I previously said it during my review of their recent self-titled album but it’s a weird concept for Alter Bridge to be undertaking a major UK tour in March rather than the last few months of the year. But put that weirdness aside and everything else about said tour is exactly what you’d expect from them in the last decade and a half – an expansive tour covering the UK (mostly) with a couple of heavy-hitter supports and one of their best albums in a long time to sweeten the deal.
Bringing the post-grunge vibes to the night, Sevendust are here to open the show with a tight thirty-five minutes. As such, they can’t every mark of their long career, instead choosing to focus on Animosity, Seasons, Home, their self-titled and play the canny move of throwing in “Is This the Real You” from their upcoming album. They’ve got plenty of energy and know how to work the mid-week crowd between the crunching, grinding riffs from the downtuned guitars and drums hit with precision and groove, both melodies and rhythms working in sync against booming and rasping vocals to get heads bobbing along and kick the evening off in style.
From divorced dad rock to Lois Griffin’s favourite band, there’s an expectant atmosphere in the room before Daughtry take their places. Their journey isn’t uncommon – make a couple of great hard rock albums, get a bit more poppy before bringing the heaviness back whilst bringing the lessons learned to keep them relevant. Which means with the grittiness and electronic elements in the music, they’re not exactly mum rock like Family Guy would have you believe. Through the dozen numbers, there’s a heavy emphasis on the recent Shock to the System albums as well as going back to the debut. However, the highlight comes in their interpretation of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”, it’s ridiculously heavy whilst keeping the catchiness of the original. As performers, they’re flawless but not particularly engaging, and I feel I’d get the same experience if I put a playlist on at home and looked at a picture of them. That said, these package tours that have been doing the rounds for more than a decade have always drawn from the same pool of bands, just in different combinations so it’s a welcome change to get a band not usually featured in these tours.
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Speaking of doing things differently, Alter Bridge shuffle onto the stage and the no-expense-spared production screens kick into life. As “Silent Divide” from the self-titled gets us started, you can see this is Alter Bridge as we know them but not quite as we’ve always known them. They’re a band who have always played to an exceptionally high standard with evident chemistry and they’ve never been po-faced in their performances. They take the performance seriously and ensure they give their audience an excellent night but there’s something a bit more relaxed about them now and it’s a welcome sight.
That sense of difference comes in the setlist, too. Not shoving the new album down the throats, they keep it to just a few songs whilst managing to hit most of the staples over the ninety minutes. But if we’re being honest, the ultimate Alter Bridge setlist would run to about four hours. Indeed, they’ve managed to keep things fresh by moving the order of songs about. Most notably, “Open Your Eyes” and “Rise Today” doesn’t close the main set or the encore, both of which have interchanged over the years. Meanwhile, the epic “Blackbird” serves as the bulk of the encore with “Isolation” closing the show. Elsewhere, the four-part prog-infused “Fortress” is recreated faithfully and is just as much of a romp live as it is on the album of the same name.
Then there’s the usual moments with a twist with “Wonderful Life” which has Myles Kennedy on his acoustic guitar and as usual, it’s followed by “Watch Over You” and rather than keep it acoustic, the rest of the band join him, much closer to the album version. There’s also the Mark Tremonti on lead vocals moment with “Burn it Down”. Despite not singing it on One Day Remains, he turns in an excellent performance, his beefy baritone vocals adding extra weight to the dread-laden lyrics. But you can’t help but wonder if he was going to do any song, shouldn’t it have been “In Loving Memory”?
What we’re watching is a band, more than two decades into their career, showing that whilst they may be a reliable live act, they can still keep things fresh while managing to give fans what they want to ensure both us and them don’t roll our eyes. Thankfully, what hasn’t changed is the band’s performance – they still know how to deliver. Kennedy’s vocals soar and drop with enviable skill, the oldest songs in the set manage to sound as great as they did back then, bolstered by an extra two decades of experience. His flawless guitar work complements Tremonti’s perfectly, the pair of them swapping from lead and rhythm effortlessly, the crunching riffs contributing to the band’s signature sound. Tremonti’s are thick and muscular, forceful without overbearing whilst Kennedy’s are deft and precise. Brian Marshall’s bass lines are much like him – cool, understated but you’d miss them if they weren’t there. But when that bass rumbles and roars, he’s still the portrait of relaxation like a calm master. He locks in with Scott Phillips, an absolute machine without becoming mechanical, driving everything without dominating the situation.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen Alter Bridge and they’ve never been anything short of excellent. Their consistency has long been a source of admiration in the rock scene but tonight ranks as one of the best. Being the last night of a long tour, there’s no signs of exhaustion but rather a sense of celebration and making sure they end it on a high. It feels like this is the build-up to their Blackbird Festival at Cardiff Castle in June and if that’s as good as this was, we’re going to be in for something truly special.
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Photos by Sean Larkin Photography
