My cousin Earl gave me a copy of Stone Sour’s eponymous album not long after it came out in 2002. I knew about them because I had seen Slipknot three times by this point, but I did not really get into Stone Sour until I came around to Slipknot once they released Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses. This made me revisit Stone Sour’s debut album but they didn’t really get their hooks in me until I heard “30/30-150” from the album Come What(ever) May that was released in August of 2006. I loved the soft/heavy balance they struck versus the straight brutality of Slipknot. Needless to say I remember being particularly excited about this show since I had never seen them before. I cannot remember everything that was played but I did know all the songs forwards and backwards which generally makes a great concert that much better. This was the first time I had seen Corey Taylor “unmasked” and I remember him being a giant ham that seemed to be truly enjoying himself. The massive crowd response he got when he took off his shirt surely did not hurt. I was very impressed when he came out by himself with an acoustic guitar and played a medley of songs that included a solid version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.”