Caught Live: ALTER BRIDGE, Manchester Apollo 9 November 2008

I was not expecting to be writing about Alter Bridge until later in the week; I'm going to see them on Tuesday in Wolverhampton. Joe Bonamassa, who was down to play at the Manchester Academy last night and for whom I actually bought a ticket, cancelled owing to illness. I only found out once there, when two Academy staff were stood on duty informing disappointed JB fans of the news. I also got told that the news of the cancellation was only passed to them two hours before! So, having travelled up the M62 I wasn't gonna waste the evening and immediately took off for the Apollo, hoping that there were still Alter Bridge tickets available on the door. There were, and so I got in just after support act Logan had finished their set.

The bill originally included Hot Leg, Justin Hawkins's current band, but following a throat infection to lead singer Justin Hawkins they withdrew from the tour after the London show. They received a mixed reception at best throughout, not everyone was pleased to see them by all accounts and after some coin-throwing antics at some gigs, it was probably for the best they pulled out. Speaking as a big AB fan myself, I'm immensely disappointed but that's for another blog, tonight was just about Alter Bridge.

I was some way back in the stalls for this show, although not sold out the gig had attracted a big turnout; I would guess I was not the only Bonamassa punter who made a diversion to the Apollo!
Alter Bridge came on to huge cheers from the crowd, opening with 'Come To Life'. They were getting a fantastic reception from a partisan crowd, with a set that included plenty of songs from the 'Blackbird' album, but more this time from previous albuim 'One Day Remains' than they played last time I saw them, at the Academy earlier in the year. The 'ODR' songs were particularly well-received I thought, the crowd were frequently taking over the vocal from Myles Kennedy. I did have to wonder why he left his guitar off for the older numbers, particuarly when a guitar tech came on to play rhythm behind Mark Tremonti during the track 'One Day Remains'!

The majority of the set was the anthemic, chunky rock AB are known for, although they broke it up a little halfway through, when Myles Kennedy sang 'Watch over You' acoustically, accompanied as ever by about two thousand backing singers! The AB choir were in full voice too, for 'In Loving Memory'; restored to the set this time around, the poignant song obviously resonates with many.

This is the third time I've seen Alter Bridge and once again they played a great set to an adoring crowd. The only real problem I had was with the out-front sound, it was crap! The Apollo is a large theatre, its ceiling is very high and I don't know if this is the problem but the whole sound just seemed to swirl around, it didn't hit as hard as I was expecting. It was almost like being in an arena, you expect big boomy sound in one of those places but not so much in a smaller venue. The drums just didn't thud, the guitars sounded almost apologetic, it just lacked impact. The band didn't let that affect them however, Kennedy in particular was in top form with his voice and his ability to reach the audience. Let's hope those Zeppelin rumours are just rumours!

They encored with my favourite AB song 'Broken Wings', then after a bluesy interlude with 'Lemon Song' (an in-joke, Myles?) they ended with 'Rise Today'.
I was straight out of the door once the gig ended, only to encounter the boys from Logan at the door! I sneaked a quick chat with Kenny from the band and dashed back to the car.

So, not the gig I was intending to see, but good nonetheless. I do wish they had played the Academy though, since I think the sound suits that place far better than the Apollo. I will be seeing AB once again at Wolverhampton and I hope the acoustics there are better!