The only number that works is вЂњHollow LifeвЂќ, which has been played in an acoustic rendition since the Family Values Tour last year anyway, so it would be inexcusable if it was anything less than gloomy and haunting by now. Even their medley (вЂњMake Me Bad / In Between DaysвЂќ) with the Cure reeks of wasted opportunity - all Robert Smith gets to do is whine вЂњmake me badвЂќ at the end of each line (except in his dejected British accent, so it comes out вЂњmake me bahвЂќ), then he sings his own song and leaves. Their eyebrow-raising cover of RadioheadвЂ™s вЂњCreepвЂќ is done without Thom YorkeвЂ™s confused emotions, and so Korn play it with resignation. вЂњLove SongвЂќ and вЂњThrow Me AwayвЂќ from their latest studio album, See You on the Other Side, are slowed down and balladized up to (im)perfection, and further marred by DavisвЂ™ refusal to use his pained scream, making his way through in a mumbled whisper instead. Worse, the scat, still the songвЂ™s best bit, is left out altogether. вЂњFreak on a LeashвЂќ is warped into a mopey piano duet featuring Amy Lee, who applies her over-dramatic, over-enunciating swoon to every second line and a cringeworthy chorus where they sing together: their voices donвЂ™t match at all, and this has been done before with Seether. Suicide song вЂњFalling Away From MeвЂќвЂ™s piercing riff doesnвЂ™t sound eerie or unnerving anymore, just comical, especially as its put to slow death over light piano chords.

We should doubtless be thankful this is the only cut taken from their masterpiece debut, still a swirling coil of pure, undisguised anger, as none of the others could possibly have survived such utter mutilation as this. The rage and menacing guitar lines have been sapped into a folky, bouncy, happy tune. ThereвЂ™s no better example of this than on вЂњBlindвЂќ. Chester Bennington is in the audience, learning how Linkin Park can do the same thing in a few years time, and Jonathan Davis himself, not a great singer in the first place, but able to wring his roars with testosterone-fuelled emotion when he chooses to, is exposed as woefully thin and grating in this setting. On the up side, вЂњFieldyвЂќ can still squeeze his stringy bass sound into an acoustic bass, but possibly worst of all is the tin-can drumming, omnipresent and impossible to ignore. ItвЂ™s saying something about a band when keyboardist Zac Baird, вЂsession memberвЂ™, gets more attention than the bandвЂ™s guitarist, James вЂњMunkyвЂќ Shaffer, who plays a few notes throughout the whole thing and must have looked bored out of his mind.

Here, itвЂ™s replaced with piano and the violin or cello arrangement, and you have to wonder if the band is actually trying to be aesthetically pleasing. That, and the absence of their downtuned guitar assault.

Taking the anger out of Korn, as this show does, makes them look both limp and pitiful. The tortured music theyвЂ™ve crafted for over ten years now is of more importance than their talent, their musicianship, and the members behind it. There have been a few exceptions, Nirvana and Alice in Chains coming to mind first here, and Korn wants to join them with their own performance, but just canвЂ™t. When it comes to the rock band, itвЂ™s no secret that MTV Unplugged can be sometimes nothing more than old men getting out acoustics to show that they can play them. No one can deny itвЂ™s an interesting idea, if done well, to show that the veterans of angry music are serious about their evolution, and it must be acknowledged that Korn can do it live: last yearвЂ™s Live & Rare proved that. This tactic has worked, to an extent, in KornвЂ™s favor, keeping their heads above the water while bands like Limp Bizkit crashed and burned ( The Unquestionable Truth, anyone?), and as the band started to turn their maturity obsession towards the acoustic guitar in another attempt to broaden their audience, we should have guessed it would be inevitable they would eventually go and give us an MTV Unplugged. Frontman Jonathan Davis is now 36 parental angst is probably no longer ideal for someone of that age. Since the departure of Brian вЂњHeadвЂќ Welch to Christianity, the band has desperately been trying to mature and outgrow the nГј-metal stereotype they were until then credited with, perhaps realizing that they need to have something to show for the fact theyвЂ™re getting older too. Over the last few years, the members of Korn must have had something of a guilty conscience.

Korn unplugged