The last time Korn and Limp Bizkit toured together was a few months before I was even born, closing in on 20 years now. However, neither band had reached their respected success at this time; Korn were on their way there after the releases of their first 2 albums, Korn and Life Is Peachy whereas Limp Bizkit were still waiting for their first album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all to even be released.
Fast forwarding 2 decades, however, sees both bands reunite on a dual-headlining tour of the UK. A collective 16 studio albums (which spawned a further 75+ million album sales) distance their last tour together to this date, stats that justify why both artists can both claim the headline title in today's age.
Beginning their first leg -of a six leg tour- in Manchester, nobody knew what to really expect other that Korn being the closing act of the evening, and a *sold out* Manchester Arena played testament to the fact that this tour was what people were eager to see. (I say *sold out* because there were no more tickets available on first hand ticket websites but there were plenty of empty seats- courtesy of ticket touts.)
Nevertheless, there was a huge cheer when the lights first went down, as the crowd were eager to welcome the self proclaimed 'NYHC' (New York Hardcore) band Madball. Laying out the core basics of what the hardcore genre is all about, Madball powered through their set with aggression. Hard, fast, heavy beats were the backbone of their material, carrying vocals that shared such aggression and which furthermore fed the audience into the mood for the evening. The band, nearing their 30th year together, worked strongly as a unit. Each member played off each other with cohesion and compatibility, they certainly played their part in the line-up well.
Almost 3 years since their last visit to Manchester, Limp Bizkit were the first of the night's headliners- the penultimate headliner, if you will. Minding the pun, they really got the night Rollin'. Opening the setlist with their most popular song is testament to everything Limp Bizkit stands for; from their name to their stage presence to their lyrics, they just don't give a single fuck.
"No-one brings the party harder, heavier, and more exciting than us" exclaims Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, a statement that you can see he truly believes. Out of the 11 songs in their setlist, 8 of them were out of their highest selling album 'Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water' taking the audience back to a year 2000-focal night where Bizkit were at the pinnacle of height as a band. As for the remaining 3 songs left in their setlist, they took us even further back. 1999's 'Nookie' and 'Break Stuff' played in the latter stages of their set ensured everyone kept riled up and the well known cover 'Faith' (from 1997) is hard to not join in with. 'I did it all for the nookie' were lyrics definitely chanted one of the loudest and the drop foregoing 'break your fucking face tonight' was undoubtedly the band's crescendo for the evening.
Almost 3 years ago I saw them play the Manchester Academy to an audience of around 2,000 other people on the annual Kerrang! Tour (which I also coincidentally reviewed...) and am lucky to have seen them now in a larger environment to now appreciate that Limp Bizkit are an arena-suited band. Not taking away anything from how they are in smaller venues, but Bizkit's music is made to be blasted through loud speakers- a few blips in the sound aside, this was the main reason why they were so good this night.
The last time Korn played Manchester was June 2015, a lot sooner than fellow tourmates Limp Bizkit, however, they now return after releasing their twelfth studio album 'The Serenity of Suffering.' Unlike their Nu-Metal counterparts however, Korn's setlist was in no way weighted to one particular album, in fact, the 15 songs played were extracted from 8 albums, one of those songs even being a cover song and the albums played range from 1996's Korn to 2016's The Serenity of Suffering, giving them the best of 20 years of material to plough through.
The songs weren't played chronologically, however, as the recognisable opening riff to 2003's Right Now slowly emerged through the solo drumming of Ray Luzier to a huge cheer from the crowd. A plethora of the band's most well known hits then followed; Here To Stay, Somebody Someone and their new single Rotting In Vein received a frenzied audience response whereas their cover of Word Up! (which was the first time they played it live since 2004) had everyone singing in unity.
Korn's light show was quite something too. Roughly 7ft high lights span the midsection of the stage, only splitting down the middle to home the drumkit, and a row of lights hung above the stage brightly accompanying the music- and I mean brightly. I was sat on the back row as far away as you could get from the stage and even I was seeing lights for hours after the concert finished. Glad to say my eyes are fine now and there wasn't any permanent damage to my corneas- or Korneas, if you will- but there was a definite irony, I felt, when they were on the closing end of their set playing Blind. 'I can see I'm going blind', yeah, me too Jonathan mate.
All jokes aside, this was an evening displaying 3 bands in their respected genres standing the test of time and proving why they deserve to still be valid. Granted, Fred Durst may not be a name as big as it was 15 years ago, with him allegedly dating Britney Spears, performing duets with Christina Aguilera at the 2000 MTV Music Video Awards etc... but 40 million album sales, 3 Grammy Nominations and 4 out of their 5 albums reaching the number one spot in at least one country shows that they've cemented their place deservingly as one of the leads in rap-rock/nu-metal.
Korn may have not experienced the level of fame Limp Bizkit initially did, but they've certainly amassed a loyal following- a loyal following that gets them high 'top 10' chart status across all major countries repeatedly, time and time again. This tour was focusing on how two bands can spearhead the introduction of a new type of metal genre, bring it to the mainstream and still be valid decades on. And they both definitely have made their mark.
