Stone Sour, Steel Panther Powering Across America On 2017 Tour

(TRR) – Last night at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem, PA, hard rock heavyweights Stone Sour continued to power across America with Steel Panther on their 2017 tour. Fresh off a summer mega-tour with Korn, Skillet, and Yelawolf, Stone Sour are headlining big rooms on this run in continued support of their new album Hydrograd. The LP came out in June and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 and #1 on Top Hard Rock Albums.

At first, the thought of Stone Sour and Steel Panther sharing a stage was a bit unsettling. Hearing the news of the tour and thinking, “Stone Sour and Steel…wait, really?” But after seeing the show, the combo actually packed a pretty good one-two punch. Stone Sour are a very serious act. Their riffs are brutally heavy, and their lyrical content is often quite intense. However, rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be fun. Linking up with Steel Panther lightened the mood a bit. It shook things up. And it was fun.

Steel Panther got up there and did what they do best – entertained. Their raunchy ode-to-the-eighties comedy rock has almost become a brand in itself. Even though their act is ridiculous, it doesn’t overshadow the fact that their musicianship is stellar and frontman Michael Starr has a serious set of pipes. They opened with their theme song of sorts “Eyes of a Panther” and proceeded to tear through fan-favorites like “Let Me Cum In,” “Gloryhole,” “Community Property,” 17 Girls In A Row,” and others.

They played two tracks from their latest LP Lower The Bar – “Goin’ In The Back Door” and “Wasted Too Much Time.” The album dropped back in March and debuted at #1 on Billboard Top Comedy Albums and cracked the Top 50 on the Billboard Top 200. The band closed their set with their anthem “Death To All But Metal.”

Things got off to a bit of a scary start for Stone Sour. Frontman Corey Taylor injured his leg on stage during the intro of the band’s first song “Taipei Person/Allah Tea.” While the extent of the injury is unknown, it was clear that Taylor was in a significant amount of pain and having trouble walking.

After the second song, Taylor acknowledged the incident. “Ok, lets just get it out there in the open,” Taylor said. “I fucked my leg up.” He also joked that he would now have to deal with an injured leg in addition to his neck (which he had major surgery on last June). “It sucks gettin’ old, motherfuckers. Makes some noise if it sucks gettin’ old!”

Even though he appeared to be in tremendous pain, Taylor powered through and finished the show. Not only that, but his performance was not lacking because of the injury. If anything, the adrenaline and the pain took his voice to another level. The capacity crowd was not disappointed in the least bit.

Now in the headlining slot, Stone Sour took opportunity to give fans a larger dose of their new record. In addition to opening with “Taipei Person/Allah Tea,” they performed “Song #3,” “Knievel Has Landed,” “Rose Red Violent Blue (This Song Is Dumb & So Am I),” and “Fabuless” which closed out the show. It is evident that fans are digging the new material and welcoming it with open arms.

Other highlights were “Made of Scars,” “Say You’ll Haunt Me,” “Do Me A Favor,” and “Absolute Zero” with included some serious help from the near-capacity crowd. Stone Sour’s best moment was arguably their ultra-heavy burner “30/30-150.” It is truly a thrill to see Stone Sour headline and have full command of the stage and crowd. They are an an absolute force to be reckoned with. When all is said and done, Stone Sour will have earned their rightful place among the biggest giants of rock music.

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