I’ve seen a LOT of shows with my friend Sean but couldn’t make it to Jane’s Addiction/Alice in Chains at Darien Lake last night and the poor guy had to go alone. He passed along these notes.
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I went to the see 2013 Rockstar Uproar festival last night at Darien Lake, mainly to see Jane’s Addiction for the first time.
A few thoughts:
- I’ve solved the exiting Darien Lake in a timely fashion issue…borrow a Season Pass from your friend and you are allowed to park right near the entrance/exit to the park. Total time to exit the park once I was in my car: 90 seconds.
- I never really bought into the “Band A blew Band B off the stage” theory of concerts…until last night; Jane’s Addiction was incredible and Alice in Chains was okay.
- The set by Jane’s Addiction, albeit an abbreviated 60 minute affair, was powerful, relevant, and mind-blowing.
- Attending a concert by yourself is actually pretty cool. I am usually the one to ensure that everyone else in the group is having a good time and properly educated as to what song the band is currently playing. When you’re by yourself, it’s all about you and the band having a shared moment. (Editor’s note: I’ll assume you’re not talking about me and just move on.)
- Last night, Perry Farrell catapulted into my top 5 live frontmen of all time.
- This ascension may have something to do with the “frontman drinking wine right from the bottle throughout the set” factor. Have only seen two do this live– the other is Eddie Vedder.
- I don’t think Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro like each other much –they didn’t made eye contact all night.
- Hearing “Ocean Size”, “Ted, Just Admit It…”, “Stop!” and “Three Days” reminded me that Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual are downright classics and the band should be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday.
- As I mentioned, Alice in Chains were average. Last time I saw them Layne Staley looked dangerous and sounded incredible as he tooled around the stage all night in a wheelchair suffering from god knows what. That’s a tough performance to top.
- Perry Farrell is even cooler than I originally thought. He can pull off being a crazy spiritualist who sings beautifully on stage, and then coach third base for his son’s baseball team a few days earlier (courtesy of Jay Mohr’s podcast with Farrell).
- The night belonged to Jane’s Addiction and their charismatic, wild, and unpredictable singer Perry Farrell. They should be headlining by the end of this tour.
Wow, did we watch the same show last night? Jane’s Addiction’s sound crew almost ruined the entire set with their faulty equipment that was making Perry Farrell’s mic horrible for the first few songs and he was overly frustrated by it. Plus, there was barely any lighting on Dave Navarro the entire set? Overall, they sounded good, but not great. However, Alice In Chains was clearly the crowd favorite and sounded incredible. Their new songs blended perfectly with their classic 90’s alternative sound. I haven’t heard a tighter band musically and vocally in a very long time. My ass was most definitely kicked by Alice In Chains. I also thought the new band, Walking Papers, who headlined the 2nd Stage should be brought up to the 1st Stage for Circa Survive who clearly were not ready to be on a big stage like that.
Thank you, DJKCD. I’m reading this thinking, wtf!!??
@DJKCD
I saw the show last night in Mansfleld and couldn’t agree with you more DJKCD. All I would add is that Perry was terrible at my show. He was either drunk, strung out, or both and it ruined the performance. And his insistence on doing an encore after they ran out of their allotted time, despite Navarro’s and other’s attempts to get them off the stage meant that AIC wasn’t able to do an encore. Total BS. Chains was as good as I was hoping they would be. Time for people to stop apologizing for Layne’s absence and open your eyes and ears and see what is in front of you–a dynamic, honest, clean and intense band, last of their kind, so to speak. And I missed Walking papers, wanted to see that one we got there too late. Circa Survive did not belong on main stage at all.
Way to edit out the comments that don’t agree with you.