Alter Bridge The Riv Review
The balcony shook like a magnitude one earthquake
Alter Bridge from the Riv on January 25, 2016
The Greatest American Hero did not crash land and save the day at the Riviera Theatre (“Riv”) on January 25, 2017, rather it was Alter Bridge with The Last Hero Tour coming to Chicago.
Alter Bridge started hard and heavy with “The Writing on the Wall,” then eventually made it to the dinner portion of their set with Myles Kennedy playing acoustically “Wonderful Life” and “Watch Over You.” The cry of heaviness continued the remainder of the evening which included Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti in an awesome solo guitar competition before Alter Bridge ended their evening with “Rise Today.”
Myles Kennedy and his co-conspirator Mark Tremonti successfully energized their fans by gesturing with their hands to either clap, raise their hands or sing during the choruses. Mark Tremonti’s continuous head bobbing even fired up Myles Kennedy to do the same on “Ghost of Days Gone By.” With Myles and Tremonti’s head bobbing, one had to wonder whether the merchandise booth sold Alter Bridge bobble-heads.
The Chicago weather report did not report any earthquakes, however the balcony shook like a magnitude one earthquake between the Riv reverb and the audience singing and dancing. The first quake occurred during “Addicted to Pain.” After shocks and tremors continued on “Metalingus” and “Show Me a Leader.”
After “Ghost of Days Gone By” and “Cry of Achilles,” Alter Bridge uplifted their performance with “My Champion,” which is one of their best songs from The Last Hero album.
Alter Bridge’s performance was close to excellence, but was unfortunately scarred by the sound mixing of the show. Myles Kennedy’s vocals were drowned out on “Ties that Bind,” but the vocals made a comeback on “The Last Hero.” Myles walked toward his crew near the end of “The Last Hero,” and made a gesture. Maybe he was signaling the technical difficulties. Unfortunately the drowned-out vocals continued on “Metalingus” and “Show Me a Leader” which was unfortunate because had the vocals been slightly tweaked and not drowning out Myles’ phenomenal voice, the show would have been excellent!
Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti worked in unison on “Waters Rising.” Tremonti started off singing the song, it then switched to Myles and then Tremonti brought the song to its resounding conclusion. The dinner portion followed next.
Myles Kennedy remarked, “The dinner portion of the set” as he told the story of his first live performance as a singer. As the story concluded, Myles, armed with just an acoustic guitar, melodically performed “Wonderful Life.” At some point during the song, Myles’ voice shook, maybe due to dryness in the air, but he turned it around and nailed the song vocally! Anyone who has seen Alter Bridge live in Chicago had to anticipate the next song.
Myles Kennedy concluded his solo acoustic journey with “Watch Over You,” which sounded incredible! The fact that Alter Bridge blessed the Riv with two solo acoustic performances instead of one was truly amazing! If Mark Tremonti ever joined Myles Kennedy on acoustic guitar, imagine how amazing Alter Bridge’s performances could become. Epic!
Before the encore, Alter Bridge ended their performance with “Open Your Eyes.” The Riv roar was so intense that it could have jump-started any patron’s heart that flat-lined.
Alter Bridge returned for their encore after the vociferous cheering and yelling for the band and performed two additional songs, including a duel. Alter Bridge performed “Show Me a Leader” and then gave the Riv audience a treat. Forget any dueling pianos tonight; have you ever seen a friendly guitar duel? That is exactly what Myles and Tremonti gave the audience. Alter Bridge then ended their performance with “Rise Today.”
As The Last Hero Tour ended in Chicago, it had you thinking about the retro Tootsie Pop commercial. If the mixing of the vocals had been slightly tweaked to prevent drowning out of Myles Kennedy’s vocals, how much better would Alter Bridge’s performance have been? Chicago will never know.
