Alter Bridge: Sat. Feb. 11, 2023 at HISTORY

I haven’t seen Alter Bridge before and attended the Toronto show with mixed impressions in that I wasn’t that much of Creed Fan, I’ve seen Myles play with Slash a couple of times and I’ve seen and heard Myles guest with other artists where I’d been impressed as hell, like with the live version Disturbed’s The Sound of Silence. Which simply means that I was going in with my eyes open.

As the night kicked off, the smiles shared to the crowd and between bandmates spoke volumes. They were here and they were pumped.

The sound system at HISTORY is incredible. Alter Bridge hit the sold-out stage to massive crowd approval, the roar was slightly overwhelming. An absolute wall of sound hit the crowd with the opener of Silver tongue. The dual lead guitar and sometime vocal combo of Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti immediately impressed. The rhythm section of Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips is tight and provided a rock solid base on which to build the guitars, vocals and melody.

The crowd came prepared. There were singalongs, chants of “Alter Bridge” between songs and if Myles held the mic to them, they were more than capable to take over the vocal duties.

The band demonstrated both incredible versatility and variety in their songwriting and live interpretation. They are equally adept at blowing off your face, riding great riffs, building in pop elements and toning it down, bringing out the acoustics and creating a very intimate connection and experience. In fact the duo acoustic performance of Myles and Mark on Mark’s tribute to his mother on In Loving Memory stands out as a highlight of the evening.

The musicianship within the band is astounding. I didn’t go in there expecting the level of ability and finesse that I witnessed. What great players and writers!

The new songs were very well accepted by the crowd. I think that even the band might have been surprised at the recognition and reaction that they received. Myles took some time to talk to the audience at one point and expressed much happiness and delight at the crowds obvious appreciation as well as a little self, well band-deprecation in wondering if that reaction might be better offered elsewhere. Nope, it was exactly where it deserved to be.

Colour me very impressed. So impressed I need to do some homework and dig more into not only their catalogue, but that of their prior bands and side projects.

SET LIST

• Silver Tongue
• Addicted To Pain
• Ghost of Days Gone by
• Before Tomorrow Comes
• This Is War
• Burn It Down
• Achilles
• Watch Over You
• In Loving Memory
• Blackbird
• Pawns & Kings
• Stay
• Isolation
• Metalingus
• Rise Today
• Open Your Eyes

David McDonald (416-317-7802)
https://davidmcdphotos.myportfolio.com