In 2010, Korn needed to return to their roots. Though the nu metal pioneers had been in a position to retain their stature by way of their style’s mid-noughties decline, the interval had nonetheless been tumultuous for them as a collective. Foundational members Brian “Head” Welch and David Silveria had gone and, following their 2007 untitled album, the trio left behind didn’t actually have a document label to name residence.
Jonathan Davis and the boys responded with their aptly titled ninth document, Bear in mind Who You Are. They threw again to their seminal ’90s interval by rehiring producer Ross Robinson, who twiddled the dials on the groundbreaking Korn and followup Life Is Peachy. The untitled predecessor’s industrial clang was stripped away, and the band even recorded with analogue tools to domesticate an old-school vibe.
Most spectacular, nonetheless, was when Korn doubled down on maintaining issues near residence for a promotional live performance within the aftermath of the discharge. They held it within the band’s birthplace of Bakersfield, California, to a grand complete of zero followers. The one “viewers” presence had been digicam operators, as this might be a gig in the midst of a cornfield. Get it? As a result of Korn.
In accordance with an interview with lead singer Davis, the band had been impressed to carry out the spectacle by Pink Floyd. The prog superstars equally performed to a movie crew solely in 1972, besides they had been recorded in a Roman amphitheatre amidst the ruins of Pompeii, Italy. To get the cornfield prepared for such a present, Korn flew a group in and bought them to flatten out some crop circles in an unlimited formation.
“I reside in Bakersfield, which has an enormous wheatfield,” Davis informed Amoeba Music in 2018. “We had these guys from London fly over and stamp out a 700ft crop circle, and we [performed] in the midst of it.”
Then, because the solar set on a June night, Korn rallied by way of 90 minutes of recent tracks and classics within the open air. The band’s long-serving members – Davis, guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer and bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu – had been joined by new full-time drummer Ray Luzier, together with reside keyboardist/singer Zac Baird and fill-in guitarist Shayne Gibson. The collective collectively conveyed the frenetic stress of the Bear in mind Who You Are materials, but additionally made the acquainted tunes far heavier as well. Whereas Coming Undone is much more of a stomper in its reside type, Right here To Keep’s onerous rock swagger will get hammered residence with unquestionable energy and Falling Away From Me sinks to even better depths of sonic depravity.
All of the whereas, the sundown retains your complete present visually contemporary, with pure gentle steadily diminishing and being changed by synthetic results. The insidiousness of Freak On A Leash’s verses is completely complemented by the smoke creeping previous, earlier than Acquired The Life, with these flaring spotlights within the pitch black, turns into the perfect seedy late-night anthem.
Korn’s cornfield live performance was launched later in 2010 as a US cable TV and Myspace occasion, and to at the present time solely stays accessible for residence viewing in the event you purchase it because the bonus DVD on the Path Of Totality album (or in the event you discover it on YouTube). In consequence, this has develop into one thing of a hidden curio within the band’s 30-year historical past. And, given the inventiveness and musical expertise on present, that’s a crying disgrace.