This would be my second time seeing Alter Bridge and also the second time seeing them at the Hydro. Over the past few years they have turned into one of my favourite bands and have reviewed all 7 of their studio albums. One thing which is special about Alter Bridge gigs is not only the band themselves, but the fact they bring with them really big supports and tonight was no exception.
Tonights line up of people I attended with included Campbell, Craig, Brian and another Craig who I've got to know through parkrun. The first support tonight was Mammoth VWH who I have been really eager to see live and this I believe is the first time the band have played glasgow. The band is pretty much Wolfgang Van Halen who plays every instrument on his only album. He shot into the limelight through his late Dad, Eddie Van Halen. Having been a touring bassist with both Van Halen and tonights headlining guitarist's band Mark Tremonti whose own band is Tremonti.
I got into Mammoth's stuff right from when they released their first single "Distance" which is a tribute to his father. The set itself tonight was so good. Mammoth has this ability to create warm rock melodys and every song played tonight was a hit. With his touring band they were impressivly tight and this hopefully won't be the last time I see them.
Next up was Halestorm. I have had the oppotunity to see Halestorm in the past as in recent years they have played places like the Barrowlands and headlined the Hydro themselves. But thing is I have never really been that into them. But tonight their performance won me over and I feel they are just a really gritty and gutsy rock and roll band fronted by one of the queen's of rock herself Lzzy Hale. One song which has captured me from this band this year is "The Steeple", what an absolutley belter of a song that is and so glad they played it tonight. But it wasn't just the Lzzy show tonight. The drummer, Lzzy's brother Arejay Hale had his own moment in the spotlight with a bit of a drum solo and hyping up the crowd at the same time. And also playing a bit with massive drumsticks which I thought was very orignal. Quite unusual for a support act to do this but they were also on for a bit longer than a standard support act so had a bit of flex to do it.
Then came Alter Bridge who were on for roughly an hour and a half. I think they normally play longer but were a bit restricted due to the 10.40 curfew. So had to miss out the title track "Pawns & Kings" which has been played as the second last song on many nights. But they did dip into the new album playing monster tracks such as "Silver Tongue" and "Sin after Sin". And at the same time ensured none of their albums were left untouched as they played at least one track off each. Surprisingly the album they played most off was their first album "One day remains" with 4 tracks, then their was 3 tracks off "Fortress" which is less surprising as I think that's their best album. Mark led the vocals in his segment with "Water Rising" which is from "Fortress".
Campbell and I discussed set lists after the gig and made up our own and while some of the core songs remain like "Metalingus" and "Blackbird" (which is still one of the greatest tracks of all time). Our setlists were not only different to each other but also to the one played tonight. I'm not saying this was a bad set because it wasn't, it was great. But it does show just how much amazing material Alter Bridge have now and this is great news for fans as there is more to go back to.
Overall this was an absolutley cracking night and a great laugh once again with the guys.
Photos by Campbell Hunter
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