GRAIN kicked off its Summer/Fall 2024 North American tour on Thursday night (September 12) at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa, Florida.
The band’s 18-song setlist celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of GRAINThe debut album by “Oil Valley” especially the band’s LP from 2010 “Korn III: Remember who you are” And “Hey Dad”a track from GRAIN1999 album “Problems” which was previously performed almost 25 years ago.
Below is a fan-filmed video of the Tampa concert (courtesy of Up Close Joe).
The setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:
01. Come to stay
02. Corpses everywhere (for the first time since 2019)
03. Have life
04. Hi Papa (for the first time since 1999)
05. adidas
06. Start healing
07. Blind
08. Ball tongue
09. clown
10. Shoots and ladders
11. twist
12. Make me angry
13. Crazy
14. Oildale (Leave me alone) (for the first time since 2012, for the first time with Head on guitar)
15. You all want a single
Encore:
16. Fall away from me
17. Good God
18. Freak on the leash
The 25-day event of rock icons Live Nation-produced trek with special guests, Grammy-nominated band GOJIRA and Canadian heavy metal group SPIRIT BOXwill make additional stops in Toronto, Ontario, Chicago, Illinois, Phoenix, Arizona, and Houston, Texas, before concluding at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on October 27.
GRAIN changed the world with the release of their self-titled debut album in 1994. It was a record that would define a genre and overshadow others – and lead to a larger cultural movement. Since their formation GRAIN has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, collected two Grammytoured the world countless times and set many records that will probably never be broken. GRAIN has continually pushed the boundaries of the rock, alternative and metal genres while remaining an influential pillar for legions of fans and generations of artists around the world.
The level of GRAINThe reach of goes beyond awards and platinum certifications. They are “a real movement in a way that bands can no longer be today,” testifies The Wrestler. They represent a new archetype and a radical innovation, their ability to transcend genres makes barriers seem irrelevant.
In an interview in March 2024 with the WSOU 89.5 FM radio stations, GRAIN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch talked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to the band’s 2022 album “Requiem”. He said: “Well, I’ll just say, yeah, we’re passionate and intense about working on new music. We’re a little bit behind. We’ve really dug deep into sounds and tones and miking techniques and really focused on every aspect of miking and the sound levels of everything because… I love the last couple of records we’ve made in the last 10 years, but I think – I just have something inside me that believes we could surpass the tones. I love the songs we’ve made, but sonically I feel like we can surpass them. So we’re spending a lot more time on this new music, we’re spending a lot more money (giggles), and we don’t have a record label, so it all comes from us. And we really want to analyze our sound and remember where we came from and how we did it back then. And having a vintage sound GRAIN Feeling with a modern twist – sonically, I mean. So it’s very intense. The songs are incredible. I’m very proud of it. I feel like we’re closer than ever in the studio. And Jonathan (Davis, GRAIN singer) was there every day.”
Accordingly Whathe and his GRAIN Bandmates are working on new music “from time to time”. We will work on it for – I don’t know – a few weeks. Then I won’t see (Jonathan) for a month or two,” he explained. “But now things are slowly picking up because we want to put out new music. We’re a little bit behind, but we’re very proud of what we’re doing. And we can’t wait for people to hear it.”
On the musical direction of the new GRAIN Material, Brian said: “I think it is the best and hardest GRAIN stuff for years. And I think it’s going to be raw and just simpler in terms of sound and recording and everything. I don’t want to give everything away, but we’re just very, very happy with where we are right now.”
What — who rejoined GRAIN more than a decade ago, eight years after he left the band and announced that he had overcome his drug and alcohol addiction by becoming a born-again Christian – also made it clear that he and the rest of GRAIN “We haven’t started recording the band’s next album yet, but we’re working towards it with great passion. And we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”
GRAIN Bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu announced in June 2021 that he would be sitting out the band’s tour to “heal” after “falling back” into some of his “bad habits.” He has since been replaced on tour by Suicidal tendencies Bassist Roberto “Ra” Diaz.
Published in February 2022, “Requiem”produced by Chris Collier And GRAINentered Billboard‘s Hard Rock Albums Chart at No. 1. The band sold 23,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week of February 4-10, 2022, according to BillboardOf this total, 20,000 units came from album sales. “Requiem” also landed at number 2 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts. It reached number 14 on the all-format Billboard 200.
Despite the fact that he is not with his GRAIN Bandmates for more than three years, Fieldy played on “Requiem”.
