 Tonight the Apollo in Hammersmith hosted a night
of rock music that will not be forgotten in a
long time, the bill consisted of Hell Yeah, Stone
Sour and Avenged Sevenfold and was the first night
of a double bill of sold out shows at the venue
for the bands.
The queue for the show spiralled around the venue
many hours before the doors opened at 6.30pm and
all the surrounding pubs were full of alternative
music fans grabbing a few pre gig drinks, we headed
down to the venue halfway through the set of Hell
Yeah knowing that the band were going to be off
stage before we get in but due to the queues outside
tonight it proved to be the best idea for getting
speedy entry to the venue.
When we got in the first thing I noticed judging
by the t-shirts was that there was a lot more
Avenged Sevenfold fans in the venue tonight compared
to the other two bands on the bill but then again
that was to be expected with Avenged Sevenfold
being billed at the top since the co-headline
tour was announced many months ago.
 Stone Sour took to the stage at 8.25pm and as
soon as the white curtain fell down to reveal
the Audio Secrecy background and the band spread
out evenly across the massive stage of the Apollo
the crowd went mad head banging, jumping and generally
singing-a-long to the opening track ‘Mission
Statement’, next up was ‘Reborn’
which took the mosh pit to another level with
Corey’s Slipknot style loud raw vocals and
general heavy instrumental work which was defiantly
turned up a couple of notches extra tonight.
Corey Taylor is one of the most perfect front
men ever he has that whole rock oomph where he
plays every live show as it is his last he also
has those cross over vocals which see’s
him perfectly execute loud aggressive screams
and more melodic singing and most importantly
he interacts with the crowd so much having a laugh
and chat on every occasion that he gets.
 One of the biggest highlights from Stone Sour’s
set was when they blasted into their latest single
‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’ which
brought the venue alive with the whole crowd singing
along word for word, however the biggest hightlight
and most emotional moment of the set was when
Corey Taylor took to the stage by himself for
‘Bother’ which was dedicated to Corey
and Jim’s Slipknot band member Paul Gray
who sadly passed away back in May, it was clear
to see this was an emotional moment for both Corey
and the majority of the crowd with so many people
fighting back tears.
Towards the end of the set Corey Taylor takes
to the stage with the gold record that the band
received only a few days previously for their
second album ‘Come What(ever) May’
and Corey goes on to thank everyone for buying
the album and helping to get the band where they
are today, before returning to business to finish
the set with ‘Through Glass’, ‘Hell
And Consequences’ and the fantastic closer
‘30/30-150’ which managed to zap the
last bit of energy from this mosh hungry Stone
Sour fans.
 After stone Sour left the stage I wondered how
Avenged Sevenfold could possibly beat them as
tonight’s Stone Sour set was one of the
best that I have ever witnessed them play and
they have Cleary proved that they are a band who
are at the top of their game.
It was a good 30minute wait for Avenged Sevenfold
after Stone Sour finished and that time went fast
and before I knew it the lights dimmed and the
big white curtain fell to reveal one of the most
perfect stage set up’s that I have seen
in a long time with a big cemetery with “A7X”
written over the massive gates, with skulls hanging
all over the place and enough pyrotechnics to
burn the venue down and also give the kings of
pyrotechnics Rammistein a good run for their money.
Due to it being devils night (the night before
Halloween) Synyster Gates and Johnny Christ took
to the stage with Halloween masks on which latest
for the best part of two songs, M Shadows took
centre stage stood on a massive platform block
dressed in his normal attire of black backwords
cap, sunglasses and a big coat, Zacky Vengeance
was dressed in a white shirt with a red tie and
black suit jacket whilst temporary drummer Mike
Portney seemed to be loving every minute behind
the drums and did a good job knocking out the
drum beats which The Rev originally created.
 Avenged Sevenfold opened with the title track
of their current album ‘Nightmare’
and it was the most perfect opening moment I have
seen in my life, it was the day before Halloween,
the stage was set up like a cemetery, the band
were dressed up to match the theme and the big
angry spook fest of ‘Nightmare’ was
blasted out at such a fast and hectic pace that
the mosh pit erupted into frenzy and everyone
from the front to the back of the venue was singing
along.
 Next up was ‘Critical Claim’ the
opening track from the self titled album, the
fans took to this song really well and towards
the end of the song M Shadows decided that he
was going to have the time of his life tonight
and dived straight into the crowd where he got
mobbed by hundreds of Avenged Sevenfold fans who
were totally beside themselves.
During the opening of ‘Welcome To The Family’
Mike Portney got to show off his drumming skills
with an extended drum solo at the beginning which
went down so well and proved just how welcome
Mike is to Avenged Sevenfold and their fans.
 The most emotional and unforgettable moment of
the night was when M Shadows made a speech about
The Rev who sadly passed away last December, a
big banner of The Rev get’s displayed at
the back of the stage and an emotional rendition
of ‘So Far Away’ is played in memory
and respect to The Rev with the majority of the
crowd fighting back tears.
At the end of the set M Shadows gives the crowd
the choice of the closing track which was out
of ‘Bat Country’ and ‘Almost
Easy’ and ‘Bat Country’ was
the outright winner and the extreme moshing proved
just how welcome that choice was.
Overall tonight’s show was fantastic and
thousands of people got to see both Stone Sour
and Avenged Sevenfold at the top of their game,
it was a co headline tour where both bands had
an hour set each on paper it doesn’t sound
enough time but in person it was more than enough,
I am not sure how the bands worked out who was
going to headline each night but in my eyes the
classic game of “paper, rock, scissors”
is the only fair choice as both Stone Sour and
Avenged Sevenfold were on par tonight and helped
rip Hammersmith Apollo a new one.
Stone Sour 5/5
Avenged Sevenfold 5/5
Review By Trigger |
