Saw AiC over the weekend for the first time in seven years. Really good show. This was my sixth time seeing AiC, starting in 2005 with the Tsunami Benefit show. AiC was heavy on all the hits, but sadly, the lame crowd in the pit sort of sucked the energy out of the room. That's one thing that stuck me about AiC though. The difference between the Layne era hits, and the Duvall era songs. I love both, but AiC has become a moody, proggy act, that is less about pure aggression and quirkiness, and more about embracing ambience in songs. not completely, and obviously, AiC still dials it up on many new songs. But for me at least, the band has certainly evolved, and they should, and I'm glad they have.
William Duvall has been the lead singer of AiC now for 17 years. Way longer than Layne Staley, if you can believe that. And when I first saw William perform (2002 as a part of Jerry Cantrell's solo band opening for Creed), he tried really hard to channel Layne. That continued his first couple years with AiC too. But now...William is just William. He is himself, and sings the songs like him, not Layne, and I find it refreshing. My one complaint about AiC's set was -- they didn't do enough from the William years. Just five tracks out of 18. I get it, but I was really hoping for "Red Giant" or "All I Am" from Rainer Fog (we got "The One You Know" and the title track), and while I know I'll never see it because it is a deep cut, I was hoping for "Take Her Out" from Black Gives Way to Blue.
As for the old stuff, "Got Me Wrong" was a nice surprise. We had seen that they were doing "Sludge Factory" at some point, and were hoping for that, but it didn't happen. Seeing "It Ain't Like That" was cool too.
But a solid, solid set, and I'm glad we went. Here is some video for those that dig it:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJI-MjWF9aD_1VVXXP3-KrpCDvHrU3mN3