Alice In Chains @ the Rave in Milwaukee August 31st

Early this week I stumbled across the fact that Alice In Chains was going to perform at the Rave here in Milwaukee. I quickly emailed my friend Tre who got us two tickets for the show.

AIC, for the uninformed, is a Seattle area band very closely associated with the Grunge movement of the '90's. In fact they predate that scene and are far more 'metal' in flavor and influence than their flannel contemporaries, but their Seattle origins and popularity during the early '90's forever sealed their place in Grunge lore.

I refer to AIC as one of the Holy Trinity of Grunge, along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

[The morning of the show I woke up with a horrible headache, one that lingered all day and made me vomit a few times. Essentially, it was like spending the day hungover without the fun of drinking the night before. So to make sure I was good to go for the concert I took off of work early, grabbed a nap, and geared up for the show.]

I have long since stopped owning any clothing that could remotely be deemed 'cool', if I ever did, and regret to say I have not a single flannel shirt to my name. The best I could manage was a burgandy polo, cargo shorts, sandals, and  . . GASP! for the first time in a few years, a diamond stud in my ear. Shockingly punk, don't ya think?

My girls got a kick out of seeing Daddy with an earring.

It was an 8 o'clock general admission show but a sign in the lobby of the 3,500 seat venue advertised two opening acts and a AIC start time of 9:30. With wisdom born of  age, we left the Rave in search of a diner to pass the time.

The next hour and a half were spent reminiscing about college, which of course coincided with the heyday of Grunge.

Of significance was the fact that Tre's 15th high school reuninon is coming up. We went to private high school together, but after junior year I didn't have the finances to continue and left for public school. No regrets - it stands as one of the 5 pivotal changes that influenced who I am - but it makes me a tad bitter:

Why? Because I'm not invited to a reunion where I would know 90% of the attendees and would have the chance to show I didn't wind up a 33 year old booger eating virgin, and to top it off the high school I did graduate from doesn't actively host reunions.

Swell.

Anyhow, I've noted that I've grown more and more nostalgic for '92-'94, to the point where the era has  assumed Happy Days/Wonder Years stature for me.

 It's ridiculous really. I was fat (er, well I am now too, but it was a different, less confident fat), a virgin without a girlfriend, living at home, working for $4.20 an hour and driving a Renault Alliance that not only couldn't go freeway speeds but wasn't even officially in my name.

What's to celebrate?

But in my head it was the, can ya see the air quotes people, 'perfect era' and I'd like the chance to go back and relive it, if just for a week.

Let's see how long that virginity thing would last with the current moi on the prowl, baby.

Back to reality.

We got back and the hall was full - I mean FULL. Tre jokingly referenced Great White and I thought 'no kidding' - there was no getting out of there in a hurry. Oddly enough we never entered the actual room, standing just outside the open doors to the stage area. From there we were maybe 100, 150 feet from the stage and had a clear sight of every performer but the drummer.

Of course I could have entered the hall 90 minutes earlier and spent the evening pressed among 3500 other people and gotten . .oh, . . . 25 feet closer . . as I said, the wisdom born of age.

So the concert itself: fully acoustic, one of only 4 such concerts in the US, and filmed for an upcoming DVD (yea!). The frontman of the band Layne Staley had passed away of a heroin OD several years ago and this was my introduction to his replacement William Duvall.

I've gotta say - the guy's good, and at times it's like hearing Layne himself sing the songs.

The first twenty minutes of the show I enjoyed but was embarrassed. I knew only one song, as they were relying heavily on their EP material. (I'd always had a philisophical and economic objection to paying CD prices for a disc with only 4 or 5 songs). If the song from the EP didn't get radio play, I was only vaguely familiar with it.

Here I am thinking I know 90% of their material up and down, and I barely recognize the first few songs.

Man, what a bummer.

I'll tell you what tho', even unplugged AIC managed to sound vaguely menacing.

Then it was a straight hour of songs I knew inside/out, starting with 'Angry Chair', then 'No Excuses', 'Down in a Hole', etc.  To my pleasant surprise the concert turned into a bit ofa sing-along, with the crowd not only singing with the song but taking lyrics and emphasizing them on their own.

On 'Rooster', which was part of the encore - 'You know we ain't gonna Die!' .  . on 'No Excuses' : "It's OK, had a bad day" on "Got me Wrong" 'I haven't felt like this in so long' on 'Would?' [which, btw, was the only song that lost some oomph acoustic; ironic, as it's one of their more sedate songs] it was 'If . . I . . Would . . Could . . You?" with each word followed by a devil-horn head bang towards the stage.

Here's a clip of "No Excuses" that emphasizes the audience participation.

It was great, and make no mistake about it: these guys have been playing for 20 years because they are great musicians, first and foremost. Even acoustic the songs were powerful. I'll try to post some cell-phone pics/video from Tre once he emails it over, but here's a You Tube vid of "Don't Follow" to give ya a taste of the show.

There was no body-surfing to report until the encore, and no mosh-pit. Not entirely unexpected, as half the people there were past thirty and arthritic. Lots of nice looking women, lots of pregnant women (at least 4 I counted, Tre said 6 or more) , and no aholes of note.

We followed the concert with an old-times sake midnight drive in the boonies before heading home to our wives.

A GREAT night, and I can finally say that I saw 1/3rd of the trinity. I can't wait for the DVD.

* * * *

Note: one site is touting this (see below) as a set list for the concert. Uh, no. I can tell you that if anything it is incomplete, as Would was certainly performed. Tre - if you read this, scan and look for additional errors, would ya?

ALICE IN CHAINS's setlist for last night's concert was as follows:

01. Don't Follow
02. Heaven Beside You
03. Brother
04. I Can't Remember
05. Nutshell
06. Killer is Me
07. Love Hate Love
08. Sludge Factory
09. Angry Chair
10. No Excuses
11. Down in a Hole
12. Got Me Wrong

Encore:

13. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (ELTON JOHN cover)
14. Squeeze Box (THE WHO cover)
15. Rooster