Location: Vienna / Arena Open Air / Austria
Date: June 30, 2018
Everyone who goes to concerts has a list of acts they simply have to see live at some point. For me personally, and I’m sure for plenty of others too, one of those is Seattle giants Alice in Chains. We all know the story: after singer Layne Staley’s death in 2002 the band pulled itself together and started playing live again in 2006, then three years later put out the very well received comeback album Black Gives Way to Blue. True, Staley is an icon who can’t be replaced, but you can count on one hand the bands that came back from such a heavy blow as strong as Alice in Chains did. Layne is sadly gone, but this is Alice in Chains Mk. II, and they’ve got a ton to offer. Five years ago the band proved it again with The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, which they hardly played live in Europe, so the reunion with Alice in Chains had to wait until this year. But the wait was worth it, because on a sunny Saturday in Vienna the Americans delivered one of the finest concert experiences ever.
The big honor of warming up the Austrian crowd ahead of the Seattle giants went to Mother’s Cake. The Tyrolean trio aren’t total strangers to Slovenian audiences, having played Mostovna two years ago as support for American doom veterans Pentagram. Back then they caught everyone off guard; this time a bit less so, since we already knew what to expect. Still, the guys proved once again that with their potent mix of funk, hard rock and progressive rock they’re among the better bands of our northern neighbors. They showed their potential on the big outdoor stage of Vienna’s Arena too. Loud and heavy, they cut a good half-hour set packed with booming bass slapping, effective guitar acrobatics and cannon-fire drumming that at times came close to blast beats. Musically Mother’s Cake sound closest to something like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but a lot more “heavy”; the only thing holding them back is Yves Krismer’s unconvincing vocals, which sound weak next to the instrumental side. Regardless, Mother’s Cake were far more than a merely solid warm-up, and it’s a definite plus that they weren’t the least bit intimidated by playing before a huge name and did their job with confidence and swagger.
After a good half hour the stage was finally set for the night’s big stars, and one after another, with no pompous intros, Jerry Cantrell, William DuVall, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney strolled on. Them picking up their instruments was met with nothing but roaring enthusiasm from a crowd of somewhere between three and four thousand, and the amphitheater-style auditorium only made it louder. The pavement was practically lifting from the crowd’s roar, and the goosebumps came with the very first song, Bleed the Freak, a mini-highlight in itself. A spirit of rebellion runs through this Cantrell creation, which for two hours united the surging crowd in a spirit of togetherness, and they ate out of the band’s hands from the very first second. And fully deserved, because the performance on stage was top-notch, without a single mistake, yet played with a heart and conviction that, I have no doubt, touched everyone present under the open sky of Vienna’s Arena. As their second song AiC served up one of the only two tracks played from the “comeback” album Black Gives Way to Blue, Check My Brain, with a catchy chorus that Cantrell and DuVall sing together, building a unique and rich vocal harmony that even a deaf man could tell can belong only to Alice in Chains. DuVall did his job with distinction, with plenty of support of course from the equally strong-voiced Cantrell, who also handles some of the most recognizable and unique riffs in the entire history of rock music. The guys proved that with the classics Again, Them Bones and Dam That River, and also with the sludgy-sounding Hollow, where the deep, crushing tone of Mike’s thick bass lines especially comes to the fore, and despite their relative simplicity they play a hugely important role in AiC. During the unforgettable lost-generation anthem Down in a Hole, which Cantrell originally wrote for his girlfriend, the lighters came out for the first time, and the stunning performance once again sent shivers from head to toe, while vocal cords were already completely hoarse after a good third of the show. Same goes for the classic No Excuses, for the “dragging” Stone from The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, and for the excellent We Die Young.
Without a doubt, the most emotional moment of the show was the gorgeous acoustic ballad Nutshell from the excellent EP Jar of Flies, which Jerry usually dedicates to late members Layne Staley and Mike Starr. This time it carried extra weight, as he also dedicated it to the memory of Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul, who had just died far too young and was a good friend of his. Jerry’s top-notch guitar lines cut even deeper this time, and so did the message “If I can’t be my own/I’d feel better dead”. The band was visibly in great spirits and happy with the incredible response of the crowd, who swallowed every note from the stage with wide eyes and open mouths. The gorgeous bluesy Heaven Beside You continued in a similar vein, and the effect setup on Jerry’s mic could mean only one thing – the eternal Staley classic Man in the Box, during which the excellent DuVall especially shone, but which sadly also marked the end of the regular part of the show. With the incredibly loud crowd demanding the band come back out, echoing through a considerable part of Vienna, the foursome was quickly back on stage and played the only song from the upcoming album Rainier Fog, out in August. The One You Know has that real Alice in Chains vibe, with a droning main riff and double vocals out front. The crowd exploded for the epic Would?, and right at the very end for the anthemic Rooster, which is about Jerry’s father, whose nickname during the Vietnam War was Rooster. The audience rewarded Alice in Chains with a multi-minute ovation for an unforgettable hour and three quarters that flew by in the blink of an eye, and the guys even got a bouquet each from the front rows. Alice in Chains threw a wonderful, unforgettable evening and one of the finest concert experiences ever, one that practically begged me to turn right from Vienna toward Budapest, where they played the next day, instead of left toward Ljubljana. Since I started with lists, let me end with one too. The Alice in Chains show was definitely a concert that belongs at the very top of all the ones I’ve seen, and it will go on ringing in my ears for a long, long time.
author: Rok Klemše
photos: Nina Grad
Setlist:
1. Bleed the Freak
2. Check My Brain
3. Again
4. Them Bones
5. Dam That River
6. Hollow
7. Last of My Kind
8. Down in a Hole
9. No Excuses
10. Stone
11. We Die Young
12. Nutshell
13. Man in the Box
14. Heaven Beside You
15. It Ain’t Like That
— encore —
16. The One You Know
17. Got Me Wrong
18. Would?
19. Rooster
