The Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
November 1, 1996

      Dissonant, tuned-down heavy Sabbath-like riffing coupled with quirky industrial-style guitar sound effects in the vein of Rage Against the Machine. Hip-hop rhythms with a gut-rumbling bass. Crooning “shaky” vocals à la Mike Patton of Faith No More/Mr. Bungle raging into a cathartic, throat-wrenching, primal-scream. This diversity of sounds that beset Philadelphia’s Electric Factory on November 1st was not due to the diversity of bands on the bill but rather the diversity within one band – Korn (invert the letter “r” for proper spelling) who assaulted the crowd with their aggressive low-end groove.

Korn fell in the middle of a week of monster metal shows at the Electric Factory that showcased some of the genre’s finest (Marilyn Manson stopped by on October 30th with their Nine Inch Nails-inspired industrial-metal shock show and Type O Negative’s mixture of thrash and goth/progressive metal followed Korn on the 6th). I hear metal is making a comeback and with such acts as these gaining popularity, it very well should. Korn is on the road to prove it in support of their latest release Life is Peachy, which rose to No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Albums chart during this week.

The band members hit the stage in various athletic gear – adidas three-striped sweat pants, football jersey, Nike wool ski cap, jumpsuit, etc. Korn followed suit with their outfits delivering an athletic performance. Vocalist Jonathan Davis pounced the stage in sparkling pink pants and broke into the lyrically incoherent “Twist” with his fierce vocal delivery while his body was snapping back and forth in epileptic-type convulsions that continued throughout the show. The band fired up the crowd-pleasing “Blind” as their first real song of the evening.

Although you could not make out a lot of the lyrics due to Davis’ hoarseness while screaming, what you do hear indicates that the lyricist has gone through some pretty negative experiences – ”I hate you!,” “Tell me I’m a p**** and you’re hotter than me,” “Get the f*** out of my face – NOW!,” “I have no place to run and hide,” and “F*** you, I’m fed up with you/I’m not as good as you/but I’m better than you.” At the same time, it’s these very expressions that the crowd sings along with either because they are actually good hooks or they just cannot understand any other parts of the songs.

Korn’s level of energy throughout the show was their most addictive element. Davis’ delivery of the aforementioned lyrics did not seem quite as fearsome as his studio performance and guitarist Brian “Head” Welch’s familiar odd guitar effects did not play a significant role in this live setting. In addition, the band was plagued with sound problems that completely fuzzed out the band’s intended sound at one point, and no one in the band even attempted to interact with the audience. Nevertheless, it was the band’s high level of energy that fueled this performance – Davis’ neurotic body spasms, dread-locked guitarists Head and James “Munky” Schaffer’s hunched over head-banging, and bassist Fieldy’s hip-hop jumping.

Photo by SDP

Midway through their set, Korn served up a funky version of War’s “Lowrider” that proved that it’s Fieldy’s bass-slapping combined with drummer David Silveria’s precision skin work that adds funk rhythms to other songs. Toward the end of the song, Davis emerged from the back of the stage with bagpipes in tote and offered a good old-fashioned Irish “bagpiping” that segued into “Shoots and Ladders,” their demented nursery rhyme.

The band’s final song “Faget” from their self-titled 1994 debut (with a catchy, powerful riff that still echoes in my head) sounded louder and heavier than anything had all night. Judging from the number of people screaming the word “faget” with Davis, this little ditty must have made an impression on them as well or else it was just a fan favorite due to its political incorrectness. The song’s repeated refrain, “All my life/Who am I?” seems to be a question that Davis struggles with in many of his songs. Upon completion of the song, Munky beat his guitar on the stage ground and threw a fan (the cooling system type, not a member of the audience) on it, and then quickly fled the stage with his bandmates closely followed by what one can only expect was a concerned girlfriend. He did not seem too happy with the sounds of the night emitted from his instrument.

As soon as Korn exited the stage, the house lights went up; they did not even tease the audience with any anticipation of an encore.

Although once you see this band live, you realize that they are not very pretty, it is their combination of metal, funk, hip-hop, and industrial that makes them attractive (and possibly their winning personalities).