April 7, 2010 – Photos and Review by: Nadine Swiger

It was WKRL-KRock’s annual “Spring Slam” show, where the station helped its listeners to “Meet Spring With A Slam!” This year they brought in Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, Janus and 2 Cents to the Utica Auditorium in Utica,New York.

Kicking off the night was the Chicago based band, Janus. I was impressed by their cool stage presence, in part because they were all wearing a type of matching “uniform” which gave them a solid, unified look that strongly complimented  their music. They are out in support of their debut album, “Red Right Return.” The title comes from the old nautical saying “Right Right Returning”. It was created to help the captains remember to  navigate right of the buoy when they returned home from their journey to the sea. Janus will be going out on tour with Halestorm and Burn Halo towards the end of the month and into most of May. This summer they will be part of the Rock On The Range festival in Ohio as well as the Rocklahoma Festival.

Up Next was Los Angeles’ own 2 Cents.  They have a 90’s hair band party attitude while playing a modern rock style. Their sound was like good ol’ Rock n Roll; entertaining, enthusiastic and just plain fun. With regards to the serious side of their music, they rocked the house!  They are out on support of their latest album, “Dressed To Kill.”  2 Cents will be playing a few festivals and headlining shows around the USA and then continue on with Korn as part of The Jagermeister Music Tour in May and June.

Five Finger Death Punch was third to take the stage. They have a hard edged “don’t mess with the best” attitude and style, but don’t let that fool you. When singer Ivan saw a young fan on his daddy’s shoulder’s, he asked the crowd to send the boy and his Dad up to the front, where he then proceeded to give the 5 year old and his father a prime seat by the side of the stage.

Not surprisingly, Five Finger Death Punch’s crazy grooves and hooks always gets the crowd massively pumped. Slowing things down for a breif respite from their high energy level octane set, the band closed out the night with their hit single, “The Bleeding.” The fans lit the place up in old school style with actual lighters (instead of the usual cell phone lights) until the tempo of the song switched to a faster tempo which made the crowd go wild. It was a killer way to end the set. They are currently out on tour in support of their latest album, “War Is The Answer”. 5FDP will be doing a few festival dates including “Memphis in May” festival, then hitting the road with Seether, HellYeah, Drowning Pool and Lacuna Coil for the remaining of May. In July and August, they will be hitting the road as part of the Meyhem Festival with Korn, Rob Zombie and Lamb of God.

The sold-out Auditorium went nuts when headliner KoRn took the stage. The floor seats were packed to full and overflowing so that when looking down from above it seemed  like a million maggots seething and swaying side to side. It will be interesting to see KoRn bring their production to the smaller venues and clubs that they are scheduled to play during the ballroom blitzed part of the Jagemeiser music tour. Those lucky enough to get tickets are in for a sweet show. It was nice to hear KoRn play all the old favorites, all though I can’t help but wish that they had played more than one new song off their upcoming ninth studio album release, “Korn III — Remember Who You Are.” The new album will be flooding stores this summer via Roadrunner Recrods. Korn will continue on touring with 2 Cents as they headline The Jagermeister Music Tour in May and June, and the co-headline the Meyhem Festival with Rob Zombie.                                         .

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PHOTO GALLERIES:

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More Information On:

JANUS :

www.janusmusic.com :

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2 CENTS :

www.2centsmusic.com

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FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH :

www.5fdp.com :

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KORN :

www.korn.com