Korn has been full of announcements during the past year.
The veteran rockers added a fresh new chapter to their catalog with a 10th album, The Path of Totality, which found the band shifting its style onto a path a lot of people didn't see coming. Another "single rockstar" bit the dust when guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer tied the knot to his girlfriend Paris right after the New Year. Former Korn guitarist And Brian "Head" Welch said that enough time has passed now that he has an open mind about reuniting with his former bandmates musically (he even played a Korn tune live at the Alice Cooper Christmas Pudding event).
And now the announcement has come out that the band will be dubstepping into Phoenix's Comerica Theatre on Thursday, March 1. Singer Jonathan Davis will also show off his brand new DJ set as his J Devil alter-ego at the show.
The last time I saw Korn was at the 48 Hours Festival in Las Vegas in late 2011, and the majority of their set was such old hits and fan favorites as "A.D.I.D.A.S", "Freak on a Leash," and "Falling Away From Me." Many of these songs helped grow my love of heavy metal 15 years ago. It was apparent by the number of young fans in the crowd that Korn's new experimental sound has introduced the band to a new audience.
That's not surprising, considering the collaborations with some of the hottest talent in the burgeoning electronic scene, like Skrillex and Kill the Noise, and the Top 10 debut on the Billboard charts. Electronic music -- I swear there's no escape. So with a ton of hits under their belts, some fresh sound on their side, and a renewed sense of energy, Korn's upcoming show seems like it can't go wrong.
Case in point: an excerpt from our friends in L.A., West Coast Sound, on a show from Korn's first leg of the tour: "Despite having little familiarity with the band's new material, the crowd was as energetic as any I've seen in this city. As the dubstep portion of the set progressed, more fans were getting into it; pushing, jumping and crowd surfing to the point of reckless abandon and bodily harm. They didn't care about their bodies as they were so invested in the music. I [writer Daniel Kohn] must have been kicked or shoved half a dozen times while taking photos due to spillover from the fans into the pit. In the era of wussified indie rock it was nice to see people lose their shit at a concert."
Tickets go on sale Friday, January 20.
