July 28, 2003
Fred Durst is at it again!
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a passionate hate for Fred Durst. I feel that Fred himself is a lying, cheating, media whore, thief who has nothing better to do than make others look bad while trying to make himself look good.
By now we all know about the infamous "Guitar Center Scam" in which Fred and his crew ripped off the original material from thousands of kids across the America. It would only be right that I crack a huge smile when I see him throw temper tantrums in front of thousands of on lookers.
A message to Fred ..... You are nothing without Wes Borland. You know it and so does the world. Please do us all a favor and quit while you're ahead.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/rock/cst-ftr-metal28.html
Metallica's righteous 'Anger' tops crumbling Bizkit
July 28, 2003
BY ANDERS SMITH LINDALL
Metallica is nothing if not tough. The metal veterans endured everything from alcohol rehab to litigation and a lineup change before emerging with their new album, "St. Anger." So it's no surprise that even a memorable meltdown by openers Limp Bizkit failed to derail the band's triumphant return to the local stage.
Tens of thousands of fans paid $75 apiece to attend Saturday's daylong event at the defunct Hawthorne horse track in Stickney, and Metallica responded with a performance worth every penny. The quartet's set featured a raft of churning hits, stellar showmanship and masterful use of the super-sized stage, replete with showy lighting, four huge video screens and well-placed pyrotechnics.
The metaphorical fireworks started much earlier, however, when heckling fans induced a profane tantrum from Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and the band quit playing after just 20 minutes.
It was easy to predict a rough reception for the rap-rock has-beens when a significant segment of the crowd booed a mention of the band by previous openers Linkin Park. When Limp Bizkit actually appeared around 7 o'clock, the boos intensified, and some fans pelted the stage with garbage.
The famously brainless Durst only fanned the flames, first encouraging the catcalls and flying trash, then swerving into a bizarre tirade against the crowd and city. Ranting that he'd fight anyone in earshot and spluttering explicit sexual putdowns, uncreative curses and ludicrous homophobic slurs, Durst simply self-destructed. Had the villain in "The Wizard of Oz" been a vile little boob like Durst rather than a snarly old lady in greenface, the movie's "I'm melting!" scene might have looked like this.
The crowd, perhaps stunned, calmed down, and Limp Bizkit played a few more songs (including a sarcastic, gay-bashing cover of George Michael's "Faith" with potty-mouth lyrics that would embarrass a fourth-grader). But then the band left the stage and Durst resumed his vulgar invective from the wings until, mercifully, he was relieved of the microphone.
The aborted set left fans to wait more than 90 minutes for Metallica, but the mood never turned ugly--maybe because a lengthy delay was better than suffering through any more Limp Bizkit.
The pause also provided time to ponder Metallica's recent trials. In just the last three years the band has hired a new bassist (Ozzy alumnus Robert Trujillo), sued Napster and attacked its own file-sharing fans, and made its first all-new studio album since 1996. Maybe most significantly, frontman Jason Hetfield sobered up, and the regrouped band's aggressive "St. Anger"--though met with some complaints about its lack of guitar solos and its lyrics that occasionally lapse into psychobabble ("I want my anger to be healthy")--debuted in June atop the charts.
Any lingering doubts about the band's vitality were blown away by its performance. Hetfield looked trim and sounded hale, roaring through "Master of Puppets" as he roamed the monstrous stage. Dynamo drummer Lars Ulrich infused "Harvester of Sorrow" with eye-popping intensity while guitar star Kirk Hammett launched the first of several showy solos. And the imposing Trujillo proved he's been welcomed with open arms: He leaned into Hetfield during a fiery jam at the end of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," and Hetfield happily cackled.
The old soldiers played their new tunes "Frantic" and "St. Anger" with power and purpose, and Hetfield even joked that "No Remorse" dated to 1918 (actually '83), but it was the vintage hits--like a long, potent jam on "Seek and Destroy"--that made Metallica's convincing claim for best big rock show in Chicago this summer.