Didnt go to the gig, but found this review online... AMAZING write up for the guys...

check it out,

Pyrotechnics on the stage ONE of the best metal gigs to have ever been played at Plymouth Pavilions took place on Saturday night.

Forget the fireworks bursting in the city skies outside the venue, the real explosions were made by Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold on the Pavilions stage.

The double A-sider gig packed a powerful punch as a frenzied crowd moshed to the gut-wrenching riff-based tunes of both bands – with both announcing that it was one of the best crowds they had played to on their recent tours.

Hell Yeah opened the night in style, but they were just fine-tuning the fans in preparation for the big two.

And as soon as Stone Sour opened its set, that was it. Circle pits, a wall of death, crowd surfing and the general mayhem of moshes were the order of the hour.

Sour's enigmatic frontman Corey Taylor was on awe-inspiring form as he proved his band is one of the most perfectly put together metal acts in the world today. Corey's other band, Slipknot, falls too far short of the musical prowess of Sour.

Taylor was sharp, harmonic and masterful throughout as he got the blood racing through numbers like Hell And Consequences and Get Inside, and let the crowd join the emotional rollercoasters of Bother and Through Glass.

It was a stunning performance, topped off by two huge glitterbombs at the end and a feeling that Plymouth needs world-famous metal bands like that in every month.

Avenged Sevenfold played last on the night and sported an awesome stage-set, complete with graveyard and blasts of fire.

For me, neither their performance nor the standard of their songs matched that of Stone Sour – but clearly the hundreds of fans who went nuts in the audience would strongly disagree.

Highlight was Nightmare. What else was impressive was the fact that the band is also one of the biggest metal acts in the world. They may be known in some circles as S Club Sevenfold due to their 'poppy' goth-metal sound, but that isn't fair. I would see them again due to their power and grace, in equal measures.

So a packed Pavilions crowd was treated on Saturday night. All the pyrotechnics in the Plymouth skies couldn't match the brute force of the fire-cracking sets on stage.

The venue is getting it right when it comes to metal gigs. It has been doing that for a while now.

The only thing left for me and countless other metal fans is – please, Pavilions, can we have some more? ********************************************************* Taken from : http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/

Stumbled upon this gem of a video online. Hope you all like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VrfuoZ3pCE

Just wondered if anybody knows any good places for food/ drink close to the venue for next Wednesday. I'm staying the night at a local Travelodge, so it would be great to meet up with a few of you lot for post-concert drinks!

What more can I say, other than a flawless performance by the guys, as expected. Loved every second of the set, and in particular loved the setlist, was the perfect mix of new and old, I was particularly pleased to finally hear Unfinished in the live environment... and what a fantastic live track it was.

From memory the tracks they performed were as follows...

Mission Statement Reborn Made Of Scars Say You'll Haunt Me Unfinished Your God Bother Through Glass Digital Get Inside Hell & Consequences 30/30-150

The crowd interaction at places was mindblowing, and the way Corey played "conductor" with the crowd noise levels was a great memory that will live with me from this show. The guy, quite simply, had everybody in the palm of his hand. Then again, i cant remember a moment in recent memory when he hasnt!!

Special praise must be said though for the fellow Stone Sour fans in attendance last night, as the entire set for Stone Sour was a very pleasurable viewing experience. No BS antics by anybody nearby, ensured everybody young and old could stand quite comfortably and enjoy the set. There was no sign of people being dragged into pits if they did not wish to, as this can usually dampen the overall experience of these kind of shows. But overall a great crowd, who were into the band from the very first note.

For this date of the tour Stone Sour were the actual headlining act, meaning they were the last to perform. But this is good news for Avenged Sevenfold, as they would of simply not being able to follow this performance. Dont get me wrong, Avenged sounded good, but for me as a live act they lack that spark... possibly, M Shadows lack of being a "frontman"? But to me, and my friend, we both agreed the band appeared to be going through the motions. However, hats off to the guys though for the way they have picked themselves up after the loss of such a pivotal band member, and continued to march on. With Portnoy on drums the band have no doubt found a splendid replacement for the Rev, so I look forward to seeing them again in the future. You never know, I may of just caught the guys on a "bad" night.

Hell Yeah were a great band to get the "party started" so to speak, and I will be checking out more of there recorded output in the near future.

Now, all thats left to do is await next Wednesday in Leeds, and next Thursday back in Manchester. It cant come soon enough.

Glyn

AWESOME review from the latest Powerplay for Stone Sours - Audio Secrecy...

*****************

Stone Sour Audio Secrecy Genre: Rock/ Modern Metal Roadrunner

Accept may have taken this months Powerplay Album of the Month award - purely because their new album is a perfect example of straight ahead metal and an album that every Powerplay reader should own, but for those with a taste for more contemporary metal must- and I mean must - add "Audio Secrecy", the third album from Slipknot offshoot band Stone Sour, to their collections. A tome of fourteen mature, melodic and mainstream modern metal tunes, it defies categorisation and after countless spins still leaves me breathless from the roller coaster ride that it takes you with every play.

Bizarrely, the title track, which opens the album, is an instrumental intro - an early warning that the rulebook was thrown straight out the window. A snarling metal monster, first track proper "Mission Statement" rampages out of the speakers, followed immediately by the manic "Digital". Then right out of left field come the beautiful "Say You'll Haunt Me" and wonderful, uber melodic radio rock style of "Dying." The brooding "Lets be Honest" builds the pace ready for the angry "Unfinished," featuring on of Corey Taylors best ever vocal performances - hard and heavy but clean and powerful too, who knew he had it in him? And then comes "Hesitate," a song so mind blowing that I span it back and played it again four times on my first listen to the album. A stunning ballad, it builds from a simple vocal into a powerhouse of a heartstring puller with poignant lyrics and an orchestral score underlying the band. Bands often struggle a lifetime to deliver a song of this stature. As if to pacify any fears that they have gone wimpy, the manic "Nylon 6/6" stomps all over the receding memory of "Hesitate." "Miracles" and Queensryche like "Pieces" make up the 'Stone Sour goes prog' section of the album before the bounding "The Bitter End" romps dangerously close to Slipknot territory, sounding much like "30/30-150" from "Come What(ever) May." Finally the passionate and anguished vocals on "Imperfect" tread a folk rock path that leads to the intense finish of "Threadbare."

Stone Sour may not have the gimmickry of Slipknot (thank God!) to attract attention, but theres no doubt that the superb "Audio Secrecy" will propel them onto a worldwide stage. A sophisticated, thought provoking, heart rending album, it will take something very special to top this as my album of the year and I'm already counting the days until the band play Manchester in November.

Rating: 10 / 10