The acoustic instruments add to this effect somewhat, and it all gives the entire show a gothic dungeon feel to it, which goes along perfectly as their lyrics tend to be somewhat dark and depressing.įor the small handful of you who aren't aware, Layne would die almost six years to the day after this was filmed, finally beaten by the heroin addiction that he's battled with most of his life. The band themselves are surrounded by no less than thirty candles and the stage itself is relatively dark. They're performing on a square stage surrounded on all four sides by the crowd who are bathed in dark blue or red lights. The stage itself is a bit contradictory to light-heartedness of the band. This is even carried over in the closing credits, where the band gives it's appreciation to "general acquaintances, doctors and flight attendants" and tell their fans that "the group hug is on hold" in reference to Layne telling the crowd "I just wanna hug you all!.but I'm not gonna." Plus, Jerry occasionally goes off on little hoedowns when the mood strikes him. It's obvious the band are having a blast doing what they're doing, as they keep joking amongst each other ("Aren't you done with that tuning shit, yet?") between songs. Watching the group perform you would never imagine that they're just coming off a three year hiatus. Oh sure, they're all good songs, but it takes a few listens to really appreciate them, and it just wasn't a great move to close with that combination in my opinion. They put all the stronger, well-known songs in the beginning which leaves the end of the show feeling a bit weak. My only true gripe is the order of the set itself. "God Am," "I Stay Away," and "Grind" would all have been great additions However, I fully admit that's just me being greedy and to be honest I don't think Layne could have taken the extra numbers. Of course, I would have liked a longer set. It gives the album an identity all its own. Oh sure, they're all the same songs, but they've been retooled slightly for their new acoustic arrangement which was a brilliant move. You see, the band has found a way to subtly make the songs completely different. Hell, I'd place the performances of "Sludge Factory" and "Brother" found here above their studio counterparts. The softer songs like "Nutshell" and "Heaven Beside You" are obvious, but some of the harder material ("Angry Chair" or "Sludge Factory") came as a surprise. The songs chosen were a good choice most of them transcribe to acoustic very well. Plus, Scott Olsen joins the band on stage as a rhythm guitarist, adding some fill-in that the normally heavier songs lose when done acoustically. Alice in Chains are Layne Staley on vocals, Jerry Cantrell on guitar/vocals, Mike Inez on bass and Sean Kinney on drums. Anyway, let's get the technical stuff out of the way first. Even so, they've quickly ranked up as one of my favorite bands and I was overjoyed when I got this DVD for my birthday. Hell, Alice in Chains has been done and gone almost half a decade when I started listening to them. Just for the sake of argument, I'll admit that I got into Alice in Chains relatively recently, so I missed this show when it was "culturally relevant." Plus, I never watched MTV's Unplugged at all. This show was part of MTV's Unplugged show and has gone on to become one of the more memorable concerts in the series. My heart aches for them.On April 10, 1996, Seattle grunge band Alice in Chains performed their first live concert in almost three years. Many never find a way out and hit rock bottom. Knowing that he dies from that addiction a short time later only adds to the misery. I saw Alice in Chains in the early 90's, opening up for Megadeth and Anthrax, and we are looking at two different people here. Probably high, strung out, most likely both, and his performance shows it. When he takes off his sunglasses, there is nothing behind those eyes and he is clearly way deep into addiction. As a recovering addict myself, it is really sad to see Layne Staely up there. Visually this an extremely hard show to watch. In fact, without Jerry's vocals, where he takes the lead on many songs, this would not have been a great show and leads to my next point. The video gives you insight into how much Jerry Contrell's backing vocals contribute to the songs, both in this live video but also in retrospect, in the studio albums as well. The songs picked work beautifully in their acoustic environment and the band is as good as ever. Musically, this is one of my favorite MTV unplugged shows, along with Aerosmith and Queensryche.
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