Korn Pops Off at the Canadian Tire Centre

Korn makes Ottawa the first stop on their Canadian tour, with Gojira and Loathe in tow. 

If you were in the Ottawa area on Wednesday, September 17^th and thought you felt some rumbling, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was the sonic vibrations coming from the Canadian Tire Centre hosting a trifecta of metal icons. 

The Canadian leg of Korn’s 2025 tour kicked off in Ottawa and opened with an explosive, high-energy set from Liverpool’s Loathe. Opening with tracks like “Revenant,” “Aggressive Evolution,” and “Dance on my Skin,” they barely stopped for breath until mid-set, when lead Kadeem France told us “It’s a dream come true to be on tour with such incredible bands, bands we grew up listening to.” The metalcore act closed out their set with “Gored,” red lights blaring, and the crowd suitably fired up. 

The audience may have largely been there for Korn, but for my money, Gojira was the highlight of the night. This is a band that excels at technical death metal, and they sounded absolutely 100% on point. Jets of flame and flashing white lights signaled their arrival to the stage, and huge plumes of smoke punctuated the start of “Only Pain.” 

“The Axe” saw the stage bathed in orange light as Joe Duplantier’s vicious guitar riffs and signature growls washed over the pit. The lights turned blood red for “Backbone,” with its thunderous triplicate drumming. I could feel the heat of the flames on my face, even from my seat (which I barely sat in.) 

Up next, “Stranded” featured more of Duplantier’s hypnotic guitar work, and was a touch slower – slower for Gojira, anyways. A whale appeared on screen to mark the start of “Flying Whales,” which was replaced with live video of the band overlayed with a blue filter and jellyfish imagery. Then, lightning cracked across that same screen to kick off a pulse-pounding rendition of “The Cell.” 

Taking a brief breather, drummer Mario Duplantier held up a sign reading “What the fuck is up Ottawa?” before flipping it to ask “Do you want more double kick?” Another sign “Can you handle 5 minutes non stop?” Another flip “Make some noise!” The crowd obliged, and the brothers Duplantier treated us to the bone-rattling “From the Sky,” indeed featuring 5 minutes of non-stop double kick action. 

“Another World” was an adorable little metal ditty about building a rocket and escaping all the shit going on down here on Earth. More fire and more heavy, fast drums and gravel-voiced lyrics for “Silvera.” The lights went red again for “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!),” a song about eating the rich and uniting, which was fairly on-point for the goings on these days. 

The entire arena clapped along for the start of the serpentine “Amazonia,” which closed out Gojira’s set. If you’ve never had the chance to see Gojira live, and you like metal even the tiniest bit, go see them – and thank me later. 

Korn’s set began with the unmistakable opening riffs and guttural “Are you ready?” of “Blind,” which sent the crowd into a frenzy. As the curtain blocking the stage fell away, the arena exploded, the packed house chanting along with Jonathan Davis as he moved into “Twist.” 

The nu-metal legends next hit us with the distorted, static-y energy of “Here to Stay,” with laser lights piercing the darkness. “Got the Life” was driving and electric, the sheer anger and defiance of “Clown” was palpable. Davis took a moment to bask in some cheers before finishing the song off big. 

“Did My Time” had all the signature creeping lyrics full of angst and heavy, shredding guitar of James “Munky” Shaffer that Korn is known for. Speaking of, the long, instrumental opening of “Porno Creep” gave the rest of the band – Shaffer, rhythm guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, bassist Ra Diaz, and drummer Ray Luzier – time to shine. 

Davis returned to the stage, bagpipes in hand to match his black, sparkly kilt for “Shoots and Ladders,” which finished by morphing into a cover of Metallica’s “One.” Green lasers then crisscrossed the stage before Korn launched into the thunderous “Cold.” They followed this up with “Coming Undone,” which also had a snippet of a cover in it, this time Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” 

“Twisted Transistor” was a creeping audio assault, Diaz’s bass work shining especially bright here.  Next up was another big hit, “A.D.I.D.A.S.” which got a huge pop from the crowd. “Dirty” was slower, and felt more personal. Davis ended the set with the one-two punch of “Somebody, Someone” and “Y’all Want a Single.” 

Korn returned for an explosive four song encore, the highlights of which (for me, anyways) were “Falling Away from Me” and the final song, “Freak on a Leash,” which by this point is the traditional way to close out a Korn show. 

As someone who listened to Korn so much in high school I was worried my CD’s would melt, this show really brought back some memories. Davis and the band were in fine form, and I’d wager they’ll continue to Freak for years to come. 

If you want to see if Korn is coming to a city near you visit: https://kornofficial.com/

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