Theory of a Deadman open up a night filled
with pure American rock; all 3 bands I openly
announce my love for and this gig really is a
dream come true, I have seen all of the bands
at least once before so have comparisons to go
on. I must start by saying these guys have the
best intro tape by far; “Blame Canada”
from the South Park movie, what a way to start.
It’s just a crying shame that there is only
a half full room to witness the set, the performances
of “Hate My Life” and their latest
single “Lowlife” would have been enough
to win anyone over. I would be criticising the
vocals right now if I didn’t know it wasn’t
Tyler’s fault, he hit a few wrong notes
but he did explain he was having problems with
the monitors, it’s still impressive because
of his “fuck it, we’ll go in blind
then” attitude he still managed to get most
songs pretty spot on. In their set they also covered
“Cocaine” by Eric Clapton, teased
us with the intro to “Paridise City”
by GN’R, as well as the best of their own
material; “So Happy”, “The Bitch
Came Back”, “Not Meant to Be”
and finishing off with arguably their greatest
song “Bad Girlfriend”. I feel the
only thing hindering their performance was not
receiving a huge amount of reaction from the audience,
only time and perseverance will fix that one lads
so good luck!
Black Stone Cherry have grown into an unstoppable
rocking machine! Taking their youth into consideration
as well as the fact their only 3 albums into their
career, for them to be this dominant in the UK
is nothing short of remarkable. I’ve watched
these guys play a fair few gigs over the past
few years and they have grown with so much confidence
and raw onstage energy, with all this and the
fact they’ve just put out the strongest
album of their career makes these the number 1
contender to steal this show for themselves. In
my opinion they give the best performance of all
3 bands; the teasing resumes with a snippet of
iconic Black Sabbath track “Iron Man”,
they flawlessly cover Adele’s “Rolling
in the Deep” and then a further 12 songs
of their own material. They address the audience
with not even an ounce of hesitance or fear, getting
us involved with “Things my Father Said”
and “Peace is Free”. When Chris Robertson
tells us we mean the world to him and that if
it wasn’t for his friend’s family
and fans he wouldn’t be here today you actually
believe him, it’s a rollercoaster of emotion
leaving us relieved and fulfilled. March tour
you say? Don’t mind if I do.
Alter Bridge have finally decided to take the
arena jump after their past couple of tours being
a huge success; my initial impression upon arrival
at 7pm was that their risk had not paid off, however
as time went by people started to arrive by the
hundreds and by the time Alter Bridge took the
stage every seat was filled and the arena floor
was flooded with eager fans. Their backdrop was
certainly distinctive, as opposed to the standard
sheet or the increasingly popular screens, these
guys chose to have loads of lights displaying
vibrant patterns with alternating colours; whilst
this is definitely distinctive and different,
I’m old school and prefer a band to be backed
by their logo. Alter Bridge always speed up their
material to try to fit as many songs into their
set as possible; normally they pull this off perfectly,
but tonight I don’t know whether it’s
the sheer amount of projects and tours Myles has
gone on but his voice sometimes can’t keep
up and it feels like he’s talking rather
than singing. Apart from that small inconvenience
at times, he performs perfectly and still has
the ability to make men and women alike orgasm
on the spot (the acoustic renditions of “Watch
Over You” and “Wonderful Live”
are better than sex). The rest of the band perform
tremendously; Tremonti is like a machine, I’ve
never been so gobsmacked by a guitarist in my
life, song’s like “Ties That Bind”,
“Find the Real” and “Come To
Life” are spectacular pieces of music. An
18 song set covering all aspects of the band’s
different material and a killer energy throughout
all aspects of on stage showmenship. Yes I still
thing Black Stone Cherry we’re the best
but don’t misunderstand me, Alter Bridge
were fucking spectacular also, that is all.
Theory of a deadman – 3.5/5
Black Stone Cherry – 4.5/5
Alter Bridge – 4/5
Review By James Webb |
