The Palace was a coliseum, with the punters on the two upper tiers acting as the bloodthirsty spectators to the violence occurring below. The two-headed beast/sidewave of Korn and Rob Zombie brought out the gladiators inside of what you can only assume are, on any other given night, proper law abiding citizens.
As circle pits opened like sink holes, quickly filled by whirling fists and feet, the crowd above snapped their heads back and forth. Each band manipulated the crowd to their every whim starting with Mushroomhead.
Decked out in their garb of gothic monster masks, bloodied butcher aprons, and the always-creepy mime face paint, the Ohioan metalheads thrashed through their opening slot.
Lead singer and founding member Jeffrey Nothing looked diabolically insane in his Leatherface get-up while standing motionless – sporadic head thrashes aside.
His brash chainsaw screams sounded like those that would emanate from a criminal asylum and permeated every nook of the building.
The band were a good choice for support, seeing as they came from the early 90s ‘nu-metal’ upbringing pioneered by headliners Korn.
Rob Zombie is cool as shit. If you’re looking for a menacing rock anti-hero that oozes sex and drugs, look no further.
The stage was laid out with three platforms in front, which each band member seemed to take glee in jumping around on. As they each took the stage individually, the anticipation was felt through the deafening roar of the faithful.
Zombie sauntered onto the stage with his face shadowed by a cowboy hat and clothed in a dusty ominous trench coat. It’s strange to recall, but at not one point during the set was the man’s face fully visible.
The singer’s older material made up the majority of the hour-long set, with singles from his latest release Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor peppered throughout.
He’s also got some killer dance moves, thrusting on the mic stand like it was a stripper pole and flinging his ass-length dreadlocks around as he stomped in tight circles.
Virtuoso guitarist John 5 gave an incredible exhibition of how fast human fingers can move on a fret board, while Zombie stalked around the entire crowd shaking hands and high-fiving his fans.
A huge theatrical performance, you could imagine the Korn guys standing side of stage saying to themselves, “How are we gonna follow that?”
For people born in the early to mid 90s, Korn are one of those bands that invoke real childhood nostalgia. Hearing ‘Freak On A Leash’ may make the mind drift off to a time when you didn’t actually know what Jonathan Davis was singing about.
When you do find the meanings behind his lyrics (mostly abuse and isolation, if you didn’t know) those cherished memories seem a bit messed up.
The return of original guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch brought a real authenticity to the show in contrast to other older bands touring in hodge-podge reincarnations.
Not letting anyone down, ‘Twist’ was quick to appear, as well as ‘Got The Life’ and ‘Dead Bodies Everywhere’.
Welch ran around the stage like a madman and yelled affectionately at his fellow guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer between songs. It didn’t feel like there was any tension between band members, so whatever shit happened between the group seems to be have been buried.
Closing the show with ‘Freak On A Leash’ and ‘Blind’, the crowd below harnessed their last bit of energy as Davis bellowed, “Are you ready?”
As the spectators emptied the trashed arena, bloodied heads and nursed appendages were a common sight. But when gigs like this one only occur once in a few years, there’s no point in pussyfooting around.
