Droid. I couldn't think of a better band to start the day by getting the crowd pumped up and excited. Droid's set was relentless and unforgiving. A brutal aural assault. Vocalist James "Buddy" Eason told us that Droid "leaves every ounce of energy on the stage". You better believe it. During the set, he actually jumped into the pit and mixed it up with the fans during one of their songs. It's refreshing to witness a musician so passionate about his performance that he's willing to put it all on the line like that.

Eason did have a bit of a Spinal Tap moment at the end of the set. He tired to exit though the audience, off to the side of the venue. "I ran off the side off the stage like I'm out. I just actually was looking for a way back on stage, to finish the show." Unfortunately there was no stage exit on that side, so he was stuck with nowhere to go, and had to return to the stage the same way he left. I thought it was funny, and he handled it very well. Shit happens. I don't think too many people knew what happened.

It had been nearly six months since I saw Neurosonic perform on the SnoCore 2007 tour. We had read that Jason Darr wasn't feeling well, with some throat and chest issues. According to Jason, they tweaked their set a bit to compensate. "We had a couple of dropped songs... there's just no way I could've pulled them off today. So rather than butcher them we just played a slightly shorter set." They still sounded great regardless of the illness and shorter set.

During the set, Darr wasted no time reminding us of what an accomplished guitarist and vocalist he is. Neurosonic's new bass player Jacen Ekstrom is a perfect fit, providing solid bass lines and tremendous backing vocals. Troy Healy and Shane Smith were better than ever. I still have this band's infectious funky groves playing in my head.

The stage setups become more elaborate as the day wore on. Trivium's setup looked great with their use some attractive artwork on their back drops. Their set was explosive, with Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu trading off guitar solos and vocals while Paolo Gregoletto and Travis Smith laid down the musical foundation. If you like their albums, you'll be blown away by their live performance.

Trivium played a cover of Metallica's Master of Puppets... and annihilated it. It would have been even better if not for one of the cables getting kicked out of Corey's effects pedals, which cut off the signal to his amps. The crew scrambled to check wires in order to find the cause of the issue, but Corey spotted the problem a moment later, and plugged the cable back in.

Invitro's Mike Pygmie came out and sat nearby to check out the bands on the main stage. He only watched for a short time, but we had a chance to say hello and ask him about how things are going. He seemed excited about their new album, When I Was a Planet, which will be released on September 11, 2007. Get your aluminum foil helmets ready.

It was a tremendous feeling to see Hellyeah with Vinnie Paul (who received a standing ovation) and Bob Zilla onstage together again, and in good company with Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett, and Tom Maxwell. One highlight of their set was a rowdy cover of Queen's Stone Cold Crazy, reworked as Stone Cold Wasted.

I've read article's referring to Hellyeah as a "supergroup". I'm not sure I like that term, because it too often implies that this is a one-off effort. After seeing Hellyeah kick-ass live onstage, I would hope that they plan to be around for awhile.

After Hellyeah's I noticed a girl walking up the isle with half of her face beet-red. Apparently she was tossed a drum stick, but some guy in the audience punched her in the head and grabbed the stick. I hope that guy proceeded to insert the stick up his ass.

Flyleaf was impressive as always. Pat Seals and Sameer Bhattacharya were a bit less animated since the last time I saw them, probably due to the heat... but they were still moving all over the stage... and giving it their all. Lacey Mosley sounded better than ever. At one point she climbed up onto the six foot tall speaker cabinets during one song, and jumped down. Very cool. She also provided a very moving and inspirational story before they performed their song Tina.

After Flyleaf's set we had a change to briefly say hello to Jared Hartmann and James Culpepper backstage. James was talking to Kristen about his new camera which he recently purchased. I was lost in the conversation as soon as lens models came up. Pat and Sameer looked exhausted so we didn't want to be a bother and only gave them and Lacey a quick wave hello.

We decided to grab some food during the break. We didn't realize that Atreyu was going to start their set ten minutes early, so when we heard them start playing we bolted for the stage as quickly as possible so that Kristen could take photos.

It was very cool watching and hearing Alex Varkatzas and Brandon Saller trade-off on vocals duties. Saller's imposing drum-kit includes three kick drums... I've never seen that before. I couldn't tell if they were all functional or not, but it looked cool. Their performance was amazing, and they received a tremendous crowd response. Fans should look forward to their upcoming release Lead Sails Paper Anchor on August 28, 2007.

Before Evanescence came on, I'm fairly certain I spotted some of the guys from Fiver Finger Death Punch entering the pit to watch the show. The crowd went nuts when Evanescence started to play. Several people, men and women alike, were ejected for being too rowdy.

Though it's still unknown if Dark New Day members, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, will remain a part of Evanescence after this tour, it's clear that this revamped line-up appears to be having a great time onstage. Amy Lee is a stunning performer to watch, and hear. It continued to be a big day for cover songs, as Evanescence took on the Doors classic People Are Strange, with Amy Lee aptly showing off her skillful chops on piano. They made the song their own.

Korn's stage setup is massive. The crew did a tremendous job getting it ready quickly. Anticipation for Korn's performance steadily grew as the shrouded bio-mechanical microphone stand was placed front and center on the stage.

It can be said that the crowd was here for the Family Values Tour, but at this moment they were only here for Korn. The crowd erupted when Korn came onto the stage. They knew all the words to all the songs. Such a strong fan reaction can not be downplayed.

Words cannot adequately describe the performance of Jonathan Davis on stage. His sometimes erratic flailing never causes him to lose his way vocally. You can't take your eyes off Davis as he pours out intense energy an emotion from the stage to the crowd. James "Munky" Shaffer, and Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu also worked the front of the stage, while the touring members primarily stayed toward the back.

We see so many performance, and once in a while a performance will differentiate itself from all the others, and remain engrained in the psyche... this was one of those performances. Korn's show is truly amazing, and I can't wait until the next time

As we left the venue we stopped by Droid's merch booth to say goodbye and thanks to guitarist Jamie Tesseire. He asked us about our favorite performance of the night. I was without words... not because I didn't want to offend his ego, but simply because I thought the entire day was such an incredible experience that I couldn't have picked a favorite if I tried.

| 07.27.2007 | Review by J. Pierson |