23/05/18 - Alice in Chains + Black Rebel Motorcycle club @ Braehead Arena

To be honest when booking this gig I had hardly heard a thing by Alice in Chains. They have been going for a long time and although I have listened to Pearl Jam and Nirvana in the past, I never really investigated the grunge scene beyond that. But the guys were quite keen on this and I was too. But my reason was because I haven't seen the support - Black motorcycle club since their "Take them on, on your own" tour which was well over 10 years ago, possibly 15. So I was keen to see them again and as far as I was concerned, if Alice in Chains were good that would be a bonus.

I did investigate Alice in Chains more though prior to the gig and enjoyed their latest album "Rainier fog".  But to be honest although liking some of their main hits, I would last about 30 minutes listening to them then change and listen to something else.  So going into this gig I had high expectations for the support and low expectations for the main act. A place I am not normally in!

Interesting place for the venue as Braehead arena which is on the outskirts of Glasgow is not used that often for gigs. In fact I haven't heard of anyone booked to play there or have heard of playing there this year.  The advantage of playing there from my point of view is that it is part of a shopping mall so has a huge food court beside the venue for pre gig grub. It also has many car parks so driving is not a problem.  But if your a drinker and/or dont drive I would imagine this venue is a bit of a pain to get to/from.

On to the gig. Arrived in plenty of time and met Brian and Campbell for food before heading in to the venue, then met Craig half way through BRMC set.  BRMC came on at 7.16 even though they were meant to come on at 7.15.  Not a good start but I'll let it slide this time :-P  It was an interesting set.  It didn't contain what I would consider all the bigs hits like I thought it would. It felt like it was more of a spread over all the albums.  Obviously they had limited time given it was a support slot. But they even played a John Lennon cover which I didnt realise at the time and was wondering why I didnt recognise it.  They only played one song "King of bones" from their latest album "Wrong Creatures" although that was out nearly 18 months ago now.  Maybe they are fed up with playing songs off that now or just wanted to play different songs to a potentially new audience.  Anyway they did play "Stop", "Beat the devils tattoo" and "Spread your Love" which were excellent.  Overall an enjoyable set and a good taster for folk who hadn't heard them before. And you really can't complain when you have a support of their calibre.

Alice in Chains were a surprise.  You can listen to a band all you want through headphones but you never know what they are going to be like live. And they were excellent. Really, really good. They were up for it. The crowd were up for it.  Although the set spanned 8 albums. Half the set was made up of songs from "Dirt" and latest album "Rainier Fog".  Those are really the two main albums I have actually listened to by them so it was nice to recognise a lot of the stuff even though I'm not too close to the material.  I was impressed how tracks like "Rainier Fog" and "Never Fade" from the latest album stood perfectly alongside the other tracks which made them and they sounded amazing live.  Songs like "Man in a box" and last song "Rooster" seemed to get the best reaction of the night.  It wasn't just their playing that was impressive though, the light show they had packed all the punches too as it varied throughout the night and added a great deal to the show.

Overall a great gig and a great night.  Alice in Chains have definitley gone up in my estimation after this one as a top live band.  Braehead I thought was pretty good as a venue too.  It wasn't sold out but I would probably say it was between 80 and 90% full.

Jade Bird - Self titled

Jade Bird is an exciting new talent coming from England.  She is a singer songwriter and plays the guitar.  It was a bit random to say the least how I discoverd her music.  I was on You tube and spotted one of her videos in the recommeded viewing section. I saw it had 1.4 million views and I thought to myself how have I not heard of her if she has been getting that much attention. One click later was all I needed to see why.......

The song in question was "Uh huh".  Oh my.  This song really is fantastic. It clocks in under 3 minutes which is normally something I would complain about but not in this case. It's as if she has put in so much fire and energy into this song that when it finishes she has nothing more to give.  The song shows off her ferocious vocals which will go right through you. This is just one of the tracks off her self titled debut album which came out April 2019. 

The rest of the album is a mixed bag.  Songs like "Love has all be done before" and "I get no joy" are reminisant of "Uh huh" with those upbeat, attitude driven pop/rock.  But there are more kick back songs on the album which at first I wasn't that impressed with but they have grown on me over time.  I think the reason for this is because I though "Uh huh" and the likes were so good that I just wanted the album to be songs like that. 

"Lottery" was another one of her singles she has released off this album and is one of the more kick back songs mentioned and shows off her incredible vocal range.  One artist which springs to mind as an influence, particarly on this track, is KT Tunstall.  Two other tracks worthy of mentions  "Going Gone" and "Side effects".  "Going gone" is your classic counting song which builds up nicely as it goes on.  "Side effects" is another classic which should really be released as a single.

Overall a really solid debut by debut by Jade Bird and one to watch out for in the future for sure.  If you like the likes of KT Tunstall or Amy MacDonald you need to check this out.  While it's always easy to name influences for artists its clear that Jade Bird has got her own thing going on hear. Something which should be commended.