Every so often I will be posting under the ‘Derailed’ heading. This is for posts that are outside my normal comfort area…indie rock/pop.

Kurt Cobain died in 1994 and I knew I would never see Nirvana live.  Layne Staley died in 2002 and I knew I would never see Alice in Chains live. Then a few things happened that I would have never expected.

The first is that the drummer from Nirvana didn’t slip into obscurity like you would have expected.  He decided to start one of the most popular modern rock bands in the world instead.  Dave Grohl took the world by storm with Foo Fighters and now plays with a variety of bands and lives a life that is the envy of so many in the music world.

The second thing that happened is that Jerry Cantrell decided to reform Alice in Chains in 2005, and he did it with a black lead singer named William DuVall.  When I heard this I could not help but think of Journey running around with Arnel Pineda.  After that I never gave them a second thought.

Now it’s 2010 and I am hooked on Black Gives Way To Blue, AIC‘s amazing 2009 album.  It’s 2010 and just last night I bought a ticket to see Dave Grohl’s new band, Them Crooked Vultures, before standing in a huge line to get into Alice in Chain‘s sold out performance at The Fillmore.  Talk about a trip!

The first thing I noticed about the new band is how much Jerry sings.  I would say he sang about 1/2 of the songs performed last night.  I learned he also sang most of the songs on 1995’s Alice in Chains as well.  Layne was pretty far gone by that point.  The next thing I noticed (or remembered) is how good this band is.  How many amazing songs they have.  And how they sound incredible!  I was blown away!

Quite a few songs from Black Gives Way To Blue were performed as expected, but what I didn’t expect was the inclusion of so many songs from Dirt.  They performed material from all their albums; a highlight being the set closer, Man in a Box.

After chants of A-I-C, they came back for an encore.  They closed the night with Rooster, and I gotta give DuVall credit, he did the song justice and it was a great ending to the evening.

Setlist:
All Secrets Known
It Ain’t Like That
Again
Check My Brain
Them Bones
Dam That River
Rain When I Die
Your Decision
Got Me Wrong
We Die Young
A Looking In View
Down in a Hole
Sickman
Lesson Learned
Acid Bubble
No Excuses
Angry Chair
Man in the Box

Encore:
Would?
Rooster