Korn stopped by The Woodlands Pavilion Sunday night for their Summer 2021 Tour and gave a fully energetic performance. The pioneering Nu-Metal band was recently hit with less than adequate circumstances when a run-in with Covid left singer Johnathan Davis and Guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer out for a duration of the Tour. Late August dates were rescheduled while Davis recovered and J.R. Bareis (of Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch’s side project Love & Death) filled in for “Munky.”
“I know you see the chair here.” Davis says as he points to a silver throne in the middle of the stage. “I had Covid…I kicked its ass, Munky too!”
Davis had recently been using the throne to take small breaks during his sets while he recovered from Covid-19 but seldom used it during his Sunday night performance.
Playing a good mix of their discography, the band ran through a collection of their classic tunes such as “Falling Away From Me” and “Here to Stay” but made sure to make time for the newer hits like “Cold” and their kick-off track “Insane.”
“We’re here to do one thing and that’s entertain you guys. We want you to have a good time and forget about everything else outside of this concert.” said Davis between songs.
This could be taken as direct statement to the bands opening act Staind, whose singer Aaron Lewis emerged wearing a shirt that read “I COULD SHIT A BETTER PRESIDENT” and made his opening statements; “I’m not going to say too much tonight because it normally gets me in trouble, but…” as he raises the text on his shirt and points to it, and then removed his hat to present it to the audience, which sported the Texas state outline with the Thin Blue Line across it.
The audience cheered on to his quick response “Cool”. Staind played their rock ballad hits, the show turned into a sing-along as the audience faithfully sang every word to “Fade,” “Right Here,” “Outside,” and “For you,” to name a few. Lewis joked they were going to play a new song as the band went into their 2001 hit, “It’s been Awhile” and closed out their performance with “Mudshovel.”
Korn’s fun and energetic performance had the audience on their feet for the whole show. From the mix of their hit “Coming Undone” infused with Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, Davis doing an old-school coliseum thumb gesture to get the crowd roaring, and bassist Ra Diaz’s mesmerizing solo, the band had the crowd fully engaged throughout the entire show. All leading up to an explosive finale, the energy felt during the bands closing “Freak On A Leash” was unmatchable.
A Korn show is like watching a well-rounded sports team that’s dominating the game. They are free to do whatever they want, they can go for the extra points or do the extravagant alley-oop and still get their job done. Whether it’s the chemistry of Munky and Head’s sonic tones amplifying each other and then bouncing their way around the venue, or the synchronized, dread-filled, headbanging, or the crazy antics such as “Head” running around with drumsticks “drumming” on Diaz’s bass while he performed; there’s always something extra happening.
“We’ve been doing this for a while guys.” said Davis. “And after all this time it’s still great to see that so many motherfuckers showed up for the Korn show tonight!”
An explosion of streamers popped off for Korn’s encore “Blind” and after the band then stuck around for a closing backing song as they waved to the crowd and spent time throwing out everything from guitar picks and drumsticks to wristbands and drumheads for the audience.
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