[Philadelphia] I’d been watching reruns of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (first-run for me), and so this band, being from Philadelphia, kept reminding me of the show what with their dirty urban look. The female lead, dirty bleach blonde, had an ironic Mickey Mouse t-shirt on. They were hard enough that they drove away a good half of the crowd. Mostly, they reminded me of the 90s. Noise rock with an atonal but melodious undertone – flat unwavering vocals – a midlevel whine dominating every song. I’m too of the 90s to describe its sound – it’s just an overall feeling for me and they had it. The Vaselines… Yo La Tengo… what have you. It was nice to hear something different but I wouldn’t listen to them.

[Dallas, TX] So refreshing to hear some hard music (hand to throat). I may have been a little overexcited, but this band was great. Sludge punk, Mudhoney sound, rivers of melody with little blasts of speed metal riffs. Rambunctious lead singer. Also reminded me of Turbonegro.

we were ‘treated’ to this band at a pitstop – I described them as “triumphant cacophony rock” and “introverted emo noodlers” in my notes but all I remember is a post-grunge haze – bad Rush and whiny guitars – the lead vocalist was particularly annoying with his incessant face contortions – I did enjoy the strip of flashing lights they had set up at the back of their stage, and the stiff stern dark-haired girl in green semi-lingerie playing bass (I could just tell she loves math) – Rockboy thought they sounded like Hot Hot Heat and liked them a lot more than I did

I was hesitant about seeing this band because I can hardly stand hearing the giant names from the 90s nowadays let alone the post-grunge names from the 90s – but I always had a soft spot in my heart for this band – the album grew on me – rather than the one-emotion sound of say a Fuel or a A Perfect Circle, they were a little odder and darker, albeit poppier – so it was just the lead singer on an acoustic guitar with whom I assume was his daughter sitting behind him – his voice, without the support of a full band, was familiar but definitely not a strength – he did Possum Kingdom but the song that really roused the crowd was I Come From the Water, on which the audience handled the chorus

there were two epiphanies during this show that I haven’t been quite able to recollect, something about grunge and how it has such a distinctive sound and a sound so distinctive from contemporary sounds and all of this despite being such an amalgam of old sounds, and how grunge was the defining sound of my adolescence and I couldn’t break it down to you now nor then with words more descriptive than “grunge,” so I tried to hear this band as if there were no history between us – as if they were any old band – and they were so good but I had a hard time piecing them out, firstly Mark Arm has a tremendous and passionate voice that sticks with you, they are a mix of blues and punk and garage, they are thoroughly influenced by the Stooges, lastly I am not as thoroughly tired of them as I am of all of the other 90s bands

90s rockers from Boston — in town for SXSW. Might as well have been the godfathers of Counting Crows, i.e., they were horrid. Rockboy insists that they used to be grungier but I doubt. Their official SXSW showcase was at the Parish at 9pm on Friday — good day and location but embarrassing time.

05.22.2006 Alice In Chains Avalon, Boston, MA
Opener: Blind By Noon
Seamless
When I heard that Alice In Chains was touring again, it was a no-brainer to see them in Boston, one of only a handful of club dates they were playing this summer. While Layne Stanley passed away in 2002, the band songs were indelibly imprinted in my brain right up until about 1995, when they stopped producing new material. Jar of Flies is still on my list of top ten best albums ever.

So who goes to a concert, the band reformed 10 years after the last album and after the death of its signature vocalist? The answer, just about everyone. The audience ran the gamut of looks, age and temperament. I saw two kids in the 10 year old range with their parents, as many late-twenty jocks as middle-aged metalheads with sagging skin and beer bellies, and college students who were in elementary school when Alice in Chains released its last self-titled studio album. Their fans had aged right along with Alice in Chains.

The thing is, though, this crowd knew the music. AIC, as they now encourage us to call them, kept mostly to their first two albums, arguably their two most popular, with the exception of the show’s opener “Sludge Factory” which despite the name is a haunting and gorgeous melody, and “Again.” The music was smoldering all night, simply gorgeous harmonies and searing melodies, some of the best early in the setlist – “Rain When I Die” inspired the crowd to join in on the chorus like a heavenly lament. “Junkhead” had the crowd sing along in confession, “What’s my drug of choice? Well what have you got?”

William DuVall did was a great stand in for the late Layne Staley. His voice matched the intensity and howl of Staley without being a carbon copy or a caricature. Lead guitarist and AIC founder, Jerry Cantrell, looked healthy and relaxed during the entire set. He spoke little to the crowd, at one point coming up to the mike and then after a second of staring out into the crowd, he simply laughed it off and played a riff. He did encourage the crowd to give warm applause for each band member individually.

The show’s highlights came straight off Facelift. “We Die Young” was simply awesome and set a wicked tempo for the concert, with barely a pause for breath during the war ballad “Rooster.” Straight through the main set closer “Them Bones” to the show closer “Man In the Box” the band mesmerized, continually appealing to the audience to soak in the moment and recall the band’s glory days.

Setlist
Sludge Factory
Dam That River
Rain When I Die
We Die Young
Love, Hate, Love
Again
Junkhead
Down In A Hole
God Smack
Rooster
Them Bones
Encore
Would?
Dirt
Angry Chair
Man In The Box