Sprouting some full-fledged anger with Korn<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
For a songwriter whose lyrics are full of f-this and f-that,
\nself-deprecation and seething anger, American new metal pioneer
\nKorn's frontman Jonathan Davis is composed and polite off stage.<\/p>\n
He talked in a soft tone and paid attention to every question
\nthrown his way in the media conference prior to the show on
\nThursday, even when the queries seemed completely irrelevant.<\/p>\n
\"Do you believe in God?\" asked a guy with a gigantic Afro
\nhairdo, to whom Davis answered, \"Yes, I do believe in God,
\nwhatever you wanna call it.\"<\/p>\n
The questions \"Are you ready to rock?\" and \"Will you be naked
\non stage?\" also received courteous responses.<\/p>\n
With his unwavering politeness, chubby cheeks and glasses,
\nDavis could be taken for the bullied high school kid whose father
\nabused him sexually.<\/p>\n
But when Davis took the stage at Jakarta Fairgrounds in
\nKemayoran, Central Jakarta, he belted out a set of angsty metal
\nsongs that left nothing to the imagination.<\/p>\n
\"Shut up! Shut up! I'll f---k you up!\" he shouted repeatedly
\nin the opening song Right Now, taken from the band's latest album
\nTake A Look In the Mirror.<\/p>\n
While Bono got himself in deep water for spouting the epithet
\non an awards show, Davis used it freely, along with other
\nobscenities.<\/p>\n
But it was pretty genuine, and unpretentious, unlike the
\ncountless Korn wannabes. No wonder million of fans all over the
\nworld can relate to their songs.<\/p>\n
Here, some 6,000 young people screamed and banged their heads
\nto the songs played by Davis and fellow bandmates James \"Munky\"
\nShaffer (guitar), Brian \"Head\" Welch (guitar), Reginald \"Fieldy\"
\nArvizu (bass) and David Silveria (drums).<\/p>\n
As the band played their hits like Got The Life, Freak On a
\nLeash, Faget and Purgatory, the audience sang along to the words
\nby heart, waving their hands in the air with their fingers
\nforming the devil sign.<\/p>\n
From their appearance, and their capacity to purchase tickets
\npriced from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000, one could guess most of the
\nconcert-goers were from the upper middle class.<\/p>\n
Still, fearing things could get out of hand, promoter Java
\nMusikindo warned in advance that no mosh pit and body surfing
\nwere allowed.<\/p>\n
An incident occurred in the back section as people began to
\ndance, jump and push the divider with the audience in the front
\nsection.<\/p>\n
Some of them ended up being beaten by police officers (luckily
\nnobody was hurt) but other fans were understandably reticent
\nabout even dancing after the incident.<\/p>\n
\"Gee, what kind of rock concert is it if we're not allowed to
\nhave a mosh pit? If the beating happened abroad, it would be a
\nserious issue,\" complained Heri, a fan who witnessed the
\nskirmish.<\/p>\n
It was regrettable but it did not mar the whole concert.<\/p>\n
Formed in 1992 in the agricultural community of Bakersfield,
\nCalifornia, Korn was one of the most popular new bands of the
\n1990s. They emerged from the underground scene, building a solid
\nfan base worldwide through touring, instead of MTV saturation.<\/p>\n
Their self-titled major-label debut in 1994 took off slowly,
\nbut after nearly two years of touring with Ozzy Osbourne, 311,
\nMarilyn Manson and Megadeth, Korn had sold over 700,000 copies of
\ntheir LP and built a large, loyal fan base of alienated small-
\ntown teens.<\/p>\n
Their 1996 follow-up, Life Is Peachy, debuted at No. 3 in the
\nU.S. and spawned the radio hit A.D.I.D.A.S., showing that despite
\ntheir uncompromising sound, Korn had become a force to be
\nreckoned with and rock festivals' most popular headliner.<\/p>\n
They released three more albums, Follow the Leader in 1998,
\n1999's Issues and 2002's Untouchables.<\/p>\n
Also in 1998, the group gained massive publicity when a
\nstudent who wore a Korn shirt to school in conservative Zeeland,
\nMichigan, was suspended because his principal believed Korn's
\nlyrics were \"obscene\". The band responded by giving away free T-
\nshirts outside the school.<\/p>\n
The concert here, their first, was aimed at promoting the
\nalbum Take a Look In the Mirror, released last November.<\/p>\n
The album was released earlier than planned due to Internet
\npiracy fears.<\/p>\n
\"Piracy kills the music industry, as it reduces the income of
\nrecord companies. They then have less money to build new bands,
\nI'm very concerned with that,\" Davis said here.<\/p>\n
Unlike the sorry record of several international artists who
\nperformed here unprepared, Korn showed some effort to give a good
\nconcert.<\/p>\n
The decision to bring their own equipment, weighing about 20
\ntons, resulted in a clear and loud sound.<\/p>\n
The downside was a strange lack of communication with the
\naudience -- the stage turned dark after each song and the pause
\nwas too long.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, it was a pretty enjoyable and rocking concert.
\nFieldy played bass impressively and dominated the band's music.
\nThe rest of the band displayed high energy, too, and Davis
\nhighlighted the atmosphere by squeezing out a plaintive bagpipe
\nsolo on Let's Do This Now.<\/p>\n
The concert wrapped with the 1999 hit Somebody Someone.<\/p>\n
In a press release on Friday, the promoter quoted Korn as
\nsaying that the concert on Thursday was one of their three best
\never.<\/p>\n
That Davis guy is really good at small talk, apparently.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sprouting-some-full-fledged-anger-with-korn-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }