Concert review: Korn turns back the clock in Charlotte with a packed 30-year celebration

Thousands gathered to celebrate 30 years of Korn Wednesday as the influential nu-metal pioneers rolled into PNC Music Pavilion leaving no question that ‘90s nostalgia is at its peak in 2024.

Cars lined the grass along the roadside of Pavilion Boulevard. as black-clad fans in Adidas and Doc Martens trudged toward the gates.

I hadn’t seen such a frenzy to get to the gates since Janet Jackson played there last year, and haven’t seen the venue as crowded since tailgaters at an early 2000s Dave Matthews Band show filled up the parking lots and left concert-goers circling for parking long after the band hit the stage.

Inside, the spirit of 1997 was in full swing recalling the era of smoking in public before Hot Topic and Manic Panic made blue hair and pleather bondage pants mainstream.

The packed lawn’s shouts for Korn were answered shortly after 9 as the lights fell and the curtains dropped to reveal Jonathan Davis in a bright red track suit flanked by dreadlocked guitarists Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer.

The group launched into the 2002 anti-suicide anthem, “Here To Stay” forming a loose mission statement for its 30-year career.

That was followed by “Dead Bodies Everywhere” and “Got the Life” from Korn’s best-selling quintuple platinum 1998 album “Follow the Leader.” The 1996 ode to sex and sneakers, “A.D.I.D.A.S.” rallied an already fist pumping, head banging, swear singing crowd.

Most of the band did sport some sort of signature Adidas triple stripe — Head’s pants, bassist Ra Diaz’s socks and Munky’s guitar.

“Daddy,” a song about child abuse which Davis said they haven’t played often, found the singer stretching his voice into falsetto. In fact throughout the night he’d bridge from a guttural growl to his signature more nasal normal voice.

Only a few years after visibly struggling with the after-effects of COVID on his vocals, Davis , now 53, sounds and appears fit and healthier than ever.

Munky and Head intricately work the highest part of the fretboards recreating Korn’s influential mix of booming low-end funk grooves and almost keyboard-like string play.

Their contributions not only to Korn’s signature sound, but on the bands they influenced, can’t be overlooked. With his mountain of flying dreads, Head’s 7-string guitar sound is such a crucial part, it’s easy to forget that he famously left Korn for seven years before a surprise reunion at Charlotte’s Carolina Rebellion in 2012.

Likewise drummer Ray Luzier provides equally inventive and powerful percussion manning an alien-like kit with reaching metal “arms” and overhanging cymbals, reminiscent of Davis’ custom H.R. Geiger-designed microphone stand.

While their peers sometimes rely on DJs to tap into hip-hop and funk influences, Korn recreates it all with the standard rock n’ roll drum/guitar/bass/vocals.

As the band charged through crowd favorite “Blind” and Davis grabbed his bagpipes for the novelty nursery rhymes of “Shoots and Ladders” (with its swerve into Metallica’s “One”), no one was having a better time on stage than bassist Ra Diaz (who has been filling in for Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu on tour).

The Chilean-native smiles constantly as he bounces around the stage, stepping up to Head’s microphone with glee to shout the expletive-laden chorus of “Ya’ll Want a Single” along with the crowd on the pre-encore closer.

The intense crowd was so insistent and so loud — egged on by inciting messages like “anybody still here” flashing on screen above the stage — I could feel an earthy rumble beneath my feet at its demand for an encore.

The band obliged, returning for three songs, “Falling Away From Me,” “Oildale (Leave Me Alone)” and the obligatory closer “Freak on a Leash.”

Earlier, Davis had thanked openers Spiritbox and Gojira, saying, “They didn’t have to open for us. They could be doing this on their own.”

The veteran French metal act Gojira certainly proved that with their pyro-filled set. Their use of video, lights and huge, frequent bursts of fire stood in contrast to Korn’s simpler visuals.