On Tuesday night Sacramento’s own Arco Arena was blessed with a healthy dose of head thrashing sounds presented by the Bakersfield four-some Korn. People came from all over to enjoy heavy metal, mohawks and marijuana.

That’s right, marijuana. The concert at Arco Arena attracted more drug-users than a Kaiser pharmacy.

Although the smell was horrid, the bands, as well as the people who attended the concert were entertaining.

The opening bands for Korn were Mudvayne and 10 years. Mudvayne had a lot of fans with their hit single, “Determined” which was nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy this year. They ended up losing to former tour-mates, Slipknot.

Toni Chan, a self-proclaimed “hardcore” Mudvayne fan from northern California, was very impressed with their performance as an opening act for Korn.

“I love their live music. I can’t imagine a day when I won’t come to their concerts,” Chan said.

The band 10 years was decent, though their fan base was not impressive. Most people skipped their performance and came later.

Although they’re all considered “heavy metal,” Korn’s performance seemed to overshadow the opening acts because of their obvious popularity and the immediate volume increase.

Heavy metal concerts are like no other concert. If you’d like to keep your hearing intact past the age of 40, earplugs are a necessity to many who attend. “You’ve got to wear ear plugs or your ears will hurt tomorrow,” Chan said.

There are those people, however, who have adapted to the volume.

Ana Carcache of San Francisco has been following the Korn tour around the west coast to concerts in Bakersfield, Reno, San Jose, Vegas, San Diego and Long Beach.

“Their best concert was the San Diego Christmas concert. The place was so small and intimate, only 1500 people,” said Carcache.

At Arco Arena, however, the ushers’ unanimous estimate was around 10,000 people.

And my estimate was that 5,000 of those people were on some kind of illegal substance. From alcohol to marijuana to cocaine- it was in plain view for everyone to see.

From the parking lot to the seats, there were people snorting, drinking and smoking. The 55-year-old woman to my left hand-rolled and smoked three joints throughout the duration of the concert. The kids in front of me were basically having intercourse in their seats. A girl nearby had what looked like “dandruff” on her nose and dilated pupils.

“It’s just the scene,” said Chan.

For the people who are used to the heavy metal concert scene, it is probably completely normal. To those of us first-timers, it seemed to detract from the music.

I guess it’s hard to concentrate on anything while inadvertently getting a contact high from the pot smoking elderly.

Lauren King can be reached at [email protected].