Mike Armstrong
Alter Bridge Live in Barcelona: Gig Review
Alter Bridge’s European tour draws to a final conclusion, and what a show they provided.
Kicking off their tour in Nottingham on 16th October, the group stopped by Barcelona prior to their final two nights in Madrid and Lisbon this weekend.
Dazzling the Barcelona crowd at Sala Razzmatazz, the band began the set with their new single, Addicted To Pain. A sheer explosion of energy was rocketed into the crowd as they emerged on stage to perform this number. Evidentially, the most popular track from the new album, Fortress, appeared to be Cry of Achilles. Assumptions of this can surely be justified by the sheer expression of enjoyment from the crowd – which was largely fairly conservative throughout with the lack of moshpits.
Conservative crowd aside, all members of the band served well to perform in an extremely charismatic manner. Brian Marshall, Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy all executed the performance perfectly and displayed immense passion and appreciation for the fans. Scott Phillips on the drums acted as the vital workhorse throughout the entire performance, with the only real stand-out moment being his usual introduction during Metalingus. That said, he performed excellently throughout.
The emphasis on older releases (prior to Fortress) was also well received by myself, particularly when favouring their debut release, “One Day Remains”.
Highlights of the show included the eruptive Metalingus, the beautiful Broken Wings, the smash-mouth Isolation and the final encore track of Rise Today. The highlight would probably be Myles Kennedy’s acoustic solo rendition of Watch Over You, which was brilliantly performed and aided to transform Sala Razzmatazz into a rather more intimate feeling venue.
Overall, Alter Bridge provided a stellar performance which is certainly deserving of their reputation.
Find out more about Alter Bridge here.
Setlist:
Addicted to Pain
White Knuckles
Come to Life
Before Tomorrow Comes
Cry of Achilles
Ghost of Days Gone By
Ties That Bind
Waters Rising
Broken Wings
Metalingus
Blackbird
Watch Over You (Myles Acoustic Solo)
Slip to the Void
Farther Than the Sun
Isolation
Open Your Eyes
Encore:
Calm the Fire
Rise Today
Guest Post, by Mike Armstrong
Check out Mike’s Twitter feed for more.
Suede Live in Barcelona: Gig Review
British rockers Suede deliver a stunning performance to the crowd in Barcelona’s Sala Razzmatazz on Tuesday.
For the second time this year, Barcelona’s Britpop fans were treated to a delightful performance by the superb Suede.
Most popular for hits such as: “Beautiful Ones”, “Animal Nitrate” and “Killing of a Flashboy”, the band are currently on the road to celebrate the release of their latest album, “Bloodsports”.
Being Suede´s first release since 2003 promises huge interest amongst the hardcore fans, of whom would pray that Brett Anderson and company still deliver to previous standards. Delightfully so, Tuesday night’s performance lived up to their triumphant reputation from the 1990’s.
Opening the show with the tranquil “Still Life”, fans were eased into a melodic introduction to a charismatic show. The energy stepped up a notch with the beginning of “Barriers”, as well as with “It Starts and Ends With You”, “Trash” and “Animal Nitrate”, amongst many others.
The performance also boasted the first time that the band has ever played “Heroine” to a live audience, which left the crowd in awe…besides the loud conversations amongst the Spanish natives and the constant shushing from hardcore fans.
Highlight of the night definitely arrived in the form of “Beautiful Ones”, which drove every single crowd reveller into a frenzy. As Brett said himself: “If you bought a ticket to be here, then you should all know the lyrics to this one”, which could not be any more true quite frankly.
Brett Anderson still delivers an incredibly charismatic and intimate performance, as he did over twenty years ago. Dancing, interacting with the crowd and swinging the microphone like a circus performer, Brett definitely makes a complex performance appear second nature – Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best performers in the business.
For more information on Suede’s European tour, please visit their website. Their single, “It Starts and Ends With You” can be heard here.
Setlist:
Still Life
Barriers
Snowblind
It Starts and Ends With You
Filmstar
Trash
Animal Nitrate
We Are the Pigs
Sometimes I Feel I’ll Float Away
Sabotage
The Drowners
Killing of a Flashboy
My Dark Star
The 2 of Us
Heroine (first time ever played)
For the Strangers
So Young
Metal Mickey
Beautiful Ones
Encore:
New Generation
Guest Post, by Mike Armstrong
Check out Mike’s Twitter feed for more.
Musical Tears 