Alice in Chains & Velvet Revolver

[rusty_halo]

My entire body aches. I think that's what you get when you jump up and down, wave your arms in the air, and scream at the top of your lungs for an hour straight (plus sporadically for the next two hours). I don't understand how people stand still at rock concerts. If I didn't move during Alice in Chains' set I think my whole body would explode.

Velvet Revolver is kind of a joke next to Alice in Chains. A big silly cliche of a Big Rock Band. It's a travesty that Alice in opening for them, but that's about money, I get it. And VR has their good songs and their classic covers. They put on a good show even if it's ridiculous. They're corporate and money-driven and they're trying way too hard to prove they're "real," but underneath the bullshit there's still plenty of talent.

It's also stupid that Alice is playing for an hour while VR is playing for two. Split it, say, an hour and a half each. Seriously, VR barely has enough songs to fill their two hours, and they're playing three Stone Temple Pilots songs, three Guns N Roses songs, and a Pink Floyd cover. Plus they (well, Weiland, at least) owes Alice in Chains for being, y'know, infinitely better than he could ever dream of being. And having been around longer. Argh.

Anyway, it's probably fine that AIC is only playing an hour set. I'd probably pass out from hysterical excitement if they played any longer. And they manage to pack a lot in to an hour; they played:

Again
Grind
We Die Young
Rain When I Die
Love Hate Love (at PNC)
Dam that River (at Jones Beach)
Angry Chair
Down in a Hole
Them Bones
Would?
Man in the Box
Rooster

My ideal set list would've at least included "Bleed the Freak," "It Ain't Like That" and "No Excuses" (this set had nothing from "Jar of Flies"!) and maybe taken out "Rain When I Die" and "Again." But, minor quibbles. The set was amazing.

"Angry Chair" was my favorite--they rocked it so hard, and it's pretty much my favorite song *ever*. "Man in the Box" was so amazing that I couldn't stop jumping up and down for the entire thing. "Down in a Hole" was so beautiful that I almost started crying. Every one of these songs is awesome.

The new singer, you know, he fills his part well. He's charismatic and all that. Layne's words are living through him, and I'm glad of that. But I have to say, he doesn't even come close to approaching that transcendent quality that Layne had. Layne's voice was so beautiful and powerful it was like he could embody heaven one moment and hell the next. It's not like anyone on the planet could capture that, but someone has to sing, and this new guy is probably as good as it gets.

(Can you tell my feelings are mixed about this? I'm not mad at William for being in the band--I even respect his skill. I'm just fucking PISSED at nature/the universe/whatever that Layne is gone. Go read the letters section at AliceinChains.com--it's one "Thank you Layne for saving my life" after the other. I know how cheesy that sounds and how it doesn't make any logical sense that hearing someone you don't even know sing about his pain could save your life or make you see the beauty in the world, but it's true and no logical analysis can ever account for it.)

Seeing Jerry, Sean, and Mike was amazing as always. I am a huge fan of Sean just from seeing his personality through interviews and videos (not to mention him being an amazing drummer). And Jerry, of course, is Jerry Cantrell. He's one of the greatest guitarists of all time and seeing him in person completely blows my mind. He was an idol growing up and it's like seeing a childhood dream made real. Jerry is the solid backbone of the band which is why I understand that they are continuing.

Getting to the PNC Bank Arts Center was a huge pain in the ass. I had to leave work at a bit after 4pm, catch a NJ Transit train at Penn Station (I barely made it) to the Aberdeen-Matawan Station on the Jersey Coast Line (about an hour in). Then I looked for the shuttle that was *supposed* to be there. It was nowhere to be found.

A group of foreign kids was looking for it, too, so we decided to take a cab together. Seven of us crammed into a taxi at $5 a head. It took about 15 sweltering and uncomfortable minutes to get there, but the people were nice. They were visiting the US for the summer and working in a camp. Everyone had a different interesting accent.

Once I got there I found my seat (fifth row center, woo!) and got a beer (they had hoegaarden on tap!). As I walked back to my seat, it began to POUR, like a huge massive storm, so I ran and luckily my seat was under cover (sucks for the people on the lawn, though).

The opening band was this kind of emo trendy thing, but they were far less offensive that VR's previous openers, and at least their cover of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" was good. It didn't pain me to listen to them, which honestly is saying a lot when it comes to opening bands these days. I'm an old fogey.

Then Alice in Chains came on, at 7:30!!! with the sun up!!! and the stadium less than half full!!!!! I was so offended by this that I think I tried to single-handedly make up for it by jumping up and down and screaming every word along with the band. Luckily the place began to fill up quickly and by the time they were done, it was dark, the stadium was full, and the audience was standing and cheering them on. They close with "Rooster" and everyone sings along. (*loves*)

Then VR played, rock star antics etc., and finished around 11pm. I went looking for the theoretical shuttle, but found a cab instead, and shared it with these two drunk kids who were also heading back to New York. Once at the train station I found the group I'd come in the cab with originally; they actually had managed to find the mysterious shuttle and take it to the train station. I ended up talking for a while to one of them, who was from Ireland and who was really nice. I kind of wish we'd kept talking on the train, but I was falling asleep so it's probably better that I got my own seat. The train came around midnight and I got back to New York around 1am, took a cab home, and collapsed like you wouldn't believe.

Then Saturday I got up and did the whole thing over again, this time meeting up with jaydk and taking the LIRR from Penn Station to Freeport (Long Island) and catching a bus to the stadium. They don't allow alcohol at Jones Beach, but we met up with drujan (who drove) and she shared some that she had in her car.

The show was great, again--we skipped the opening band and came in for AIC. I think the Jones Beach crowd was far more into them--they seemed to get a much better reception than Velvet Revolver, even. (Again, TRAVESTY that AIC is opening for VR. Split the bill, people!) Our seats weren't as good this time--about 30 rows back on the left side. But not terrible, considering the huge size of the arena.

VR had some technical difficulties with their light show--it crashed and showed Mac error messages instead of lights. Haha. Yet another reason Apple computers suck. And Weiland claimed to have a cold, babbled somewhat incoherently (I mean, even more incoherently than usual) during "Sex Type Thing," and screwed up the lyrics to "Vasoline." They also left out two of the songs that they'd played the night before, so their set was shorter. I don't know what was up with them. But it was still a good show, and the crowd went particularly crazy for the STP and (even more) GNR songs. The only VR song to get even close to a similar reception was "Fall to Pieces," which is, yes, genuinely quite good. But man, seeing the whole crowd sing along to "Patience" was pretty cool, even though I'm not a GNR fan.

And I'm doing the whole thing again tomorrow (Camden) and Saturday (Atlantic City). With me luck with all these crazy busses and trains!

[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sithkitten_/]

Whoo-hoo! That sound like a total win! Good luck on your little trips :D Have fun and don't fall apart.