Alter Bridge
Enmore Theatre
Sydney, AU
April 4, 2017
After several runs as openers, the Orlando, Florida-based melodic metal outfit toured Alter Bridge returned to Australia on the back of their fifth album, The Last Hero, for a headline tour.
Drawing from a five album catalogue, Alter Bridge delivered their trademark rangeful vocal melodies courtesy of Myles Kennedy, his 6-string duels with three times Guitar Player of the Year Mark Tremonti’s guitar work and boisterous rhythm section comprised of Brian Marshall and Scott Philips, which was enthusiastically received by their energetic, dedicated audience and further sparked by the engaging, likeable and down-to-earth manner that the band, and specifically the showman Myles Kennedy, displayed.
In a live environment Alter Bridge proves that they are a tightly knit unit with chemistry that grows to something bigger than the sum of its individual constituents would suggest:
Kennedy’s vocal performance, which amped the audience to participate and motivated not just a few faithfuls to give it up and sing along at the top of their lungs, was soulful and near pitch perfect, which is not further wondrous given that Kennedy’s kudos include having auditioned to replace Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin and having honed his performance skills fronting Slash’s band in front of big audiences.
Him handling guitar duties spinning an intricate web in tandem with Tremonti’s anthemic riffs packs a hefty punch and gels well with Phillips’ precision drumming and Brian Marshall’s bass.
The near 2-hour affair touched on the highlights of all of their albums with emissions ranging from ballads to all out bangers with both the satisfied audience’s reaction as well as the turnout being testament to the fact that it was time for Alter Bridge to grace down under with their first headlining tour.
