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Thousands see a monster on the shore of Onondaga Lake

Krockathon (Korn, Stone Sour, Skillet, Yelawolf, DED)
Lakeview Amphitheater
Syracuse, NY
July 19, 2017

Korn

Skillet

Stone Sour

Review and photos by Johnny Hall

Syracuse, NY radio station KROCK brought the annual K-Rockathon to the Lakeview Amphitheater. The venue, built on the hillside of Onondaga Lake, was packed with a crowd of over 10,000 concert goers excited to see the monster lineup of alternative bands. The single day festival boasted a lineup of seven bands, with the first taking the stage at 5 pm.

Glen Street, a local band from Utica, NY, opened the night with with their set of hard rock/ alternative rock. The group played a short but energetic set, lasting only 15 minutes they gave the growing crowd a taste of what Utica can offer. The next band up was Red Sun Rising. RSS is a fusion of musical styles, a mash up of electronic, rock, and prog. They proclaim themselves as thread music using the hashtag #wearethread. Red Sun Rising's short set delivered sonic mayhem to the filling Amphitheater.

DED, the Arizona based metal band, is both aggressive and loud. They brought their self described blend of horror, dark imagery, aggression and existentialism. Touring in support for their new album Mis-an-thrope, they played their newest single "Anti-Everything" as well as others from their new record.

The 6:45 slot on the stage was held down by Yelawolf and DJ Klever. The stage was set with only a gold logging chain welded into a mic stand and the front of an early Chevy C10 pick-up truck fashioned to house Klevers turntables. Yelawolf dressed in a ghetto cowboy vest and Amish hat took right to the mic and didn't let up for their whole time on stage. Wolf delivered a set with the passion and a staccato lyric delivery that is reminiscent of Eminem or a solo Beastie Boy.

Skillet rocked the stage next, opening with "Feel Invincible " and "Whispers in the Dark." The band made up of John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Seth Morrison, and Jen Ledger had a massive amount of energy and brought the heat to the stage of an already hot and humid day. The crowd did not even start to wilt under the heat and excitement, but instead started moshing in the pit during crowd favorite, "Monster."

Stone Sour was not to be upstaged. The hard rock group made their way to the stage with frontman Corey Taylor, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, greeting the crowd with "Aloha Mother Fuckers!" And tearing into their song "Taipei Person / Allah Tea." The band then followed with "Made of Scars" and "Say You'll Haunt Me." Stone Sour played almost an hour long set running through songs from their entire catalog of albums. The guys did not let the crowd down, at one point during the show Taylor mentioned the last time he was in Syracuse ( with Slipknot) he had a neck brace and now he was ready to tear it up, and rip it up he did.

Last on the bill was the Bakersfield California band Korn. These veterans of the metal scene opened with "Rotting in Vain" in their traditionally dark lit stage. The stage was so dim it was at times hard to see some of the band. Korn played all of the crowd favorites including "Twist," "Got the Life" and "Shoots and Ladders." The crowd moshed and headbanged their already sweaty bodies into a metal frenzied monster. Korn didn't let them rest, they came back out to the cheers of 10,000 plus people and played a four song encore featuring "Freak on a Leash" as the show stopper.