Review by John Hegarty for MPM
We set sail from Donegal to tonight’s long-awaited show. We chat about Nu metal and how its progressed over the years. It was great to hear the younger fans in the car influenced by their parents, talk about how they love the genre too.
As we make our way on down the road, we see others fans at a petrol station in Monaghan and the excitement starts to build. As we make our way into Dublin to the 3Arena we see the buses and coaches parked up outside and the Point car park is bustling with young and old fans – families of all age generations excited for the gig. The Buzz for the Korn gig is certainly in the air this evening. We all head into the venue everyone is in great spirits. I had a good look at the merch stand and it was absolutely rammed. The merch is varied from t-shirts for all three bands, to Korn hats, teddies and gloves etc.
We head to our seats and get ready for the first support band of the evening – Youth Code. As the lights dim and the music starts the two piece from LA – the back drop displays a footage of a dog barking aggressively as if it was a backyard. Their set consisted of eight songs kicking off with I’m Sorry and Consuming Guilt and they complete the set with Puzzle. Youth Code are Sara Taylor and Ryan George. Sara’s energy was contagious from the get go and by fuck does she have some set of pipes. Sara uses every inch of the stage to invigorate the audience, having us all clapping and expressed her delight seeing so many girls being fans of the heavy music scene. Sara tells Dublin a story of when she was 14, she was on the stage in a cage during the Family Values Tour being a fan of Korn, now she’s 41 and she can’t believe that she’s on the stage again, this time supporting one of her favourite bands.
There’s real punk and industrial elements to their music. If folk here in tonight’s audience didn’t know who Youth Code were before they sure do now – they’ve definitely won over new fans in Dublin’s 3Arena. Everyone heads out together to get some refreshments and get some merch etc. Deftones and Ozzy Osbourne are some of the tunes blasting throughout the Arena to keep us all entertained. Still fresh from the thrill of watching Youth Code we settle back into our seats for Architects. No strangers to Ireland the band have played here a number of times. From Brighton, Architects are a six piece who I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a number of times in the continent at Festivals and gigs. Architects take to the stage with full force and the lighting and set up is impressive.
Sam Carters energy and vocal style is phenomenal – his range varies from melodic to growls. The band are multi-instrumentalists and go between guitars and keyboards. The band kicked off with ‘Whiplash’ and had the crowd crouching down and jumping up again with vigour. Their brilliant execution changes in tempo from Doomsday – which is one of my favourite tracks of theirs – to ‘Seeing Red is impressive. Gauging from the number of t-shirts throughout the crowd here this evening I don’t think it will be long until Architects are filling arenas themselves. The majority of the songs played tonight are from ‘The Sky, the Earth and All Between’ album released in 2025. They are very tight as a band – a machine. They are humble and ask Dublin, “Are you warmed up and ready for the mighty Korn – Dublin we’ve done our job tonight”. They finish the set off with ‘Machine’ which they announce is a new single – hopefully this is a good sign for a new album next year.
I feel this new breed of bands from Architects to Bring Me the Horizon and Spiritbox are keeping Metal alive for youth coming through. I would say that the bands and crowd are content with how their night has gone so far- what a bill – Korn certainly chose well for their line up across the UK. It was a full house from the get go for all bands and the atmosphere was electric!! The lights are down and the curtain is up – a countdown appears on the backdrop as Monkey, Brian ‘HEAD’ Walsh and Fieldy take to the stage, when it reaches number 3 Jonathan takes to the stage the 3arena erupts. ‘It’s On!’ from Follow the Leader 1998 floods the 3arena and the crowd go into a wild frenzy. Korn follow up with ‘Here to Stay, then ‘Reward the Scars (live debut).
Jonathan converses with Irish crowd via ‘The Bitch’ (aka mic stand) and promises that they won’t be so long in returning again. Korn then play ‘Got the life’ also from Follow the Leader and ‘Rotting in Vain’ from ‘The Serenity of Suffering’ album 2016. Jonathan addresses the crowd – ‘Dublin Life is Peachy, what an album, 30yrs ago’ and launches into the following tracks from the album ‘Twist’, ‘Chi’, ‘A.D.I.D.A.S.’ and ‘Kill You’‘. Despite security’s attempt to settle the crowd’s elation the nostalgia wins the battle as the fan are caught up in reminiscing. Jonathan’s vocal style is a unique blending high pitched emotional tenor with raw, aggressive distortion scat singing with a theatrical delivery. I noticed that particular songs affect us all differently – people stood up and moved during specific songs. Their set up looks like a cage of lights – with water and Tsunami images as the set progresses animals appeared on the screens – like an environmental theme.
Instantly recognisable, Jonathan works the stage in a leather kilt brandishing his legendary bagpipes and launches into ‘Shoots and Ladders’. Fieldy. Monkey and Head contort and head bang along to their tunes in synchronicity with their Irish fans. Holding up the rhythm section is Mr Ray Luzier on the drums – his intense beats reverberate throughout the venue. The setlist seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye. We are then treated to ‘Coming Undone’, ‘Did My Time, ‘Make Me Bad’ and Y’all Want a Single’. As the magnificent Korn make their way into the encore, I can’t help but reflect on what a setlist the lads from Bakersfield, California have treated us to tonight. They unveil ‘Falling Away From Me’, and then nothing prepares Dublin for the onslaught that is ‘Are you ready’ the 3Arena is literally pulsating.
‘‘Blind’ is a sinister dark track and the venue erupts and the security have lost any control that they once had. The Dublin crowd are feral. Korn blast ‘Twisted Transistor’ finishing up with the outstanding ‘Freak on a Leash’ – what a way to finish off tonight’s set. Korn spend time saying their goodbyes and throwing out plectrums to the adoring fans – Ray fires one of the drum risers autographed into the crowd, ‘Low Rider’ from War with a bagpipe air fills the stadium as everyone starts to decant out into the brisk Dublin air. Korn excel at creating an everlasting impression following their live performances, they are by far one of my favourite bands to see live.
I’ll tell you one thing Korn are ‘Here to Stay’ for a long long time!! What a night in Dublin, no one was short changed from Youth Code to The Architects to the colossal Korn. Extremely content, we make the trip back to Donegal in thick heavy fog, however this does not dampen our spirits. Thanks to Martin O’Donnell for doing the driving. What a night with great friends.
Photography by Eamonn Smyth for MPM
