The 10 Songs We NEED to Hear At Korn's Massive Summer UK Shows
Wednesday, 10 January 2024
Written by Jack Terry
Photo: Tim Saccenti
Korn have announced a trio of massive UK shows for this August, with the nu-metal icons set to take in dates in Scarborough and Halifax before their biggest ever show on these shores at London’s Gunnersbury Park. With support coming from Denzel Curry, Spiritbox, Wargasm and Loathe across the three dates, the run is set to offer up one of the biggest and best alt-metal line ups of the year.
If you were to read a ‘how to’ guide on debut singles, Blind would be one of its leading examples. The perfect introduction to Korn’s mix of bombastic vocals, bouncy riffs and earworm choruses, it laid out a frenetic blueprint for the band and nu-metal as a genre. The world hasn’t been the same since.
Freak On A Leash
Having set out their stall with their first two LPs, Korn cemented themselves as a mainstream force with the brute force attack of ‘Follow the Leader’ in 1998. Leading the way was the beatbox-laden breakdown of Freak on a Leash, which still sends crowds into a frenzy today. Whether you're a diehard Korn fan, a casual or someone who has never listened to a single Korn album, everybody knows this stone cold classic, which holds up just as well today as it did 25 years ago.
Word Up!
Korn had been playing Cameo’s classic track Word Up! in their soundchecks for years before they recorded and released it as the lead single for their 2004 ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation. It received major airtime and while sticking quite faithfully to the original, the band’s unmistakable seven string guitars giving their version a hard edge that's impossible to resist.
Shoots And Ladders
Another classic cut from their debut album, Shoots And Ladders is as unnerving and skin crawling as it is surprising. Not only have Korn managed to weave in a handful of nursery rhymes, but Jonathan Davis also shows off his talents on the bagpipes. Truly a song that needs to be heard to be believed and, even then, you'll want to check it again. Where better to do that than surrounded by 20,000 fans?
Narcissistic Cannibal
When dubstep took the world by storm in the early 2010s, there weren't many corners of music it didn't find its way into. For nu-metal, that meant a full Korn album of electronic collaborations with Skrillex, Noisia, Datsik and more. ‘The Path of Totality’ was a mixed bag, but Narcissistic Cannibal stood head and shoulders above the rest. These days, it’s good for a dose of bass-heavy nostalgia.
Somebody Someone
Somebody Someone is a fantastic display of everything that Korn does well, from Davis’s vocals covering guttural roars and delicate high-pitched melodies, to the elastic rhythm section matching his every move and enough different guitar lines to make you think there were eight guitarists in the studio. The way they slow down to make the final chorus extra crunchy is just another reminder that Korn know how to do heavy.
A.D.I.D.A.S
Following the band's first official collaboration with the sportswear giant Adidas last year, A.D.I.D.A.S is sure to be on the setlist once more. Sure, the acronym stands for something a little more salacious, but it was one of the tracks that put them on the map back in 1997 and remains one of their staples to this day.
Right Now
One of the angriest songs in Korn’s massive arsenal, and the catharsis that comes with it is unmatched. Davis sounds like an unhinged man at the end of his tether as he warns, “You open your mouth again / I swear I'm gonna break it”. The final repeated roars of “shut up, shut up, shut up, I’ll fuck you up” would be sure to send Gunnersbury Park into uproarious mayhem.
Worst Is On Its Way
There's something so creepy and off kilter about the ‘Requiem’ album’s closing track that it's simply unforgettable. The wobbly guitars and thick-as-molasses bass are Korn trademarks at this point, but it’s the ramping tension in Davis’s vocals that make this the final killer blow on their latest album.
Cold
It seemed for a while that Korn’s best days were behind them after a string of middling albums, but 2019’s ‘The Nothing’ reignited faith in the nu-metal pioneers as another amalgamatiom of everything fans had come to love about them. Even though they were pushing 50, they were able to capture the angst and insecurities that made their early work so vital, and Cold was a sign of a band growing with their fanbase.
Korn Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu August 08 2024 - SCARBOROUGH Open Air Theatre
Fri August 09 2024 - HALIFAX Piece Hall
Sun August 11 2024 - LONDON Gunnersbury Park
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