The historic Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, played host to nine-time Grammy Award-nominated musician Jerry Cantrell on Saturday night. Supported by platinum recording artists Filter, Cantrell is nearing the midpoint of his I Want Blood North American Tour. Built in 1930, this 1,800-capacity venue was originally designed in a Spanish baroque style and offers a general admission floor setting with an upper, seated balcony area. It is always a great indoor destination to catch a live show, especially on a gloomy evening in the South.
As the clock ticked just past 8:00pm, Filter took to the dimly lit stage and opened their set with “You Walk Away” off their third studio album, The Amalgamut (2002). Anchored by 56-year-old founding frontman Richard Patrick, a former touring guitarist who supported the early years of Nine Inch Nails, Filter blasted through a nearly 45-minute set that highlighted songs pulled from their three decades deep catalog.
Admittedly I am more of a casual, “radio hits” Filter fan, but the band’s legacy, driven by Patrick’s powerful vocals and in-your-face musical bangers, represents a quintessential piece of the historical 1990s sound. While dedicated Filter followers clearly enjoyed live renditions of tracks like “Jurassitol” and “Welcome to the Fold,” it was the slower, mid-set delivery of the hit single “Take a Picture” from Title of Record (1999) that captured the entire early audience’s attention. Then later, with their evening drawing to a close, a familiar bass line kicked off the band’s most recognizable song in “Hey Man Nice Shot” from their 1995 debut, Short Bus. This launched the Atlanta crowd into a frenzy and put an emphatic exclamation point on Filter’s performance.
Filter:
Richard Patrick – Lead vocals, guitars
Jonny Radtke – Guitars, vocals
Bobby Miller – Bass, vocals
Tosh Peterson – Drums
Setlist:
1.) You Walk Away
2.) The Drowning
3.) (Can’t You) Trip Like I Do
4.) Obliteration
5.) Jurassitol
6.) Take a Picture
7.) Drug Boy
8.) Welcome to the Fold
9.) Hey Man Nice Shot
Following Filter’s equipment turn of about thirty minutes, the house lights went dark to signify the start of Jerry Cantrell’s set. To the capacity crowd chants of “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry,” the band slowly appeared and began their night with “Psychotic Break” pulled from Cantrell’s second solo album, Degradation Trip (2002). For those of you not in your early 50s like myself, Cantrell (as a founding member of Alice in Chains) represents that pivotal grunge era in music history that forcibly pioneered audiences out of the decadence of the late ’80s hair metal scene and into the gritty sound of the ’90s.
Primarily out on the road in support of his fourth solo release in I Want Blood (2024), Cantrell and band highlighted five selected tracks from that album, including “Vilified,” “Afterglow,” “Off the Rails,” “I Want Blood,” and “It Comes,” of which opened the encore set later in the evening. In fact, a dozen of the 17 total songs performed were culled from Cantrell’s four solo albums, including memorable cuts in “Atone” and “Cut You In.”
Having caught Cantrell solo live now twice in the past two years, it is the anticipation of his classic Alice in Chains selections that always draws great fan interest. The celebration of that musical era in Cantrell’s decorated career came early in the set on Saturday night as the band delivered upon a musically resounding performance of “Them Bones” in just their second song. I have said it before, but the harmonization and chemistry Cantrell has with co-vocalist Greg Puciato really lends itself so wonderfully for the channeling of the late Layne Staley’s emotional vocal tones when matched with Cantrell’s guttural guitar riffs.
The back quarter of the main setlist was primarily Alice in Chains focused, including the unexpected inclusion of “Sea of Sorrow,” which seemingly replaced either “Down in a Hole” or “Man in the Box” when looking back at this tour’s prior performances. However, the best surprise of the night came as the band broke into “Would?” and were joined on stage by William DuVall who entered Alice in Chains back in 2006 when he replaced Staley following his tragic death in 2002. The entire crowd sang along, seemingly shaking the venue walls as they shadowed along with DuVall at the top of their lungs to close out the main set. For a bit a trivia, DuVall does have deep ties to the Atlanta area, having formed the hardcore punk band Neon Christ locally here back in 1983.
As mentioned earlier, the band took a short break before returning for their three-song encore which started with “It Comes,” and was immediately followed by “Brighten,” the title track from Cantrell’s third solo album released back in 2021. Arguably one of Alice in Chains’ most iconic songs, the capper to Saturday night was fan favorite “Rooster” from the band’s second studio album, Dirt (1992). Similar to “Would?”, the sold out audience suppressed the band’s vocals with their own, all-the-while capturing the moment with their cell phones being held high in the air.
Cantrell’s I Want Blood North American Tour continues on through Sunday, March 9th, where it will wrap up at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington. The tour will then pick back up following a break at Hall Padova in Italy, on Saturday, May 31st.
Jerry Cantrell – Band:
Jerry Cantrell – Vocals, guitars
Zach Throne – Guitars
Greg Puciato – Backing vocals
Roy Mayorga – Drums
Eliot Lorango – Bass
Lola Colette – Keyboards
Setlist:
1.) Psychotic Break
2.) Them Bones (Alice in Chains song)
3.) Vilified
4.) Afterglow
5.) Atone
6.) Off the Rails
7.) Cut You In
8.) My Song
9.) I Want Blood
10.) Had to Know
11.) Sea of Sorrow (Alice in Chains song)
12.) Siren Song
13.) Hate to Feel (Alice in Chains song)
14.) Would? (Alice in Chains song with William DuVall)
Encore
15.) It Comes
16.) Brighten
17.) Rooster (Alice in Chains song)
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.
