The Bare-Chested Glory Of Pain In The Grass

Pain In The Grass 2017
White River Amphitheatre, Seattle, WA
06.24.17

Leather. It’s exactly what you want when the temps break 90 degrees, which is what happened during KISW 99.9‘s Pain In The Grass 2017. But that didn’t stop throngs of Northwest Nü-metal fans from reliving the early-aughts in bare-chested, leather-skirted, chicken-suited glory. As fourteen bands, everyone from headliners Korn to local acts, filed through two stages, angsty suburban teen dreams were realized. If you ever questioned whether this miraculous fusion of heavy metal and hip-hop was still a thing, this year’s PITG answered with a resounding yes.

There were New Zealand rockers Like A Storm with their didgeridoo, punked-out hair, and stellar screams. And The Pretty Reckless, whose surprisingly mature rock sound continues to impress. Babymetal wowed the crowd with their novelty mix of aggressive metal and school-girl Japanese pop, while Fozzy’s Chris Irvine–aka Chris Jericho to wrestling fans–won everyone over with leather-heavy stage performance.

Stone Sour proved to be quite the treat, Corey Taylor (also of Slipknot) not only un-masking but proving his pudding as an arena-worthy rock vocalist. The confetti guns and head-banging antics certainly didn’t hurt either. And then there was Korn, off the power of what some say is their best album in a decade, 2016’s The Serenity of Suffering. Jonathan Davis–in patterned and pleated skirt–led the misfit crowd through a solid set of strobe-lit, groove-heavy metal that closed the night on dark and stormy note.

Review by Stephanie Dore
Photos by Sunny Martini

Korn