Stone Sour
June 29, 2017
Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
Stone Sour surprised their Los Angeles fans when they announced a short-notice album release party at the legendary Troubador in West Hollywood, California. Not too long after tickets went on sale, the show sold out. On the day of the show, fans were lined up waiting to get in and the line reached to the end of the building. Not too long after doors opened, the venue was quickly packed with fans anticipating this rare intimate show and also took the opportunity to purchase the band’s newest album Hydrograd one day before its official release. The Flaming Lips served as the opening band, but the fans didn’t seem to interested in them as the female singer had to ask the audience to move to their music. Clearly the fans only wanted to see Stone Sour and so luckily there was only one opening act.
The lights went out and the fully packed venue cheered in anticipation as the members of Stone Sour came out one a time to greet the fans. The band started the show with the first track from the new album YSIF and it was also the live premier of the song. The fans went just as wild as frontman Corey Taylor came out and started singing with his beautiful and unique voice. The second song played was Taipei Person/Allah Tea which was the second song from the new album. The band has an energetic stage presence and is only matched by Taylor’s own movements on stage as he would run around, head-bang, and regularly 
interact with the crowd. Stone Sour couldn’t just perform songs from the new album, so they started to mix it up with some classics. Made of Scars was the first one and the audience loved singing along to it. Other classics that Stone Sour performed were: Blotter, Take a Number, Say You’ll Haunt Me, 30/30-150, and Reborn. Taylor would regularly talk to the audience in between songs and would crack jokes just to keep the spirit up of the show. He never stopped showing his love for the fans. Stone Sour played quite a few songs from their debut album of the same name and one of those songs was Get Inside which they haven’t played recently and was nice to hear again. It’s one of the band’s faster and heavier songs so it was no surprise to see a mosh pit form in such a small venue and even one fan attempted to crowd surf, but couldn’t get very far. Taylor brought out a guitar of his own and fans knew what song was coming up. Stone Sour started to play one of the band’s best songs and one of their most beautiful songs, Through Glass. The audience stood in awe as Taylor sang his heart out and enjoyed singing along with the crowd. It was a touching moment between the band and the fans. Stone Sour finished up the show and left the stage. Fans weren’t ready to leave just yet and stayed put waiting for the band to come back out. After a few minutes, Stone Sour came back out for a few encores. The first two encores were Gone Sovereign and Absolute Zero from their previous House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 double album. It was time for the album release party to come to an end and so Stone Sour performed Fabuless from the new album so close up the show. Taylor decided to get up close and personal with fans as he gently threw himself onto fans below in an attempt to crowd surf which lasted a bit before he was put back on stage while the crowd violently pushed and shoved during the last song. Stone Sour finished up their set and left the stage once again to a very happy and satisfied crowd.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
