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.
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