Last Sunday saw the return Family Values Tour to Saint Louis. The tour was laden with popular rock acts, boasting Staind, Filter, Korn and the headliner, Limp Bizkit. Crystal Method brought along their unique musical skills to help diversify the show.
As fans poured into the Kiel Center hours before the show, there was an array of activities to keep them busy. Extreme Radio 104.1 and The Point 105.7 both had booths set up with their vans blasting music and broadcasting to their respective stations. Sega had their latest innovation, the Dreamcast, set up for demonstrations and testing. For those fans who went directly to their seats, the video screen above the stage was attached to a Dreamcast and allowed for a huge demonstration of the Dreamcast’s exceptional graphics.
A little after 7:00 p.m. the show started with Staind performing several of their songs. They played for about 45 minutes before giving way to Crystal Method.
The Crystal Method delivered a fantastic light and sound show, but the sound didn’t really excite by the crowd. Then out of nowhere Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, appeared in the middle of the ground level and began to spit a few rhymes. The crowd reacted instantly and congregated towards Bizkit’s front man. The Crystal Method finished their set and made way for the next act.
During the interlude, the video screen showed various music videos from the groups included on tour and different promotional movies for upcoming albums. The highlight was the new Limp Bizkit video, “n 2 Gether Now”, with Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan. The video for “n 2 Gether Now” is a continuation of Limp Bizkit’s recent fan favorite, “Rearranged.”
After the stage was set up and the curtains were opened, the crowd went into a frenzy. Korn had arrived. The founders of the tour went into their set with a vengeance. Lead singer Jonathan Davis was in prime form, wearing his customary black and silver kilt. The crowd that had seemed bored by the Crystal Method erupted into a moshing frenzy as Korn performed their recent hits, “Got the Life” and “Freak On a Leash.” After what seemed like a very short set, Korn finished their performance by dropping a banner promoting their new album, “Issues,” due out the second week of November.
With their lights flashing and fire canisters spewing, Filter was ready to follow up Korn. Filter rocked the Kiel, however, the crowd seemed tired after moshing through Korn’s entire act. Filter tried to get the crowd back to moshing, but to no avail. Everyone was waiting for the headliner.
As the crowd waited for the stage to be set, there was energy pulsing through the crowd at the Kiel. It ran from the floor all the way to the cheap seats. Every ear was tuned to the stage, just waiting for the tests to stop and the curtains to be drawn. The crowd sensed it and rose to its feet, the curtain was drawn, and there stood Limp Bizkit.
Limp Bizkit put on an incredible show. They varied their material very well and jumped back and forth from their first and second albums. After performing for over an hour, the group finished with “Nookie.” As Durst broke into the lyrics, four canisters shot confetti and streamers into the air and onto the crowd. The inside of the Kiel lookalike Hero’s canyon in Manhattan after a Yankees’ World Series championship.
Family Values was a great show. It should be interesting to see what comes from Family Values in the new millennium.
