Korn closed out their summer tour in Ridgefield Washington and we were on hand to witness the spectacle first-hand. The RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater hosted a lot of great shows this summer, but this one might have been the biggest and best one of the bunch. Five hundred seats were removed from the venue to enlarge the GA Pit area. Because, Korn just hits different while your body is surging, smooshed against a horde of freaks and metal minions.
Speaking of freaks, Korn brought some friends along for the gig. Opening up for the evening, Dana Dentata strutted onto stage in full evil-clown regalia. Her rap-rock style, a style which seems to be popularizing within the metal community was something that took her even by surprise. She explained how she was raised on metal, but her own style developed out of a “boredom” of it. Her traumatic upbringing heavily influenced her subject matter and the visuals during her performance were simply jaw dropping. I’m sure that many folks that witnessed the performance made straight for their therapists after the show.
P.O.D. got second billing, playing classic hits “Boom”, “Youth of the Nation”, and “Alive”. They ended up playing a total of 8 tracks before calling it a night.
Evanescence, main support for the tour, was incredible. Lead singer Amy Lee’s angelic voice has not changed over the years. Not one bit. Not only does she have one of the most iconic voices in metal music, she does it with an energy that doesn’t stop for the entire set. That’s no small feat. Their setlist was fifteen tracks long. Although Amy had a keyboard set up at the back right of the stage, for several tracks, a grand piano was wheeled out center stage adding a feeling of intimacy and vulnerability to the performance. For “Bring Me To Life”, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. came out on stage to perform the male vocals, hitting every lyric perfectly.
Korn’s performance… wow. Aside from the music, which they always deliver mercilessly, the performance was visually stunning. Employing a set of LED panels at the back of the stage and another at the front, something which I hadn’t seen before, was unique. It allowed for an almost 3 dimensional visual effect sandwiching the band. Of course, the front panels weren’t present for the entire performance, but were moved into place and raised throughout the show. Korn delivered sixteen tracks including some tracks such as “Ball Tongue” dug up from their self titled debut album. Suicidal Tendencies’ Ra Diaz delivered the rumble while “Fieldy” remains on hiatus. His performance was excellent and his chemistry with the band was apparent.
Since this was the last performance of the tour, each band left it all out on stage. At the end of the night Johnathan Davis of Korn said “Thank you all for your support. We love you guys. I’m going home”.
