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Family Values Tour 1998

During the launch of the commercial "Follow The Leader," Korn invents Family Values, a touring festival that barrels across America to the sound of crossover, nu metal, industrial, rap-rock, and more.

Bands accompanying Korn: the Limp Bizkit in their primordial state when they still played decently (the times of "Three Dollar...", essentially), the Rammstein, strongholds of Teutonic industrial metal, the Orgy, a band that blends Pop/Rock, Death, and a certain 80's new wave beloved by Jonathan Davis, rapper Ice Cube (ex-NWA) and later, replacing Ice Cube, the Californians Incubus—the ones of the beautiful "S.C.I.E.N.Z.E" and not those of the recent shift to traditional rock. Let's remember that Rob Zombie (former White Zombie) was also supposed to be part of the lineup but withdrew due to Ice Cube's presence; indeed, seeing a rapper on an overwhelmingly crossover metal bill is humorous. At the end of the successful tour, Korn decides to leave a testimony of that experience and releases this live "Family Values Tour 1998" in '99.

The distribution of songs is obviously not democratic, because the hosts (Korn) have 4 tracks (including a broad medley), 3 for Limp Bizkit, Orgy, and Ice Cube, and 1 each for Rammstein and Incubus. The interludes between the songs performed by DJ C-Minus, unknown to me, are irritating; anyway, they're rubbish and eagerly skipped. The show starts with Incubus, who offer their "New Skin," obviously from "S.C.I.E.N.Z.E," their masterpiece, an excellent mix, therefore, of funk, rock, metal, and electronics, approved! The Orgy gives us "Dissension," "Gender," and "Blue Monday," their way of doing crossover seemed very confusing to me, transitioning from the typical NIN industrial to some pop/dance, and then they seem weak live, rejected! "Mr. Backwards Cap" Fred Durst and his Limp Bizkit arrive on the eighth track, bringing only "Cambodia," decent, but the hit is the cover of "Faith," from "Three Dollar..." which drives the audience wild live; the other cover is "Jump Around" by House Of Pain, the group where their DJ, Lethal, played. It actually seems more like a crazy circus than a band, but they're approved; their live vibe was still genuine here.

The album starts to falter with Ice Cube and his combat rap. Honestly, I don’t understand how someone listening to Korn could enjoy these three rap tracks ("Check Yo Self," "Natural Born Killaz," "Straight Outta Compton/Fuck Tha Police"), and indeed I reject it, not because he's not skilled in his genre, but because raw rap like Ice Cube's disgusts me! You start to wonder where the metal music is, and here comes the industrial sound of Rammstein, destined to be "the new Ministry," as Jonathan Davis declared. Unfortunately, they have little time on the disc, and only "Du Hast" is featured, where the band confirms the abilities of their beginnings (abilities that faded with commercial success). Drum roll, and on track 18, the tour headliners, Korn, appear, with a long medley summarizing songs like the legendary "Shoots And Ladders," "Justin," "Predictable," "Ball Tongue," "Divine," and the psychotic and angry "Kill You" from "Life Is Peachy.” This medley is very enjoyable, as are other songs like the classic "Freak On A Leash," the mini-medley between "Twist" and "Chi," and finally the groove rock of "Got The Life." Of course, other classics of the band are missing, but most of all the beautiful "Blind" (though it's present on the videocassette).

This live compilation also has a VHS version. "Family Values Tour 1998" is a decent collection of live songs from bands at the peak of their career at the end of the '90s, but it also has flaws, like the bad interludes and the wrong choice of song distribution (and the presence of Ice Cube). Nonetheless, it is above average and can be enjoyable for fans of Korn, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Orgy, and Incubus.