Jukebox:Metal

Alter Bridge - Astoria 2008

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Alter Bridge managed to tour the UK a remarkable four times on the back of debut album One Day Remains, plus an appearance at the Download Festival, and have now finally followed it up with a second album, Blackbird.

Despite touring regularly, almost always selling out (in London, anyway), and consistently building their reputation both live and on record, Alter Bridge rarely seem to tap great support bands. More often than not they don’t even have support bands who stylistically should be on the same bill. This time it was no different as young aggressive-indie outfit Enjoy Detroy received a lukewarm reception for half-an-hour.

But compared to the adulation Alter Bridge were greeted with as they took the stage, Enjoy Destroy’s response was practically distain. Opening with Come To Life, one of the liveliest and heaviest songs on the new album, their sound seemed a little muddy (not unusual for the first couple of songs at the Astoria) but the band looked in good spirits and on good form.

But it was with the next song, Find The Real from the first album, that one major difference in their sound became apparent and would continue to be a contributor to the less-than-crystal sound for the rest of the night. Singer Myles Kennedy didn’t out his guitar down. On previous tours guitarist Mark Tremonti handled almost all of the guitar playing and Kennedy contributed occasional rhythm on a couple of songs. Now Kennedy plays rhythm on nearly every song, including songs that he previously didn’t play on.

While a capable guitarist, the addition of a second guitar to many of the older tracks is unnecessary. It may well be unnecessary on some of the newer ones as well, but there’s no point of reference for that. But on the old songs Kennedy’s guitar only serves to drown out the subtleties in Tremonti’s playing which had always previously made their shows so electrifying.

This muddier sound did songs like One Day Remains, Metalingus and Open Your Eyes no favours at all, while already busy new tracks like White Knuckles suffered from the lack of clarity. Muscular second Blackbird single Ties That Bind, followed by the album’s outstanding title track provided a mid-set highlight until the encore when Kennedy delivered the finest moment I’ve seen him have in Alter Bridge.

Following the always-rousing Broken Wings from the first album Kennedy took the stage by himself with a single guitar for an outstanding solo version of Robert Johnson’s Travelling Riverside Blues. The band then rejoined for the lowest-common-denominator first single from Blackbird, Rise Today, which met with predictable appreciation, and the 90-minute set came to a close.

Having sold-out very quickly for a few shows on this tour, including London, the band booked a second tour for November almost straight away, taking great pleasure in announcing their return (booked for the 5,000 capacity Brixton Academy), part way through this show. Hopefully the more expansive Academy will help the muddy new sound and give complicated riffs like Find The Real, White Knuckles and Come To Life room to breathe.

“ muddier sound ”

Setlist: Come To Life / Find The Real / Brand New Start / Buried Alive / White Knuckles / One By One / One Day Remains / Before Tomorrow Comes / Ties That Bind / Blackbird / Watch Over You / Metalingus / Open Your Eyes // Broken Wings / Travelling Riverside Blues / Rise Today

Written by Andy Lye - March 2008
More: Gigs, Heavy Rock, Alter Bridge