Korn, Spiritbox, Gojira
September 25, 2024
Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
Canadian Beats Passport
Legendary nu-metal band Korn are celebrating 30 years of their career with a massive North American tour. For support, they brought along Gojira and Spiritbox. This awesome tour made a stop at Budweiser Stage in Toronto on September 25th, 2024.
Unfortunately, photographers were asked not to shoot Spiritbox during their set.
Opening the show is the Canadian metalcore superstars Spiritbox. For the past couple years, Spiritbox has risen to the upper echelon of the metal world. Hailing from Vancouver, this band has been a huge contributor to the Canadian metal scene and it is amazing to see them be promoted to a stadium act. Their setlist consisted mostly of their material from their recent EP The Fear of Fear. While the Spiritbox performance was rather short, at only 6 songs, they showcased what their sound is about and their performance sounded incredible. The sound balance really complicmented their dense soundscapes and everything cut through nicely. Surely, this tour will be an excellent introduction to new fans and audiences that might not have heard them before.
Gojira, like Spiritbox, has risen to new and exciting heights. Coming off the heels of their performance at the France 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, Gojira has made a massive impact on the international metal scene. Coming from France, Gojira has played in Canada many times and whenever they do, the crowd goes wild. Simply put, Gojira puts on one hell of a show. They are easily some of the tightest, most precise performers I have ever seen. The precision of their performance is enhanced by an elaborate stage production with motion video and pyrotechnics. The setlist consisted mostly of material from their more recent albums but there are some surprises for the old school fans. Gojira is a band I highly recommend seeing live even if you aren’t too familiar with their music. I think all listeners will be impressed by their performance and catchy song writing.
Korn is a band that I haven’t really paid much attention to since high school. What caught my attention about this tour is that Korn was playing songs from their classic albums. Having been around for 30 years, their catalogue contains dizzying highs and deep low points. Playing so much of their old material is definitely going to appeal to people within my age group, but admittedly, being catered to feels nice. I loved hearing some of these songs live and the crowd felt the same way. The audience was singing along and even starting mosh pits in the lawn section of the ampitheatre. Despite being a band for so long, Korn’s style of music feels more relevant than ever. A lot of metalcore bands to this day take such heavy influence from their music and there was a considerable amount of younger people at the show. I was really impressed by how good they sounded. Their energy on stage is surprisingly relaxed given how aggressive their music is but the performance was awesome. It’s amazing to hear Korn sound so tight after being a band for so long.
This Korn tour is simply amazing. For fans of metal, both new and old, there is something here for you. It’s great to see a tour where each band is on top of their game and the entire package comes together splendidly. I highly recommend you go to one of the shows if you’re able. You won’t regret it.
