Alice in
Chains
February 11, 2010
Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
By Dan Wall
Set List: All Secrets Known, It Ain’t Like That, Again, Check My
Brain, Them Bones, Dam That River, Rain When I Die, Your
Decision, Got Me Wrong, We Die Young, Last of My Kind, Nutshell,
Sickman, Grind, Acid Bubble, No Excuses, Angry Chair, Man in the
Box. Encore: Love Hate Love, Would?, Rooster. 1 hour 50 minutes.
Of all the rock and roll reunions that have taken place over
the years, the one that no one thought would ever happen was
Alice in Chains. But here we are in 2010, and one of the top
tours of the new year is being done by the same band; the group
hit down in Oakland for a sold-out show here last week, and put
on a spectacular show that really makes you wonder what took
guitar god Jerry Cantrell and the boys so long to put this all
together.
It’s even more surprising when you think of all the turmoil
this band went through, right up to lead vocalist Layne Staley’s
death in 2002. Even though the band stopped touring in 1996, it
never officially disbanded until Staley’s passing, despite
Cantrell’s attempt to keep the band’s music and sound alive. He
put out solo records, toured with other AIC members and tried to
get Staley interested again, although most of the group’s inner
circle and fans knew Staley’s health would probably stop any
sort of a comeback. His death confirmed it, and the band broke
up for good.
But
Cantrell could never keep the band far from his own sound or
live performances, and with a ready-built replacement already in
his own solo band, Cantrell put the band back together for some
performances in 2005 that led to a full reformation in 2007. It
could be argued that band is a much better live act now than the
original band was-Staley and the band’s well-documented
substance abuse problems left any gig a disaster just waiting to
happen (the last time I saw AIC headline, the show was very
dark, Staley hardly moved and the whole place felt like a heroin
den).
The group
is almost jolly onstage now, despite the D-tuned riffs, angry
lyrics and almost constant references to turmoil and dysfunction
in its lyrics. This time, the mood was cheerful, the lights
colorful and bright, and the songs, still as somber as ever,
actually rocked with this version of the band. The live
presentation actually featured a video presentation and
backdrops, something the original band never attempted.
Staley’s
replacement, William Duvall, does a fine job onstage, and it
wasn’t much of a stretch to put him into this spot. A longtime
contributor to Cantrell’s solo act (he would often sing Staley’s
parts live), Duvall sounds enough like Staley that the music is
authentic, but he doesn’t do a straight impression. And he
certainly doesn’t have the same sort of stage presence- in front
of longtime members Mike Inez (bass), Sean Kinney (drums) and
Cantrell, he looks quite comfortable fronting the band (lots of
movement as a singer) and playing guitar in tandem with
Cantrell.
The real
star of any AIC show is Cantrell. His playing was as fluid as
ever, as the long blonde-haired, skinny-as-a-rail guitarist
rocked the house with wah-wah soaked solos and big, beefy riffs.
If truth be known, it is Cantrell that is Alice in Chains, not
Staley. He writes most of the band’s music, sings more than a
few songs, and seemed to hold the thing together even when an
implosion seemed right around the corner.
Inez and
Kinney are so tight that they can probably finish their own
sentences, and each and every song sounded great live. Even the
slower, introspective pieces like “Got Me Wrong (great
song-along) and “No Excuses” rocked a little harder this time
out. But it was the big, Sabbath-like doom riffs that helped
power early favorites such as “We Die Young,” “It Ain’t Like
That” and “Man in the Box” that helped push the needle on this
one from very good to great.
It doesn’t
hurt that the band’s comeback record, Black Gives Way to Blue,
is as good as anything the group has ever done, and the many
songs played here-“especially “Check My Brain” and “Last of My
Kind”-slot in nicely with the classics. In nearly two hours
onstage, Alice in Chains showed why it is one of the best rock
bands of the past 20 years, and why it could carry on for 20
more.
