Review by Rachel Sloper and photos by Sean Larkin.
Walking through the streets of Nottingham this evening was quite a surreal experience. Thousands of rock fans made the pilgrimage to the city’s Capital FM Arena to celebrate one common cause – a love for rock and roll. Alter Bridge’s 2013 UK tour is in support of their latest release, Fortress. Supporting were Shinedown and Halestorm.
Halestorm kicked off the opening night of the tour with killer opening track, ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’.
The floor may have not yet filled, given their 7pm slot on the line-up, but following a short-but-sweet set jam-packed with hits like ‘Mz. Hyde’ and ‘Freak Like Me’ the crowd soon grew and were whipped into a frenzy. Closing with signature ballad, ‘Here’s To Us’, the arena was transformed into a night sky of lighters and smart phones.
With the audience raring to go, Shinedown burst into action with their smash-hit, ‘Unity’. They created great momentum throughout the set, but somehow managed to break pace with an acoustic medley which included snippet covers of Nirvana and Bon Jovi. Whilst sounding fantastic, it did lose some of the energy that they’d worked so hard to create.
Following ballads such as I’ll Follow You’ and ‘If You Only Knew’, they brought their set to a close with an energetic performance of ‘Bully’. Shinedown certainly did not disappoint.
When the time had come for Alter Bridge to grace the stage, the crowd were hysterical. Everyone seemed to be surging closer to catch a glimpse of rock icon, Myles Kennedy and his band of distinguished musicians. Kick-starting the set with latest single, ‘Addicted To Pain’, the hordes of fans went wild.
It wasn’t long before the quartet grew restless to showcase their latest offerings, and they certainly delivered on them. ‘Farther Than The Sun’ is a heavy affair laced with Kennedy’s stunning trademark vocals and a flawless guitar solo that left the arena audience in awe.
Where some bands may pad out weaker sets with more than generous doses of banter with the audience between songs, Alter Bridge avoided that phenomenon altogether. The veterans packed their two-hour set to the max with a mixture of old and new anthems, such as ‘White Knuckles’ and ‘Cry of Achilles’. With very little time for chat, fans certainly got their money’s worth.
The eagerly anticipated classic, ‘Blackbird’ came late in the set, and was a moment of true perfection in the show. Beautifully executed, the audience’s reception was deafening. Concluding the set with ‘Isolation’, fans were left baying for more. They were shortly appeased with a dramatic return to the stage in a cloud of smoke for a chilling performance of ‘Slip To The Void’. This was followed by an impeccable performance of ‘Open Your Eyes’ which left the crowd buzzing long after the house lights came up.
Alter Bridge Setlist:
1. Addicted To Pain
2. White Knuckles
3. Come To Life
4. Before Tomorrow Comes
5. Farther Than The Sun
6. Brand New Start
7. Cry Of Achilles
8. Ghosts Of Days Gone By
9. The Uninvited
10. Ties That Bind
11. Broken Wings
12. Cry Me A River
13. Blackbird
14. Rise Today
15. Isolation
Encore:
16. Slip To The Void
17. Open Your Eyes
See more of Sean’s photos here:
I was also at Birmingham, missed most of Halestorm so can’t comment, Shinedown were excellent, Brett has the banter but the acoustic bit? Ho-hum!
AB started well but it all got a bit samey in the middle until Broken Wings kicked in, after which it was superb.
As above, I too went along to the Birmingham show. For me, Halestorm gave a great opening performance with such a short set and I’ll reserve full judgement until they return with their headline tour next year.
Thought that Shinedown were pretty damn good. Yes the acoustic part broke the momentum but was still very good.
Alter Bridge too gave a great performance but lacked delivery (crowd wise).
In short Halestorm great opener.
Shinedown, performance of the night.
Alter Bridge, musicians of the night.
I went to the Birmingham show and for me the best band of the night were Halestorm, despite suffering a pretty awful sound mix for such a venue. They played as if they really wanted it, and Lizzy was in fine voice. I agree with the Shinedown comments – there was a real excitement going and then the acoustic interlude just lost it all. It was a strange thing to do in a shortened support set. Alter Bridge were musically superb, but the lack of interaction with the crowd was a negative for me. Nevertheless, it was a great night of music with 3 of the best bands around!
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