Live Review : Alter Bridge + Halestorm + Mammoth WVH @ AO Arena, Manchester on December 9th 2022

When a band is fronted by the Son/Daughter of a music icon, I immediately have concerns. Is this just a chance for someone to use their parents' status to have a go at music and see what it's like, via worming their way into support slots they seriously don’t deserve? Do they use their marketability to obtain a record deal due to the name associated with their act? No band is safe from this, even tonight's openers Mammoth WVH.

If the initials didn’t give it away, Mammoth WVH is fronted by Wolfgang Van Halen, son of the iconic Eddie Van Halen. Before Mammoth's forming, Wolfgang established a decent CV for himself, he took over on bass duties for Van Halen in 2007, releasing the album ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ with them in 2012, and was part of Alter Bridge Guitarist, Mark Tremonti’s side project, Tremonti. This experience shown tonight, Wolfgang and the rest of Mammoth performed a set that was ready to break the big time.

It was the perfect blend of blues and hard rock, backed up by some huge choruses, perfectly complimentary to the silky vocals of Wolfgang. One song in particular, ‘Distance’, stood out to me as being the highlight of the set. Musically, it was more intricate and nuanced than some of the other songs on the set, but this allowed every band member to thrive, especially the vocals of Wolfgang, which at this point were exceptional. Mammoth WVH proved that sometimes talent trumps situation, and he proved tonight that regardless of his roots, he is a fantastic musician and songwriter. 

Main support act Halestorm were very hot and cold for me. Some parts of the set I thought were fantastic, but some I found tiresome and tedious. So not to end on a bad note, I'll get the bad out of the way. I just found the drumming of Arejay Hale to be extremely distracting. He’d constantly twirl his sticks, throw his arms around unnecessarily, throw his sticks up in the air and catch them, and at one point decided it necessary to perform a drum solo with 3-foot-long drumsticks. I get that drum solos are an unfortunate thing in live music, but to perform a 4-minute drum solo as a support act bordered the line between audaciousness and arrogance.

On the contrary, the vocal performance of Lzzy Hale was simply stunning. She has a voice that can command a crowd of any size and captivate them all at the same time. One thing I did notice however was that Hale’s voice was so much more powerful when she wasn’t playing guitar whilst singing. I’m not saying she is a bad guitarist by any means, she provided a necessary rhythm element needed to give their music this stadium level depth, however during the songs in which she was not needed on guitar, she just seemed an even better vocalist. Her voice was given the ability and freedom to fully open, resulting in a better vocal performance. 

Going back to the idea of a hot and cold performance, this also included the songs performed by the band. The difference in quality from song to song was quite remarkable. Songs such as ‘Mine’ with its almost Randy Rhoades-esque guitar riff and chorus dredged in 80’s classic rock was remarkable and one of the finest arena songs I've heard for some time, yet they then also play a song like ‘I Get Off’ which was just a garbage, boring, radio ready number that just seemed uninspired. It is this disparity between songs that will never make Halestorm a staple in my music library. Sure, I respect them, even to a point appreciate them, however, for me, their sound will never do anything of note that will truly captivate me for the duration of a 40-minute album or 50 minute live performance.

The illustrious career of Alter Bridge has been that of a tale of two halves. The first half of this tale is their first 4 albums, “One Day Remains”, “Blackbird”, “AB III” & “Fortress”. These albums, especially “Blackbird”, have entered the pantheon of of the finest Rock Albums of the 21st Century. After “Fortress” however, something just disappeared. What was once a musical combination of energy, passion, emotion, unsurpassable technical prowess and probably the greatest vocalist of this generation in Myles Kennedy, changed into a different beast.

Alter Bridge in their latest 3 releases seemed to have gone down the route of making music that just seemed so generic and distant from the band they used to be. Sure, they were still the same band, it was still undoubtedly Alter Bridge, but it just missed that secret ingredient that makes them such a special band in the first place, that natural, irreplicable soul had just vanished.

It is the absence of this that has meant that I have not seen Alter Bridge live for the best part of 10 years. I was therefore a mixture of excited and apprehensive. I was excited to see the songs that had soundtracked my life at the time of their release, but apprehensive to see if the stuff I hadn’t taken well too would water down the night for me. Opening with ‘Silver Tongue’ from their latest release, “Kings and Pawns”, the band gave me the opportunity to put my apprehensions to rest immediately. Whilst struggling to live up to previous Alter Bridge set openers such as ‘Come to Life’ or ‘Slip Into The Void’, this opening track provided me with the indication that the soul that was missing from their studio albums, may have instead discreetly tucked itself into their live performance as hearing it in this context seemed to add this missing dimension to the music that was not found on their recorded releases.

It was the second song, ‘Addicted to Pain’, that truly got the night started, however. ‘Addicted to Pain’, is pure, unadulterated Alter Bridge. It has the earth-shattering riffs of Guitarist Mark Tremonti, the flawless vocals of Guitarist and Singer, Myles Kennedy, all knitted together by the ever-reliable rhythm section of Bassist, Brian Marshall and Drummer, Scott Phillips. This was the Alter Bridge that I had known and loved all those years ago, proving a decade later that they are still every bit of the band they were back then. 

Despite being a tour in support of their latest record, “Pawns and Kings”, Alter Bridge made reference to the fact they were celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band together, and therefore a lot of the setlist contained some unexpected throwbacks, songs such as ‘Shed My Skin’, a Tremonti fronted version of ‘Burn It Down’ and a stunning acoustic version of ‘In Loving Memory’ helped provide a perfectly balanced level of old vs new. What this meant for me, is that I could take in every one of the new songs for what they were, whilst knowing that I would still be given the chance to hear some of their classics as well. All too often you see bands at this point in their career tour an album cycle, and rely too heavily on this album, meaning some of their firm favorites they have developed over the years just get pushed to the wayside. This, however, was certainly not the case. 

There was one highlight of the night that nothing would come close to beating, however. It has been the highlight of every single Alter Bridge show I have seen, and that is the performance of their 8-minute opus, ‘Blackbird’. ‘Blackbird’ is what happens when you take every single element of Alter Bridge’s game and put them into one near perfect song. Myles Kennedy gives a most haunting vocal performance whilst serenaded by an equally as haunting riff, probably one of the most iconic riffs in their arsenal. The song crescendos from being haunting in the verse, to being anthemic in its chorus to being truly jubilant during the extended guitar solos of both guitarists, finishing where we began with that signature riff. It is an 8-minute rollercoaster that you wish you could have another ride of, executed perfectly by all four men on stage. There is a reason I believe this to be one of the best songs of the 21st century, that was why.

Alter Bridge then rounded off the night in style, an impeccable final stretch consisting of ‘Isolation’, ‘Metalingus’, ‘Rise Today’ and ‘Open Your Eyes’ to send all 10,000-ish people home in the best possible mood. This night proved that Alter Bridge are still every single bit of the band they were 10 years ago, and whilst initially unconvincing on record, what I heard from their past 3 releases when performed live has filled me with an optimistic excitement that made me want to go back and relisten to them again. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Alter Bridge, Halestorm, Mammoth WVH