Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Jerry Cantrell, the man, the legend, guitar god, and grunge OG, brought his “I Want Blood Tour” to the Lou with an intimate, packed concert at The Hawthorn in the heart of downtown. The line stretched down the block, and the fans of Cantrell and AIC were there to pay homage to a living legend.
Parking was at a premium. The St. Louis Blues were playing downtown, and the STL CITY SC was having its first game of the season. St. Louis was alive with entertainment, merriment, rock’ n’ roll, and awful traffic.
First up were the mid-1990s hitmakers and alternative fixture Filter. The band entered the dark, fog-filled stage and launched into their opening number, “You Walk Away,” from the 2002 release “Amalgamut.” They played a compact, well-received, nine-song set, including the smash, cross-over single, “Take A Picture,” from the 1999 album “Title of Record,” and closed with the song that put them on the map when they first played it in 1995, “Hey Man Nice Shot.” They also played “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do,” “Jurassitol,” “Welcome To The Hold,””The Drowning” and “Drug Boy.”
Filter frontman and former NIN member Richard Patrick wasn’t illuminated until the fourth song but looked healthy, sporting a nice white head of full hair, clad in black, and wearing sunglasses at night. He asked several of the crowd if anyone was on drugs, and he also took time to thank Jerry Cantrell for adding them to the tour.
Then, it was time for the main event. The mature crowd of male hard rock and metal dudes were out and sporting their favorite bands on the uniform of rockers everywhere, black T-shirts. We spotted Metallica, AIC, Gojira, Mastodon, Clutch, Amon Amarth, BLS shirts, and more. A few families and hip couples were also spotted. We met fans from as far away as Iowa and Minnesota who were in town to catch the magic and heaviness of Jerry Cantrell. Folks moved even closer to get a prime position to hear, see, and feel the fury up close.
Jerry Cantrell and his band entered the darkened stage. The lights started to rise, and the crowd lost it as the band walked on stage and got down to business. The band kickstarted their nearly two-hour show with “Psychotic Break.” They played five Alice In Chains classics, plus 13 solo selections from Cantrell’s four incredible solo albums–1998’s “Boggy Depot,” “Degradations Trips, Vols 1-2” from 2002, 2021’s “Brighten,” and his latest, “I Want Blood.”
Jerry Cantrell still looks like a rock star. With his long, trademark blonde locks with a touch of grey and sporting some scholarly-looking black frames with blue lenses, Jerry Cantrell is still flying his freak flag and looking every inch the guitar god he is. His band is tight, and they are adept at recreating Cantrell’s studio work and playing nearly note-for-note reproductions of AIC classics.
One of the first things many folks realize with the first minutes of every number is how essential Cantrell’s vocals are to the overall heavy, dark, minor key Sabbah/Everly Brother harmonies (with the late Layne Staley, as well as William DuVall) that made Alice In Chains one of the most essential cross-over rock/metal/alternative crossovers for nearly two decades.
Jerry always serves the song first but also always finds a way to shred, bend, and coax memorable leads from the neck of his axe. He’s the triple threat–a gifted guitarist, a great vocalist, and an adept songwriter. That’s why he’s endured and even thrived after losing his friend and partner in crime (the late Layne Staley) to heroin addiction. Many folks would have packed it in, but not Jerry. Whether with Alice In Chains or as a solo artist, he’s soldiered on and managed to create an ever-expanding body of solid work and songs.
Tonight’s musical menu included five Alice In Chains songs, including “Them Bones” from the landmark release “Dirt,” the smash hit “Would?” from both the “Singles” movie soundtrack and “Dirt,” and closer “Rooster,” another massive smash that received regular airplay and was a staple on “MTV” back when they still showed music videos. They also heard “Got Me Wrong” and “Hate To Feel.”
Cantrell’s solo selections included the latest title track “I Want Blood,” “Afterglow,” and “Cut You In.” Vocalist Greg Puciato, formerly of the devastating, revolutionary metal band The Dillinger Escape Plan, handled the Layne vocals masterfully and helped layer and bolster Cantrell’s vocals on his solo material. Cantrell was also joined by bassist Eliot Lorango, drummer Roy Mayorga, and guitarist and vocalist Zach Throne to round it out.
This will be a show that people remember and talk about for years. Our heroes are getting older; you never know when they’ll hang it all up. As long as Jerry Cantrell can, he will continue to thrill and chill us with memorable, hard-hitting, and personal songs and riffs that are the soundtrack of our lives.
If you were there, you know. If you weren’t, you missed it.
