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It’s
So Easy: Slash (foreground) with McKagan and Weiland.
PHOTO: Chris Shields
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Appetite
for Reinvention
By
John Brodeur
Velvet
Revolver, Alice in Chains
Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, Aug. 23
‘We
are Velvet Revolver and we play rock & roll,” Scott Weiland
announced early into his band’s set at SPAC. There was no
need for the hard sell, though—for a raucous, riff-filled
90 minutes last Thursday night, Velvet Revolver’s music made
its point over and over.
Kicking off with the barreling “Let It Roll,” the group was
in high gear for most of their stage time, running through
an even-handed selection of tunes from their two albums, Contraband
and Libertad. Weiland’s vocals, often wimpy and reinforced
on his recordings with former band Stone Temple Pilots, sounded
strong and assured on this night—he even did a handy job imitating
Axl Rose, the leader of three of VR’s members’ former band,
on “Set Me Free,” during which photos of serial murderers
flashed on a screen above the players (which is about a subversive
a move as this group of former drug addicts would make).
Weiland mugged and posed through the set, pausing only for
a brief “stripped-down” (read: sitting-down) trio of tunes
that included Stone Temple Pilots’ “Interstate Love Song”
(still, for my money, one of the best songs of the 1990s)
and Guns N’ Roses classic “Patience,” which sparked the requisite
sea of lighters and cell phones. Not to slight the band’s
own material, but the show’s best moments were the Guns and
Pilots tunes: Their run of “It’s So Easy” was an easy standout,
with Weiland easily sliding into that song’s sleazy low register.
But Weiland, as another writer pointed out in this issue,
is not the band’s true star. That honor goes to the one and
only Slash. In his trademark oversize top hat, web of curly
hair, and ever-present cigarette, Slash let his fingers do
the talking; his soaring guitar solos were an undeniable highlight,
if not a reason to have attended the show in the first place.
(He even pulled out the classic-rock touchstone—a double-neck
guitar—for the encore of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”)
Second guitarist Dave Kushner seemed content in his role as
such, generally blending in with the backline, while drummer
Matt Sorum and bassist Duff McKagan, one of the great rock
rhythm sections, were clutch. Sorum proved to be of particular
worth in providing most of the night’s backing harmonies.
You gotta love a drummer who dons the Henley-esque headset
mic.
A reunited and fired-up Alice in Chains opened with a set
of grunge-era classics. The set, drawn primarily from the
Facelift and Dirt albums, found guitarist Jerry
Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney in fine
form as they revisited their past glories. Kinney, in particular,
was impressive; his creative, intuitive playing was a highlight
of ’90s rock radio, and his prowess appears to have waned
not a bit. New singer William Duvall, replacing the late Layne
Staley at that position, was a capable and convincing vocalist;
listening from out of sightline, Duvall sometimes could have
been mistaken for Staley himself. And the songs, which really
owe more to heavy metal than to the flannel set, were sharp
as ever, with highlights including “It Ain’t Like That” and
the band’s most concise and awesome song, “Them Bones.” Even
the played-to-death dirge “Rooster” was a welcome reminder
that Alice in Chains were, and remain, one of the best acts
of the last decade. Let’s just hope they can carry this momentum
over to the inevitable new album.
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