We bought these tickets back in May (maybe June) and I was pretty psyched for the lineup. Apparently though, Filter announced they’d be dropping from the tour in Mid-July due to their singer/founder having back issues or something. But I missed this announcement and found out 2 days before the show. Bummer. Fun fact about Filter! Richard Patrick (singer, founder, main dude) is the brother of Robert Patrick – the Liquid Metal T-1000 from Terminator 2 and a bunch of other movies and shows.
But the show must go on so we headed to Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT on 9/3 to see Jerry Cantrell (of Alice In Chains) and….Sparta….
I have no pics of Sparta to share. Sorry boys. They said they played this venue back in 2004 and were happy to be back. When their set ended, they had to break down, pack up, and load up all their own gear. I dunno man. Still your own roadies after 20+ years? That’s rough. But the singer did say they were a “blue collar working band” meaning always on the road. If they can support themselves doing what they love, I can respect that (and perhaps be somewhat jealous). Anyway, they weren’t horrible but not my cup of tea. Didn’t see any big surge at their merch booth after their set either. Musically they were good. Singing wise, a bit whiney, and I couldn’t understand any lyrics.
For me, this was my first time seeing solo Jerry Cantrell. Though Frank and Steve who I rolled into town with have probably seen him 3 dozen times between solo tours and AIC tours. I did see AIC once many years ago on what I think was their first tour after Layne died.
So what did they open with? Well, here’s the whole setlist!
We had a pretty decent side view of the stage which was the best we could do. Sold out show, 7pm doors, 90 min drive, and 3 dudes with jobs resulted in us getting there around 6:45pm. So we were happy to be as close as we could even if a side view.
With plenty of AIC songs in the set, Jerry has a great singer with him named Zach Throne. Zach is also the 2nd guitarist in the band to complement Jerry. The dude was great! No one is Layne of course when it comes to vocals, but he did a great job and never stopped smiling all night. I was pretty happy with his renditions of Man in the Box and Would. If you’re not familiar with Layne Staley, he’s probably the best vocalist of the 90s. Definitely way up there in a very small league with Chris Cornell. Anyway…
Admittedly, I didn’t think I was super familiar with Cantrell’s solo catalog but ended up knowing most songs throughout the night. Might not know them by title but once they played them I had those “oh yeah!” moments. So I guess I know more than I thought I did which always makes it more enjoyable. If I had to pick a favorite song from the night, I might have to go with Rain When I Die off the “Dirt” album. It’s not a high energy banger like other songs throughout the night, but dammit, I like it!
Jerry himself didn’t move around the stage much. He mostly stayed in his area at mid stage, only coming over to our side of the stage once or twice. But he did toss out a bunch of guitar picks at the end and I was able to snag a couple just like the good ole days when I first started to build my pick collection. Overall, it was a good show and the setlist actually seems longer than the recent Alice In Chains set lists from their last tour.
If he hasn’t come to your town yet, consider getting some tickets.
As far as the overall concert experience goes, I could say a lot about the psychos who invaded our area once the first song started. They could get a whole post on their own. But they don’t deserve it. So I’ll just say, that I hope the psycho lady who somehow yells/talks so loud that you hear her clearly over all the amps and people woke up hurting with a massive hangover. You suck! I wish they’d thrown your ass out for constantly distracting the guitar tech by tapping on his shoulder to ask for free guitar picks for your wheelchair friend.
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