Live Review: Korn - The Piece Hall, Halifax
9th August 2024
Support: Loathe
Words & Photos: Tom Atkin
With festival season drawing to an end, all the tours are kicking back up. It's my first show for a while and I am very much looking forward to it.
This is my first time visiting The Piece Hall having heard about it for a while now. It is absolutely beautiful. Literally nestled in the middle of Halifax town. Whilst this is not uncommon for a venue, the fact that it is completely open air is! Then throw in that it is a Grade 1 listed 17th century building, it just adds to the greatness of the place.
Liverpoolian group Loathe are opening up tonight. Within around twenty seconds of being on stage, lead singer Kadeem France was demanding that the pit opens up, this is just before the iconic riff from Gored starts up from Erik Bickerstaffe. Having never heard them before, this song is a great introduction to the type of progressive Metal they bring to the scene.
The amount of energy that Kadeem has from the get go is outstanding, dancing about the stage you can clearly see that he has an insane amount of passion for the music he and his band mates create. This is the same for the whole band, drummer Sean Radcliffe is putting his all into every beat that he blasts out and Feisal El-Khazragi’s bass lines are absolutely flawless.
They played a ten song set that mostly consisted of songs from 2020’s 'I Let It In And It Took Everything' and honestly I would of liked them to have a slightly longer set just for them to show off more of their style. They feel like a mixture of Deftones and Killswitch Engage, So if you are a fan of either of these. Definitely check them out. Even if you are not a fan of them, you should check them out any way as they blew me away. This band deserve so much more attention than what they receive.
The Piece Hall is now completely packed out with some six thousand people crammed into this old building. Considering it is also the first day of Bloodstock today it is quite an achievement.
Celebrating thirty years of their debut album this year, Korn are here to show you that they are still the absolute kings of nu-metal. The haunting 4U plays out across the Piece Hall, as the band arrive on stage behind a stage wide LED panel.
Rocking his iconic purple sequinned Adidas track suit, Jonathan Davis is pumped. Opening the set with 'Rotting in Vain' gets the whole crowd moving instantly. This is just a song that, in my opinion, has a lot of the iconic Korn aspects thrown in together. The heavy as hell guitar start is just, perfect.
I suppose the only problem with a Korn show these days, is they have so many absolutely amazing songs in their back catalog to pick from. A single set only scratched the surface. We got treated to all the greats though, 'Here To Stay', 'A.D.I.D.A.S' and 'Clown' are all welcome additions to the set.
I actually can not remember when I last saw Korn live, I believe it was at Download one year. Thinking back though, whilst that performance was good. I think this is potentially the best I have seen them.
Jonathan’s voice seems to be spot on, Munky and Head on guitars is just how it should be, Ra Diaz seems like an astounding fit for the roll of bass these days and brings the same energy that the band needs. Ray Luzier on the drums is still absolutely smashing it, almost seeming like he has been here from the start.
The set has all the greatest hits thrown in to it, 'Blind', 'Divine', 'Good God' and 'Got The Life' all making an appearance. Although with regards to 'Blind', would it really be a Korn show without it being played?
Some interesting additions though, 'Coming Undone' but remixed with Queen’s 'We Will Rock You' was a pleasant and unexpected surprise, they have performed this often before, but I was not expecting to hear it tonight.
Keeping on the theme of remixes. 'Shoots and Ladders' Remixed with Metallica’s 'One'. Another mix that whilst completely unexpected, once you listen to the structure of 'Shoots And Ladders' you can see why they thought that they would sit well together. I had actually forgotten that they covered One for MTV Icons years ago!
'Y’all Want A Single' is the last “main section” song, and I am so happy that they have added it in. This song brings back a lot of happy memories for me so was amazing to see so many people loving it as well. Of course, 'Twist' was thrown in during the encore, with so many people singing along to it. It’s a song that really is not needed but, well, It’s Korn, It is kinda one of their things.
And closing out the show, their anthem 'Freak On A Leash', I think this was the first song I ever came across all them years ago on Kerrang. Still to this day, it sounds phenomenal, considering this was released twenty six years ago. You would think they would be sick of performing it. Nope. The whole band look happy as hell to be up there performing it, and judging by the fact that everyone in the crowd is singing every word. They are just as happy for it to be the song they remember the night for.
Photo Credit: Tom Atkin
