Korn / Slipknot

Newcastle Arena, 19/12/15

I'm 34 years of age and I really should know better.  There's no justification for it. I can't reconcile my enjoyment of this, considering my age and status as a gainfully employed adult with a degree in... something or other (I don't really remember what).  Using any criteria I can think of, I really should not enjoy Slipknot as much as I do. I'm too old, too sensible, too reserved. They wear freakin' masks and boiler suits, they have at least two drummers more than it's sensible to have, and at least one member whose function in the band is ambiguous at best (Craig Jones, who plays 'samples' ).  I was probably too old for this when they released their first full album in 1999, and I was only 18 back then.  So considering all that, why was this show so much fun?  I'll try to explain.

This being the first of my reviews to find a home on a new blog site, it seemed appropriate to be the first gig with a new co-conspirator.  At this point, I should also mention that the spell check function on this blog site doesn't recognise the word 'blog', which I find quite funny. Having been generously given two tickets for this show for my birthday, I was counting the days between then (8th of December - mark your diaries!) and now.  Finding a like-minded person from work to go with, we took on board a few drinks before heading to the arena, our excitement only slightly stifled by the frankly Baltic conditions outside.

Newcastle Arena is a horrible venue, as are most venues of this type.  It's impossible to get a good feeling for a place made from breeze blocks and designed with ice hockey in mind but such lack of intimacy is the price of success, I suppose,  The more people that like you, the further away from them you have to be when you perform.  The ironic thing (more so than the blog thing I mentioned earlier) is that I actually love arena rock, despite not being a fan of arenas.  There are, for me, few more exhilarating experiences than a foot-on-the-monitor anthem being belted out to thousands of screaming fans.

Finding out late in the day that there was an opening band, we decided that we liked beer more than we cared about seeing King 810 so I have nothing to say about them.  Beer, on the other hand is still lovely, I am happy to report.  So we arrived and were delivered straight into the hands of some pretty intrusive security guards, checking for such dangerous items as knives and cameras. Following the complex signs to our seats, we found that Korn had already started.

Korn are a tricky one for me.  I honestly wasn't too bothered about seeing them; having been a huge fan in my youth I was convinced that the law of diminishing returns had turned them into a sad shadow of a once-trailblazing band.  They churn out a lot of albums (11 and counting) but I haven't been tempted to buy or listen to one since 2002's Untouchables and the crushing disappointment that came with listening to it.  Even the return of founding guitar player Brian 'Head' Welch, didn't really turn my head.  I am, however, happy to report that they have become a formidable live band,  Even given the Arena's notoriously poor sound quality, they sound clear as a bell and look like a band full of vigour.

We walk in during 'Falling Away From Me', which sounds immense and is followed quickly by 'Good God', which teleports me back to 1997.  I notice from my lofty view that about 4 circle pits have kicked off and that the stage has been set up with an underlit disco floor.  The rest of the set is a wise mix of some newer tunes ('Hater') and old nu-metal standards, including 'Shoots and Ladders' which sounds fresh and energetic and ends with a bizarre segue into the fast bit from Metallica's 'One'.  Jonathan Davis, a fine frontman with a surprisingly good voice and a unique, almost campy manner on stage, finally addresses the crowd with the fair observation that many of the people here weren't born when set closer 'Blind' was released.  I was 14 and immediately hooked at the time.  It's played today with a ferocity and energy which surprises and impresses me.  Slipknot are going to have their work cut out.

A huge curtain blocks the stage while 'XIX' plays as an intro.  The stage is revealed and the band launch into new track 'Scarcastrophe'.  The experience of seeing this happen is impressive, and a little overwhelming.  With more run-of-the-mill bands, one's eye is normally drawn to the singer, however at a Slipknot gig all bets are off.  In case you don't already know, there are 9 members and they line up onstage as follows: drummer, bass player and twin guitar players take centre stage alongside singer and more recognisable member (when unmasked) Corey Taylor.  Either side of the drummer (whose identity is not 100% clear after the strange sacking of the talented Joey Jordison) and atop hydraulic pedestals stand DJ Sid Wilson and, er, sample/keyboard player Craig Jones.  At the front of the stage, left and right, are the custom drumkits.  Their incumbents, Chris Fehn and founder member Shawn Crahan batter the crap out of huge drums and beer kegs, occasionally providing backing vocals and just generally fucking about.  They make themselves seem more important to the band than you'd imagine.  It's a lot to take in but it is bloody impressive.

The stage set up is impressive, with a deliberately shabby looking lighting array bordering ramps, platforms and pyro jets.  The custom drumkits rise about 20 feet above the stage and spin around while the drummers hang from them, Sid Wilson wanders about in a vaguely retarded manner not unlike Joe Wilkinson from Eight Out Of Ten Cats, before busting into life and going back to actually play his turntables when he's needed.  The band rarely stay still for long and the energy is infectious, the crowd responding with headbanging  and circle pits aplenty.  

None of this would matter, though, if the band couldn't back it up with quality.  Having been plugging away at this 18-legged freakshow since the late 1990s, selling 20 million albums on the way, Slipknot have by now accumulated one or two hits.  Belting out 'Psychosocial', 'Vermillion' (a personal highlight) and a pounding 'Before I Forget' among impressive album tracks like '(sic)' and 'Three Nil', their set is incredible.  They play new singles 'The Negative One' and 'The Devil In I' (I know, I know...) and an unhinged 'Custer' as well as an obligatory, brutal rendition of 'Duality' before they bugger off.  Their set has been everything a Slipknot fan would want - hits, riffs, screams - and it has been played impeccably.  The band is tight, even the extra drummers never missing a beat and despite the apparent chaos, it is clear that this is a well oiled machine with Corey Taylor as the ferocious mouthpiece.

Their encore, ending with signature tune 'Surfacing' to finish things off nicely, leaves us with words like 'unreal', 'incredible' and the realisation that nobody else does what they do.  Stadium rock with added brutality, mainstream metal with the occasional blast beat, singalong songs with death metal screams.  So who do I like Slipknot at my age? Because nobody else does this.  The biggest rock bands have always had a touch of the theatrical about them and with Slipknot, it's not so much a touch as it is a headbutt from a man in a clown mask.  It makes me feel like I'm 18 again and I loved every second.  Screw ice hockey, this is why they build arenas.