Stone Sour, Arenele Romane, 26.06.18

Finally I get a chance to sit down and write about the awesomeness of Stone Sour + Nothing More! It was such a crazy experience that even now, three days later, I am still feeling it in my bones and in my throat. And it was worth every single freaking second!!

The night started with rain. Lots and lots of rain that came after a sunny day right as we were heading to the venue and went on until almost the end of the show. 

Then followed Nothing More, who were just as unexpected as the rain. I had no idea who these guys were, but they were absolutely insane. They were insane, the music was insane, the show was insane… I loved it! I have no idea what they play, they alternated between screams, grunts and an effeminated pop-like voice, they played alternative metal, progressive metal and Skrillex, they sounded like Pain of Salvation at one point and then like Soulfly the other. Like I said, insane. And they built a freaking instrument out of scraps and salvaged parts, which they brought on stage and wiggled on and almost caused the lead singer to fall on his head. Best.Show.Ever! Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but it was great. They had so much fun on stage and they made all of us have just as much fun and in the process they also produced some pretty surprising tunes, especially if we’re going based on first impressions (“barefoot guy in jeans and without a shirt” inspires other types of music, not what we heard the other night). Everyone was very excited, they got half the venue to come out from underneath the giant umbrellas and into the pouring rain and even the people still left under the umbrellas caught the bug and started dancing and singing with them.

Then, some more rain during the break. We were sitting comfortably under one of the umbrellas and my husband was trying to convince me (or maybe himself?) that it’s the perfect spot – we’re sheltered, we can see (more like *I* can see, I’m usually the one with the visual angle problem), we’re next to the sound booth so good sound… All the while I was teasing him that there’s no way he’s going to see Corey from under an umbrella. We didn’t see Corey from under no fucking umbrella! All it took were 3 minutes and we were out in the rain. I guess it took about 10 more minutes to be yelling and headbanging like crazy and of course, be completely soaked, despite of our raincoats. What more could you ask from a metal concert? There’s something magical about live shows in pouring rain, I don’t know if it’s the “breaking of the rules” vibe or completely letting go and not caring about anything else, or the surge of adrenaline that goes through the audience and is transmitted to the band, but it’s always an amazing experience. 

Stone Sour were just as magical on their own, rain or no rain. I think to many of us it was the band of our rebellious teenage years and a gateway into many of the bands we’re listening to nowadays. I remember the time when my husband was trying to get me to like Corey with Through the glass and I thought Vermilion was too aggressive… So there was also a bit of nostalgia, especially during the aforementioned Through the glass, which to this day is kind of “our song”. The setlist was perfect, they played pretty much everything we wanted to hear and it was a good balance between the heartfelt moments and the heavier jump-until-you-drop ones. 

After the pathetic experience of Sonisphere’s Stone Sour (which was pathetic because of the audience, definitely not because of the guys in the band who showed the utmost professionalism), it was good to finally see them get the love and energy they deserved. It was a great atmosphere and I think the band enjoyed it as well. It’s kind of hard to tell with Corey, he seems like the most adorable person on the planet and I can’t imagine him ever showing anything other than love for the audience. For all his yelling and his “motherfuckers”, he’s just so sweet and kind and it’s always a pleasure not only to hear him sing with that unmistakable voice of his and so effortlessly go from screaming his lungs out to having the warmest soothing moments, but also to see him and even hear him speak. He always puts a smile on my face. And of course, A+ for the communication with the audience, he was constantly talking to us and trying to get us involved and he’s such a compelling lead singer you can’t help but love him. 

It was a fabulous show and there was an electrifying vibe in the venue. I guess it’s pretty hard to hear Get inside and just stay still (I wouldn’t know, it’s hard for me to hear anything I like and stay still – I don’t know how things works for people who are harder to get in the mood, but I imagine it takes a dead person to not bounce around and generally be excited about these guys). I want to say more because it was awesome, but I realise I’m just repeating myself about the awesome level of awesomeness and how awesome was the generally-awesome Corey Taylor, so I’m just going to shut up now. It was a good show!