Written by:	destroyah
Published:	February 16, 2008
Event:	Korn: European Tour (Website)
Location:	Saku Suurhall, Tallinn, Estonia
Organizer:	BDG Group
Galleries:	Korn - Saku Suurhall, Tallinn, Estonia, 10.02.2008 by Ivor (24)

There are a precious few bands that really manage to leave a lasting bootprint in the face of history. Sure, the airwaves are teaming with awesome bands but there is an elite club with memberships reserved only for the best of the best. They are the sprinkles on your cappucino, the frosting on your cupcake and the "F" in your fission bomb. The last euphemism may have been a tad bit obscure but rest assured - These bands are the top of the food-chain. And surely, Korn is one of them.

Needless to say I was psyched when I found out that that Korn were gracious enough to perform right at my doorstep. As a cherry on top they were gonna be supported by Deathstars, so the gig seemed like a sure thing. However, I did have my doubts. The thing is I haven't really listened to Korn since "Issues" came out in '99, which means that I'm not exactly up-to-date with the band's latest work, save for the obvious hits of course. Nevertheless a lot has changed since then and the venue they were set to perform at didn't exactly have a good reputation as far as acoustics go. Bringing Korn there together with their background band seemed like an overkill. Still, unable to deny the huge importance of Korn I decided that missing out on them would surely be a decision I'd grow to regret.

On the day of the gig I woke up rather late with only a few hours to spare. I did so purposely cause the anxiety had set in the previous day and the best way to kill that is of course by sleeping. You can also cure anxiety by excessive drinking but that rarely ends well. Therefore I turned down an invite to a warm-up tequila party and opted for a much more conventional (and safer) pit-stop at Woodstock. Since Ivor is a relatively responsible human being, we managed to get out of there early and after a swell twenty minute ride in a tightly packed kelbasa-on-wheels that was the trolley we arrived at Saku Suurhall. Now, despite all the criticism, Saku Suurhall is not an entirely horrible place. It holds 10,000 souls, thus being the largest indoors venue in the country. On the downside, little has been done to increase it's sound qualities since the building's completion in 2001.

I was sipping on yet another beer (I held out on it as long as I could!) when Ivor called me shortly before Deathstars were supposed to play and announced that the band's canceled due to the singer having broken his leg. This was of course a major disappointment cause I hadn't seen Deathstars live yet and I was eager to check out their performance. Anyhow this incident left us with only one more warm-up act - Flyleaf from USA. Since they were touring with Korn I assumed they'd have to be either quite well-known or at least damn good. I hadn't heard from them so the first option was out (I don't really care what floats the many teenage boats in the States these days) so the second option would have to hold water. Now if I was a reasonable person I'd have checked out Flyleaf prior to the show, however the mere words "alternative metal" left me paralyzed and unable to even type in their Myspace account in my browser. Not that I'd absolutely despise the genre, on the contrary, but recently I've had the great misfortune of hearing several seriously lousy acts of the kind, Boy Hits Car being the prime example here. Still, using the manly excuse to get more beer from the floor stand I sneaked down the stairs to get an optimum spot for Flyleaf and lo and behold - they did not suck. Alas, they weren't too impressive, but the use of a female vocal and the occasional cool riff ranked them as "not half-bad" in my book. Rest assured, I won't be buying their record any time soon though.







Flyleaf may have had something to do with me abandoning my plan to get as close to the stage as possible. I was too tired to fight for a good position so instead I teamed up with a friend of mine and together we headed on a routine beer patrol - to "monitor" and "enforce" a stable flow of quality beverage, of course. The obvious downside of the tactic was that when Korn finally took the stage, it was virtually impossible to penetrate the immense wall of people between us and the stage. We decided to take a bold step and actually enjoy the concert from higher ground. The plan, however, was flawed. You see at a good venue you might indeed get an awesome experience even if sitting down but in Suurhall's case a different rule applies - get to the front if at all possible. If not possible, get as close as you can, because the only way to walk away from that place with your panties wet is when you're right in the middle of the vortex, kicking and screaming. Still, even from our unprivileged perspective, Korn did put on a hell of a show. From the very beginning, the entire crowd on the floor was jumping up and down in perfect rhythm, as Korn treated them with "Right Now". By the time the band got to "A.D.I.D.A.S." I was seriously longing for some moshpit action. "I should be at the front. Goddamn it, I should be at the front!" I told my friend to which she replied, summing up my thoughts about the entire event quite aptly: "It wouldn't be a good gig if you didn't want to be at the front!" Korn had no intention of cooling the crowds down, even after playing "Falling Away from Me", a fusion of "Coming Undone" and the legendary Queen hit "We Will Rock You" and hailing their old-school fans with songs like "Faget" and "Freak on a Leash". And even though the bagpipes failed to impress due to the sound issues, "Helmet in the Bush" surely pleased Korn's fans.







I don't know if it was because I usually don't watch bands from a distance, therefore lacking comparable experience, but I'd say this might just have been the most hardcore gig this venue had ever seen. The amazing flow came to a halt after "Evolution" and "Ass Itch", the last songs before the encores. Now anybody who knows Korn, probably guessed what they had in store next, and surely enough after a short wait we heard the all too familiar cymbal intro to one of the greatest songs ever conceived - "Blind". As a worthy ending to an energizing event, "Got the Life" was unleashed on the weary, albeit ecstatic horde, resulting in a prime example of organized chaos.







Soon enough, it was all over. The concert was actually surprisingly short, clocking in at just over an hour and a half. Frankly I expected a slightly longer set from a band of this magnitude but fair enough, I digest. So what to make of the whole gig? Well, Deathstars canceling at the last minute probably put a small dent on the night but Korn did make it all up later with what was surely one of the liveliest concerts this place had ever seen. Sure, by the time the tour made it to Estonia, their original line-up had reduced to just Jon Davis and Fieldy which sadly affected their stage presence a bit, but I don't think anybody was seriously bothered by that. The sheer mind-blowing energy that Korn produced was enough to level a small city. As for me, I once again learned a painful and a valuable lesson - if you go to a Korn live, never-ever under any circumstances lag behind - always follow the leader!