Epicenter Festival 2015

Who played?: Hopsin(missed), Suicidal Tendencies (walked in on last song), P.O.D, Limp Bizkit, KoЯn. Was it epic?: Yes!



Another concert bites the dust. How did Alex know what to get me concert tickets for Christmas?? hmm... I wonder....After two and a half-ish months of waiting, I finally found myself at the Epicenter Festival. Just a tad bit on the late side, though. Me and Alex rolled in fashionably late (nearly two hours). This wasn't much of a problem because we were enjoying each other's company before the show. We were having fun loli-gagging. I do regret not seeing Suicidal Tendencies. Well I saw em' but we got in with about 5 minutes of their set left. After getting ourselves parked and through a few tedious security steps, then FINALLY into the under belly of the fabulous Forum. It was a nice feeling feeding into the floor of the forum, we were close, VERY close. The  perfect place to be. I've almost gotten too used to nose bleed seats, it was so refreshing to be on the floor. I can't say too much for Suicidal Tendencies. I will need to try and make an effort to see them the next time I get the opportunity. I've always thought Suicidal Tendencies was a cool band and they sure do have a large following. I feel like when you're at any sort of hard rock show you'll be sure to see plenty of Suicidal Tendencies shirts. Before them there was Hopsin that I missed as well. Personally, I had never heard of him, but just the other day I did a little search on Youtube and I can really get down with this guy. He's a Rap artist. Check THIS and THIS out. It's pretty dope.

Surveying the audience I could feel the decade that these bands dominated. I was just a child in the 90's so most everyone had a number of years on me but the great thing about any concert is that we are all their to enjoy the same thing; age doesn't matter, race doesn't matter, all that matters is the music. Everyone gets to hangout with their favorite band.

Moving onto the P.O.D. set; the first band that I was able to catch. They sounded really good live. The songs that I know by them were distinctly recognizable. They did not sound sloppy. I just wish I was more into P.O.D. but it was fun to hear songs like Boom, Youth Of The Nation, and Alive.

House of Pain followed P.O.D.; what a weird vibe that performance had. I say this because the audience seemed misplaced with the band. House of Pain holds a place in music history and putting them in that lineup makes sense on paper but in fact it just felt like people were too unfamiliar with their body of work aside from the massive hit Jump Around. Because after all they came to get down, so jump around , jump around. Which was actually a really fun song live. The audience definitely perked up during that song and there was chatty murmurs when Everlast performed his solo 90s mega hit What It's Like. The performance of that song was really disappointing to me though. He seemed to put very little effort into performing it. Although I feel like we took the wind out of their sails with the lack of enthusiasm for the majority of the performance. 


Now moving into last two performances of the night. These two bands were the ones really getting me stoked for months to see. Limp Bizkit was a phenomenal show. They had so much energy and an audience that was just eating it up. Fred Durst really took command of the stage. He left no stone un-turned with the audience making sure everyone was feeling involved with the show. Fred Durst not only was all over the stage but he was also very chatty,.There was a lot of dialogue and it felt really personal. They opened up the show with Thieves which is commonly mistaken as their own song but it does exist originally as a Ministry song. Here is a funny video of Jon Davis actually getting upset about the cover,because people commonly think it's a Limp Bizkit original. Third song in for Limp Bizkit was My Generation. I believe by this time a big LIMP BIZKIT light up sign lowered into the backdrop. It was very sweet! Then there's the crazy Wes Borland (guitarist) looking crazy cool,and taking as much command of the stage as Durst. Limp Bizkit reminded the audience how much they rock as they dished out hit after hit. "This song was never mine, it was always yours" said Durst as they led into My Way. This could have ended my night just fine. I would have honestly been happy. But then they rip up Killing In The Name a Rage Against The Machine hit, it was a nice tip of the hat to a band that paved the way for bands like Limp Bizkit and KoЯn. Rollin', Break Stuff. It got heavier and crazier, mosh pit to my left, mosh pit to my right. There was blood.  

It was hard getting this far as excited as I was to see KoЯn; I'm very excited to write about the show. It was just their second show into their 20th anniversary tour. I feel so fortunate to have seen KoЯn perform their self titled debut album in full; the album that started it all. It is not only huge for me to finally see KoЯn but I'm much more a fan of the raw emotions that were pouring out of their early works.

When I mention raw emotion I want to put that into perspective. That night I was able to bare witness to KoЯn performing the song "Daddy," which is just the 3rd time they have performed it to date. It's been a long time since they've played a lot of classic songs that night but "Daddy" stands out as something a bit more significant. Jonathan Davis of KoЯn has been unable to perform it live because it is too emotionally taxing for him. The song is about a lengthy period where Davis had been continuously molested by his neighbor. Despite going to his parents and despite explaining to them what was happening, they did not believe him. So even after going to his parents he continued to be sexually molested. In the recorded track, Davis breaks down and cries. It's some real stuff which is what I love about KoЯn. It's not just young adult angst, it's a music filled with real and honest pain.

I must say, thank goodness Head was back on stage. Believe me, I love all the guys: Munky, Fieldy, Head, and Jon. Too bad David Silveria hasn't managed to walk back into KoЯn. Whatever..... I've heard that it's his own doing but it truly wouldn't have been the same if Head wasn't there. If you didn't already know, Head is one of the two lead guitarists. He left, found Jesus, cleaned up his act  and spent time raising his daughter; very legit.Blind, Ball Tongue, Faget, Shoots and Ladders. These are just some of the songs that make this album mean so much to me. KoЯn was a band that I didn't get into at first. Now, KoЯn must reside somewhere in my top 10 favorite bands. I watched their DVD 'Deuce', which is a fun documentary DVD full of concert footage, and just handheld self shot footage of the band. Once you get to know the band, and see where the music is coming from, it become something else entirely. KoЯn grew on me and easily became one of the most important bands of my life. 

If there is anything, ANYTHING at all that I would say that was too bad about KoЯn's performance is that it was rushed. Understandably, they were part of a festival lineup. I'm pretty sure they ripped through the album quicker than they would at other shows and I know we got 2 less encore songs than the performance before us. I understand though, it's nothing they did and thank god I got to hear Falling Away From Me and Freak On A Leash. But I could have gone for SO MUCH MORE. :-)


On a very cute note, Munky's kiddo rocked out stage left all night with dad.




A sore neck, a sore throat, and happy memories. Yep... that's a concert well done! Except beer spilled on me and cell phones in my field of view... I could have definitely done without that...