Photos and review by JULIE ANN SHAW
NAMPA, IDAHO – Boise, Idaho is not a large place. Certainly not as large as Los Angeles, where I just moved here from, but no matter how small the population, there is always one thing that will bring the best of us together … music. Thousands of fans converged on the Ford Idaho Amphitheater in Nampa to share a night of amazing music and the best food trucks the Treasure Valley has to offer.
Opening the night was Canadian heavy metal band, Spiritbox, with Courtney LaPlante (vocals), Mike Stringer (giutar), Josh Gilbert (bass), and Zev Rosenberg (drums). LaPlante was mesmerizing on stage and drew the crowd in with her screamo style vocals. They opened their tragically short set with “Cellar Door,” “Jaded,” and “Angel Eyes” from their 2023 EP, The Fear of Fear. They broke up the set with their latest single, “Soft Spine,” and closed with “Circle With Me,” and “Holy Roller” from their only studio album so far, Eternal Blue.
The second band of the night needs very little introduction, as they are metal heavy gods in their own right, the French technical death metal band, Gojira, with Joe Duplantier (vocals, guitar), Mario Duplantier (drums), Christian Andreu (guitar), and Jean-Michel Labadie (bass). Gojira took the audience on a wild ride, playing favorites from all throughout their career. They opened with Fortitude’s “Born For One Thing” and then immediately transitioned into “The Axe” from their 2012 album, L’Enfant Sauvage, and right into From Mars To Sirius’ 2005 hit, “Backbone.”
By this time, the pit was in full force and the fans were completely overtaken. Gojira continued with “Stranded,” “The Cell,” “Flying Whales,” “Grind,” “Another World,” and “L’Enfant Sauvage.” What came next was not only the highlight of their set, but the epic symphonic piece that led the entire world into the 2024 Olympics in Paris, “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!).” Gojira closed their incredible set with “Silvera” from the 2016 album, Magma, and “Amazonia” from Fortitude.
Most people would agree that if the night had ended there, no one would have any regrets. Fortunately for all of us, the night was not over and after a short set change, the world’s greatest nu-metal band, Korn, Jonathan Davis (vocals), James “Munky” Shaffer (guitar), Brian “Head” Welch (guitar), Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu (bass), Ray Luzier (drums), dropped their kabuki drop cloth and immediately started into their set. They opened with “Here To Stay” from Untouchables. They followed with “Dead Bodies Everywhere,” “Got The Life,” “A.D.I.D.A.S.,” “It’s On!,” “Good God,” and “Start The Healing.”
They broke up their set with the hilariously mysterious found audio recording “Michael & Geri” that they put on their 1994 debut album Korn’s hidden track behind “Daddy.” Who Michael and Geri were, and why they recorded this conversation is still one of the most frustrating mysteries.
This audio recording led the audience on a trip down memory lane, as Korn continued their set with more songs from this same album, “Blind,” “Ball Tongue,” “Clown,” and “Shoots and Ladders” with little bits of Metallica’s “One” thrown in for good measure. They closed their set with “Twist,” from 1996’s Life Is Peachy, “Make Me Bad,” and finally, one of my all time favorite Korn songs, 2003’s “Y’All Want A Single.”
The encore was a short three songs, Issues’ “Falling Away From Me,” “Oildale (Leave Me Alone),” and lastly, Follow The Leader’s breakthrough anthem, “Freak On A Leash.”
