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Power and Fury share their winter embrace

Halestorm/ Stone Sour/ The Dead Deads
Main Street Armory
Rochester, NY
February 11, 2018

Stone Sour

Halestorm

Review and photos by Johnny Hall

Stone Sour and Halestorm made a stop on their co-headlining tour in Rochester, NY, on February 11th 2018, bringing out an army of fans to the Main Street Armory. The "Armory," former home of New York 3rd Battalion, hosted the sold-out show of 5,000 ready to rock fans. Fans braved the brutal Feburay upstate NY weather, lining Main Street long before the doors opened at 6 pm.

The night kicked off with The Dead Deads. A Nashville, Tennessee based band who describe themselves as a hard rock/ alternative band with influences pulled from '90s grunge and punk rock. Touring for their fifth studio album, Sketches and Animation, which was released on January 26th, The Dead Deads' brought their unique sound to a crowd full of their "Dead Corps" fans. The quartet is made up of Meta Dead (lead vocals/ guitar), Johnnie Dead (drums), Dolly Dead (vocals/ lead guitar), and Daisy Dead (vocals/ bass). Look for The Dead Deads on tour this year at a venue near you.

Halestorm blasted onto the stage next for their final performance on this tour. Lzzy Hale (lead vocals/ guitar) dressed in all black and sporting a large mohawk, was center stage. She filled the armory with her powerful vocals along with band members Arejay Hale (drums), Josh Smith (bass, vocals), and Joe Hottinger (guitar, vocals), filling the room with a furious tempest of sound. Halestorm, known for being a touring juggernaut, proved their hard rock prowess, opening with "Black Vultures" and "Love Bites (So Do I)." Playing a fourteen song set including songs like "It's Not You," and a cover of Adele's "Someone Like You" blended with "Dear Daughter," the Halestorm crew delivered the powerful performance that the packed venue had been expecting.

Co-headliner Stone Sour had the final spot of the evening. The band made their way to the stage with a recording of "YSIF," storming into "Taipei Person / Allah Tea." Frontman Corey Taylor was electric, feeding off the energy of the crowd. The rest of the band followed suit, running across the stage with head banging and whipping hair. The band was tight and sounded fantastic, and also brought a quality light show. Stone Sour, normally made up of Corey Taylor ( lead vocals/ guitar), Josh Rand (guitar), Roy Mayorga ( drums), Johny Chow (bass), and Christian Martucci (guitar) was down a member as Josh has had to miss the current winter dates for health reasons. The band has enlisted a replacement guitarist to fill in while Josh is out. Stone Sour played a furious set of songs off their current release Hydrograd, as well as song from their other albums, filling the night with something for new and diehard fans alike. They played songs like "Made of Scars," "Say You'll Haunt Me" and "Song 3," ending the night with inflatable fans waving on stage to the song "Fabuless."

Stone Sour put on a monster of a performance, concluding this leg of their winter tour. Go out and see these guys, it's a great way to cure the winter blues.

Set Lists:
Stone Sour: YSIF Taipei Person / Allah Tea Knievel Has Landed Made of Scars Say You'll Haunt Me 30/30-150 Hesitate Tired Rose Red Violent Blue (This Song Is Dumb & So Am I) Do Me a Favor Song #3 Through Glass Absolute Zero Fabuless	Halestorm: Black Vultures Love Bites (So Do I) It's Not You Mz. Hyde The Reckoning I Am the Fire Amen Someone Like You (Adele cover) (Partial) Dear Daughter Apocalyptic (w/ drum solo) I Get Off Freak Like Me Mayhem I Miss the Misery