It’s been eight long years since we first had tickets to see the awesomeness that is Limp Bizkit at Punchestown Racecourse. Unfortunately, the gig was cancelled after lead singer Fred Durst injured his back. Then, soon after, it was announced that Wes Borland (the reason we picked up a guitar) had left the band. To say we were gutted would be the greatest understatement in history. This was the band that got us through the roughest of times in our teenage years, and now we’d never see them live in their original glory. Wes was replaced by a young guitarist named Mike Smith, and even though the band continued to tour and record, it just wasn’t the same without him. That was until Wes rejoined the band late last year and a world tour was announced! Words cannot describe how happy the news made us! We knew we had to get a ticket this time or our fifteen year old selves would never forgive us.
Arriving at the Olympia in Dublin, it was easy to feel the buzz even outside the venue. After grabbing a t-shirt from the merchandise stand (has to be done!) we made our way into the main auditorium where you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. A sea of white t-shirts and red NY caps greeted us and suddenly we were home. This is what we had missed from all those years ago. Soon after we arrived the support started. Psyko Dalek hail from Glasgow, which was made evident by their thick Scottish accents. Their mix of rap/rock hasn’t really been heard since Limp Bizkit’s heyday. We have to admit, we checked them out on Facebook before the show and weren’t really that impressed with the recordings. However, seeing them live is an altogether different experience. They have such an admirable chemistry with each other on stage that gets projected out to the crowd and makes everyone in the place want to bounce or mosh or just plain dance. The best song we heard was either Crank or This is War. Make sure you check out their Facebook page for previews of their upcoming second studio album.
So then, about half an hour later, just after nine o clock, Limp Bizkit walked onstage to the sound of Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We thought it was a nice touch. And then basically we went a bit mental. After nearly dying of disbelief that the one band we thought we’d never see were standing in front of us ready to play, we threw ourselves into the middle of everything. We were greeted with Fred Durst in a Celtics basketball jersey and an Irish flag hung off the amps. It made us feel like they definitely wanted to be there as much as we did. After opening with Trust, a track from second album Significant Other, the guys jumped straight into banging out Rollin’, one of their most recognizable hits from their most successful album to date, ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water’.
Show Me What You Got is a dedication to all the places they’ve been and people they’ve met. The lyrics were altered to include Dublin, which went down well with the crowd. It’ll Be Okay, My Generation and Livin’ It Up got the crowd so worked up that we had to retire to the back to grab some water. Of course then we dove right back in to the main pit, just in time to see Fred appear in the middle of the crowd to sing Eat You Alive, a track off Results May Vary. They followed that with their version of The Who’s classic, Behind Blue Eyes. We’re pretty sure the crowd sang this louder than Fred himself and he even commented on our beautiful singing voices! Take A Look Around which appeared on the soundtrack for Mission Impossible 2, got the crowd jumping again. Break Stuff, My Way, Re-arranged and Nookie were all welcome additions to the set list too that built up the electricity to no end.
After that, the band started to mess around playing the opening bars to a few well known 80s tracks like Ghost Busters and Jump Around by House of Pain (a band DJ Lethal was once a member of), which of course led to their cover of George Michaels 80s hit Faith. This was followed by the opening verse and chorus of Stuck, a track off their first album Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$ which we really appreciated. They closed the show with Hot Dog. A song with lyrics that claim it contains the ‘F word’ 46 times. That’s quite an achievement no?
And so we left the Olympia Theatre exhausted, dehydrated, bruised and covered in not only our own sweat, but 1000 others as well. There is no question in our minds that it was one of the greatest gigs of our life. Fred Durst, Wes Borland, DJ Lethal, John Otto, and Sam Rivers have definitely still got it! With the release of their 6th studio album, Gold Cobra, due out any time now we cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next but for now, a lifelong dream of seeing our idols in the flesh has finally come true and we couldn’t be happier!
One more tune…for the road…!
