By Jase Walker
I don’t think I’ve been to Manchester’s AO Arena this year half as much as I should have been but one of the few stops I’ve got this year is for the almighty Alter Bridge! With them for this stint is Halestorm, a firm favourite for their touring lineups and Mammoth WVH. I’ve been eager to hear some of the ‘Walk The Sky’ tracks done live so this is absolutely going to be it!
The arena goes dark and I will never get sick of the atmosphere it provokes when a huge place like this reduces to darkness and the pulse of its massive speaker system rumbles through the floor. It strikes me immediately not only how incredible the overall sound is, but that riffage and harmonized vocals are incredible! I’m coming from a place of complete ignorance when it comes to this group but I’m really caught off guard by how much I’m enjoying it! The mix of real tasteful playing, exciting riffs, catchy vocals and some real groovy rhythmic work is a lot of fun. There’s a solid balance of it all, it doesn’t veer off into any massive tangents, it’s all focused around belting out great rock songs.
I find myself on several occasions just looking around at the massive patterns of lightning sweeping over the massive audience while Mammoth WVH does their thing. I’m sitting here with a wry grin on my face while enjoying them kicking out music that’s just good, there’s no overt focus on anything other than playing great songs well. It’s great seeing how many people have arrived early to the show as well, the standing area is getting pretty busy by this point and I can see the seated area is filling up nicely too. Mammoth WVH has been a pleasant surprise to me and reassures me that despite having a head full of prog metal and metalcore these days, my love for a well written rock song has not died. It’s not “dropkick your nan in a dark room” sort of thing, it’s definitely “blasting at 120dB driving at 150 mph down the Interstate”. Great opener.
Next tonight is Halestorm! Fronted by Lzzy Hale, legitimately one of the most magnetic frontwomen in the entire world, and getting to not only see her do her stuff, but the rest of Halestorm smash it out the park again is a pleasure that I will never take for granted. It does amuse me somewhat though that Alter Bridge seem to most exclusively take Halestorm or Shinedown out as their supports on ÜK/EÜ tours. The lack of feeling the bass is a bit disappointing though, I can hear him but it’s quite weak so it’s struggling to carry the rhythm. Lizzy’s voice sounds great but on the whole the overall sound is quite thin and falls a bit flat compared to previous times I’ve seen Halestorm live. I’m actually a bit conflicted about this because I’ve always rated Halestorm pretty highly in terms of live performance and sound but something feels a bit off, almost like they’re not really enjoying being on stage at the moment.
Admittedly it’s a pretty cool moment when we’ve got a more stripped down moment to sing along to where the entire of the arena is lit up by people’s phone lights and I couldn’t resist grabbing a quick video to remember the moment. Oddly enough they’ve also taken this moment, past the halfway point, to turn the bass guitar up as well, better late than never I suppose. As is tradition with Halestorm sets, Arjay gets an extended drum solo section that goes down well with the crowd, including the part with some bloody gigantic drumsticks as well! It’s a bit of a shame to see the crowd largely being quite static as well during the set so I think Halestorm have missed the mark a bit with tonight’s show. I’ll not let tonight’s show be a permanent mark on their live performances though, I know they’ve been stellar before but tonight’s performance wasn’t quite up to the level I would have expected from them.
Finally, it’s time for Alter Bridge! The fact that I was given a chance to see these guys live again is something I will never take for granted, they’re superb! The production is slightly dialed down a bit compared to last time but their sound is every bit as bloody massive as it ever was. Myles’s signature sailing vocals echo through every corner of the arena while their signature raw guitar sound and relentless rhythm rolls across the crowd. Second song is ‘Addicted To Pain’ and I’m already losing my mind to that incredible chorus! I definitely feel right at home in riff city. ‘Ghost Of Days Gone By’ right afterwards? My heart can’t take this! It’s become pretty clear how good it sounds too, every single chug can be felt clearly through my seat, but it doesn’t come at the expense of clarity. When a note is muted, you definitely know about it.
One of the rarer songs from the first album, ‘Shed My Skin’, gets a chorus of singing from the audience. It’s been great to hear such a wide variety of songs from Alter Bridge’s back catalogue so soon into the set – this is most definitely not just a ‘Walk The Sky‘ or ‘Pawns & Kings‘ set so far! Such a unique band with not one lead guitar and vocalist, but two! The warm up to ‘Cry Of Achilles’ is such a tease, I genuinely think I might lose my voice trying to sing along to it, everything about this song is banger from start to finish. Blow by blow, this set has been stunning, a fantastic mix of more regularly played songs and some less so.
Throughout the ebb and flow of this set, and the constant back and forth between old and new, there’s been something for quite literally any level of Alter Bridge fan. Whether you’ve just found them recently through ‘Walk The Sky’ or you’ve known them since ‘One Day Remains’, there’s something in this set for everyone! Finally my favourite song, ‘Isolation’, one of the biggest songs from ‘AB III’ and I think my voice is officially trashed. Are we getting to the end? This is definitely ‘Metalingus’, and the crowd is going wild, nevermind me! Given that I can’t talk without a croak in my voice after this, I think I’ll be scoffing some strepsils in the morning.
What a show, Alter Bridge has been exceptional every time I’ve seen them and this has been no different. Incredible.
- The tour finishes at the AO Arena in London tomorrow (Sunday 12 December).
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