LOCATION:
Hammerstein Ballroom, NY NY (a block from MSG)
Lower balcony, second row (front row was for stupidass Clear Channel people)
BANDS:
KORN.
PRICE: $37 a ticket (before Ticketbastard charges)
DETAILS OF EVENT:
CONCESSIONS: No idea. Parking however was so expensive I don't even want to talk about it. Shannon knows how much it cost me. But I can't bear the thought of anyone else knowing my dirty shameful secrets. Like how badly I was financially raped because I was too lazy and frustrated with NYC traffic at rush hour to go to another lot (:(
VIEW: Awesome. Could see the whole stage, backstage hos, and the entire floor.
PRE-SHOW VIBE: Well. It was laid back where I was sitting. The floor was getting riled up because they taped this show for MTV2 (to air Sat. night at 9:30) and the camera guys were going around filming kids freaking out before the show. The floor liked chanting "F**K your seats" to us, but I just blankly stared at them and continued filling out my employee review form for work. I noticed that they played the Foo Fighters again before their show. Only now they played all of Disc 1 of In Your Honor. Foos have graduated from one song to being worthy of playing a whole album pre-show. Interesting. I swear to God these two bands have Best Friends Forever necklaces with eachother. But I digress.
ATTENDANCE: Pretty sure it was sold out.
AUDIENCE: A kid walked by wearing a "Shut up you f**king f**k" t-shirt. That pretty much sums it up.
WARDROBE: Jonathan- all black, hair is longer than ever, Fieldy-hair was long and straight (no braids!) wearing some kind of basketball jersey/jeans outfit, Munky- hair is super long now and was wearing some military kinda jacket ensemble, David-topless, muscled out... and I think maybe Tobin's been giving him hairstyling tips. Maybe at Claus Fest last year. Who knows.
STAGE SET: Hanging screens that displayed different things at different times- lyrics to the songs, or their faces, or graphics from the new album cover. Also a giant Lite-Brite-ish backdrop. And of course Jonathan had his mic stand (pictured above).
ARI RATING (ADRENALINE RUSH INDEX - 1-10):
Frame of reference:
1= I sat in my chair motionless and felt no emotional connection
10=I walked out bruised and high off nothing but the energy of the show
10. Even from the balcony Jonathan's energy is contagious.
SETLIST:
Totally not in order:
Here to Stay (OK they opened with this)
Falling Away From Me
Somebody Someone
ADIDAS
Blind
Freak on a Leash
Got the Life
Shoots and Ladders/One
Brick in the Wall
Twist
Did My Time
Y'all Want A Single
Twisted Transistor
Liar, Come Undone, Hypocrite (all new)
Some random slow-ish song I actually don't know. It sounded like he was saying "Dirty little boy"??
HIGHLIGHTS:
Whenever the pit would go crazy. During one of the last songs (Blind? or Shoots and Ladders?) the entire floor was a pit. I love that. I love it from the balcony though. Last year I was on the floor and really wasn't that keen on doing that again. They sounded great- you don't even really miss Head to be honest. This was their first U.S. show without him. Jonathan acknowledged his absence and had the crowd applaud him and simply said "He had to go do his thing, and we're going to keep doing ours." Also a highlight- I can't help it- the damn bagpipes get me everytime. Then when they go into "One" by Metallica... *sigh* I <3>LOWLIGHTS:
The balconies (there are 3) weren't as into it as I'd like them to be. I like to rock out. God help any of you out there that attend a show with me. I do not sit still. I don't embarassingly freak out, but enough that I stood out amongst these stiffs. And I had Clear Channel people in front of me (it's a CC venue) who seemed more concerned with how much beer they could drink than the actual show. F you Clear Channel. Love, Howard. By the way, for two seconds I thought I saw High Pitch Eric. But it wasn't him. Also a side note, not really a lowlight: I find it impossible not to think of Robin when I hear "Y'All Want a Single."
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS SHOW? (YES/NO - EXPLAIN):
I'd say yes. Unless you're a nu-metal snob. Then move along...nothing to see here.
*BONUS QUESTION: Why didn't you try to meet them after? WTF?
Well. To begin with, I'm sick with a cold and when I got outside it was windy and rainy as hell (hydroplaned on the way home a couple times). Second, the parking lot that I will never park at again said that they close a half hour after the show is over. Third- they're doing an instore, and with all these days off from work I have left, I may just channel my inner 15 yr old and go try to meet them that way.
OK that's all for now!
