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Metal Evolution is probably one of the best series ever recorded on the genre and it’s offspring. There is a great episode on Nu Metal featuring Korn.  It got me thinking about the band, and so did learning about how much their newest record was influenced by EDM. To be honest,  I mostly ignored The Path Of Totality when it initially was released last year. I didn’t like the 1 or 2 songs that I actually heard. And instead of giving the entire album a fair chance, I just listened to the opinions of everyone else. Now that I have heard the story of what went into it and where they are coming from, I have much more respect for them. One of the few bands of that era to truly evolve and innovate. We sent Mark Ambrose to cover the show for us, the rest of the words are his, as well as all of the photos.

Review and Photos By Mark Ambrose

The night started after trying to search for cheap parking, as usual, but my regular spot was already taken…much due to my procrastination in not leaving in time.  This was the first time I had ever seenKornlive and it made me ask myself “Why did I stop listening to them in the first place?”  Having grown up as a teenager during the nu metal era, I was exposed (via older brothers) to bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Staind, and Slipknot to name a few.  This nu metal was often discriminated against calling it “hate music”, “devil music”, and others as those who did not understand it simply hated it.

After a little mix-up at the front office, I was able to retrieve my photo pass and tickets and arrived in enough time to down a few beers and get front and center for J-Devil.  For those of you who are not familiar with this artist, well you already have heard of its only member; Jonathan Davis!  That’s right, a solo project; but it’s not what you think, he is doing dubstep now. After much influence from previous dubstep artists like Skrillex and Diplo, Davis decided to venture off into his own creation of the genre.  Keep in mind that the band’s most recent album, The Path of Totality, has collaborations with different artists like Skrillex, 12th Planet, and Datsik.  After performing 3 or 4 songs, hard to tell when everything seems like one long track, J-Devil left the stage but not before announcing that he was coming out with an album soon and to be on the lookout.  His performance was as expected for Jonathan Davis but in my opinion, it sounded more like electronic/dance music then dubstep at first.  All-in-all, I think J-Devil has a lot to offer in the future and will definitely give his first album an honest review.

Up next after J-Devil, was another dubstep artist by the name of Sluggo.  Nick Suddarth, also referred to as Nick Sluggo is from Phoenix and has both a Facebook page and a Soundcloud page with plenty of tracks to listen to.  There was not much information to find as most of his information is private on Facebook and there is surprisingly not much info on him on the net.  I guess the proof will have to be in the music, which was not too bad from what I heard; I had decided after about the second song to head for a drink before Korn came on.  Sluggo was able to grab the attention of most of the females and get them moving, but the majority of the crowd obviously there to see Korn.

Now, on to the feature of the night and the band that everyone came to see.  I was both excited and a little star-struck when Korn came onto stage; being only inches away from a band that you had listened to your entire teenage years was pretty exhilarating.  Let me add that I have been around a lot of famous celebrities, musician/artists before but something about Jonathan Davis, Fieldy, and Head bring out the chills when you know they are about to rock the house!

Their first opening song was the very first song on their debut album Devine and was followed by some other “original” Korn to satisfy even the oldest fans of the band.  The way they designed their set list for the night was broken up into different segways, each representing a different era of the bands 18 year existence and focusing on both the “new” Korn as well as their greatest hits like Freak On A Leash, Falling Away From Me, and a cover of Pink Floyd’s Brick In The Wall, which appeared on the “Greatest Hits Vol. 1″ album.  They closed out the nearly hour and a half set with Blind and thanked the crowd with handshakes to the front row fans.  An awesome show and great performance by the one and only Korn!  Don’t forget to check out their new album along with all their hits on Spotify.

Caption:  This came flying out of the crowd and over my head as I was shooting the opening act of Korn.  Not sure if it was a pair of panties or a shirt…never want to touch something thrown from the crowd, never know what you might get!

Caption:  Korn set list for Dallas, TX 4/23/2012