Caught Live: Alter Bridge with Black Stone Cherry, Manchester Evening News Arena 24 November 2011

After seeing Alter Bridge play a storming gig at Birmingham's o2 Academy last year I wrote on this blog that arenas beckoned for them next time around. Sure enough here we are 12 months on and Tremonti's troops have indeed made the jump to the cavernous barns of Great Britain. Along for the ride this time out were Canada's Theory of A Deadman, who I missed because of the early start (and traffic jams/ roadworks heading into Manchester, which I won't bore you with), and as special guests, Black Stone Cherry (who I did see).

Chris Robertson's gang were on the stage as I entered the enormous bowl that is the Manchester Evening News arena, and took my seat. The upper tier was curtained off all the way around, with the floor packed and most of the lower tier already filled, it appeared many were there for BSC as well as the headliners. By my reckoning the crowd there would have filled up the Echo Arena, so even though large parts of the MEN were unused, it was still a sizeable crowd which showed.

I've seen BSC on several occasions before, as support to other bands on arena tours similar to this and as headliners at the nearby Apollo theatre, and every time I've been scratching my head as to why such an obviously talented band, with good songs and a great singer, were not 'lighting my fire' in the live setting. They do everything right, performing with verve and enthusiasm, but there was always something lacking which I couldn't put my finger on. That was not the case tonight, perhaps I'm warming to these guys at last but this was finally the BSC gig where I broke out the air guitar - they were excellent. I still can't see what they're doing differently but perhaps it's just a couple more years on the road in this sort of company that's given them that finishing touch - I enjoyed this set much more than all of the previous sets I've seen BSC give. Frontman Chris Robertson looks like he's been following the Dave Wyndorf guide to Britain's pie shops, but his vocals were strong. They had the hardcore fans towards the front bouncing and clapping at will, and when they took it down for 'The Things My Father Said' the invitation to sing the chorus was enthusiastically accepted.

The only -slight- disappointment was that their set was a song or two shorter than at the other shows; no 'Iron Man' cover, nor did they do their HM rendition of Adele's 'Rolling In The Deep', which I was kind of looking forward to despite not being a fan of Ms Adkins herself. However they left us with news that they are to return to the UK for a headline tour in March, and I understand that will call at our end of the M62 so I will plan to be at that show and see the guys again.

Alter Bridge came on after a reasonably short turnaround, with minimal fuss lead singer Myles Kennedy appeared alone to start proceedings with 'Slip To The Void', before being joined by the rest of the band. The set they gave was a rearranged version of that performed last year, with only 'Coeur d'Alene' being added from the new record. Once again, despite 'ABIII' being the newer album it was 'Blackbird' which had most songs in the set. The 2007 album is in danger of becoming a Tough Act To Follow, with so many of its songs surviving into 2011, but there are no complaints from this fan who still prefers that record to the later one.

This was one of Kennedy's better vocal performances, you can always tell when he's suffering when he 'talks' through parts of songs but tonight, there was a lot less of that and more long holding of notes. He's clearly not suffering from a cold like 12 months ago, and when he is healthy it really makes a difference.

Having seen this band climb from small university-type venues to arenas over the past few years, it is gratifying to see them attain arena status, but the step up has come at a price. The show tonight was different to a year ago in that the band seemed more detached, distant on that big stage, they didn't connect in quite the same way as they did when they were playing the likes of the Academy. Although Kennedy did make efforts to reach out to the crowd, the occasional interlude such as during 'White Knuckles' where he performed the time-honoured 'split the crowd down the middle' routine just appeared clichéd. Consequently, despite the excellent vocal performance and solid playing, it seemed just that bit soulless compared to previous tours.

As a live band, AB never disappoint and they didn't tonight - I just get the feeling they're headed down the same path as the Foo Fighters or the Chilis; where they become so big they no longer have that same connection with their dedicated fans. AB are different to Creed in many more ways than just the lead singer, and I hope that the fact they're now performing in the large venues doesn't make them just another stadium rock act.

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