Manchester - Phones4U Arena - 22nd October

[GazzaScotland]

With some of these comments you'd think we're talking about a new band starting up. Not one with nearly ten years under their belt plus other projects! They've been playing to thousands of people a night for nearly all that time so some things don't just add up. If they aren't playing new songs because they aren't comfortable with them then I'm sorry, they should be when the tour bears the name of the album they are promoting. If its because they don't feel they would go down well then thats even worse, as an artist surely you have to stand behind your newest material that you stated was built for the live environment?

Just so so frustrating to be driven to the point I wouldn't rush to buy a ticket to see them live again.

[gbruin]

I never understand the argument of "I don't want to see them play the songs perfectly!"

"Hey, that Mark Tremonti didn't make a single mistake in that solo... this gig sucks!"

I don't mind at all if they change the song a bit, do somethings differently, if they can't do everything they can do on the album, or if they even make some blatant mistakes when playing, but I don't go to a gig specifically hoping to see mistakes as I sometimes see people saying in these type of discussions. If I want to see someone make loads of mistakes trying to play a song there are plenty of crap musicians out there.

Dang. You could have been my biggest fan.

I agree that you don't want to see mistakes, but sometimes those spontaneous mishaps do make a particular gig memorable from all the others, particularly when the performances are pretty much the same night to night. I'm thinking of Tremo's bananafoot incident or Myles being attacked by the wasp or when he improved a solo on the fly when Mark's rig died on Find The Real a few years back as little bits we'll always remember that made those shows stand out. At Orlando, Mark began the intro to Brand New Start and it sounded way off. It was clear he was handed the wrong guitar (wrong tuning), so he just made a little "Well, that sucked" face and calmly walked back to Ernie and got the right guitar. I'll always remember that BNS compared to the several other times I've seen it live, because the song after that was just as amazing as always, but that little real life moment made it unique.

I know this is a bit different than your point of people wanting to see mistakes. I don't want anyone to butcher a solo or forget words, but you do gotta love those unique Rock n Roll moments that happen when things are live.

[Timotheus]

I'd rather have a performance where the musicians are into the show, making mistakes along the way than a performance where the musicians play everything perfecty but are just standing there.

[Lotha]

@Timo for sticking my quote in your sig as a reminder

[Ubik]

Dang. You could have been my biggest fan.

I agree that you don't want to see mistakes, but sometimes those spontaneous mishaps do make a particular gig memorable from all the others, particularly when the performances are pretty much the same night to night. I'm thinking of Tremo's bananafoot incident or Myles being attacked by the wasp or when he improved a solo on the fly when Mark's rig died on Find The Real a few years back as little bits we'll always remember that made those shows stand out. At Orlando, Mark began the intro to Brand New Start and it sounded way off. It was clear he was handed the wrong guitar (wrong tuning), so he just made a little "Well, that sucked" face and calmly walked back to Ernie and got the right guitar. I'll always remember that BNS compared to the several other times I've seen it live, because the song after that was just as amazing as always, but that little real life moment made it unique.

I know this is a bit different than your point of people wanting to see mistakes. I don't want anyone to butcher a solo or forget words, but you do gotta love those unique Rock n Roll moments that happen when things are live.

That time when Myles starting singing Come to Life after the Still Remains intro (might've been the other way round) was quite entertaining also.

[Timotheus]

@Timo for sticking my quote in your sig as a reminder

I thought those were really wise words!

[erv]

I don't get it. Up until now, I've only heard people talk about crappy experiences but no video, review (apart from here) or anywhere seems to dislike the performance. What I can see, it's top notch and I just can't wait for amsterdam hmh on november 3rd.

You know, fans really can act as a bunch of groupies that think they know the band and their job better than the band themselves. Really, the alter bridge shows thus far sound miracilously awesome. Great performance of great songs by a great band. A recipe for awesomeness.

Long term, I think lots of songs will be played live over the years, so I wouldn't worry. After watching myles sing turn the page on an acoustic 2 days before the orlando date I would not worry about their songs dying out or being neglected. Come on...

Anyway, crowds have a different dynamic in masses of arenas and 2000+ venues. I think they know- they've been there before. In any way, a shinedown lipsync before the show won't help either, but the mass is a listener, the fan is a participator.

Isn't it great to be the minority now, where alter bridge is now so big they get to play these great venues for a bigger crowd? Isn't this what we all wished for them? Meanwhile, all I see is whiny people who seem to forget the realities they face everyday: all your god awful notes end up on youtube, pick your nose and it's on youtube so you better perform stuff you're explicitly proud of excellently if you want things to last.

But no - we are better managers, better performers and better branding experts, right?

Come on amsterdam, let's not have this mentality come november. I want to see the awesome alter bridge again without the whiny entitled fanbase.

[Crumbso]

I don't get it. Up until now, I've only heard people talk about crappy experiences but no video, review (apart from here) or anywhere seems to dislike the performance. What I can see, it's top notch and I just can't wait for amsterdam hmh on november 3rd.

You know, fans really can act as a bunch of groupies that think they know the band and their job better than the band themselves. Really, the alter bridge shows thus far sound miracilously awesome. Great performance of great songs by a great band. A recipe for awesomeness.

Long term, I think lots of songs will be played live over the years, so I wouldn't worry. After watching myles sing turn the page on an acoustic 2 days before the orlando date I would not worry about their songs dying out or being neglected. Come on...

Anyway, crowds have a different dynamic in masses of arenas and 2000+ venues. I think they know- they've been there before. In any way, a shinedown lipsync before the show won't help either, but the mass is a listener, the fan is a participator.

Isn't it great to be the minority now, where alter bridge is now so big they get to play these great venues for a bigger crowd? Isn't this what we all wished for them? Meanwhile, all I see is whiny people who seem to forget the realities they face everyday: all your god awful notes end up on youtube, pick your nose and it's on youtube so you better perform stuff you're explicitly proud of excellently if you want things to last.

But no - we are better managers, better performers and better branding experts, right?

Come on amsterdam, let's not have this mentality come november. I want to see the awesome alter bridge again without the whiny entitled fanbase.

That's a damn tall horse you're on there...

[RuRo]

I don't get it. Up until now, I've only heard people talk about crappy experiences but no video, review (apart from here) or anywhere seems to dislike the performance. What I can see, it's top notch and I just can't wait for amsterdam hmh on november 3rd.

You know, fans really can act as a bunch of groupies that think they know the band and their job better than the band themselves. Really, the alter bridge shows thus far sound miracilously awesome. Great performance of great songs by a great band. A recipe for awesomeness.

Long term, I think lots of songs will be played live over the years, so I wouldn't worry. After watching myles sing turn the page on an acoustic 2 days before the orlando date I would not worry about their songs dying out or being neglected. Come on...

Anyway, crowds have a different dynamic in masses of arenas and 2000+ venues. I think they know- they've been there before. In any way, a shinedown lipsync before the show won't help either, but the mass is a listener, the fan is a participator.

Isn't it great to be the minority now, where alter bridge is now so big they get to play these great venues for a bigger crowd? Isn't this what we all wished for them? Meanwhile, all I see is whiny people who seem to forget the realities they face everyday: all your god awful notes end up on youtube, pick your nose and it's on youtube so you better perform stuff you're explicitly proud of excellently if you want things to last.

But no - we are better managers, better performers and better branding experts, right?

Come on amsterdam, let's not have this mentality come november. I want to see the awesome alter bridge again without the whiny entitled fanbase.

This is the whiniest post in the thread.

[DonHarry]

You know, fans really can act as a bunch of groupies that think they know the band and their job better than the band themselves.

People have legitimate complaints. The T-Shirts on all the clothing stands surrounding the gig have 'Fortress Tour' written on them. It can't be unreasonable to expect to hear songs from the album being promoted. End of. That's also a very poor analogy.

I certainly wasn't disappointed with the quality of the Band, I've already said Myles sounds as strong as ever and Mark killed it on WR. I was however disappointed with the setlist and the main gripe I had was the wank crowd.

[AllC392Was]

From what I'm hearing the crowds (besides Orlando) have been okay at best. I can't even watch a Nottingham video without shaking my head. Yes, the crowd is there to see Alter Bridge.. But they do also want to hear Fortress songs (Hence the Fortress Tour). 3 songs from Fortress won't cut it at all, hopefully it will be a one time thing. The crowd has been ehh for a reason

[Jim]

I think everyone is hanging on my use of the word "perfect" a little too much.. I just meant that they've built a reputation, a reputation good enough to play arenas (which is a HUGE deal for them).. They want to play the songs the best they possibly can to justify that. That's it.

[Jim]

From what I'm hearing the crowds (besides Orlando) have been okay at best. I can't even watch a Nottingham video without shaking my head. Yes, the crowd is there to see Alter Bridge.. But they do also want to hear Fortress songs (Hence the Fortress Tour). 3 songs from Fortress won't cut it at all, hopefully it will be a one time thing. The crowd has been ehh for a reason

Orlando crowd were amazing, i was in it

[DonHarry]

Haha for that reason alone Jim?

[philgeorge1]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ix3AadKT0xQ[/youtube]

It was amazing and not just that song, shit loads of energy at that concert.

I'd love to hear from some old hands who've been seeing them for years and been to this tour? What's your opinion? I guess I can't really judge by the vids.

I said it in the London thread, I have been to all of the London shows apart from the first one. Something definitely lacking on this one. Having read all the comments in this thread, I do think the energy was less and there was less crowd interaction. Mainly down to song speed, they need to be played quickly live!

I have a feeling that they believe the Fortress material may need more rehearsal. It is some of their most complex material to date and it is fine to play your parts individual well but as a band its a different story, this is coming from a muso who has been playing in bands for more than half my life. Perhaps they want these songs to be the best they can be live cause they are proud of the material. CoA alone would have been at least a day out of the rehearsal schedule. They only really had limited rehearsal time cause many people might not know but Myles was out promoting Slashs Horror film with him during this period too. We will see more fortress material live be patient.

This has also been a concern. The fact they probably didn't spend as much time rehearsing because of Slash. I also think they might play festivals in the UK next year and that be it. So we won't see them again for another 2-3 years or so. I think that is what gets me down most about set lists. I saw them in 2011 at Wembley for ABIII and again this year, but every 2 years or so feels like such a long time. Plus with the same songs from BB played, I love seeing them live but it is starting to get a little boring.

[JSlade]

Hate to start bitching, but DO NOT ask the guys to speed up the tempo. Myles is sounding great again, do not fuck this up. These songs sound great at the tempo they were written in.

[AHart96]

Hate to start bitching, but DO NOT ask the guys to speed up the tempo. Myles is sounding great again, do not fuck this up. These songs sound great at the tempo they were written in.

I agree 100%

[TheConspirator]

I can't believe we're really talking about how we desire the guys to screw up during live performances. Are we really that nitpicky? Just enjoy what they do. To me, the shows become memorable because of how you are engaged as a member of the audience, not based off of "Oh, Mark's didn't sound angry enough during his performance of WR."

[Timotheus]

Nobody said that...

[austinjhnsn]

You know what, I'm done criticizing the band I have loved for half of my life, for little things like a setlist... It doesn't make sense. They know what they are doing. This is their life, it's not like they are trying to screw us over by not playing a bunch of Fortress songs. AB go over the top for their fans as it is, they make incredible music. These guys are the reason I'm still here today. I appreciate them for not only the music they've created, but the people that they are.