A Look At KORN’s Major Summer 2021 Tour With STAIND & ’68

With 2 GRAMMY Awards, sales of 40 million albums worldwide, hundreds of sold-out shows and over 1 billion streams, KORN has experienced unprecedented achievements for a band of any era. Vocalist Jonathan Davis, guitarists James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch, bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu and drummer Ray Luzier have continued to push the limits of the rock, alternative and metal genres, while remaining a pillar of influence for legions of fans and generations of artists around the globe. The band’s 2019 album The Nothing marked KORN’s 14th Top 10 entry onto the Billboard 200 chart, reportedly giving KORN the fifth-most Top 10 debuts of any rock band in the history of the industry-leading sales chart. Per Revolver, The Nothing was “KORN’s best album in over 10 years.”

STAIND — comprised of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April and drummer Sal Giancarelli — formed in 1995 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Over the course of its career, the band has released 7 studio albums and 8 Top 10 singles, selling over 15 million albums worldwide. 2001’s Break The Cycle is RIAA-certified 5x platinum and features the smash single, “It’s Been Awhile,” one of the most played songs in modern rock radio history; “It’s Been Awhile” notably spending 20 weeks at #1. In 2019 after a five-year hiatus, STAIND reunited for some unforgettable festival performances and a hometown reunion show at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, where the group’s Live: It’s Been Awhile album was recorded.

KORN and STAIND kicked off a 28-city U.S. summer tour on August 5, 2021, as produced by Live Nation. The coast-to-coast tour was originally scheduled to wrap with a performance at Dallas, Texas’ Dos Equis Pavilion on September 21, 2021, as followed by both bands performing at Louisville, Kentucky’s Louder Than Life Festival on September 23, 2021. However, COVID-19-related complications related to several members of KORN led to dates from the tour being postponed. Hence the August 17, 2021 tour stop scheduled for Wantagh, New York’s Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater taking place on September 28, 2021, which I had the pleasure of attending.

The tour was appropriately billed as “2 of the biggest forces in rock perform on the same stage each night,” but once you are on-site, you actually see firsthand how monumental of a tour it is. In a day and age when many ignorant critics have declared that “rock is dead,” this tour pairs together 2 bands with 20+ years of radio play. As in, more than half of the songs performed by both KORN and STAIND on this evening were proper charting singles. Yet in spite of all that mainstream recognition, nothing about the show felt mainstream or corporate. The 2 bands both voiced political opinions during their sets — STAIND more so, as based on frontman Aaron Lewis’ attire and chant-leading skills — but made it abundantly-clear that the evening was intended to be a crowd-uniting celebration.

Interestingly, KORN and STAIND had toured together in 2000, with STAIND then serving as the little-known opening act; I had the pleasure of catching this billing at the Nassau Coliseum. While STAIND played for about 60 minutes and KORN was on-stage for close to 90 minutes, both groups left the crowd wanting more. In other words, while most gigs are likely to leave the crowd feeling satisfied and not needing to see that band again for a while, I would happily see both KORN and STAIND live within the next year, should another area appearance be announced. Fortunately for STAIND fans, frontman Aaron Lewis will be kicking off a solo tour — with full band backing — on October 2, 2021 at the 365 Sports Complex in Inman, Kansas, with announced dates running through mid-December.

More on Aaron Lewis and STAIND — including tour dates — can be found by clicking here, here, here and here, while more on KORN and its members can be found by clicking here, here and here.

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Tags: Jones Beach, Korn, Live Nation, Long Island, Louder Than Life, Louisville, New York, Staind

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."