M'Lou Elkins
CONCERT REVIEW + PHOTOS
KORN w/ Gojira
9/28/24 – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL
©Justin Nuoffer/NuofferMedia.com
Upon entering the parking lot to Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre the four lines to park were stretched for half a mile. The excitement surrounding the Nu-Metal Gods was felt there. Car windows were down and the Korn tunes were blaring all around. The parking lot was packed to the gills and people were everywhere. The lines into the massive amphitheatre were long but moved quickly through security. Inside the courtyard, there were several food and beverage stands scattered around. They even created a sizable pop-up merchandise stand and its line never shrunk throughout the show’s entire duration.
Next to the walkways up into the physical building were more merchandise stands with long lines and business was booming. Underneath the metallic roofing is the main general admission pit, two levels of seating with ten sections on each level, in the far back is a huge lawn section, and finally up above the main concourse splitting the levels is an addition to levels of suites wrapping around the entire inside of the venue. The stage is enormous and all three bands on the bill take advantage of it fully with all of their production. Looking up from the front of the stage, one gigantic sea of people was visible. Over twenty-four thousand tickets were sold for the night’s event.
Opening up the show was Spiritbox, currently one of the biggest risers in the metal community over the past few years. Two days earlier they unveiled their new track “Soft Spine”. The track blew up quickly and it was no surprise that it was featured smack dab in the middle of their six-track set. The playlist featured songs from their last two releases, Eternal Blue and The Fear of Fear. The first track of the night was a tone-setter.
The slow-building digital ambient sound into brutally heavy riffs pushed the intensity of Courtney LaPlante‘s performance. Laplante is a force. Her vocals are some of the best out there. She delivers leg kicks and foot stomps while walking around the entire stage. Mike Stringer‘s playing recalls that early 2000’s sound with a modern metalcore vibe. “Circle With Me” and “Holy Roller” were perfect examples. The audience went crazy. The circle pit spun crazily from the first note to the last, making the Spiritbox adventure worth the price of admission alone.
As direct support is the almighty Gojira, who are fresh off their world-altering opening performance at the Olympics. The excitement for their show was through the roof. The production on stage enhanced the experience. The first track, “Born For One Thing,” kicked things into high gear with a blast of pyro from the video board stands that ran along the length of the stage. Hearing that roar from the crowd added to the mechanical and technical riffs and was awe-inspiring. Frontman Joe Duplantier frequently stepped back and gazed out over the crowd. At times he turned around and looked at his brother Mario Duplantier. Mario is considered one of the best drummers in the world and he proved it with every single note. At the end of “Backbone”, he stood up and hovered over his kit to help galvanize and encourage the overall feeling.
The enormous thundering sound Gojira creates is infectious. The general admission was a cluster of bodies being thrown around. The glow of the pit from the pyro being sprayed from the cannons was golden and striking. Gojira is known for their outspoken progressive political view and lyricism and was not afraid to speak their mind about the imprisonment of Captain Paul Watson. Naturally, this dedication was for “Flying Whales,” one of Gojira’s breakthrough songs about the ocean’s rising levels. Bathed in blue the whole song, including the whale moans, became the heaviest ripper of the set. C02 blasted in rapid fire and fire spit out all over.
Gojira brought their heaviest material out for the closing run. However, nestled between the fiery and brutal “L’enfant sauvage” and bone-crushing “Silvera,” was the song that put them further up on a pedestal, “Mea culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)”. The French Revolution song was Gojira’s first number-one in the US. Its live sound is exquisite. The mosh pit seemed to use it as a battle cry and the energy inside the pit intensified.
With time for one final banger to unleash upon the enthralled crowd, Gojira made sure they pushed out one last head-banging and socially conscious goodie and “Amazonia” with its distinct twang was a perfect mixture of heavy and beautiful. The track from Fortitude is a gift. The band knows this as well. Overall, Gojira are gods in the metal world and they pick up steam with every performance. Their lighting and sound were impeccable. You felt every chord, note, lyric, and scream. Their performance was brilliant and it wasn’t lost on the masses in attendance.
When the legendary Korn announced their twenty-five date tour, the reaction was an uncontrollable joy. Every major outlet covered the announcement and now they are on their tenth date at Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre. Korn’s stage setup was very simple on the stage itself, with Brian “Head” Welch on the left and James “Munkey” Shaffer on the right.
In the middle of the stage stood Ray Luzier‘s drum kit on a black riser and next to him on the left, Ra Díaz rumbled around with his bass. Up front stood Jonathan Davis‘ famous H.R. Giger-created microphone stand. The light glistened off of the female figure. Above the stand, multiple lighting panels stood and were most of the stage lighting, except for floods at the rear of the stage. The panels flashed images in correlation with the flow of the songs performed. Everything was planned to the second.
They kicked off their set with “Here To Stay”. The concrete below your feet shook, the crowd noise was deafening, and Korn was bouncing around like they hadn’t aged a day. This opener felt more like a statement than just another song. Korn delivered one smash hit after another with “Dead Bodies Everywhere”, “Got The Life”, and “A.D.I.D.A.S.”. The prodigious amounts of people with arms in the air and hair flying around from the headbanging gave visuals similar to ocean waves, one constant chaotic flow.
That simple intro to “Blind” slowly kicked in and Jonathan Davis spoke to the crowd for the first time all evening as he screamed, “Tinley Park! Look at all of you crazy mother fuckers!” He continued, “Tonight we celebrate 30 fucking years of Korn!” Then the booming breakdown moved the venue. Korn’s faithful fan base sang at the top of their lungs. The deafening noise even pierced through one’s earplugs. In an obvious homage to their first album Korn, the band rattled off three more to accompany “Blind”. The tracks “Ball Tongue”, “Clown” and “Shoots & Ladders” perhaps gave the largest responses of the night. Their first album is a classic. Korn also managed to pay respects to Metallica by using “One” as an outro to “Shoots & Ladders”.
Heading down the home stretch, Korn mixed it up a bit and gave the crowd a variety of songs across a handful of albums. With a heavy fog pouring across the band’s feet, strobes fired off and illuminated the cloudy air. The breakdown to “Make Me Bad” fit. The creepy guitar notes rang out and Davis moved along the front end of the stage, singing to the mob of Korn fans below him. This became a common occurrence.
His performance only became stronger as their set moved deeper and deeper. Davis spoke to the crowd saying “Thank you guys so much. Over 25,000 people are here tonight. Thank you! Thank you!” He continued, “You guys still pumped? Are you still feeling this shit? I want everyone to stick their middle fingers up in the air and I want everyone to scream fuck that.” The crowd proceeded to scream. “I know you’ve got better than that.” The crowd reciprocated again and instantly Korn bursted into “Yall Want A Single?” During the chorus, the dancing continued and Davis eagerly pointed to the crowd to scream “Fuck That”. The basslines by Diaz kept your body moving along to the groove. Hands down this was the most interaction between everyone all night. Right when you thought another song was right behind it, the stage went dark and the video boards above the stage projected “Korn” across it.
The stage was set for the encore and the roar from the crowd was once again deafening. Faces were filled with joy and plastered with large smiles. The legendary nu-metal architects didn’t waste a moment. Head hunched over and began picking those well-known notes to “Falling Away From Me” while Davis and Munkey held their arms high, looking for validation, and they got it. The crowd was ready to sing. The aisle and walkways filled with people unleashing every ounce of energy they had.
“Oildale (Leave Me Alone)” mixed right in and the rarity of Korn III: Remember Who You Are provided a deeper cut for more knowledgeable Korn fandom. However, their biggest hit was saved for last. In 2000 you could not escape seeing the video for “Freak On A Leash,” and it is considered the band’s quintessential song. Korn has no problem ending everything with this smash hit. They embrace it and it’s obvious they love playing it, so much so that confetti is fired off to celebrate it on the way out. The amphitheater was full of an admiring mob of fans who shouted and headbanged with every note, appreciating the obvious play.
Once Korn walked off stage, many didn’t leave their seats in hopes there was one more to come, but after eighteen songs spanning nine albums, the band had put in their work for the day. It was a masterfully planned and well-thought-out show. It seemed hard for some to believe that Korn has been around for thirty years, considering how fresh everything felt in the moment. Korn are heads above the rest and the fans leaving knew this too. The merchandise lines filled up again and the parking lot turned into a party while everyone waited to exit. Korn are more than just good music. They are a vibe and a lifestyle.
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