Concert review: Alter Bridge, Birmingham LG Arena
Wednesday 23rd November 2011, 10:01AM GMT.
Alter Bridge
LG Arena, Birmingham
Concert review and photos by Ian Harvey
Just over a year ago American rockers Alter Bridge played to a packed out Birmingham O2 Academy. Last night they stepped up to the NEC as they opened their first UK arena tour in Birmingham.
A combination of singer Myles Kennedy’s work with guitar legend Slash as well as the overwhelmingly positive critical response to their third album, AB III, has seen the quartet’s star rising throughout 2011.
Click on the image to the right for the gig photo gallery
On a bill which included fellow rockers Black Stone Cherry and Theory Of A Deadman, Alter Bridge, showed why, putting in a performance pulled from all three of their albums that was powerful, compelling and ultimately utterly uplifting.
This was clearly a band enjoying themselves, Kennedy’s wonderful voice impressing hugely and Mark Tremonti’s guitar solos astounding fans.
It’s hard to pick out particular highlights, but Slip To The Void, Ghosts Of Days Gone By, Come To Life and Ties That Bind had the crowd roaring.
Myles Kennedy slowed things down as he grabbed an acoustic guitar for a heartfelt performance of the beautiful Wonderful Life and Watch Over You.
Earlier, southern rockers Black Stone Cherry had surprised fans with a fuel-injected run through Adele’s hit Rolling In The Deep, which sat nicely among their punchy hour-long set.
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I have a different take on the night. From where I was sitting, the sound was awful, loud & distorted. I like loud bands, just not distorted out of tune bands. Listen to the official recording of the gig & you will see what I mean. Isolation made me cringe, the guitars were so out of tune. Again listen to the official abbeyroadlive recording if you need convincing.
The crowd was the most muted a crowd I have seen at in a venue that size. The seated area remained seated entirely with the exception of 2 short periods in 2 songs when Myles got them to stand for a short time.
Luckily, Black Stone Cherry were fantastic, but Alter Bridge were a big disappointment & looked tired. I wonder if the reviewer was actually there?
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I was there too , and I have to agree with you.
Although I think Alter bridge are the best band i have discovered in the past few years , their sound was crap.The bass was far too loud, and over powered the guitar and vocals.
Black stone cherry were a real surprise though , and their sound was perfect.Their vocalist is far too good for the rest of the band . I found the rest of the band far too rock cliche”.
still worth a night out though .
Mark , Staffs
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Great set, Great band, pity the sound quality was dire.
Bass and drum heavy, distored vocals.
Like Myles said, first stadium gig, maybe they should have gotten a sound engineer who had been there before…………
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Have to say I do not entirely agree with the reviewer. Yes Alter Bridge were good, but looked like they were going through the motions a lot of the time rather than enjoying themselves. However, Black Stone Cherry totally blew Alter Bridge away in performance terms. Here you have a band with charisma, a stage prescence from ALL members of the band and a front man in Chris Robertson who has the most powerful singing voice around at the moment
However it was a great night and Theory of a Deadman shouldnt be discounted either as they are full of energy and are a great live band and deserved more of a time slot than they got
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Have to agree with all of the above. Theory are brilliant, but there were issues with their sound and Tyler complained he couldn’t hear through his monitor which couldn’t have helped. I think they could have done more although I didn’t think the audience was totally behind them.
Black Stone Cherry seemed to have the levels right and really rocked.
Alter Bridge were too loud and distorted. At one point my eyeballs were vibrating. My girlfriend went to the loo and stayed down in the lobby as she said the sound was better! Great band, but I was looking forward to the end and did come away a bit disappointed.
I have seen all three live in smaller venues last year and the sound and atmosphere was better.
looking forward to the BSC tour in March.
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Let’s keep it simple. Black Stone Cherry blew Alter Bridge away and at half the volume.
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Suprised the arena was only half full with 3 of the top rock bands around on the same bill.
Alterbrides heavier songs dont seem to work live – everything just got distorted. Not sure if thats usually the case or just a bad day for the sound engineer. Felt the bass punching me in the ribs for the whole show.
Black Stone Cherry were great – need to be be much more popular.
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blackstone cherry were brilliant have to agree alterbridge were really struggling with the sound found it really difficult to hear myles kennedy it was all distorted yet earlier in the year at the 02 academy with slash he was very good possibly the best gig i have been too
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Saw AB at MEN last night .Not a gig for the over 45 ‘s .We all walked out after 30 mins of AB starting. Far too loud .Drums and bass completely drowning out the rest . Really looked forward to seeing them as all 3 albums are excellent .However TOAD and BSC we outstanding. Would love to see both play a full set.Sack the sound engineer
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I’m not sure if the reviewer watched the same gig at the LG Arena as me then! For Alter Bridge the bass and kick drum were way, way too loud and simply overpowered anything else the rest of the band were doing, occaisionally the guitar cut through the dull thump and revealed what an excellent guitarist Mark Tremonti is.
Black Stone Cherry were superb (again!) with the sound levels being just about right…….I think Chris Robertson could probably sing over anything anyway! I was lucky enough to meet 3 of them after the show and they are just the nicest bunch of guys in music. They are playing again at the O2 Academy in Birmingham next March…….tell all your friends, they won’t be disappointed!
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