Sprouting some full-fledged anger with Korn

Sprouting some full-fledged anger with Korn

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For a songwriter whose lyrics are full of f-this and f-that,
self-deprecation and seething anger, American new metal pioneer
Korn's frontman Jonathan Davis is composed and polite off stage.

He talked in a soft tone and paid attention to every question
thrown his way in the media conference prior to the show on
Thursday, even when the queries seemed completely irrelevant.

"Do you believe in God?" asked a guy with a gigantic Afro
hairdo, to whom Davis answered, "Yes, I do believe in God,
whatever you wanna call it."

The questions "Are you ready to rock?" and "Will you be naked
on stage?" also received courteous responses.

With his unwavering politeness, chubby cheeks and glasses,
Davis could be taken for the bullied high school kid whose father
abused him sexually.

But when Davis took the stage at Jakarta Fairgrounds in
Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, he belted out a set of angsty metal
songs that left nothing to the imagination.

"Shut up! Shut up! I'll f---k you up!" he shouted repeatedly
in the opening song Right Now, taken from the band's latest album
Take A Look In the Mirror.

While Bono got himself in deep water for spouting the epithet
on an awards show, Davis used it freely, along with other
obscenities.

But it was pretty genuine, and unpretentious, unlike the
countless Korn wannabes. No wonder million of fans all over the
world can relate to their songs.

Here, some 6,000 young people screamed and banged their heads
to the songs played by Davis and fellow bandmates James "Munky"
Shaffer (guitar), Brian "Head" Welch (guitar), Reginald "Fieldy"
Arvizu (bass) and David Silveria (drums).

As the band played their hits like Got The Life, Freak On a
Leash, Faget and Purgatory, the audience sang along to the words
by heart, waving their hands in the air with their fingers
forming the devil sign.

From their appearance, and their capacity to purchase tickets
priced from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000, one could guess most of the
concert-goers were from the upper middle class.

Still, fearing things could get out of hand, promoter Java
Musikindo warned in advance that no mosh pit and body surfing
were allowed.

An incident occurred in the back section as people began to
dance, jump and push the divider with the audience in the front
section.

Some of them ended up being beaten by police officers (luckily
nobody was hurt) but other fans were understandably reticent
about even dancing after the incident.

"Gee, what kind of rock concert is it if we're not allowed to
have a mosh pit? If the beating happened abroad, it would be a
serious issue," complained Heri, a fan who witnessed the
skirmish.

It was regrettable but it did not mar the whole concert.

Formed in 1992 in the agricultural community of Bakersfield,
California, Korn was one of the most popular new bands of the
1990s. They emerged from the underground scene, building a solid
fan base worldwide through touring, instead of MTV saturation.

Their self-titled major-label debut in 1994 took off slowly,
but after nearly two years of touring with Ozzy Osbourne, 311,
Marilyn Manson and Megadeth, Korn had sold over 700,000 copies of
their LP and built a large, loyal fan base of alienated small-
town teens.

Their 1996 follow-up, Life Is Peachy, debuted at No. 3 in the
U.S. and spawned the radio hit A.D.I.D.A.S., showing that despite
their uncompromising sound, Korn had become a force to be
reckoned with and rock festivals' most popular headliner.

They released three more albums, Follow the Leader in 1998,
1999's Issues and 2002's Untouchables.

Also in 1998, the group gained massive publicity when a
student who wore a Korn shirt to school in conservative Zeeland,
Michigan, was suspended because his principal believed Korn's
lyrics were "obscene". The band responded by giving away free T-
shirts outside the school.

The concert here, their first, was aimed at promoting the
album Take a Look In the Mirror, released last November.

The album was released earlier than planned due to Internet
piracy fears.

"Piracy kills the music industry, as it reduces the income of
record companies. They then have less money to build new bands,
I'm very concerned with that," Davis said here.

Unlike the sorry record of several international artists who
performed here unprepared, Korn showed some effort to give a good
concert.

The decision to bring their own equipment, weighing about 20
tons, resulted in a clear and loud sound.

The downside was a strange lack of communication with the
audience -- the stage turned dark after each song and the pause
was too long.

Otherwise, it was a pretty enjoyable and rocking concert.
Fieldy played bass impressively and dominated the band's music.
The rest of the band displayed high energy, too, and Davis
highlighted the atmosphere by squeezing out a plaintive bagpipe
solo on Let's Do This Now.

The concert wrapped with the 1999 hit Somebody Someone.

In a press release on Friday, the promoter quoted Korn as
saying that the concert on Thursday was one of their three best
ever.

That Davis guy is really good at small talk, apparently.