ALICE IN CHAINS

w/ Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Palais Theatre – Melbourne, 26th February, 2009.

***See more photos by clicking here***

The night first started off with support act Maylene and the Son’s of Disaster, whom also accompanied Alice in Chains on the Soundwave festival across Australia. This 5 piece hard rock outfit hail from Alabama in the United States, and wear their influences proud on their sleeves by incorporating a mixture of southern rock and blues into their formidable metal sound. I was quite taken back by vocalist, Dallas Taylor who has a reminiscent and unique voice which could rival that of Phil Anselmo of Pantera, yet still keeps a unique feel to it all without blatantly ripping off Anselmo; like so many other vocalist’s have tried to do so in the past.

These guy’s were very impressive, not only rekindling my fondness for southern and blues influence in a metal vain, but also just sounding great with the set up at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne. Nice deep bass lines, mid crunch guitars, excellent drumming and of course the unique and outspoken talents of, Dallas Taylor made it a great start to an amazing night ahead.

The crowd was easily rivaled up, not only by Dallas Taylor’s witting remarks throughout the night…but also by the visit from none other then, Spiderman. It seems one of the road crew dressed up in a Spiderman costume and randomly set foot on stage throughout their set to have a bit of fun. Most of that fun though was sexual molesting either band members or other road crew with Spiderman’s awkwardly posited pork sword in his tight spandex outfit.

Once Maylene and the Son’s of Disaster finished it didn’t take long before the Palais Theatre really started to fill up for the main attraction. At first I was a bit skeptical how Alice in Chains new vocalist, William Duvall would stand up to that of the late, Layne Staley. I never heard Duvall up til that night, and was worried how the crowd would react to the new addition of Alice in Chains. It’s been almost 16 years since Alice in Chains last played in Australia and many were still quite content with Layne Staley’s position in the band, and didn’t want anyone to disrupt that.

Clearly though, many were in for a shock when Alice in Chains came out on stage. The introduction of ‘Again’ got the show quickly underway, and quite clearly saw Alice in Chains as a new reformed piece of machinery in the 21st Century.

Not only have the band evolved from a playing aspect, but also William Duvall quite clearly wanted to keep the roots of Alice in Chains true, and intact with his quite dead on aim of vocals to that of Layne Stanley. At first I didn’t know what to expect from his voice. I thought like many others that Alice in Chains would be kicking a dead horse, hoping to replace Layne Staley. But clearly William Duvall was an fantastic choice for the band.

There were moments though when his harmonies were drowned out a little with excessive feedback from guitars and vocal effects like echo’s, but regardless of those minor details, he did an amazing job that night. Not only signing, but also adding some rhythm guitars at certain key moments through the night. He’s quite clearly is an exceptional singer and great guitar player.

Not only was I impressed with William Duvall’s performance throughout the entire night, but the band as a whole. Sean Kinney kept the whole band together with his tight flowing drums and seemed to not miss a beat. Mike Inez was quite clearly having the time of his life with a grin from ear to ear through the entire performance of the night. He was welcomed with open arms by the the entire crowd to the introduction of ‘Rain When I Die’, as his signature bass line intro was being strummed.

Jerry Cantrell just seemed content in himself through the entire night. He has certainly improved in recent years with his guitar playing and musicianship. I know from many reports in the past that he become a bit sloppy at times when playing solos or certain rhythm sections, but I couldn’t see any flaws in his performance that night.

He really played his heart out,  maybe a little to much, as half way through the night he was given a new guitar for an upcoming song. He seemed a little aggravated at first when he was given the guitar at the back of the stage, and without hesitation, he threw his guitar at the guitar tech which was quite clearly seen by everyone in the venue.

Regardless of Jerry Cantrell’s little outburst, he and the band have really elevated their sound and style without trying to kick a dead horse in the teeth.

There were moments though when the sound seemed a little flat and muddy. Clearly the band could see this problem and did the best they could to work around it, as this problem has occurred many times at the Palais Theatre with its design and speaker placement best used for acoustic session, not heavy metal music.

Not only were the crowd treated to an amazing set and performance from Alice in Chains, but were also mesmerized by a great light and vision show, with extravagant lighting and a huge projector screen which illuminated fancy visuals to the likes of Winamp and Windows Media Player.

The highlights of the night for me were ‘Dam That River’ and ‘We Die Young’ which I become overly ecstatic when played, I was head banging till there was no tomorrow. ‘Man in a Box’, which just sounded so tight and together with the trademark harmonies from Jerry Cantrell and the introduction of Duvall made it a real treat for everyone.

Half way through the night everyone was treated to a dedication to the late and great Layne Staley by Jerry Cantrell, he was quoted to saying “this next song is dedicated to a very beautiful person, Layne Staley“; with that, the whole crowd screamed as they were treated to an amazing rendition of ‘Nutshell’.

The night finished up with the encore of ‘Would?’ and ‘Rooster’. ‘Would?’ was a great mellow number to go out on, and was better suited to the level of sound the Palais Theatre could handle. ‘Rooster’ was given a somewhat new look with its political video clip given an overhaul on the big screen.

Images of oil, money and George W. Bush flashed on screen, with the message “Bush lied, thousands died“, clearly showing the bands dislike of war and hatred in the past few years with the middle east, and the likes of their own in America.

The night finished up in an explosion of shred and drumming delight with the final message viewed on screen, ‘No War!’ as ‘Rooster’ sealed the deal to an amazing night.

Alice in Chains were once considered the quintessential grudge band of the 90’s, but soon after the death of Layne Staley it seemed highly unlikely that this once great force in the music industry would get another chance to be on top.

After witnessing Alice in Chains on Thursday night at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, I can honesty say that Alice in Chains are back and kicking ass more then ever.

ALICE IN CHAINS – Setlist, Melbourne 26/03/2009
Again
Angry Chair
Man In the Box
Dirt
Them Bones
Dam That River
Junkhead
Rain When I Die
Nutshell
Sludge Factory
We Die Young
It Ain’t Like That
No Excuses
Love Hate Love
Encore:
Would?
Rooster

Reviewed by Anwar Rizk.
Photos by Scott Boelsen.

Thanks to KMW Productions and Chris O’ Brien for the passes.