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Alterbridge

By Ian Urie



It always happens.
At the first sign of bad weather, the sods who control the doors to a concert
go for a tea-break, or so it seems.
18th January 2008 in Glasgow at the Carling Academy.
There's a gale, or so it seems, blowing and the temperature ain't exactly balmy.
35 minutes late they opened the doors!
I should be used to it by now after all these years of going to concerts, but it still rankles.

Anyway, we got in late.
Just in case we weren't cold enough, they had the air conditioners switched on at max.



The support band were "Enjoy Destroy".
Dunno who booked them as support, but I think they made an awful mistake.
AlterBridge are a hard rock band with a post grunge edge to their music.
Enjoy Destroy are anything but.



I dare say that they're a very good band,
but after all that cold air and waiting, you need something to get you moving again.
Just shows how things have moved on.
In years gone by, the crowd wouldn't have put up with a band that they didn't like.
In this case, they applauded after the first song, in case they were mistaken and the band would start pulverising them with some power chords.
When that didn't happen, they simply stopped applauding.
The band looked young, and, as I said, they probably are good.
They weren't to my taste and they definitely didn't appear to be the crowds either.
Their biggest applause was when they announced their last song.



Now for the main event.
As shown at the top of the page, AlterBridge have a new album out.
It's taken a long while due to contract difficulties and has been keenly anticipated.
Thankfully, it's a corker.



The band took to the stage and launched into Come to Life.
The crowd responded and off we went.
They appeared to be proving a point to someone.
This was a high energy display and the hall was already starting to show appreciable temperature rise.
Looks like those air conditioners might be needed after all.
The band played a mixture of older tracks and tracks from Blackbird.




Myles Kennedy, in a major departure from the last tour played guitar all the way through this concert.
He traded riffs with Tremonti, both of them sharing lead breaks.
Kennedy's vocals were immaculate as they swooped through older songs like Broken wings and Find the real.
These songs are AlterBridge classics already.




Some of the new songs given an outing were Buried Alive, blackbird, Ties that bind, Watch over you.
If they were disproving the theory of their old record company that tried to get them back with Scott Stapp,
they were doing it in spades.
The new album is at least as good as anything that Creed put out.



The band were in full flight.
It's hard to describe, but you know when a band is trying.
This band was bursting a gut to ensure you enjoyed the concert.
Tremonti's playing was immense and was pinned by Marshall's bass and Phillips laying down a rock solid rhythm on drums.



The band appeared to be enjoying themselves as well.
Kennedy and Tremonti stood side by side and traded licks, then spun to play alongside Marshall.
Kennedy has always impressed as a vocalist, even so he was excelling.
This was rock played as it should be.
Loud and with an attitude.



Above you can just make out Scott Phillips hammering the skins while Brian Marshall keeps the song on track.
The crowd was seriously enjoying themselves.
They sang along, showing they knew all the songs.
Either the torrent sites have been getting hammered or both albums have sold well in Scotland.




Kennedy shows the temperature wasn't just rising for the audience.
The band got (yet) another huge cheer for blackbird as the intro was played.
There was a mosh pit in the centre of the crowd and it was getting crazy in there.
I could see the first aiders heading in as some of the moshers took exception to some of others in the pit.
 AC/DC sang If you want blood, but they didn't mean it literally.



I spotted AlterBridge's old friends Logan up in one of the boxes above.
Pity they hadn't been supporting as they had done on previous tours.
The band did a phenomenal version of Watch over you, which was one of the singles.
They launched into one of the fans favourites, Metalingus.
The crowd was still buzzing as they completed the set with Open your eyes.



Steadily becoming a staple encore song, the band returned with Whole lotta Rosie, the old AC/DC classic.
Kennedy then gave the band a bit of a rest by performing an old Robert Johnson song
before the band finished the encore with Rise Again which was the first single from blackbird.
This is how a rock concert should be.
This band was awesome and the sound desk engineer evidently knew his job.
The sound was excellent, with a nice clear sound.
I've seen AlterBridge before and this has been their best concert as far as I'm concerned.
With the reaction of the crowd, I suspect we might hear a lot more of this band in this country.
They obviously enjoyed it as well, as they're booked to play again, same venue, in November.
I look forward to it!
I'd better head off to find tickets for it, can't see them lasting long before the sellout notices go up.