tour concert at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in Phoenix:
“Here to Stay”
“Dead Bodies Everywhere”
“Got the Life”
“A.D.I.D.A.S.”
“It’s On”
“Good God”
“Start the Healing”
“Michael & Geri” (recording)
“Blind”
“Ball Tongue”
“Clown”
“Shoots and Ladders” (with a snippet of Metallica's "One")
“Twist”
“Make Me Bad”
“Insane”
“Y'All Want a Single”
Encore:
“Falling Away From Me”
“Oildale (Leave Me Alone)”
“Freak on a Leash”
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Korn takes fiery trip down memory lane in Phoenix concert