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TORONTO - If you don't know much about Korn, imagine if Spinal Tap had found amplifiers that went to 12 rather than 11.
The
rafters at the Ricoh Coliseum were rattling last night as Korn performed its heavier-than-heavy-metal repertoire before a
devoted but slightly less-than-capacity crowd.
In fact, the rafters a mile or so east at the Rogers Centre, where the
Blue Jays were winning their home opener, probably were shaking because of the Korn concert, too. But having all that power
is both Korn's biggest advantage and its biggest weakness as a live act.
Korn is relentless. Korn is all business.
In fact, no member of the band -- vocalist Jonathan Davis, guitarist James (Munky) Shaffer, bassist Fieldy Arvizu
and drummer David Silveria -- said a word to the crowd for much of the night. Unless, that is, you consider the odd "get your
m----- f------ hands in the air" during a song to be a form of conversation.
The rhythms may change slightly, but Korn
-- which originally hails from Bakersfield, Calif. -- essentially has one volume: Loud. Almost all the songs are energy-based,
and that's fine for a while.
But while Korn doesn't take any songs off, the fans actually need to from time to
time, if only to replenish bodily fluids.
It didn't help that the sound at the Ricoh Coliseum was a bit muddy. That
isn't the performers' fault, of course, but muddy sound is muddy sound.
Equally irritating to some patrons was the
set list, which caused someone to yell loudly in the middle of the show, "Play the old s---.'
Korn is touring in support
of its most recent CD, See You On The Other Side. It was released late last year and is the band's first without founding
member/guitarist Brian (Head) Welch, who left Korn and found religion (go figure).
The excitement built last night
as Davis slowly strutted toward his famous microphone -- you know, that big sucker shaped like a naked lady - before launching
into It's On.
One of the highlights was Falling Away From Me, which, you may recall, was heard in the 1999 episode
of animated show South Park in which Korn appeared in cartoon form.
Later, just as the fans seemed to be tiring, Davis
brought out the bagpipes and the building was energized anew.
The video show behind the band was great throughout the
evening in an artsy-goth-spooky kind of way. In fact, sometimes it was hard to tear your eyes away from the screen to look
at Korn.
Not surprisingly, the crowd appeared to have raided every single store in Toronto for every shred of black
clothing.
What was surprising, however, was the young age of the crowd, considering Korn has been around for more than
a decade. At least one 25-year-old in attendance commented that he felt like a senior member of the throng.
There also
were more females than you might expect, the rough estimate being 25%.
Most Korn devotees surely enjoyed the show,
and they likely will be late for school or work this morning because of it.
But variety is not Korn's forte, and that
lessens the group's impact over the course of two brain-scrambling hours.
Mudvayne, preceded by 10 Years -- the band,
not the period of time -- provided above-average support as the opening acts.
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