There was a riff rock riot at the Mystic Casino Showroom Friday night when Alter Bridge stopped by on their current tour supporting the Pawns And Kings album the band recently released. Joining the carnage Friday night was Wolfgang VanHalen’s band Mammoth WVH and Red. The three power packed bands just crushed the sold-out showroom.
First up Friday night was Nashville rockers Red. These guys are rock veterans, having formed in 2002. Solid arrangements highlighted with hard rocking rhythms ruled the set.
The house lights went down and the crowd roar went up. Next to bring the ruckus was Mammoth EVH. Opening with their namesake “Mammoth”, and with a trio of guitarists, the tune hit the showroom like
a stampeding herd of the pre historic pachyderms. The band consisted of Wolfgang, doing most of the heavy lifting on guitar, vocals and keys, Jon Jourdan on guitar, Frank Sidoris on guitar, Ronnie Ficarro on
bass and Garrett Whitlock hammering on the drum kit.
The set was short, roughly 50 minutes, but the band packed a ton of power into the set. Wolfgang sported an ear-to-ear grin between songs, as the Mystic Showroom drenched him in appreciation like a
summer thunderstorm. Wolf jumped on the keyboards for “Think It Over” and “Epiphany”, deftly laying down guitar style licks. And just when the room thought they survived the power chord pummeling, the
band hit them with a Tyson like punch. “Don’t Back Down” literally had the Showroom in a rock and roll frenzy.
The good folks in the Showroom barely had time to catch their breath before Alter Bridge came out and continued the rock onslaught. Formed in 2004, their lineup of Myles Kennedy on vocals and guitar, Mark
Tremonti on lead guitar, Brian Marshall on bass and Scott Phillips on drums has remained unchanged in almost 20 years. This fact makes the band tighter than 2 coats of paint. The set started like a Space X
rocket launch with the opener “Silver Tongue” getting the crowd right back into head banging mode.
Kennedy is the consummate rock front man, sings with a ton of emotion, and his lyrics hit close to home. While the band played roughly 4 tunes from their latest release, they also dug deep into their catalogue.
The new stuff blends well with their older material, and really no two Alter Bridge albums sound thesame.
From the opening riff of “Silver Tongue” to their closer “Open Your Eyes”, Mark Tremonti put on a guitar god clinic with his collection of PRS axes. The only time he slowed down was to pick up an acoustic for an
amazingly emotional “In Loving Memory”. This was the only time the Mystic Showroom was quiet all night. Kennedy is no slouch on guitar himself, adding riffs and fills in many songs. It takes real balls to
strap on a guitar on the same stage as Tremonti. They are truly a compliment to each other, addingdepth and nuance to the arrangements.
Some still say rock is dead, but Alter Bridge and Mammoth WVH crushed it Friday at the Mystic Showroom and proved that rock is here to stay.
