The Official Alter Bridge Thread v. PAWNS & KINGS

[mikeyd23]

Hmmm, Sioux City is tempting. I just saw them a month ago so I'm curious to see how different the setlist would be. I'm guessing they'd throw in a lot more new songs.

I'm guessing they will play at least 4 songs from TLH, hopefully more.

[goo-goo]

Blabbermouth presale code for today and tomorrow

BBMAB2017

[Basekick]

Blabbermouth presale code for today and tomorrow

BBMAB2017

Man, that $11.50 surchage puts each ticket at $48.00 for Playstation Theatre in NYC.

That's just crazy to me. I thought the sole benefit of Alter Bridge not being a super-popular band is that their concerts were cheaper!

[Anguyen92]

^^ In honesty, they are cheaper.  Cheaper than bigger bands.  Playstation Theater has around a 2,100-people capacity?  Let's compared that to DT when they played Hammerstein Ballroom (which holds 3,500) during their Along For the Ride tour.  How much was the GA for that?

That stated, I am a bit displeased as well with the slight hike in price.  When I saw them back in 2014 in LA, the tickets was $26.50 (with the "service fee" included) for the mezzanine seat.  Now for the same section in the same theater, The Wiltern, it's $34.50.  I really would like to think it's the sign of the concert industry booming/promoters thinking they can set that price nicely and still manage to sell the tickets rather than AB being greedy bastards.

[mikeyd23]

So they starting touring in support of TLH and it's been better than I thought!

Last show, they played 7 (out of a total of 20 songs in the set) songs from TLH! That's fantastic given this band's history to not play that much new material live since really the BB days. Good stuff!

[Basekick]

So they starting touring in support of TLH and it's been better than I thought!

Last show, they played 7 (out of a total of 20 songs in the set) songs from TLH! That's fantastic given this band's history to not play that much new material live since really the BB days. Good stuff!

Definitely! Though I wish it weren't You Will Be Remembered, My Champion, Poison In Your Veins, and Show Me A Leader...Give me Island of Fools or This Side of Fate or Cradle To The Grave or The Last Hero!

Happy to see The Other Side, The Writing on the Wall, and Crows on a Wire though. Super pumped to see them in February.

[mikeyd23]

Definitely! Though I wish it weren't You Will Be Remembered, My Champion, Poison In Your Veins, and Show Me A Leader...Give me Island of Fools or This Side of Fate or Cradle To The Grave or The Last Hero!

Happy to see The Other Side, The Writing on the Wall, and Crows on a Wire though. Super pumped to see them in February.

  Well, I personally wouldn't have picked the songs they picked from TLH, but I'm not going to complain since it's more than I thought they would play. But yeah, for me, if I were AB the title track, Island of Fools, Cradle to the Grave, and This Side of Fate would get played EVERY night on this tour. Show Me a Leader and My Champion were singles so I get that. After those, maybe rotate in Writing on the Wall one night for The Other Side another night, or something like that.

[LCArenas]

I'm just here to say that HOLY SHIT, BLACKBIRD WILL TURN 10 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR

TEN (10)
FUCKING
YEARS

[Accelerando]

I can't believe it'll be 10 years! I was a sophomore in college when this record came out. It was the album of my college years, for sure

[wolfking]

I still remember when One Day Remains came out.  I always didn't mind Creed but knew how much of a beast Tremonti was on the guitar.  When I heard about the plans for Alter Bridge, I was stoked and became a fan the day that album came out.

[Accelerando]

I dug Creed (not so much the Weathered album), and I was disappointed with the break up. But i told myself I would support whatever each member did afterwards. When Tremonti announced he was going to be in a new band with Flip and they were bringing back Brian Marshall (he was kicked out of Creed before Weathered was released), I was excited for his return to that rhythm section. I supported these guys since.

Unfortunately, could not get into Stapp's stuff from The Great Divide and to Art of Anarchy. I still wish him the best. And im glad he got help and is sober. For now.

[Kwyjibo]

I really like Human Clay and thought Tremonti was one hell of a guitar player. Weathered was okay but didn't blow me away and when I heard that the core of Creed formed a new band I was only mildly interested but I still listened to One Day Remains. And I became hooked in an instant. And they still deliver great music to this day. 

[mikeyd23]

God, I can't believe BB will be 10 years old. That has to be one of the most impactful albums for me personally.

[pogoowner]

One Day Remains never really hooked me, but Blackbird made me a legitimate fan.

[wolfking]

One Day Remains never really hooked me, but Blackbird made me a legitimate fan.

I can see that.  One Day Remains was like a perfect crossover album between the two bands.

[mikeyd23]

One Day Remains never really hooked me, but Blackbird made me a legitimate fan.

I can see that.  One Day Remains was like a perfect crossover album between the two bands.

It was definitely a transition album stylistically from basically Weathered, to what would become more of the staple AB sound with BB.

[Kwyjibo]

After hearing One Day Remains, for me Alter Bridge was Creed with a better singer. But from Blackbird on they tried to sound a little bit different and they have developed their own style. Still reminiscent to Creed sometimes but that's no wonder when 3/4 of the members, and among them the main songwriter, were in Creed.

[LudwigVan]

Funny thing... I only got into Alter Bridge a few years back (in between ABIII and Fortress) and had absolutely NO clue that they were basically Creed reformed.  Never thought I would EVER in my life buy a Creed album, but my love for AB eventually got me to working backwards into an appreciation of their former band.  Lol Creed was pretty dang good!

[mikeyd23]

Funny thing... I only got into Alter Bridge a few years back (in between ABIII and Fortress) and had absolutely NO clue that they were basically Creed reformed.  Never thought I would EVER in my life buy a Creed album, but my love for AB eventually got me to working backwards into an appreciation of their former band.  Lol Creed was pretty dang good!

A lot of Mark's creative guitar work especially on the last two Creed albums was fantastic. I never was a huge fan of Stapp's voice, but I listen to Creed stuff occasionally because I enjoy Mark's playing a lot.

[ReaperKK]

I never got into Creed as much as I got into ALter Bridge but My Own Prison is a great album.

[Samsara]

Was a Creed fan the moment i heard my own prison. Same with alter bridge and open your eyes. Good songs by both bands. Creed got a bad rap because of scott's ego and issues. But they were always powerful.

Alter Bridge, particularly through Fortress, to me, are the closest thing to classic Queensryche ive heard. Really love how tremonti and kennedy compliment one another, both guitar wise and vocally. I like the last hero, but it suffers from extreme red lining, and the songs dont hook me, for the most part, as past records have. I think they need to dial up a bit more warmth and space on their next one.

[mikeyd23]

Was a Creed fan the moment i heard my own prison. Same with alter bridge and open your eyes. Good songs by both bands. Creed got a bad rap because of scott's ego and issues. But they were always powerful.

Alter Bridge, particularly through Fortress, to me, are the closest thing to classic Queensryche ive heard. Really love how tremonti and kennedy compliment one another, both guitar wise and vocally. I like the last hero, but it suffers from extreme red lining, and the songs dont hook me, for the most part, as past records have. I think they need to dial up a bit more warmth and space on their next one.

I've discussed this here before, but it's certainly worth mentioning again, AB could use a new producer for their next record. While I don't rank TLH as their worst (it actually ranks above ODR and ABIII for me) I think with a different producer pushing the record in a different direction sonically, I would have enjoyed the record more.

[pogoowner]

I totally agree. I rarely have the desire to listen to The Last Hero, and the production, while probably not the biggest factor, is certainly part of it.

[Basekick]

Was a Creed fan the moment i heard my own prison. Same with alter bridge and open your eyes. Good songs by both bands. Creed got a bad rap because of scott's ego and issues. But they were always powerful.

Alter Bridge, particularly through Fortress, to me, are the closest thing to classic Queensryche ive heard. Really love how tremonti and kennedy compliment one another, both guitar wise and vocally. I like the last hero, but it suffers from extreme red lining, and the songs dont hook me, for the most part, as past records have. I think they need to dial up a bit more warmth and space on their next one.

I've discussed this here before, but it's certainly worth mentioning again, AB could use a new producer for their next record. While I don't rank TLH as their worst (it actually ranks above ODR and ABIII for me) I think with a different producer pushing the record in a different direction sonically, I would have enjoyed the record more.

It's interesting as creatively, I think Alter Bridge is at their best with TLH. The solos from Myles are incredible, the bridges are by far the best they've had (Title track, TSoF, CttG, IoF, etc.), and the general feel of the album is exactly to my taste.

Production wise, I'm completely with you though. The drums are either 0 or 10 with no subtlety, the guitars are lost in the mix, and Myles' voice doesn't have the space it needs. The whole things sounds like it was shoved into a small box for maximum loudness. It's terrible and there is no room for anything to breathe on its own.

Give me a new producer, keep the same artistic vision in my book.

[mikeyd23]

It's interesting as creatively, I think Alter Bridge is at their best with TLH. The solos from Myles are incredible, the bridges are by far the best they've had (Title track, TSoF, CttG, IoF, etc.), and the general feel of the album is exactly to my taste.

Production wise, I'm completely with you though. The drums are either 0 or 10 with no subtlety, the guitars are lost in the mix, and Myles' voice doesn't have the space it needs. The whole things sounds like it was shoved into a small box for maximum loudness. It's terrible and there is no room for anything to breathe on its own.

Give me a new producer, keep the same artistic vision in my book.

I can't disagree with any of this, great post. The only reason I rank BB and Fortress higher than TLH is because of production. Ironically, Elvis produced all those records, but to my ears BB and Fortress are fantastic sonically and TLH is messy at best.

[wolfking]

TLH might become my fav AB album.

[Samsara]

Basekick,

Totally with you. The songs on tlh are complex and really interesting for sure. But as we've mentioned, yeah, the production hurts the record for sure.

I also dig symphony of agony (last of our kind) a lot. It bewilders me why they left that off the album proper, and included what to me are some filler material, such as twilight and losing patience.

[Basekick]

Basekick,

Totally with you. The songs on tlh are complex and really interesting for sure. But as we've mentioned, yeah, the production hurts the record for sure.

I also dig symphony of agony (last of our kind) a lot. It bewilders me why they left that off the album proper, and included what to me are some filler material, such as twilight and losing patience.

Twilight is such a fun groove though! It's different than anything they've really done though and that vocal hook to start the chorus of "Twiiiillliiiiiight!" is addicting as pie.

But yeah, Losing Patience is in the bottom tier for me as well while Symphony of Agony is fantastic - The ending of Mark's solo is gnarly as hell.

[Samsara]

If pressed to choose, in no particular order, id probably say show me a leader, my champion, cradle to the grave, and the title track are my favs from the album proper. I also would include symphony of agony if the bonus cut was permitted. So five out of 14. The rest just dont resonate as much with me. And the other bside, breathe, is a one day remains era cut, recorded back then. So it doesnt count to me.

Dont get me wrong, i love those five tunes i listed. But as a whole, i came away bummed a bit. Maybe for me, they set the bar too high over the years?

But hey, those are still five killer tracks.

On another note, it always seems AB likes to play the tracks i dont like as much live. Hahaha. Waters rising, losing patience, farther than the sun. Lol. I really wish they'd pull out studf such as the end is here, wayward one, words darker than their wings, especially. But no such luck.

[Anguyen92]

They have yet to play Losing Patience.

[wolfking]

Seeing the band in April and looking at the setlists so far, looks okay for my liking.  Very happy that they play Island of Fools.  A few in there I'm not bad about, but what do you do.

[Samsara]

They have yet to play Losing Patience.

Could have sworn they have already. But I wasn't keeping track that closely.

[Samsara]

Apologies if someone did a "Top 20" listing of AB songs earlier in the thread, but if not, what are folks' (in no particular order)? And if has been done, here is my very late entry.

I made a rule -- no more than five from a particular time period (album, and bonus tracks recorded in each album era), and no less than three from any album. My results surprised me:

AB III

Slip to the Void
Isolation
Show Me a Sign
Coeur d'Alene
Words Darker Than Their Wings

Blackbird

Blackbird
Ties That Bind
Wayward One

Fortress

Cry of Achilles
Calm the Fire
Fortress
Lover
Addicted to Pain

The Last Hero

Show Me a Leader
Cradle to the Grave
The Last Hero
Symphony of Agony

One Day Remains

One Day Remains
Metalingus
The End is Here

>>>>Again, none of those are in order, even within each era/album. What surprised me was how easy it was to compile. My only sticking point was that to meet "20," I had to drop one song. And it was between Cradle to the Grave, Symphony of Agony, and My Champion. I elected to remove My Champion, but that would probably be number 21.

I wasn't surprised about the AB III-heavy listing. I actually love those five tracks big time. "Still Remains" is also up there for me. But from top to bottom, there was a gap for me. A lot of stuff that I found filler after that. Whereas on Blackbird, I only picked three, but not because I dislike the record. I actually find it the best overall record from AB from top to bottom. But from a pure song-by-song standpoint, I chose the least from it.

Interesting exercise for sure. Going to have to morph that all into a playlist...

[sylvan]

I've never actually posted any of these before, I think... Anyways, here's what i got.

(albums are chronological, songs are in order of preference)
-ODR
The End Is Here
One Day Remains
Burn It Down
In Loving Memory

-Blackbird
Wayward One
Brand New Start
New Way To Live

-III
Coeur d'Alene
Words Darker Than Their Wings
All Hope Is Gone
Still Remains

-Fortress
Bleed It Dry
Fortress
Cry of Achilles
Farther Than The Sun
Calm The Fire

-The Last Hero
Island of Fools
The Last Hero
The Other Side
Cradle To The Grave

TOP 5 FAVORITE
1 Bleed It Dry
2 Island of Fools
3 The End Is Here
4 Coeur d'Alene
5 One Day Remains

TOP 5 BEST (IMO)
1 Bleed It Dry
2 Island of Fools
3 Fortress
4 Blackbird
5 The Last Hero

edit: I had to move Island of Fools from 4-2 on my TOP 5 BEST. IMO, that 1-5 is the best representation of what AB is as a band. If I extended it to 6-10, I would include some softer/ballad songs. But, that to me is quintessential AB. Bleed It Dry has everything that makes AB awesome, all in one song. Myles killing it, not just with amazing skill, but his signature style. Killer fucking metal riff that grooves in that signature Mark metal/melody style. And what I consider Mark's best solo, from start to finish it is just flawless, and better than Blackbird because he fooled people into thinking it was a two man job. Blackbird brought the soulful style of Myles followed by the gain and metal onslaught of Mark. Bleed It Dry did the same thing, to a better degree in my opinion, and it was all Mark. That song has it all.

[Samsara]

Ive always liked bleed it dry, but it never really strikes me as a song i love from them. For me, it is above filler status, but not quite up there with the best.

But i agree, it has all elements of ab's sound in it.