Family Values Tour came to the Rabobank Arena on Aug. 29, featuring Droid, Neurosonic, Trivium, Hellyeah, Flyleaf, Atreyu, Evanescence and Korn.
I heard the concert was going to start at 5 p.m. When I entered the arena, the band Hellyeah was ready to play.
Apparently the concert actually began at 4 p.m. with Droid and shortly after Trivium.
My guess is that Neurosonic did not perform.
So the first performance I saw was the band Hellyeah.
The drums were incredible, played by the legendary Vinnie Paul, who also played with the bands Pantera and Damage Plan.
Guitars were smooth and heavy and went along with the vocals.
The lead singer sounded rusty as if it had been a while since he last sang, even though he was the singer for Mudvayne.
The crowd was enjoying short, hard rock solos and soft vocals. With the arena semi-packed and positive crowd support, I give this performance an 8.5.
The next act had the crowd waiting with suspense, Flyleaf.
When the lights faded, the crowd lost it and began screaming. Their hit single “Fully Alive” sounded exactly like it did on the radio, and the crowd was singing along.
The lead singer had amazing energy, jumping off of the equipment and spinning in circles while keeping her notes.
Simple guitar riffs and drums did not stop this band from being energetic throughout their performance.
The songs sounded creative but not complicated, with some weird but cool guitar solos.
Their last song, though it had an annoying introduction, ended well. For that, I give this performance a 9.
Between the performances of Flyleaf and Atreyu, there was a Guitar Hero II competition in the pit area by the sound system.
It was interesting to see two guys get the full attention of the arena and not to mention the winner got to play against Jonathan Davis, the lead singer of Korn.
After the match, Atreyu took the stage.
One thing that really bothered me was the drum set. I don’t know what the drummer was thinking, but he had three bass drums.
For those of you who don’t know, if you have one, you use one leg. If you have two, you use two legs. But if you have three, one of them is not being used. It’s a small thing, but it really bugged me.
When the band began to play, their appearance was good.
However, the sound seemed to be messing up. While playing, the bass would come and go. Sometimes it’s good to have the bass and keep it like that, but after a while of not feeling it, it seemed very unprofessional.
One of their songs was a cover song by Bon Jovi, the name of which escapes me. The crowd sang along at a certain point of the song and it seemed to be a good song.
But throughout the show, the drummer would sing, and in my opinion, his voice was too soft and it would ruin most of the songs that he sang.
At a certain point, the bass faded away and the high screech of the guitar kicked in and ruined the song. The song they played I had heard before, so I knew what to expect. However, I did not expect it to sound so messed up.
Even though there were so many things wrong with their performance, a lot of people were enjoying the show and screamed when the lead singer took off his shirt. I’m sorry Atreyu fans, but I give their performance a 6.5.
Evanescence began at around 8 p.m. with an interesting introduction with Amy Lee running on stage.
The stage had smoke and awesome lighting affects.
There were also some mirrors behind the band and the light would reflect on the mirrors, which made the effects pretty cool.
Lee had a great voice and it sounded like it did on the radio. The band members had a good appearance, but it could have been better.
After a song, the lights faded and when the lights went back on, Lee had a piano on center stage ready to play the next song.
Later on during the show, the band performed incredibly. There was a piano and drum solo with great lighting effect, and toward the end a funny “fairy tale” beat ended the song. The crowd screamed and cheered for that performance and I clapped loudly.
But at certain points, the lights were beginning to get annoying because of the fast flashes, and the brightness was irritating. For some songs, the lighting did not go with the song.
But the show was great and the crowd enjoyed it, which makes me give their performance a 9.
The main event featured Korn and a couple of other people on stage.
The stage had two balconies and some wicked lights on the backstage. Four unknown members came out before the three members of Korn came out.
“Here to Stay” was the first song they played. The guitar really sounded bad in the introduction and the bass might have been too much.
Throughout the show, members would get on the balcony and play up there, which was pretty interesting.
The show had great energy, but in general the concert was not that great.
There was just something about the sound that did not sound right. The drums sounded too heavy, the bass was too much, at some parts, the guitar was too high, but the vocals sounded great.
Songs like “Good God” and “Faget” had the whole crowd on their feet and singing along.
Korn has awesome songs, but they were not played in this show.
Many left the show with about 13 songs on their mind and some left with disappointment because of the band that just played.
Personally, I like Korn’s old stuff and if they were to play older stuff, maybe it would have been better.
Since there were very few songs played and the sound equipment kept messing up, I give this performance an 8.
All together I would give the entire show an 8 for awesome energy and some semi-good performances.