Alter Bridge at The Moore Theatre (Photo: Jared Ream)
Opening the night were trio of young men from Orange County, California, Them Evils. During their second visit to Seattle in just over 3 months, they didn’t leave anything on the stage, nor did they disappoint anyone in the audience. Their set was quick but powerful. With hair flipping in circles in time with the rhythm of the amazing guitar riffs laid out by guitarist and vocalist Jordan Griffin, they set the pace for the night’s musical energy.
Photos of Them Evils can be found here.
Second to hit the stage was national touring act, Nonpoint. This hard hitting, pure rock band from Ft. Lauderdale, FL came out on stage with full guns blazing. On tour supporting their ninth album, The Poison Red, they provided the oomph to keep the night going. The dark red lighting set the mood on the stage, as they tore into their set with impunity and didn’t let up until the end. In the middle of the last song in their set, lead singer Elias Soriano began chanting “Alter Bridge”, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. During the chanting, the support crew came out on stage and started disassembling the drum set in the middle of the song, leaving drummer Robb Rivera with empty cymbal stands. The crowd knew it wouldn’t be long until the headliners made their way to the stage.
Photos of Nonpoint can be found here.
After a brief turnover, the main reason for the near capacity audience started their intro. Walking onto the stage to a roaring crowd, and fans cheering, Scott Phillips mounted his drum riser waving his “Hello”. From the one side of the stage entered bassist Brian Marshall, while at the same time Mark Tremonti came out, from the other side of the stage, smiling from ear to ear. Soon after entering the stage the intro riffs of “The Writing On The Wall” began with the Tremonti ripping into his riffs, and Phillips holding the cadence. While the intro played, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Myles Kennedy, came out to thunderous applaud and crowd approval. Kennedy’s vocals were flawless and on key, for not only this song, but for every song of the night. The talk from Kennedy was little, as he stated “I’m not very good at talking on stage, so let’s just play music and not talk.” Mid-way through their set, Tremonti took the control of the mic for his solo song, “Water Rising” featured on the Fortress album. This incredible show of singing ability, along with his lightning fast fingering of the strings on the neck, made for quite a change in the line up. Tremonti’s baritone vocals added a heavy soul pulling feeling, which was a nice melodic change in the middle of the set, in comparison to Kennedy’s tenor. After this song ended, Kennedy took center stage once again, this time with an acoustic guitar strapped. He performed an amazing solo rendition of “Watch Over You”. At times, it was difficult to hear Kennedy, due to the fact that the audience was singing along with him note for note, word for word. A look over the audience showed a mix of dry eyes, and not so dry eyes, reinforcing that this band is able to do something that a lot of bands can only wish they can do: make a soulful connection with their fans.
Few bands today are able to connect with their fans like Alter Bridge did on this night. They instill a passion into their music that both the band and their fans share. Seeing Alter Bridge perform live should be on the bucket list of every audiophile.
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