'JERRY GOOD!' -
Jerry Cantrell at the Mean Fiddler, 3/10/02
(Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, it was a pretty packed gig!)
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In May 2002, in the wake of the death of Alice In Chains vocalist Layne Staley, I noted that I would never write a review of an Alice In Chains gig. Five months later and I’m writing the next best thing- A review of AIC guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s first solo UK show. It’s actually Jerry’s first visit to England since 1993, a colossal nine years ago, and as might be expected, there’s quite a crowd here to see him tonight. |
At the time, Grunge as a whole (i.e. if we ignore Nirvana) never seemed a particularly huge youth movement (If that’s the phrase), at least not when compared to it’s successors such as Brit Pop and Nu Metal, so it’s nice to see that such a classic period of music still has quite a few followers. Even the odd sports top wearing Nu Metal kid can be spotted in the scrum, proving that at least some of the little cherubs know where their favourite bands stole most of their ideas from. However, there is a strange absence of lumberjack shirts tonight, which must have disappointed sales staff at Millets in the run up to this gig.
If there’s any question tonight, it really has to be 'what kind of mood is Jerry going to be in?' Recent interviews in the press have been quite abrupt affairs, with Cantrell obviously upset at continual references to Staley’s death, despite the fact that he himself obviously wants to go beyond his grief and carve out a new niche for himself and his career. But after the stress of recent times, it’s easy to wonder exactly how he’s going to deal with his fans.
When Cantrell walks on stage with his backing band (Most of whom are members of tonight’s excellent support band, Hendrix inspired US rockers Comes With The Fall) he appears a little intense, and perhaps a little more mature than how we might remember him. His friendly features do little to detract from the sorrow in his eyes. This is a man who has seen far too much for one lifetime.
The memory of Alice, and also of Staley’s death, would have been thought to cast a shadow over proceedings, but instead Alice in Chains’ legacy acts as a template upon which Jerry can deliver some of the finest new material that these ears have heard for quite some time. There are moments when the vocal harmonies of the performers anticipate the empathic intro to a song like ‘Brother’, but then Jerry throws us all off kilter by twisting that remorse into a totally different, much harder direction. Like wise, the gravel-deep bass of sound that was an Alice trademark, gets everybody wondering if the next song is going to be an Alice track or something completely different. Jerry’s new single ‘Anger Rising ’ gathers together all these elements taking them to a place that is still MTV friendly, yet darker than the psyche of Ted Bundy. Visually, his backing band even recall AIC. Note the dread locked Latino bass player who recalls the rock god antics of Mike Inez (Now of course a member of Metallica), and a second guitarist who has the head shaking and long goatee of Layne Staley down to a tee.
Jerry obviously has far more respect for his fans than he does for music journalists. He says few words, but those that he does are of civil thanks, a mock British accent being his only faux pas.
"Its about time we had an Alice song" notes Cantrell. As might be expected, the auditorium goes nuts at this announcement. ‘It Ain’t Like That’ from AIC debut ‘Facelift’ might seem an odd choice in comparison to the better known ‘Dirt’ material, but after nine years wait, who cares? It’s conclusion causes a majority of the audience to shout the title of their favourite Alice song in the best of hopes. "I’m not a fucking juke box" smiles Jerry, and the rest of the crowd applaud his stance. Not all the cries go unanswered; there’s an electric interpretation of ‘No Excuses’, before the pounding bass of the darkly optimistic ‘Would?’ brings the first set to a close. Special commendation should go to the Lenny Kravitz-like voice of Comes With the Fall’s vocalist who ably fills in the bass heavy backing where Layne Staley should be. The fact that there is no spoken tribute to Staley, or any mention of his death at any point, is actually quite welcome, the quality of the performance alone is a worthy tribute to both the man himself and the songs he wrote alongside Cantrell.
After more cries of "Jerry, Jerry" than what we might experience at a recording of the Jerry Springer show, our hero returns to the stage, to find himself attacked by a female fan, who by way of her tongue, is obviously intent on taking his tonsils home as a souvenir. Not that Jerry appears to mind! After seeing the set lists for his US shows, I was expecting Jerry’s AIC offerings to be more acoustic based, so it was a surprise to next hear the rumbling bass line of ‘Man In the Box’. In all honesty this was never my favourite track, but here tonight, with a more feedback-fuelled delivery, it delivers the goods. And in the light of recent events, the cavernous mourning of ‘Down In A Hole’ takes on a whole new meaning. The revved up guitar line of ‘Them Bones’ is more like listening to the acceleration of a fleet of Harleys, but it’s sadly the last song that Jerry performs. It would have been nice to hear a few later Alice songs such as ‘Grind’ or ‘Get Born Again’, as they’ve never actually been performed live in the UK before.
Otherwise, this was a completely satisfying night, where Jerry gave his fans exactly what they wanted, and then something more. Damn it, he even broke a habit of a lifetime and gave us a bunch of smiles towards the end of the set! Never can a set of songs evoke such happiness entwined with such a restrained sense of sorrow. Just don’t wait nine years for the next show Jerry!
