This is a really awesome name for a rock concert. I'm not familiar with most of the bands on the bill though. And it's a weekday on which I have guitar lesson so I only got there after 8:30pm to see the last two of the 3 "main stage" bands. I gotta admit that I went because the venue basically gaveaway the tix (I paid $0.75 as a reward for buying full-priced tix for the Black Sabbath concert last month) I am actually quite interested in hearing the other main stage band who played before I arrived, Coheed and Cambria. I knew about this band via an unusual mean: one of the preset guitar effect on my Pandora is named after them and it sounded powerful (what I call "machine-like") The first band I saw was Jane's Addiction, even though I won't call myself a fan, I have a lot of respect for the band as they are original. And they always sounded "big", excessive if you will but that rocks! All 4 members of the band did. And of course I paid the most attention to the guitarist Dave Navarro, then the sexy dancers on some of the songs >:) The primitive sounding song with only drums accompanying vocal, and the acoustic "Jane Says" added variety to the set.
Alice in Chains is another band from roughly the same era. I still remember the days when MTV featured both band heavily. That's the heyday of Grunge. Personally I have a love-hate relationship with Grunge: I played quite a bit of songs by Grunge bands with Several of my bands 'coz (1) they are usually not too hard, (2) most bandmates know some Grunge songs and few would opposed to playing them. Nirvana's Lithium is kinda like the rock-equivalent of jazz standard "Satin Doll." On the other hand, Grunge was the beginning of the end of heavy music. Thrash metal reached a new height when the biggest names in Thrash, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth joined force for the Clash of the Titans tour. The tour was supported by a up-and-coming Grunge band, it was a symbolic moment: Grunge would take over Thrash from then on. And after the Grunge fever was over, the whole genre seemed to go down with it. A lot of serious metal bands went on hiatus for 10+ years. Guess which was that up-and-coming band who played on Clash on the Titans? Alice in Chains, of course! That said. I'm not a hater of Alice in Chains as a huge Thrash fan. On the contrary, I enjoy listening and playing Alice in Chains' songs, by choice! I like Soundgarden too but Alice in Chains is my favorite Grunge band. The worst thing about Grunge was that guitar solo took a backseat (or completely disappeared!) Not for Alice in Chains though. Jerry Cantrell is one awesome and unique guitarist. Too bad I have never seen them live with the original lineup. As most rock fans know, their front man Layne Staley passed away. The band reformed with a new vocalist William DuVall. The band started the set with the powerful "Them Bones." Then alternated between classic material (incl. "Would," "Man in the box," "Got Me Wrong," "Rooster" but no "Heaven besides You") and the songs from the albums after DuVall joining the band. It's actually easy to differentiate: DuVall is also a guitarist and plays on the songs when he's part of the band. He'd put down the guitar for the old songs. The drummer decorated his bass drum with big letter LSMS as a tribute to the Layne Staley and former bassist Mike Starr, who has also passed away. Good gesture. I enjoy both the old and new songs and I think DuVall is a good musician in his own right. Keep on rocking!
Check out these reviews (1, 2) of Uproar.
Alice in Chains is another band from roughly the same era. I still remember the days when MTV featured both band heavily. That's the heyday of Grunge. Personally I have a love-hate relationship with Grunge: I played quite a bit of songs by Grunge bands with Several of my bands 'coz (1) they are usually not too hard, (2) most bandmates know some Grunge songs and few would opposed to playing them. Nirvana's Lithium is kinda like the rock-equivalent of jazz standard "Satin Doll." On the other hand, Grunge was the beginning of the end of heavy music. Thrash metal reached a new height when the biggest names in Thrash, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth joined force for the Clash of the Titans tour. The tour was supported by a up-and-coming Grunge band, it was a symbolic moment: Grunge would take over Thrash from then on. And after the Grunge fever was over, the whole genre seemed to go down with it. A lot of serious metal bands went on hiatus for 10+ years. Guess which was that up-and-coming band who played on Clash on the Titans? Alice in Chains, of course! That said. I'm not a hater of Alice in Chains as a huge Thrash fan. On the contrary, I enjoy listening and playing Alice in Chains' songs, by choice! I like Soundgarden too but Alice in Chains is my favorite Grunge band. The worst thing about Grunge was that guitar solo took a backseat (or completely disappeared!) Not for Alice in Chains though. Jerry Cantrell is one awesome and unique guitarist. Too bad I have never seen them live with the original lineup. As most rock fans know, their front man Layne Staley passed away. The band reformed with a new vocalist William DuVall. The band started the set with the powerful "Them Bones." Then alternated between classic material (incl. "Would," "Man in the box," "Got Me Wrong," "Rooster" but no "Heaven besides You") and the songs from the albums after DuVall joining the band. It's actually easy to differentiate: DuVall is also a guitarist and plays on the songs when he's part of the band. He'd put down the guitar for the old songs. The drummer decorated his bass drum with big letter LSMS as a tribute to the Layne Staley and former bassist Mike Starr, who has also passed away. Good gesture. I enjoy both the old and new songs and I think DuVall is a good musician in his own right. Keep on rocking!
