Stone Sour with In This Moment
Hyrdrograde Tour 2018
Rebel
Toronto, Ontario
February 14, 2018
Valentines evening at Toronto’s waterfront Rebel nightclub wasn’t marked with mushy romance but rather a gathering of metal fans looking for a great evening of music, featuring an awesome line up of Stone Sour and In this Moment, along with supporting acts New Years Day and Dead Deads.
Maria Brink, the singer and face of the California-based metal band In this Moment performed her edgy and theatrical set much to the delight of the fans in attendance.
With each passing song, Maria would duck behind a curtain to do costume changes. It also doubled as a video background that displayed different visuals like fire, random colors and a hospital scene. The rest of the band was shrouded in darkness, flanking the sides of the makeshift dressing room, providing Maria with maximum exposure.
Her performance shifted between what I perceived to be interpretive dancing, with slow, deliberate and flowing moves to stereo typical hair flinging that is associated to this genre of music.
Their 10-song set included fan favorites such as Blood, Adrenalized and Burn. They also included a darkened cover of the Phil Collins song In the Air Tonight.
The show ended with Maria up high on a white ladder dawning a cone hat displaying the word “Whore”, which also happened to be the title of the song. She talked a bit about the abuse she withstood from her father and how people said how she would amount to nothing.
Having heard about this show, I was really looking forward to covering it, let alone being rewarded with the opportunity to photograph the entire set instead of just the first three songs. I would like to acknowledge and thank the In the Moment band camp for this generous opportunity.
The lights faded at 9:50pm as the members of Stone Sour hit the stage. Having seen the band last summer at the Budweiser Stage, it was exciting to see them in a scaled down, packed venue. With Stone Sour there are no fancy lighting rigs or props, just the energy of the band and Corey’s dynamic stage presence. He has a great ability to really focus on fans in the sense that he will look at you directly in the eye and give you a smile, wink or point at you. As a fan it’s thrilling to not only enjoy the excitement of the live music, but also that brief moment of connection with the musicians.
Their set wasn’t exceedingly long, 13 songs in total. They played a healthy selection from their last released album Hydrograde, which so happens to be the name of their latest tour. Songs such as Song #3, Fabuless and Knievel has Landed – to name a few. Digging a bit into their older repertoire they included fan favorites such as Through the Glass, Say You’ll Haunt Me as well as Absolute Zero.
Corey took a moment to acknowledge that Josh Rand was missing from the line up, stating he needed to deal with some medical issues. Although through twitter, the band released the following statement regarding the absence of their guitarist. “Unfortunately, Josh Rand has checked into a treatment center and will not be joining Stone Sour for the Canada/US tour. Though he will be back as soon as possible, we ask you all to keep him in your thoughts. Until then, the rest of Stone Sour will see you all on tour in Jan/Feb. Thank you.” Meanwhile Jonah Nimoy is filling in during Rand’s hiatus.
Stone Sour always delivers a fantastic experience. I look forward to seeing them again in the future!
All images by Sue Hebert Sadzak
©2018. Please DO NOT copy or use without permission.
In this Moment
Stone Sour
