Love them or loathe them, nobody can deny that Limp Bizkit were one of the most massive bands of the nu metal takeover. Their albums and songs dominated the charts, their every gig drew thousands of rapt youngsters ready to raise hell, and Fred Durst’s near-weekly beefs with fellow musicians dominated the music press. However, it wasn’t always that way, and as late as 1997, the rap metal wildmen were still up-and-comers in heavy music.
On July 1 of that year, Limp Bizkit released their debut album, Three Dollar Bill Y’all. Its commercial success was a fraction of what follow-ups Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish… would relish in, with its sole single, Counterfeit, not even charting. The band had to take the music directly to the people, then, and they did just that with a stint on the Warped tour. Those dates were preempted by a rawer expression of Durst et al’s angst – in a car park in Kansas City.
For a spectacle that countless millennials would now kill to see in person, Limp Bizkit played five songs right outside a record shop. The intimate set sees Durst get even more in-your-face than usual, an opening Counterfeit getting him up close to a crowd that, impressively, knows every lyric by heart. Nobody Loves Me, Pollution and Stuck follow, the energy never dipping as hair whips all over the show. Then the band’s cover of George Michael’s Faith closes and telegraphs that, even this close to its release, it was a crowd-unifying anthem. The proof comes when, straight afterwards, onlookers storm the stage and Durst proceeds to demolish John Otto’s drum kit.
In 2024, Limp Bizkit are (sadly, for some) well beyond the car park days. The band are slated to play a host of mammoth festival dates in May and June, then will embark on a headline tour across the States in July and August. Tickets are available now.
