Concert Review: Family Values Tour 2007 (Irvine Meadows) C+
Date of show: 9/2/07
Venue: Irvine Meadows (Verizon Wireless)
The 2007 edition of the Family Values tour stormed its way into Orange County over Labor Day weekend, and I was there, sweating to the oldies with KoRn and the gang.
Five Finger Death Punch (A-)
5FDP appeared on the "Guitar Hero" second stage, shredding through a brief half an hour set to a smallish but rabid crowd. Gone were former set stalwarts "The Way Of The Fist" and (much to my chagrin) "The Devil's Own," replaced with other album tracks like "White Knuckles." The band were tight as always, and frontman Ivan Moody controlled the audience well (which has grown quite impressively since the last time I saw them...that's what happens when your album actually hits stores), firiing a water cannon into the sweaty masses in between songs. After the set, the band pelted the fans with water balloons, a nice touch on a scorching, 100 degree-plus day.
Trivium (B+)
Trivium went on early over on the mainstage, and put together a workmanlike set that opened quickly with "To The Rats." The quartet added some nice surprises (playing "Tread The Floods" into "Rain" actually coaxed a few real-life raindrops to fall), including the thrashily cheesy "Becoming The Dragon." Overall a strong, but altogether too short, set on what frontman Matt Heafy called "the hottest show" they've ever played.
Hellyeah (B) - partial
I only caught about the first two-thirds of Hellyeah's mainstage act, as I rushed over to see 5FDP in their entirety, but what I did see was better than expected. Hellyeah sounded rather tight, which come to think about it, shouldn't have surprised me with the great Vinne Paul on drums. Surprise of the set was a cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy," which sounded an awful lot like Metallica's cover of the same song. Hmmmm.....
Atreyu (D+) - partial
Caught the second half of the Orange County's emo-metal performance, and can someone explain to me how their brand of whiny/screamy metal-lite is so popular with the ladies? Strange. While I did appreciate one guitarist's 80s headband and Dokken T-shirt, I couldn't get over the whining (all sang by the drummer, weird) and an overall weak, underpowered sound.
Evanescence (F)
Amy Lee's Evanescence managed to do something the burning bright sun couldn't, sap the Irvine crowd of their will to live. Droning through a uninspired set comprised mostly of newer (read: crappier) tunes, Lee and her backup band did absolutely nothing to connect with the initially enthusiastic audience. Lee's voice sounded small, and was often overpowered by her band. A cover of The Doors' "People Are Strange" was at least a change in pace, if a bit awkwardly done. Best of all was the performance of the hit "Bring Me To Life," which is known for a strong duet-rap bit with a male singer...when I say "best of all," I mean "what the hell," because the band somehow omitted the coolest part of the song. They couldn't find some dude to do that part? There's like fifty bands playing on this festival, all of them have male singers, you couldn't have gotten one of them to sub in? How about one of your backing band? Lame.
KoRn (C) - partial(?)
Not being a big fan of their last two studio albums, I was afraid, really afraid of what KoRn might pull out setlist-wise. As it was, the setlist wasn't terrible, but it wasn't particularly great, either. It seemed for every 'good' song ("Faget," the opener "Here To Stay," "Beat It Upright," "Dead Bodies Everywhere") there was at least one 'bad' song ("Ass Itch," "Coming Undone") and at least one 'okay' song ("Hold On," a way-too-overextended "Another Brick In The Wall"). For the most part, despite only having three remaining original bandmembers (well, two and a half, how the hell did Fieldy get so damn skinny?!), everything sounded okay, thanks mostly to Jonathan Davis' strong vocals and Joey Jordinson's (Slipknot) drumming. However it is kind of weird seeing KoRn act like Slipknot, what with seven guys running around stage (the band now employs two backup vocal and percussion dudes). What really derailed the set and kept things from gaining any momentum, however, was the one to three minutes of minimalist electronic samples in between songs. No profanity-laced stage banter (well, not much anyways), no quick progressions from one song to the next. Instead, a couple of minutes of blackened stage and weird, non-KoRn sounding electronica in between each and every song. Let's just say that got old very quickly. Semi-bored, I left after "Blind," not really caring if the band came back for an encore, hence the (?) after partial.
Venue: Irvine Meadows (Verizon Wireless)
The 2007 edition of the Family Values tour stormed its way into Orange County over Labor Day weekend, and I was there, sweating to the oldies with KoRn and the gang.
Five Finger Death Punch (A-)
5FDP appeared on the "Guitar Hero" second stage, shredding through a brief half an hour set to a smallish but rabid crowd. Gone were former set stalwarts "The Way Of The Fist" and (much to my chagrin) "The Devil's Own," replaced with other album tracks like "White Knuckles." The band were tight as always, and frontman Ivan Moody controlled the audience well (which has grown quite impressively since the last time I saw them...that's what happens when your album actually hits stores), firiing a water cannon into the sweaty masses in between songs. After the set, the band pelted the fans with water balloons, a nice touch on a scorching, 100 degree-plus day.
Trivium (B+)
Trivium went on early over on the mainstage, and put together a workmanlike set that opened quickly with "To The Rats." The quartet added some nice surprises (playing "Tread The Floods" into "Rain" actually coaxed a few real-life raindrops to fall), including the thrashily cheesy "Becoming The Dragon." Overall a strong, but altogether too short, set on what frontman Matt Heafy called "the hottest show" they've ever played.
Hellyeah (B) - partial
I only caught about the first two-thirds of Hellyeah's mainstage act, as I rushed over to see 5FDP in their entirety, but what I did see was better than expected. Hellyeah sounded rather tight, which come to think about it, shouldn't have surprised me with the great Vinne Paul on drums. Surprise of the set was a cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy," which sounded an awful lot like Metallica's cover of the same song. Hmmmm.....
Atreyu (D+) - partial
Caught the second half of the Orange County's emo-metal performance, and can someone explain to me how their brand of whiny/screamy metal-lite is so popular with the ladies? Strange. While I did appreciate one guitarist's 80s headband and Dokken T-shirt, I couldn't get over the whining (all sang by the drummer, weird) and an overall weak, underpowered sound.
Evanescence (F)
Amy Lee's Evanescence managed to do something the burning bright sun couldn't, sap the Irvine crowd of their will to live. Droning through a uninspired set comprised mostly of newer (read: crappier) tunes, Lee and her backup band did absolutely nothing to connect with the initially enthusiastic audience. Lee's voice sounded small, and was often overpowered by her band. A cover of The Doors' "People Are Strange" was at least a change in pace, if a bit awkwardly done. Best of all was the performance of the hit "Bring Me To Life," which is known for a strong duet-rap bit with a male singer...when I say "best of all," I mean "what the hell," because the band somehow omitted the coolest part of the song. They couldn't find some dude to do that part? There's like fifty bands playing on this festival, all of them have male singers, you couldn't have gotten one of them to sub in? How about one of your backing band? Lame.
KoRn (C) - partial(?)
Not being a big fan of their last two studio albums, I was afraid, really afraid of what KoRn might pull out setlist-wise. As it was, the setlist wasn't terrible, but it wasn't particularly great, either. It seemed for every 'good' song ("Faget," the opener "Here To Stay," "Beat It Upright," "Dead Bodies Everywhere") there was at least one 'bad' song ("Ass Itch," "Coming Undone") and at least one 'okay' song ("Hold On," a way-too-overextended "Another Brick In The Wall"). For the most part, despite only having three remaining original bandmembers (well, two and a half, how the hell did Fieldy get so damn skinny?!), everything sounded okay, thanks mostly to Jonathan Davis' strong vocals and Joey Jordinson's (Slipknot) drumming. However it is kind of weird seeing KoRn act like Slipknot, what with seven guys running around stage (the band now employs two backup vocal and percussion dudes). What really derailed the set and kept things from gaining any momentum, however, was the one to three minutes of minimalist electronic samples in between songs. No profanity-laced stage banter (well, not much anyways), no quick progressions from one song to the next. Instead, a couple of minutes of blackened stage and weird, non-KoRn sounding electronica in between each and every song. Let's just say that got old very quickly. Semi-bored, I left after "Blind," not really caring if the band came back for an encore, hence the (?) after partial.
posted by jefelee at 2:55 PM
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