Korn had to rely on their celebrity friends to go ahead with their set at the Download Festival this weekend, when frontman Jonathan Davis had to pull out of the proceedings because of an un-specified illness. Despite Davis being hopsitalised at the last minute, the rest of his band still took to the stage on Saturday night, relying on singers from other bands appearing at the rock fest to fill in on vocal duties. According to the NME, the guest singers were as follows:
'Its On' (with Jesse Hasek from 10 Years)
'Falling Away' (with M Shadow from Avenged Sevenfold)
'Somebody' (with Dez Fafara from Devildriver)
'Coming Undone' (with Dez Fafara from 'Devildriver')
'A.D.I.D.A.S.' (with Benji Webbe from Skindred)
'Clown' (with Corey Taylor from Stone Sour)
'Freak' (with Corey Taylor from Stone Sour)
'Blind' (with Matt Healy from Trivium)
The last minute fill-in arrangement was similar to what happened to Metallica at last year's Download festival, when drummer Lars Ulrich had to pull out at the last minute, again due to an unspecified illness. Then Joey Jordison of Slipknot and Slayer's Dave Lombardo stood up to help the headliners go ahead with their set. The similarities between Metallica and Korn's predicaments had led to some rumours around the Download festival on Saturday afternoon that Metallica's James Hetfield might provide vocals for some of Korn's set, but alas that wasn't to happen.
Meanwhile, in kind of related news, the NME asked Ulrich, who made it to Download this year, about last year's "mystery illness". He responded thus: "Somebody asked me if it was true that my wife caught me with two prostitutes and an 8ball (of cocaine). But that's actually not what happened. What happened was I caught my wife with two prostitutes and an 8ball. And she wouldn't fucking let me join them! I got all hot and bothered and I didn't make it". So that's that cleared up. On playing Download at Donington this time round, Ulrich continued: "This is ground zero. This is the shit, it's the place you want to be if you're in a rock band. This is the only show I get nervous for. I got fucking terrified. I'll have to take a Xanax or something!"