On the 13th July 2011 I was lucky enough to see my favourite musician, Corey Taylor, perform an exclusive concert at the HMV Institute in Birmingham. Before the concert I went to his book signing at Waterstones for his book 'Seven Deadly Sins' and I was able to meet the man himself. He was lovely and truly listened to what I had to say and appreciated my support. He is a truly amazing man and I have the greatest respect for him.
The concert started with a brief introduction from Corey Taylor, and he then read part of a chapter from his book, 'Seven Deadly Sins'. It was amazing to listen to the book being read aloud by the author himself, and further emphasised the unique perspective Corey has on life due to his wide range of experiences. His accent is beautiful and he put on an incredible performance.
After reading a section of his book, Corey had a 'question and answer session', in which the crowd were welcome to ask any questions they had for the Slipknot and Stone Sour front man. One heartfelt moment was when someone asked about his favourite memory of Paul (Gray, bassist of Slipknot who passed away last year) and he descended into a story about them going to 'Disney World' and him scaring Paul on the roller-coasters when he was already terrified (and the thought of Slipknot at such a place seemed rather amusing). After he had finished informing us of his memories of the amazingly talented bassist, a crowd chant of 'Paul Gray' started and Corey started crying and thanked everyone for their support during such a hard time. The future of Slipknot was also questioned, to which he answered that he hadn't healed after the death of his brother and that is was unable to think so far ahead into the future. He was also questioned about his different attitudes towards music whilst in Stone Sour and Slipknot, to which he replied 'When I write a song I can just tell which band it is for...Snuff was always going to be a Slipknot song and 30/30 150 was always going to be for Stone Sour'. The true meaning of '30/30 150' was revealed; contrast to popular belief it is not about a gun, it was Corey's measurements in high school.
After a short break Corey came back on stage accompanied with an acoustic guitar. He performed his beautiful version of 'Wicked Game' (originally by Chris Isaak), 'Jolene' (originally by Ray LaMontage) and even 'Nutshell' (originally by Alice in Chains). As he was in Birmingham he decided to cover 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath, which was very interesting and very different to the original. He played 'Bother' by his band Stone Sour which was incredibly heartfelt and an emotional song that suited Corey's voice perfectly. His cover of 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd was astounding and was probably my favourite song of the night; it was just so passionate. Corey brought his son on stage and even sang a cover of the 'Spongebob Squarepants' theme song, which was very amusing and showed he had a good sense of humour. His acoustic version of 'Spit it Out' (by his band Slipknot) was amazing; who knew metal could sound so good acoustic? His cover of Pearl Jam's 'Black' was incredible and it became obvious throughout the night what bands inspired him and who he admired. He ended the concert with a cover of 'Everlong' by Foo Fighters, which was beautifully calm and emotional.
All in all, it was a fantastic night and I've gained even more respect for Corey Taylor.
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