Live Review: Stone Sour, Bare Bones

Bare Bones' CV boasts a litany of international support slots and spots on prestigious festivals. Therefore it was unsurprising that the energetic hometown mob appeared confident and at home on the Hordern stage.

Their Every Time I Die meets The Bronx punk/heavy rock boasted spiky riffs and infectious melodies that endeared them to the uninitiated. Although there were members of the folded arms brigade who didn't seem impressed, the band ultimately left with reputation enhanced.

Hydrograd, Stone Sour's latest full-length, is patchy; a bloated, even directionless affair at times. However, when select cuts a la Song #3 were deployed in their natural enormodome environment, their intentions made far greater sense. The gathering responded with considerable enthusiasm, both in voice and in the mosh.

The hard rockers possessed plenty of material tailor-made for such an environment; early ballad Bother (performed solo by frontman Corey Taylor) a prime example. The room's sound being on the quiet side was an obstacle, but Taylor, decked-out in a Wu-Tang Clan shirt and wielding a confetti gun on occasion, was a seasoned campaigner and with efficient cohorts. Perhaps some of the sycophantic, pro-Sydney banter laid it on a tad thick, but the charismatic vocalist's experience became apparent as he called for a halting of the set and communicated with punters when a fan needed to be extricated from the pit. Nickelback's Chad Kroeger may have questioned whether there are any bonafide hits within Stone Sour's catalogue, but devotees embraced the batch of accessible favourites (Through Glass, Absolute Zero, inflatable tube-men accompanied Fabuless) that closed the set with arms-around-their-mates joy.

Perhaps the entire display was a little too well-honed to truly reach grandiose heights, but the Americans are rapidly ascending the arena-rock ladder with each album cycle. The sight of what appeared to be a father and his pre-teen son, head-banging and stomping their feet in unison, spoke volumes regarding the breadth of Stone Sour's appeal.