REVIEW: Korn, Gojira, Spiritbox at Prudential Center | 09.23.2024
Korn are currently on the road celebrating the 30th anniversary of their iconic self-titled debut album. Gojira and Spiritbox have joined the nu metal icons to create a holy trinity of a tour lineup guaranteed to be epic from top to bottom.
I’ve been wanting to see Spiritbox for quite some time. Gojira is a band I can never see too many times. It had been twenty years, almost to the day, since I’d had the pleasure of seeing Korn perform. My anticipation was through the roof for this one, and as the night would prove, that anticipation was more than justified.
SPIRITBOX
Spiritbox opened with their ultra heavy single, “Cellar Door,” from last year’s The Fear of Fear EP. It was the perfect way to kick off the evening and to set the momentum for what was to come. Spiritbox's set was short but they packed in as much brutality as possible, their setlist including the band's new single "Soft Spine" as well as "Circle With Me." I’ve been blown away by frontwoman Courtney LaPlante since first seeing her one take performance of the track; the song was even more powerful in person.
GOJIRA
For many metal fans, myself included, seeing Gojira perform their epic version of “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)” during this year's Olympics opening ceremony was a marvelous thing to witness. To see metal displayed and celebrated on a global scale filled me with a deep sense of pride, which was further amplified by the texts I received from my “non-metal fan” friends expressing a universal sentiment of “that was amazing.” As a longtime fan of Gojira, I was proud to see them be seen in such a huge way – by 28.6 million people worldwide to be exact.
Gojira included the song in their pyro-filled performance that featured an extensive list of bangers. Also on display was the band’s commitment to important causes, such as the release of Captain Paul Watson and saving the Amazon rainforest. They’re a great band with great music that support great causes.
Gojira's performance was the mark of a band on top of their game and in perfect form. and the packed Prudential Center crowd responded accordingly with roaring cheers. Only a band like Korn could have possibly followed them.
KORN
Korn was a defining band of my teenage years, and I can remember just how big of a deal it was when I finally got to see them on the Projekt Revolution tour back in 2004. It was the first time I got the shit knocked out of me in a mosh pit, and I wore the pain with pride. Korn is a legendary band and the aura of their live performances exemplifies that fact.
It may have been two decades since that experience, but watching Korn's performance in Newark, it might as well have only been a day. Korn playedwith the same youthful energy and intensity; Jonathan Davis' vocals are powerful as ever.
The band's setlist was a career-spanning retrospective that made it abundantly clear why Korn is heralded as metal icons. So many of their songs defined the generations of the 90s and 2000s, from "Blind" to "Freak on a Leash" to "Falling Away From Me," the list goes on. While those generations were represented healthily in the crowd, so too were kids destined to bring Korn's music into the next generation and beyond.
Korn's North American tour will continue through the end of October with plenty of stops along the way. Be sure to check out the band's tour page for dates and ticket information.