COREY TAYLOR In Las Vegas, NV With Photos!

Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 12:54 PM

By Arnold 'Rocky' Kessenger, Through The Metal Lens

An Intimate Evening At Fremont Country Club On October 18, 2026

Live Photos By Arnold 'Rocky' Kessenger / @through_the_metal_lens

The photographs I keep returning to from COREY TAYLOR’s Fremont Country Club show are the ones where he’s looking away from the crowd. His wife was off to the side, and he kept finding her. I understood the impulse. Mine was beside me in the photography pit, and more than once I caught myself singing toward her while trying to do my job. I’ve followed Taylor since somewhere around 1998 or 1999. His music has had plenty of time to get tangled up in my own life, including the life my wife and I have built together. Getting to photograph him solo was something I’d wanted for years. I hadn’t expected the evening to get quite this personal, but by the time he sang “Everlong,” I understood why those glances across the room had stayed with me.

The evening began with Taylor making sure everybody could be part of it. Roughly a hundred fans were still waiting outside, so he held off starting for about ten minutes to give them time to get in. I respect the hell out of that. He explained that the show had come together with about three weeks’ notice and thanked Fremont Country Club for accommodating it. Under the marquee outside, it was simply an evening with COREY TAYLOR. Inside, purple and blue light spread across a stage that felt close enough for his expressions to become part of the conversation. He could grin, raise an eyebrow or give somebody shit, and the room was right there with him. From the pit, I could see the expressions that often get lost when a stage feels miles away. That familiarity made it easy to laugh with him, then find myself singing alongside everybody else. He got the “SpongeBob SquarePants” theme out of the way immediately, and a roomful of adults suddenly demonstrated an impressive working knowledge of Bikini Bottom. COREY MOTHERFUCKING TAYLOR, everybody. The whole place sang along, and he had us.

STONE SOUR followed with one that sits comfortably in our own top three. My wife and I had been a little grumpy with each other before heading downtown. Nothing I need to drag you through here, but it explains why I noticed myself looking over at her while Taylor sang. I don’t know whether she caught me. I was finding a frame, taking the photograph, then looking across at her again. I wanted to do the work, and I wanted to share what was happening while we were standing there together. Then he played R.E.M.’s “The One I Love,” and fuck me, there I was doing it again. Taylor’s smartass commentary between songs kept saving me from taking myself too seriously. I say this with affection: this fool seems like somebody I could get along with very well. When he sang SEAL’s “Kiss FromA Rose” toward his wife, though, I paid attention in a different way. With LOVE AND ROCKETS across his chest and his eyes finding her, I wondered whether she was catching a few references the rest of us weren’t. If he’s anything like me, there’s satisfaction in leaving a small detail for the right person to notice. “Kiss From A Rose” was my favorite performance from the acoustic stretch, and “Bother” brought that portion to a close with a beautiful sing-along. Hearing the crowd take part in something that had become so personal to me only made me appreciate being there more.

The electric section brought Dustin Robert on drums, Zach Throne on guitar and backing vocals, Todd Kerns on bass, and Paul Trudeau on keyboards and guitar into the evening. Taylor introduced his players and gave them their recognition before the night opened up into a broader celebration of music he loves. PRINCE’s “Let’s Go Crazy” and ELTON JOHN’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” gave me plenty to enjoy, with the Elton song a particular favorite. The band’s enthusiasm for KISS came with a Paul Stanley impression from Taylor and a run through “Calling Dr. Love.” I’m not the biggest KISS fan, but I enjoyed their affection for it. He introduced “Crazy Train” as his favorite OZZY OSBOURNE song, and that appreciation mattered. I’ve spent years attaching memories to Taylor’s voice; hearing him reach for these songs gave me another way to connect with him. “Laying Down the Law,” from INXS and JIMMY BARNES, hit that connection especially hard. I fucking love INXS. Hearing Taylor bring that Michael Hutchence connection into this room caught something in me that goes right back to why I love rock and roll. I was shooting from the crowd by then, with hands and phones occasionally becoming part of the frame. From farther back, those raised hands helped give the photographs some of what it felt like to stand among the people responding to him. I would have appreciated another couple of songs in the pit to photograph the full band, but I respect the access we’re given, and I’m proud of what I captured.

Taking on JUDAS PRIEST brought Taylor’s humor and ambition into direct contact with each other. Before “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” he reminded us that Rob Halford hits those notes; he wasn’t guaranteeing us the same. Afterward, he reported having three Adam’s apples and one testicle left from trying. Fair assessment, brother. The hip-hop medley moved through “Gin And Juice,” “Insane InThe Brain,” “Jump Around” and “Wicked,” and hearing him rap was almost as much fun as watching him get everybody moving. He handled it well, too. Then he turned his attention toward his wife and told her he had a surprise: a cover she hadn’t heard him perform yet. FOO FIGHTERS’ “Everlong.” That was the moment for me. I’d been looking toward my own wife during the acoustic set, sharing songs with her from behind a camera. Now he was doing his version of that from the stage. I don’t know the private history behind his choices, but I recognized the impulse to put something you feel into a song and send it toward somebody. I didn’t need to know what occasion, if any, lay behind it. I knew the feeling of hearing a song and immediately thinking of the person I wanted beside me. She was already there, and I was grateful for that. His music had given me a way to reach toward her earlier in the evening. Watching him do it himself made the connection feel even closer.

Taylor eventually announced the last song, which prompted somebody in the crowd to helpfully suggest there would be four more. His response was appropriately profane. If you’ve seen him live, you know he enjoys having people around who will give him shit right back. “Good Times” closed the main set, bringing INXS and JIMMY BARNES around again and keeping this old lost boy perfectly happy after dark. When the band returned, Taylor admitted he’d forgotten the NIGHT RANGER song they had rehearsed. The guys had asked to play it, so they were getting their opportunity: “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.” Afterward came a huge thank-you to the band, followed by a shout-out to Fremont Country Club. Then he asked whether there were any STONE SOUR fans in the room. “Through Glass” was welcome, but “30/30-150” absolutely floored me. I’d never heard it live, and it’s one of my favorite STONE SOUR songs. He fucking crushed it. You could see the veins standing out in his neck. Corey, you’re 52. I’m 50, and I don’t even like it when the veins in my own neck do that. Good job, brother. His casual “before I forget” sent the SLIPKNOT fans off before the band even got into the song. Then he quieted everybody again, shushing the room before delivering the opening vocal line of “Duality.” He could wind everybody up, then bring us down far enough to hear that opening. After all the jokes, it was another reminder of how well he knows how to build a moment with an audience. Fremont Country Club went fucking nuts.

I love Fremont Country Club, and this evening made good use of everything I appreciate about the place. You could follow a look between musicians, catch Taylor smiling toward his wife, then find yourself surrounded by people losing their minds over the next song. Thank you for making this show happenand for giving us roughly another two feet in the photography pit. A little room to move matters when you’re trying to catch all of this. Looking through the gallery, I can still feel the shift from an acoustic guitar under violet light to the force of that final stretch. Then I find one of those photographs of Taylor looking towards his wife, and I’m back beside mine. She may never have noticed me singing to her. I’ll remember doing it.