Alter Bridge & Shinedown, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Black Friday (the proper one) is probably the busiest night of the year, a evening of revelry that turns into carnage relatively quickly. This write however was on a promise, I'd bought tickets for this gig for my other half earlier in the year as both bands on the bill are favourites of hers. Unfortunately she was also working in Porthcawl in the lead up to Xmas so I had to drive too the seaside town to pick her up and make my way back into cardiff for the show which had a start time of 6:30. Luckily as most people were in the City Centre pubs drinking themselves into oblivion the roads were quiet so I made great time to get to Porthcawl and back. However after parking the car, which was also not as much as a hassle as I thought it would be, it was only at the venue that we encountered problems as the upped security and a packed venue meant long queues to get in. This meant that we missed most of the opening band The Raven Age, who were filling in for Sevendust the original openers on the tour. Sevendust couldn't play due to surgery needed by their drummer Morgan Rose just before they set out on tour.
As The Raven Age finished their final song, we took our place near the back and waited for the special guests Shinedown (7) who I was hoping would impress me more than they did when they supported Iron Maiden in the same venue. Back then it was the massive over use of pre-taped vocals that got on my nerves and detracted from the show, however as they took to the stage, after quite a long intro, it was obvious Brent's vocals were a lot better this time around, he was definitely singing live with the guitarists supplying the backing vocals, there was still some tapes but they were nowhere near as obvious due to the vocals being quite high in the mix. This tour was in support of their most mature album yet Attention, Attention opening things up with the bouncy Devil kicking things off, into Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom) which was welcomed as an old friend by the crowd. Then the band stopped. We got to the part of Shinedown sets that really annoy me, at every gig they stop and have the audience all say hello to each other. It's supposed to be a way of everyone interacting but really it kills any momentum the band have going. They proceeded to stop a few more times through the set making it a little up and down in terms of pacing as they also focussed on a lot of their slower, ballad material. Still the room loudly sang along with Second Chance, their cover of Simple Man and Sound Of Madness with then very partisan crowd enjoying every minute of it. Better than I'd seen them before but their mantra of being the best band on the planet is a little boastful.
No such boasting from Alter Bridge (7) who do always come off as humble when they play especially when they you can see that quite clearly technically gifted musicians. The flashy stage show of huge screens and lights showed the band in full arena headline mode as Mark Tremonti and Brian Marshall crossed each others paths numerous times using full length of the Motorpoint's stage as Scott Phillips sat atop his drumkit keeping pace. Many were here to see Myles Kennedy the band who has ascended to a higher level of fame due to him being the frontman of Slash's solo band (which he now has co-billing on). He is every inch a rock god, trading between lead and rhythm guitar with Tremonti, he has every person in the room hanging on every word of tracks like Isolation, Come To Life and Ghost Of Days Gone By. Since I've last seen the band you can see that they have really become true arena headliners, even going as far as to give away a signature Tremonti guitar on the fourth song!
Now I have had a problem with Alter Bridge live, it's that they are quite clinical and they get a little sterile quickly, the four songs from Walk The Sky all blended into one another when mixed with tracks from One Day Remains and the one song from Last Hero. In fact the only songs that made an impact were the four from Blackbird and the three from Fortress (the last great Alter Bridge record in my opinion). The middle part of the set did drag a little it was only with Watch Over You that I got interested again as it led to Blackbird, Open Your Eyes and Metalingus. There is a huge distinction between their earlier songs and the later stuff, that's hard to ignore, as I've said a few times in this review Alter Bridge are now at arena headline level properly (though the Cardiff crowd was quite sparse at the back) and their songs now have to appeal to an audience that has come on due to Kennedy's other project, I may still find them a little bland on stage but their fans probably don't care what I think as they were throwing shapes like nobodies business to every song.
Black Friday (the proper one) is probably the busiest night of the year, a evening of revelry that turns into carnage relatively quickly. This write however was on a promise, I'd bought tickets for this gig for my other half earlier in the year as both bands on the bill are favourites of hers. Unfortunately she was also working in Porthcawl in the lead up to Xmas so I had to drive too the seaside town to pick her up and make my way back into cardiff for the show which had a start time of 6:30. Luckily as most people were in the City Centre pubs drinking themselves into oblivion the roads were quiet so I made great time to get to Porthcawl and back. However after parking the car, which was also not as much as a hassle as I thought it would be, it was only at the venue that we encountered problems as the upped security and a packed venue meant long queues to get in. This meant that we missed most of the opening band The Raven Age, who were filling in for Sevendust the original openers on the tour. Sevendust couldn't play due to surgery needed by their drummer Morgan Rose just before they set out on tour.
As The Raven Age finished their final song, we took our place near the back and waited for the special guests Shinedown (7) who I was hoping would impress me more than they did when they supported Iron Maiden in the same venue. Back then it was the massive over use of pre-taped vocals that got on my nerves and detracted from the show, however as they took to the stage, after quite a long intro, it was obvious Brent's vocals were a lot better this time around, he was definitely singing live with the guitarists supplying the backing vocals, there was still some tapes but they were nowhere near as obvious due to the vocals being quite high in the mix. This tour was in support of their most mature album yet Attention, Attention opening things up with the bouncy Devil kicking things off, into Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom) which was welcomed as an old friend by the crowd. Then the band stopped. We got to the part of Shinedown sets that really annoy me, at every gig they stop and have the audience all say hello to each other. It's supposed to be a way of everyone interacting but really it kills any momentum the band have going. They proceeded to stop a few more times through the set making it a little up and down in terms of pacing as they also focussed on a lot of their slower, ballad material. Still the room loudly sang along with Second Chance, their cover of Simple Man and Sound Of Madness with then very partisan crowd enjoying every minute of it. Better than I'd seen them before but their mantra of being the best band on the planet is a little boastful.
No such boasting from Alter Bridge (7) who do always come off as humble when they play especially when they you can see that quite clearly technically gifted musicians. The flashy stage show of huge screens and lights showed the band in full arena headline mode as Mark Tremonti and Brian Marshall crossed each others paths numerous times using full length of the Motorpoint's stage as Scott Phillips sat atop his drumkit keeping pace. Many were here to see Myles Kennedy the band who has ascended to a higher level of fame due to him being the frontman of Slash's solo band (which he now has co-billing on). He is every inch a rock god, trading between lead and rhythm guitar with Tremonti, he has every person in the room hanging on every word of tracks like Isolation, Come To Life and Ghost Of Days Gone By. Since I've last seen the band you can see that they have really become true arena headliners, even going as far as to give away a signature Tremonti guitar on the fourth song!
Now I have had a problem with Alter Bridge live, it's that they are quite clinical and they get a little sterile quickly, the four songs from Walk The Sky all blended into one another when mixed with tracks from One Day Remains and the one song from Last Hero. In fact the only songs that made an impact were the four from Blackbird and the three from Fortress (the last great Alter Bridge record in my opinion). The middle part of the set did drag a little it was only with Watch Over You that I got interested again as it led to Blackbird, Open Your Eyes and Metalingus. There is a huge distinction between their earlier songs and the later stuff, that's hard to ignore, as I've said a few times in this review Alter Bridge are now at arena headline level properly (though the Cardiff crowd was quite sparse at the back) and their songs now have to appeal to an audience that has come on due to Kennedy's other project, I may still find them a little bland on stage but their fans probably don't care what I think as they were throwing shapes like nobodies business to every song.