Photos and review by Kate Drexel
Stone Sour Photos HERE
Pop Evil Photos HERE
Stolen Babies Photos HERE
After waiting in the cold hallway of the venue for quite some time, the crowd bustled inside the main room, pushing their way to the barricade. The first to take the stage was the Los-Angeles-based experimental rock band, Stolen Babies. The trio, consisting of Dominique Persi (vocals/accordion), Rani (bass) and Gil Sharone (drums), immediately mesmerized the crowd with their unique bluesy rock sound.
Not long after Stolen Babies left the stage, Pop Evil didn’t hesitate to wake the crowd up with their current single from their latest record, Onyx, “Deal with the Devil”. Fists pumped the air, heads bobbed along to the beat, and moshes started to form, as they continued with their old and new songs such as “Hero,” “Torn to Pieces”, and “Boss’s Daughter”. Of course they saved the best for last, their first single from Onyx, “Trenches.” It was evident that Pop Evil warmed the crowd up for the main event: Stone Sour.
As soon as the House of Gold and Bones backdrop was revealed, loud cheers of excitement rang throughout the venue. Mixed chatter bounced off the walls, the anticipation growing within every second of waiting for Stone Sour’s arrival. Once the lights dimmed, a large group started chanting Corey Taylor’s name. The stage lights started blinking and faint chanting was heard in the overhead speakers: “RU486! RU486!” The crowd started to go along with the chant then one by one; all of Stone Sour appeared from the shadows, Corey the last to show up.
Not a moment was wasted when they started their set with the live debut performance of “House of Gold and Bones” from House of Gold and Bones, Part 2. They continued their set with “RU486” and their hit single, “Say You’ll Haunt Me”. Stone Sour’s performance brought the crowd to life. Crowd surfers appeared from the sea of bobbing bodies and maelstroms of moshers formed. They surprised the crowd with one of their older songs, “Inhale”, which has not been performed since 2006. They continued with “Made of Scars”, “Mission Statement” and the live debut performance of their current single, “Tired”. After “30/30-150”, all but Corey left the stage as he took over to play the heart-wrenching performance of “Bother.” The crowd sang along whole heartedly, some putting their arms in the air and waving them.
The stage was enveloped in a blue smoky haze as Corey, in the fog, performed “Blue Smoke” quickly followed by “Do Me a Favor”. To say the least, Stone Sour ended the night the right way with the killer encore: “Gone Sovereign/Absolute Zero”, and a killer cover of Judas Priest’s “Heading Out to the Highway.”
All in all, Stolen Babies, Pop Evil, and Stone Sour know how to the start the weekend right with a killer sold out show. So far, this was probably one of the best shows of 2014. This is a lineup you will not want to miss!
STONE SOUR w/ Pop Evil, Stolen Babies at Rams Head Live – MD
