Stone Sour and Otherwise rock the house with insane crowd at Fort Wayne\’s Pieres

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by Reggie Edwards

When Stone Sour released House of Gold and Bones Part 1 in October, one thing was for sure after hearing it- the live experience is bound to be out-of-this-world.

Then when they announced a co-headlining tour with Papa Roach and Otherwise as special guests, there was no doubt this was the right way to start 2013.

We had a chance to catch the Fort Wayne, Ind. stop of the tour, which unfortunately did not feature Papa Roach, who had a one-off date in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The show, nonetheless, was one of the craziest I\’ve covered in awhile.

Kicking off the festivities were South Bend, Ind.’s own Second Season. They had to have been pumped- a home-state show opening for Stone Sour. However, their performance lacked a lot for me. I wasn’t wowed very much at all.

They sounded VERY bass-heavy, and not the good kind like you’d expect from KoRn. They sounded so generic and it was hard to get into it.

Even though they weren’t great, I’ll say this- the boos coming from the crowd throughout the set were uncalled for. You’ve got a young band on stage, giving their all and playing one of the biggest shows of their career so far and you’ve got fans booing them. It was embarrassing to be around and, even though I was not involved, I apologize to Second Season for the poor crowd.

Up next was Otherwise, a newer rock outfit straight out of Las Vegas. These guys are just under a year removed from their debut album, True Love Never Dies, an album that has to be heard by anyone who loves good, solid rock. In my opinion it was one of the best released last year.

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If anyone was upset about Papa Roach not being on this bill, they quickly forgot about it after Otherwise took the stage- they blew the roof off Pieres in Fort Wayne.

It’s not often you get an opening act or supporting band give the headliners a run for their money but Otherwise did this night, starting off with “Die For You” from their debut record.

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Rattling off song after song after song from True Love Never Dies and blowing the crowd away more and more after each song, there is no doubt these guys are for real.

Ending it with “Soldiers,” a song that has become an anthem for the band, the crowd couldn’t have asked for more and were more than amped for Stone Sour to hit the stage.

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When the legendary rock bands say there’s no one to take their place when they’re gone, I used to agree with them but after seeing Otherwise live, there’s no doubt in my mind they are the future of rock and roll, hands down.

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After a short intermission, the lights went down and the aura and atmosphere when Stone Sour’s intro hit is indescribable. Maybe Corey Taylor just has that kind of essence.

The tune of “Gone Sovereign” came over the PA and the band slowly took the stage. As the song hit, Corey Taylor and the rest of the guys blasted the crowd with what was about to become a night that no one would soon forget.

As they kicked it up a notch with “Absolute Zero,” trash cans began being crowd surfed to the stage via the mosh pit, fans were yelling at security, it was like the golden age of rock and metal all over again.

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The crowd was singing so loud you almost couldn’t hear Stone Sour, a feeling I always love to get when at a show.

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They played everything you’d wanna hear from their self-titled album to Come What(ever) May  to Audio Secrecy through House of Gold and Bones Part 1.

The crowd was so wild and almost out-of-hand that Taylor had to stop and tell them that they’d played in New York City a few nights prior and there was twice as many people but they were nowhere near as crazy as “the mother***ers in Fort Wayne” and that this was why he’s proud to be from the Midwest.

I\’ve never seen anyone control a crowd as well as Corey Taylor can.

Stone Sour loved the crowd so much that Taylor even left stage and went into the crowd a couple times to get up close and personal with the fans, much to their excitement.

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Of course, Taylor has never been one to hold back what he thinks and tonight was no different as he took a moment to address a fan who threw a water bottle on stage which had actually hit Taylor.

“You know,” he said, “it takes a real pussy to do something in a crowd of people,” and he just left it at that.

Of course you had the moment where the rest of the band left stage, leaving Taylor to play solo acoustically on “Bother” and “Through Glass,” probably Stone Sour’s two biggest songs.

Tonight, however, Stone Sour threw in a little something special, as they have been all tour. Before going into “Bother,” Taylor played the first verse of Alice in Chains’ “Nutshell,” which will make Rock on the Range interesting in May if they do the same thing there, as both bands are going to be playing.

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Back to the show, though.

The crowd was so impressive that during “Bother,” Taylor had to take a step back as he was almost speechless with how dynamic they were in singing back to him during the song.

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Then after “Through Glass” it was back to the heavy stuff again with “The Travelers Pt. 2” and “Last of the Real” off the new album, during which security was escorting some fans out who had gotten out of control and started fighting each other.

Just as they walked past us, another fan, in all his stupidity, decided to throw a full beer at the back of one of the security guards. Does it get any dumber than that?

Of course the guard turned around and grabbed the guy by the throat and carried him outside. That was the last we saw of him that night.

Needless to say, this crowd was insane, wild, crazy and everything you’d want from a metal crowd. The band fed off it and it made for that much more of a good show. It wasn’t just the crowd who got wild, either. At one point some of the waitresses were even dancing with the audience while passing out shots.

It was like something straight out of a movie, just one huge party.

Then cap off the night with “30/30/150,” which has been Stone Sour’s final song for years, and the night was over much quicker than we could have ever wanted…even though they played for well over an hour.

I think it’s safe to say that those who think rock and metal are dead, couldn’t be more wrong. Rock and metal are alive and well. Actually, they’re stronger than ever.

 

Watch our video interview with Otherwise here: