Unlocking Their Potential

For all of Korn’s impressive accomplishments over the last five years--its package tour, a Grammy nod, mega-record sales and at long last a media presence--its greatest achievement is still the charismatic rapport it maintains with its fans. In fact, a higher profile has only intensified that bond if the Huntington Beach (by way of Bakersfield) quintet’s appearance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim on Friday was any indication.

The stage setup was a familiar sight from last year’s Family Values tour--a two-story mock prison complete with barbed wire and an upper-level catwalk that ran along a row of exuberant “inmates”--but Korn’s performance was more high-spirited this time. Frontman Jonathan Davis, decked out in a scarlet kilt ensemble, led the band through nearly 90 minutes of material spanning the band’s three albums. Old favorites (“Blind,” “Faget”) as well as newer hits (“Got the Life,” “Dead Bodies Everywhere”) drove the capacity crowd into a chanting, arm-waving, bodysurfing frenzy.

Though Davis has always been a natural onstage, over the years his vocals have become even more effective, whether crooning or bellowing. Likewise the band, which effortlessly hammered out the crunching, jagged rhythms that drive Korn’s signature sound. But scattered throughout were subtle flourishes that enhanced the music--effects that added spice and guitar lines that stopped short of solos but threaded melodic color into some of the songs.

A guest appearance by Deftones frontman Chino Moreno (an old friend of Korn from Bakersfield days) generated some lively vocal interplay, and the second encore ended the evening with a rowdy display of Korn’s tightknit musicianship. Bassist Fieldy took center stage doing his best Ice Cube routine while drummer David Silveria took over bass and Davis (who started off as a drummer) manned Silveria’s kit. The dynamics were a little skewed, but it was still Korn-y as hell.

Co-headliner Rob Zombie stirred up the crowd as effectively as Korn with his hyper-stylized display of performance artistry. As with Korn, Zombie’s stage setup was a familiar one--a fun house-like structure that looked like a product of “Alien” artist H.R. Giger gone Looney Tunes complete with flash pots, fireworks and confetti. But the cast of creepy characters who support the band had expanded to include a giant space fetus, a pair of grim reapers wielding a faux-pipe organ and clanging chimes of doom, and a gigantic rolling robot (a caricature reference to “Star Wars”), among others.

All the edgy, anthemic songs needed was a scripted story line (and a gaggle of Valkyries thundering in on flaming Harley-Davidsons) and it would have played like some epic, warped opera far beyond Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wildest imaginings.

Alas, opener Videodrone came up short on pyrotechnics, songs and charisma. The matching red outfits the quintet wore and the singer’s odd impulse to mime were the only distinguishing features of its set. A guest appearance by Korn’s Davis in a surreal pimp outfit livened things up for one song that proved to be the lone highlight.