Photos by Todd Radunsky
The Scene: The cold temps didn’t stop the 20 and 30 something’s from all walks of life from showing up at The Ogden Theatre on Monday night to show their support for the hard charging alternative metal band Stone Sour and their House of Gold and Bones Tour – Part 2.
When I arrived at the venue after the usual 10+ laps around several blocks to find parking, I found out that about 1350 tickets had been sold to the show, and about 250 more were needed to consider the show a sell-out. Either way, the venue was stuffed full of rowdy and happy fans from different races and creeds. It was a very diverse crowd: you had the young girl dressed in jeans and a nice sweater standing next to the older biker guy with a bandanna wrapped around his head. You had the heavily tattooed shirtless bad ass standing a few feet away from some dude wearing a Mexican wrestling mask and muscle shirt. It was a diverse and amped up crowd to say the least.
The Opener: Pop Evil. There were two supporting acts on this night, Pop Evil and Stolen Babies. I wasn’t able to get to the venue on time to see Stolen Babies. I was however able to catch half of the Pop Evil show and was honestly impressed with how many people knew their lyrics and music. A good supporting act is supposed to get the crowd primed and ready for the main act and Pop Evil definitely did their job, and more.
Stone Sour: The energy was palpable when the lights went down and the band came on stage to a thunderous roar from their fans on Monday night. People used their fingers to form devil horns and raised them high and proud in the air as the energized audience was almost foaming at the mouth and ready to rock! It didn’t seem to matter that guitarist Jim Root wasn’t able to attend the festivities, as he was taking some time off to write Slipknot’s next album. All that mattered was that this band was about to take this audience on a ride they wouldn’t soon forget.
The band came on stage ready to roll. Fearless and pumped they kicked the night off with “The House of Gold and Bones” right into “RU486,” the perfect double whammy to get the crowd surfing and banging their heads. The crunchy, raw power and sound of Christian Martrucci’s guitar mixed with Johnny Chow’s thumping bass line’s in the first few songs made everyone quickly forget that Root was taking a little time off.
The band had complete control of the crowd and held us in the palm of their collective hands all night long. The band absolutely commanded the attention of everyone in the room and much of the crowd sang along to nearly every song with the band. You could tell that this is a very loyal and knowledgeable audience who really knew their shit when it came to this band. The band felt it too and let the crowd know it. “You guys get better and better with every song don’t you Denver!!!” Corey Taylor shouted after rockin’ the crowd with a killer version of “Inhale.” The crowd responded in kind with a collective “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!” before they kicked into “Made of Scars.”
Even after some songs were over, the crowd continued to roar and held their fists in the air for a minute or two until the next song was played. Non stop, high octane excitement.
After shredding “Through the Glass,” Taylor told the crowd, “We’ve had some good shows on this tour, but Denver, you’re taking the cake tonight!” To be honest, I really think he meant it and the crowd went nuts when he said it. Denver really did come to represent their city and support Stone Sour. Later in the show, the band pulled of a nice version of Alice in Chains’ “Nutshell” and the light show got even stronger. A beautiful mix of colors and back-lighting really added to the shows ambiance and the depth of the stage.
Even up until the very end of the night, the crowd continued to sing every song along with the band and could really be heard when the band played a slower song like “Bother.” The band chose to close the show with a ripping version of the Metallica’s “Creeping Death” which was the perfect and most fitting end to a stellar night of metal madness. After two encores (“Gone Sovereign” and “Absolute Zero”) the crowd was spent but a great time was had by all.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: A-
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: B+
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