A cold Norwegian November evening is the perfect setting for a sold out indoor concert where the happy and on-its-way to high intoxication level crowd makes sure you stay warm and intimate with those nearby. This is the reason why I spent a good deal of the first songs from The Pretty Reckless trying to find a spot where I wouldn’t be almost stepped on, poured beer on or hugged by accident. Once the spot was found somewhere by the sound board, I could pay attention to what happened on stage and it surely was a nice and entertaining sound. The New Yorkers from The Pretty Reckless were completely unknown to me but I knew a lot of people excited to watch them live tonight. I could see why. They’re gracefully led by Taylor Momsen and they have the right attitude and looks for their timeless style of rock music. Nothing extravagant altogether, but nicely spiced both visually and for the ear. As much as one tries to pay attention to any of the band members, the eyes always move to Taylor as she’s doing a great acting show, singing pasisontelly on her knees or leaning back until she lays flat on stage. And all these without losing any of the power in her insanely strong voice. Unluckily I had to go out probably before their last song since the people around me decided to have conversations right there and then and that required lots of shouting above my heads, which wouldn’t go well with the background music.

 

Photo by Anine Desire

For the first time ever I went up to the gallery at Sentrum Scene and found me a seat. I would have loved to be more in the middle of the action, but the previous hour spent on the low floor made me stay where I was. The place offered a full view of the stage though and I could enjoy the ‘bigger picture’ of the whole light show. I could even notice that almost everyone reacted by raising their hands in the air, which is a rather rare sight in Norway and, without having any personal exprience to compare to, I have to believe Corey Taylor who said after 2-3 that this was their best concert in Norway so far. And after 1 or 2 more songs he admitted it to be one of the best live shows lately.

 

Stone Sour was in great shape. Both the band and all the technicians who were part of the live show. At least up in the gallery the sound was flawless, loud, but without the need for earplugs and all the moving lights compensated really well with the static ones placed all over the stage. There were 3 podiums in front of the stage, allowing Corey and the guitarists to step up and ‘show off’ at an elevated level, which added to the overall impression of the show. But this was like a minor part of the performance, as during the 100+ minutes of concert it was only the breaks between songs when all members would stand still. Mister Taylor probably sweated as much as the whole crowd together, doing a great job at mixing very powerful vocals with headbanging (was thinking he’d break his neck every minute), running around, jumping or using a gigantic confetti gun. He even plays guitar on certain songs, so then ok, these are the static ones. Altogether I am, once again, impressed how well he keeps the voice under controll, be it for growlings, ‘singing for the ladies’ or long screams. 

 

 

2017 has seen a new release from Stone Sour, called Hydrograd and to the band’s surprise, most of the audience raised their hands when asked if they owned the album. This explained why people cheered and sang and danced with passion during the newer songs in the setlist, but as usual, classics got the best out of everyone. Except ‘Through Glass’ which kept its overall ballad mood, even the older songs seemed to be turned into more powerful versions which fit much better in the way the energy of the show is built. I wasn’t recalling ‘Made of Scars’ to be so heavy for example. 

Always a positive aspect of the concert when the vocalist, who is probably the highlight for most of the audience, spends time to introduce his bandmembers and add few nice words about them, giving the feeling that Stone Sour is a happy family that is meant to last. Unfortunatelly I dind’t last until they came back on stage for the encore, but after I had goosebumps during the whole ‘Through Glass’ sung/yelled by everyone in the audience, I left the venue.