Alice In Chains
W/ Hurt
Nov 5, 2006
Kool Haus

I never thought I’d get the chance to see Alice In Chains, especially considering Layne Staley is dead, but with the new surge in supergroups and reunions of grunge era bands, it was only time before they surfaced. I’ve always thought that if a singer died and were a main reason the band was successful you shouldn’t replace them, especially not with someone as huge as Layne who inspired countless musicians over the years. I mean you wouldn’t want to see Nirvana without Kurt, and most didn’t want to see AIC without Layne. But still, it was one of those things that you couldn’t pass up.

In the Kool Haus that was packed with pretty much 80% guys, people were ready to see one of their favourite bands from the past 20 years go through all their favourite songs. Opening band Hurt, were fitting and used the stage and lighting to their advantage. I only caught the last couple songs of their set, but they sound better live than they do on disc and “Rapture” is probably one of the best rock songs you’ve never heard this year. Luckily, it looked like they won over some fans.

At least until Alice In Chains hit the stage, because from then on everything that happened before was forgotten. With the original lineup of Jerry Cantrell (vocals/guitar), Mike Inez (bass) and Sean Kinney (drums), the largely unknown vocalist William DuVall took Layne’s spot onstage. While most bands would want their new singer to sound different from the one the fans missed, William sounded dead on at times, to the point where if you closed your eyes you might not have noticed that Layne wasn’t there and he also had a fantastic stage presence that kept your attention on him. And the fans showed their love in droves, Alice In Chains quite possibly had the best crowd I’ve seen in months. It was also obvious from the very beginning that the band was totally comfortable with each other and if someone had walked in not knowing anything about them, they might have thought that he was the original singer.

Opening with “Again” the crowd and band were enthralled with each other, especially considering the band didn’t fuck around with the songs. They played them like you remembered them and wanted to hear them, no changes, no new parts, just the way people grew attached to them years ago. What made the concert better was that they split it into different sets. Starting with a full out electric set and ending with one, they added an unplugged set in between. They made sure no one was bored during the stage changes. After the first set they played a video montage with clips of Layne, showing that while he wasn’t there physically, he was there in spirit. Opening the unplugged set by Jerry saying “Keep it going for Layne,” made it a little easier to take.

The band shone with amazing harmonies between William and Jerry on almost every song during the unplugged set. “Got Me Wrong” was a total sing along between band and fans and the lyrics I haven’t felt like this in so long seemed to be really true to everyone.

After playing almost every song that we could want to hear and a two song encore of “Rooster” and “Would?” the band just stood on the stage awed by the crowd, to the point where they didn’t want to leave. We might have been hesitant to see them with a new singer but Alice In Chains put on one of the best concerts I’ve seen in years and with a response like this, it looks like we’ll have them for longer than any of us thought. It’s just too bad Layne isn’t around to be part of it.

Set List:

Set 1
Again
Bleed The Freak
Grind
It Ain’t Like That
Junkhead
Nutshell
Them Bones
Dam That River
Rain When I Die

Set 2 (Unplugged)
Don’t Follow
Brother
Killer Is Me
No Excuses
Got Me Wrong
Down In A Hole

Set 3
Sludge Factory
We Die Young
Heaven Beside You
Angry Chair
Man In The Box

Encore
Rooster
Would?

- Alyssa Caplin 

Photo by Jackson Main. For more photos click here.

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