WETROC STUDIOS, SACRAMENTO
Papa Roach’s live-stream is a healing experience
Jacoby Shaddix gives Infest’s 20th anniversary a positive boost
PAPA ROACH MAY have survived the nu metal boom, but tonight fans worldwide are being encouraged to open up their respective living rooms and embrace the nostalgia of that bygone baggy-pants era. Beaming live from a Sacramento studio due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the band’s second live-streaming experience, a special virtually ticketed broadcast called INFEST IN-Studio, is continuing the celebration of breakthrough album Infest - which hit its 20th anniversary milestone back in April - with all 12 tracks being performed in their full, headbanging glory.
Sofas across the globe are undoubtedly obliterated as the insatiable clamour of the title track and quintessential banger Last Resort (the latter of which burns with the same vitriolic fire of two decades ago) fully erupt. It’s perhaps the effects of quarantine, but vocalist Jacoby Shaddix seems to have so much energy his body can’t expel it fast enough, and only a cynic with a heart of stone could fail to be moved by his infectious positivity. It’s consistently fun, with throat-shredding renditions of Dead Cell, Blood Brothers and the hip hop-inflected Snakes sandwiched between pockets of band camaraderie and reminiscing, although the anthemic nature of tracks like Broken Home and Binge mask a genuine darkness that refers to Jacoby’s well-publicised battles with depression and alcoholism. Not that he’s afraid to address it. His emotional plea to those watching (“Remember, if you’re struggling there is a way out”) proves the weightiest moment of the night.