Alcatraz Line up: 2018

Nu-metal is back with a vengeance. Just last year Korn conquered the Alcatraz prison grounds on the first sold out day of the festival’s ten-year history. It was an unforgettable experience for 10,000 visitors with a vintage performance by Jonathan Davis & Co to round off the day’s festivities. This year we’re welcoming Limp Bizkit, another nu-metal dinosaur that defies the notion that the genre was strictly a turn-of-the-millennium phenomenon. They couldn’t be more right, of course. In addition to the (renewed) success of bands like Slipknot, System of a Down or Papa Roach there’s also the influence the genre has had on up-and-coming bands such as Bring Me the Horizon, While She Sleeps or Bury Tomorrow. Nu-metal put an end to the pigeonholing that used to be rampant in the metal scene. Slightly older metalheads have evolved with the times and now check out the young bands their progeny are into; conversely, it’s rewarding for metal moms and dads when their children show their appreciation for the metal they grew up with. More and more, the new generation is finding its way to concerts of AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Judas Priest, Metallica, Iron Maiden or Slayer. As a result, the fusion of rap and rock/metal is no longer an issue nowadays. Genre boundaries have lost their relevance and that’s a good thing. Limp Bizkit never bothered with genre boundaries. In 1999 the band around singer Fred Durst dropped a bombshell with their sophomore album 'Significant Other', which included hits like ‘Nookie’. Meanwhile the Florida sons have sold upwards of 50 million albums and the Spotify rankings tell us that they remain extremely popular today. They are also a formidable live act and in recent years Limp Bizkit has silenced the critics with killer sets. Consisting of drummer John Otto, bassist Sam Rivers, DJ Lethal, eccentric master guitarist Wes Borland and controversial frontman Fred Durst, the band has been serving up an explosive cocktail of groovy riffs and blistering raps that leaves no one untouched. Hold on to your hats because hits like ‘My Way’, ‘Rollin’’, ‘My Generation’, ‘Nookie’, ‘Break Stuff’, ‘Take a Look Around’, the George Michael-cover ‘Faith’ and ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ – a The Who cover of course – will shake the Alcatraz prison walls to their foundations. If only we could fly!