Portland Memorial Coliseum

Korn 11/18/02

Disturbed was opening for Korn on this tour and it is the humble opinion of the author that Disturbed blew Korn off the stage on this night. They had just released the album Believe a few months prior and tore through much of it without stopping to take a breath. Maybe they knew they had to bring it having Korn follow them, maybe they hit a stride around this time, maybe it had something to do with the new album or maybe Korn just had an off night. Whatever it was the band was tight. I do remember at some point David Draiman explaining the artwork on the cover of Believe as a combination of four religious symbols that represent the faiths that span this globe and how every major conflict the world has seen has erupted because of differences in belief.

Korn was touring for the album Untouchables that had come out in June of this year. As stated before they were just out-rocked on this night. I still enjoyed it because Korn is one of my favorites but it was just a little disappointing. This was my third time seeing them. One highlight I do remember is them playing “Here to Stay,” which has one of the heaviest riffs I have ever heard.

Incubus 4/11/02

It had been about a year and a half since I last saw Incubus and about six months since the release of their stellar album Morning View. This trip to the Memorial Coliseum was the familiar lineup of Lucinda and I. We lucked out because this was the very first stop of the tour. They were fresh and down to play many of the new songs (which was alright by me). The opening band was Hoobastank, which I thought ironic because my ears always processed Hoobastank as a shittier version of Incubus. That set aside the selection of songs had me beside myself in pure bliss.

SETLIST: Circles, Nice To Know You, Stellar, Glass, Wish You Were Here, Warning, Vitamin, Make Yourself, Echo, Mexico, Pardon Me, New Skin, Privilege, Are You In?, Just a Phase, Nowhere Fast, Drive, A Certain Shade of Green, The Warmth, Aqueous Transmission

Clutch 12/6/01

Clutch is back in town almost a year to the day after I had last seen them. Their album Pure Rock Fury had come out mid-March so they decided to stop in Portland again. The setlist was heavily geared toward promotion of the new album, as I believe they only played one song from their other four albums combined. Other than that there was not too much to report from this show.

Tool 11/6/01

Honestly, I don’t remember a great deal about this particular show. I do know that Lucinda was finally able to see what the fuss was about this time and that it was my fourth Tool experience. I also know my friend Joe drove down from Pullman, WA with his then girlfriend Kristy and had a completely different experience than us because he had different seats and dropped acid. We all met up at Joe’s hotel right across the street from Portland Memorial Coliseum for a beer before the show but didn’t see each other again that night. I think my lapse of memory is probably due to the show being much like the prior one I saw but minus the intimacy of the venue.

Snowball 12/8/99

Apparently Filter and Bush played but I only really remember the Foo Fighters because I had never seen them before. I became an immediate fan simply based on Dave Grohl being in Nirvana but actually liked the music too. Dave Grohl is a badass and he kicked a lot of ass that night. They were on tour for the recently released There Is Nothing Left to Lose album. One memorable moment was when Dave said “I’m gonna sing this next song to Taylor” and played whatever song it was just facing Taylor Hawkins but the highlight was when Dave got behind the drum kit himself. He just went nuts and reminded everyone just how talented he is.

This was an interesting show for me because of my love life. I was hired on for the holiday season at a retail store called Meier & Frank. Working in a four level retail store at the mall was a wonderful way to meet women. The problem was that I was not interested in any of the girls that outwardly showed interest in me. I worked as a “floater,” which meant I didn’t know what department I was going to work in until I showed up for work. One day I was assigned to Men’s Sportswear and that’s when I saw her. An angelic, sweet, and innocent looking girl named Lucinda. I couldn’t stop looking at her but she wanted nothing to do with me. A day shortly after I was assigned to a department that was right next to Men’s Sportswear and I happened to work with a girl named Robin, who happened to be Lucinda’s best friend. Turns out Lucinda had a boyfriend. Not that long after she broke up with him and invited me to her birthday party. It was at Robin’s apartment, which happened to be in the same building as Lucinda’s apartment. You get where I’m going with this. I previously agreed to go to this concert with Rose but had since fallen for Lucinda harder than any girl I had ever fallen for. Rose’s friend Tyler worked at the Memorial Coliseum and I remember not really wanting him to see me there with another girl because I really wasn’t trying to be with Rose at that point.

SETLIST: Stacked Actors, My Poor Brain, Breakout, Learn to Fly, Up in Arms, Ain’t it the Life, Monkey Wrench, Alone + Easy Target, Everlong, Aurora, This is a Call, I’ll Stick Around

Korn/Rob Zombie 4/10/99

So I finally got to see Korn! If you’ve been paying attention then you should remember how important this was. Roscoe and I drove down to Portland to meet up with Rose and her brother Jason. I remember being kind of drunk on Rum 151 going into this show. We had floor tickets and Rob Zombie opened with his newly reassembled band, after having divorced his bandmates in White Zombie, going solo and releasing Hellbilly Deluxe. All I remember about Zombie is his pyrotechnics were insane and he had a huge robot come on stage with him at some point. Korn came out and ripped me a new one. The thrill of finally seeing them for the first time and being drunk turned out to be the perfect mixture. They were still on tour for the album that finally broke through to the mainstream, Follow the Leader.

KORN SETLIST: Blind, Need To (Alive), Twist/Chi, Freak on a Leash, A.D.I.D.A.S., Lowrider/Shoots & Ladders, Shot Liver Medley (featuring Justin, Engine No. 9, Ball Tongue, Divine, Proud), Kill You, It’s On, Got the Life, Dead Bodies Everywhere, My Gift to You, Faget, Earache My Eye

Rock N Roll Recollections

Fuzzy recollections of bands that rocked my world