ROCK N ROLL EXPERIENCE - Stone Sour - 4/10/07
April 10, 2007
Ram's Head Live
Baltimore, Maryland
Corey Taylor & Jim Root are best known for their work in the 9 headed monster known as Slipknot, but their side project, Stone Sour has been doing some great business over the past few years, & while Slipknot are on hiatus, Jim & Corey are out on the road to promote the bands 2nd full length Roadrunner release. I heard Corey Taylor on local radio station 98 Rock a few hours before the show & Corey is an interesting character...he's really animated, full of life, kinda perverted, & funny as hell! Corey got into a puch-up match with the radio DJ & of course Mr. Taylor won while the Benny Hill theme was played in the background!
Anyways, flash forward to 7 PM, & the doors opened to the the sold out crowd at the Ram's Head Live, & the crowd was pretty interesting...there was alot of the Slipknot Maggots there, but there was actually more straight-up rock fans there that wanted to see a good hard rock show! Local Jager-sponsored band Of Broken opened the show about 30 minutes after doors opened & they played about 20 minutes...their set was ok, but their sound was limited & they didn't get much of the stage, but for what they had to work with, I think they did great!
Lacuna Coil were 2nd on the bill & they played a set that was about 35 minutes, & Lacuna Coil were really the band that seemed a little odd on the bill, but we all know that James Root probably had a huge part in the band being on the bill since his gf is the bands lead singer! I can't say anything bad about Lacuna Coil..their set was short, they came out, did their thing & rocked hard! My favorite moment of their set was when their bass player was playing around with me & gave me the finger...check out the pic..I posted it in this review!
Shadow's Fall played next, & it's impossible to miss singer Brian's dreads, which swing around like rotted vines, but look cool as hell! I've always said that the true power behind Shadow's Fall is their guitar work...their guitarists are freakin' excellent & out of all the bands, Shadow's Fall were clearly the most metal of the night! "Destroyer of Senses" was the personal highlight for me!
It was clear that the crowd was ready for Stone Sour by this point, & the down-time between sets was relatively short, & the packed house got what they came for in a relatively fast time period, because Stone Sour came out & just nailed every song from the beginning till the end! Corey Taylor came out with his newly shorn locks, looking more like the singer from Eve 6 in the face than the monster/masked lead screamer for Slipknot & I must admit too that he has some interesting tattoo's! Honestly, the guy that just captivated me was James Root....I'm not sure why he changes his name from band to band, because in Slipknot he is called Jim Root & in Stone Sour he's James Root, but anywho, Mr. Root is a bundle of raw energy & power & he's got an interesting guitar rig too! Root plays custom Telecaster's for the most part & even though he doesn't wear a mask onstage, his long shaggy hair covers his shy face throughout most of the set.
In the middle of the set, Corey did a solo set that was just Mr. Taylor & his guitar...he opened with a cover of Chris Issac's "Wicked Game" that was simply beautiful, then he played "Bother" & then the surprise moment of the show...he did a cover of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd! Corey proclaimed that a little Skynyrd makes everything better, & the entire crowd seemed happy with the cover, & then someone yelled "Freebird" & Corey yelled, "No way in fucking hell am I playing Freebird!" Corey still has his Slipknot moves in tact & he still gives the crowd the middle finger, he still throws bottles of water, but the big difference between Slipknot & Stone Sour is that there's NO boundaried with Stone Sour & Stone Sour can literally play anytime of rock music, whereas the Knot is slightly limited to blood heavy stuff!
Anyways, the band closed their show with "Get Inside" & thus, everything must end @ some point, & this Jagermeister tour was actually one of the finest rock show's I've seen all year..it was simply great from beginning till the very end! I wanna address a little situation that happened at the show too before I end this review....I was confronted by an individual who runs a web site like mine, & supposedly publishes a zine, although no one has really ever seen it...said individual went on to say to my face, "I can't stand you...I HATE you!" & had this very negative attitude...I'm sure he probably reads my stuff & checks out this site since he seems to be so obsessed with me, & I just wanna say, look dude, life's short...ease up, have a fun time & enjoy yourself...hostility is retarded & it's no way to live...being pissed all the time is dumb...you didn't create the internet, nor rock magazines so get over it! All the websites & media people in the area are friendly & we all do our own thing...no one is stepping on anyone's toes & we all like each other, so to carry some sorta grudge, & to take it out on me is really immature, & that's coming from a guy who's obviously ALOT younger than you! I'm really sorry to put that rant in this review, but It's just something that was really on my mind & a huge part of what happened at that show...I'd definitley like to thank Katy @ Roadrunner for all her help & I'm reminded by the last thing that Corey Taylor said..."I promise you Baltimore, that Stone Sour WILL be back to play for you again!" & with that promise, I can't wait till the next Stone Sour show because these guys are on fire!