Korn, Rob Zombie, Mushroomhead @ The Palace Theatre, Melbourne (26/02/2014)
It was a sold-out show at the Palace Theatre, I told myself that I’d arrive after doors and hopefully the line would have cleared. I could not have been more wrong. The line snaked around three corners of an adjacent lane to the venue before I could even see the end of it. I walked past black shirt after black shirt, getting a feel for the crowd I was going to be spending my evening with. It was skewed more to the 90’s metalheads, the plethora of old, faded Korn and Pantera shirts a dead giveaway. I spent the entire line-ride trying to retrieve memories of the last time I saw Rob Zombie in concert. It was at Festival Hall a few years ago, and I remember absolutely loving every second of it. I felt like I knew what to expect this time around from Zombie so I was more interested in seeing what Mushroomhead and Korn were like live.
The Palace is the perfect venue for just about any gig. Small enough to feel intimate but can still hold a decent sized crowd. Not only that but unlike a lot of venues you can get a great view of the band from just about anywhere, from the pit to the upper levels, to near the back of the ground floor at the bar. I quickly waded through the crowd and planted myself at the edge of the mosh for the opening act, Mushroomhead.
The band soon took to the stage soon and was greeted with a roaring Melbourne welcome, on first appearance they’re an intimidating bunch, however by the time they’d gotten into their set they made it clear that they were here to have a great time. Their combination of industrial, alternative, nu metal and death metal gives them a pretty wide appeal across a lot of metal-heads, there was something there for most of the crowd to appreciate. One of the three vocalists, Jason Popson, who only recently re-joined the band full time pulled hype duty for the evening as he spent much of his time in between songs pumping the crowd up.
But hype aside, when Mushroomhead launched into ‘Solitaire Unravelling’ a few tracks in, there crowd went pretty nuts for an opening act, the bassist, ‘Dr. F’, jumping and launching around the stage like a man possessed helped lift the overall energy of the performance. Then there’s Jeffery “Nothing” Hatix, a tall imposing figure who planted himself in the center of the stage and hardly moved the entire set, with the exception of a regular neck twitch. His stage garments were comprised of what looks like a butchers apron covered in moist sinew and blood and a dead skin mask.
Mushroomhead did a great job getting the crowd warmed up for Rob Zombie, the only thing that detracts from their live performance is the use of three vocalists at once, none of which play instruments, so in the many gaps between each other parts the two who aren’t singing are kind of awkwardly taking up space on the stage, two vocalists would have been fine, three is a bit of overkill.
There was a noticeable push in the pit as the lights went down for Rob Zombie. I decided I wanted to get in nice and close and I worked my way deep into circle pit territory. The band made a staggered entrance, first Ginger Fish on Drums, followed by Piggy D on bass and the fantastically mad John 5 on guitar. The open the show with The Theme for the Rat Vendor which chugged along, winding the crowd up, John 5 playing his guitar behind his back and every-which-way to the applause of the audience. Then as the piece reached its climax Rob hits the stage decked out in his full length jacket, signature ripped jeans and tattered cowboy hat and the band jumps into the single from their new album, Dead City Radio and the Gods of Supertown, and that’s when the head banging started. The pit went off, bodies thrashing and convulsing everywhere while Rob jived like a ninja-hippy (if your confused as to what that looks like, don’t worry you’re not alone).
The set rolled along with energy and attitude, the showmanship of Rob and John 5 especially keeping things interesting. The setlist comprised mostly of the bands previous albums and two classic White Zombie tracks Thunderkiss 65 and More Human than Human.
At about three quarters of the way through the set, energy was starting to dwindle a little bit, the audience had been moshing hard and were getting to that stage where they save their energy for the final few songs. Then the band pulls out something unexpected, Am I Evil?, the classic by King Diamond. John 5 starts the very familiar riff and the audience loses their minds. The vibe of the cover and the technical prowess of John 5 made it a version of the track Metallica would be envious of. Zombie closed of their fantastic set with the enduring crowd favourite, Dragula and after moshing my heart out the entireity of the track, I was absolutely screwed.
For the rest of the show I decided to pull out of the pit and enjoy Korn from a distance. Having never seen them live before I was curious to see what they’d be like, especially since I had such fond memories of their hits from the nineties. I noticed as the crew were re-setting the stage for Korn that they were not replacing any of the stage decorations of Rob Zombies set with anything for Korn. When they eventually hit the stage it was a lot more down to earth and relaxed. None of the costumes and showmanship of the two previous acts, just their music and the audience.
Interaction with the crowd was kept to a minimum as they moved from track to track, just pummeling riffs, flying dreadlocks and a repertoire of classics and more recent songs alike that kept the crowd happy. Though I wouldn’t say that it was a fantastic performance from the band, especially given the highly energetic and colourful acts that preceded, it felt a bit flat. I never felt that they reached a high point or created any memorable moments. Korn came, then played, then left.
Tim Perri
The Palace is the perfect venue for just about any gig. Small enough to feel intimate but can still hold a decent sized crowd. Not only that but unlike a lot of venues you can get a great view of the band from just about anywhere, from the pit to the upper levels, to near the back of the ground floor at the bar. I quickly waded through the crowd and planted myself at the edge of the mosh for the opening act, Mushroomhead.
The band soon took to the stage soon and was greeted with a roaring Melbourne welcome, on first appearance they’re an intimidating bunch, however by the time they’d gotten into their set they made it clear that they were here to have a great time. Their combination of industrial, alternative, nu metal and death metal gives them a pretty wide appeal across a lot of metal-heads, there was something there for most of the crowd to appreciate. One of the three vocalists, Jason Popson, who only recently re-joined the band full time pulled hype duty for the evening as he spent much of his time in between songs pumping the crowd up.
But hype aside, when Mushroomhead launched into ‘Solitaire Unravelling’ a few tracks in, there crowd went pretty nuts for an opening act, the bassist, ‘Dr. F’, jumping and launching around the stage like a man possessed helped lift the overall energy of the performance. Then there’s Jeffery “Nothing” Hatix, a tall imposing figure who planted himself in the center of the stage and hardly moved the entire set, with the exception of a regular neck twitch. His stage garments were comprised of what looks like a butchers apron covered in moist sinew and blood and a dead skin mask.
Mushroomhead did a great job getting the crowd warmed up for Rob Zombie, the only thing that detracts from their live performance is the use of three vocalists at once, none of which play instruments, so in the many gaps between each other parts the two who aren’t singing are kind of awkwardly taking up space on the stage, two vocalists would have been fine, three is a bit of overkill.
There was a noticeable push in the pit as the lights went down for Rob Zombie. I decided I wanted to get in nice and close and I worked my way deep into circle pit territory. The band made a staggered entrance, first Ginger Fish on Drums, followed by Piggy D on bass and the fantastically mad John 5 on guitar. The open the show with The Theme for the Rat Vendor which chugged along, winding the crowd up, John 5 playing his guitar behind his back and every-which-way to the applause of the audience. Then as the piece reached its climax Rob hits the stage decked out in his full length jacket, signature ripped jeans and tattered cowboy hat and the band jumps into the single from their new album, Dead City Radio and the Gods of Supertown, and that’s when the head banging started. The pit went off, bodies thrashing and convulsing everywhere while Rob jived like a ninja-hippy (if your confused as to what that looks like, don’t worry you’re not alone).
The set rolled along with energy and attitude, the showmanship of Rob and John 5 especially keeping things interesting. The setlist comprised mostly of the bands previous albums and two classic White Zombie tracks Thunderkiss 65 and More Human than Human.
At about three quarters of the way through the set, energy was starting to dwindle a little bit, the audience had been moshing hard and were getting to that stage where they save their energy for the final few songs. Then the band pulls out something unexpected, Am I Evil?, the classic by King Diamond. John 5 starts the very familiar riff and the audience loses their minds. The vibe of the cover and the technical prowess of John 5 made it a version of the track Metallica would be envious of. Zombie closed of their fantastic set with the enduring crowd favourite, Dragula and after moshing my heart out the entireity of the track, I was absolutely screwed.
For the rest of the show I decided to pull out of the pit and enjoy Korn from a distance. Having never seen them live before I was curious to see what they’d be like, especially since I had such fond memories of their hits from the nineties. I noticed as the crew were re-setting the stage for Korn that they were not replacing any of the stage decorations of Rob Zombies set with anything for Korn. When they eventually hit the stage it was a lot more down to earth and relaxed. None of the costumes and showmanship of the two previous acts, just their music and the audience.
Interaction with the crowd was kept to a minimum as they moved from track to track, just pummeling riffs, flying dreadlocks and a repertoire of classics and more recent songs alike that kept the crowd happy. Though I wouldn’t say that it was a fantastic performance from the band, especially given the highly energetic and colourful acts that preceded, it felt a bit flat. I never felt that they reached a high point or created any memorable moments. Korn came, then played, then left.
Tim Perri