Norva (Norfolk, VA) 2/25 concert review

[AliceInChains]

Greetings, all! I signed up a few minutes ago with the express purpose of commenting on Stapp's show at the Norva tonight, 2/25. Let me preface this by stating I am a huge fan of the triumvirate: Creed, AB and Scott Stapp. I saw Creed three times and caught Alter Bridge at the Norva last year and at the 9:30 Club in DC. Why am I rambling? I'd like you to know I am an unbiased observer and a fan of both Creed and AB. I love AB and had a ball at the shows...but this forum is about Scott, is it not? On then with the review. Perhaps it's best that Scott and the others are apart, because on the Human Clay and Weathered tours, they didn't seem to be having the best of times. Alter Bridge seemed to enjoy each other's company, and Stapp tonight? I haven't seen that much smiling since that Gedeon dude on American Idol. Ok, seriously: Scott seemed to have a fantastic time, and his voice rose to the occasion. I sing a lot of Creed in my band (poorly, compared to Scott, I might add) and I was hanging on his every note. His one miss? The "six" in One Last Breath, as in "I'm six feet from the edge"--it was strained. Of course, he made up for it by nailing both the "Sad eyes FOLLOW ME!" and the "Please come STAY WITH ME!" flawlessly. Admittedly, my one worry was his voice, and he was really pretty impressive. He smiled in abundance, banged his head in true "Fight Song" fashion, thanked us aplenty and spoke at length about personal insight regarding his lyrics and his life--even touching on his spirituality (surprised?) when he said, at the closing song, "I don't have to justify my relationship with Him" and pointed ot the sky. Scott's certainly had his issues, but he made you want to root for him tonight. As far as him playing the Creed songs? Well, he wrote the lyrics, they're a part of him, and frankly, I'm happy if I get to see them played live at all. On that note, his backing band are no slouches. The lead axeman may not be Mark, but he was admirable and on point, and Scott made the show--and the songs--his own. The set list was as follows (I hope I get it right--I had some Newcastle Ale and my ears are still ringing...)

1. Reach Out
2. Fight Song
3. Bullets
4. My Own Prison
5. The Hard Way
5. What If
6. One Last Breath
8. The Great Divide
9. Let Me Go
10. Higher
11. Sublime
12. My Sacrifice (this ended the first set on a massive high note)

For the encore, they came back with 2 acoustics and played:
13. With Arms Wide Open
Then they came back as a band and finished with:
14. Surround Me (FANTASTIC!)
15. Justify

He gave shouts out to Jagger and his wife before WAWO, and mentioned Creed as well, in the context of "I'm blessed to have been with them before because it allows me to be here with you now." (I'm paraphrasing that one, but you get the idea).
The crowd was really into it, which I was happy to see--lots of singing along, even to the material on TGD. Stapp definitely still has what it takes to be a captivating frontman, and he even noted how "wonderful and lucky he felt to be back after four years." Amen, brother.

[Chase]

Awesome review! Welcome to the board by the way.

[eusebioCBR]

WELCOME and I'm happy to hear he's doing well! Scott's right, nobody has to justify their relationship with GOD.

[AliceInChains]

Thank you much; it's great to be here!

I've a few clips from my phone that I'm going to attempt to upload. A few points:

1. My cellphone sucks.
2. The clips are but 15 seconds long and grainy, but, like I said, my celly is crap. Why didn't I buy the nicer one?
3. Please trudge through the murky waters that are our collective voices singing along and you'll note Scott's. You really can't ascertain how good he was with my lame technology; I assure you, he was stellar. It was good enough to convince me that Wednesday's classes were avoidable and, hence, I'm buying tickets to see him at the 9:30 Club. Whoo!

Surround Me:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video015.3g2

WAWO:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video014.3g2


My Sacrifice:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video011.3g2

Higher:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video009.3g2

MOP:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video004.3g2

Fight Song:
file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Video001.3g2

I hope these work--the only thing less impressive than my cellphone is the level of comptuer skills I possess. I can't even get a damn photo to appear on my profile. Enjoy!

[AliceInChains]

Here's an addendum to my earlier post: copy and paste the link to your browser and you'll get a mini-Quicktime video. I know it's garbage, but it'll tide us over until a fantastic bootleg arises on Kazaa, right?

[Dogstar]

Hey, AliceInChains, I LOVE YOUR NAME...one of my favorite bands ever. Anyway, welcome to the board and thanks for the great review! I'm happy to hear that his voice is holding up. That was one of my big concerns. I've got a ticket for the DC show on Tuesday.

[INDIGOSTEVE]

great first post! thanks and welcome!

[Creed7352]

you've got to upload the vids somewhere first, then post the links from there...those ones you have won't/don't work cause the "file:///c:/" part means it's on your c drive on your computer. try rapidshare.com

[facelessmike]

Great Review - Thanks AIC, That definitely has me much more excited to see him next month!!!

[AliceInChains]

Thanks for the welcomes! Glad to see there are still some diehard AIC fans out there; they're the cream of the grunge crop and certainly my favorite band. I'm attending the show on March 10th in AC with Heart, and not unlike my thoughts regarding Scott singing Creed tunes, if Jerry Cantrell wants to play Alice tunes, much as I lament the loss of Layne, I'm happy to hear Alice tunes played live at all--particularly since Jerry's voice is almost as much a staple of Alice as Layne's is....ALMOST. The harmonizing, anyway.
Many apologies for the poor links; I should've known any file with "C" in it meant it would only work on my computer. You won't see me in a VW with "Geek Squad" on the side anytime soon. I'll try rapidshare--thank you for the suggestion.
Perhaps I'll see some of you in DC on the 28th! Be very excited, everyone-he was electric!

[Dogstar]

Quote: (Originally Posted by AliceInChains)

Thanks for the welcomes! Glad to see there are still some diehard AIC fans out there; they're the cream of the grunge crop and certainly my favorite band. I'm attending the show on March 10th in AC with Heart, and not unlike my thoughts regarding Scott singing Creed tunes, if Jerry Cantrell wants to play Alice tunes, much as I lament the loss of Layne, I'm happy to hear Alice tunes played live at all--particularly since Jerry's voice is almost as much a staple of Alice as Layne's is....ALMOST. The harmonizing, anyway.
Many apologies for the poor links; I should've known any file with "C" in it meant it would only work on my computer. You won't see me in a VW with "Geek Squad" on the side anytime soon. I'll try rapidshare--thank you for the suggestion.
Perhaps I'll see some of you in DC on the 28th! Be very excited, everyone-he was electric!

Hey, I'm going to that show, too. Are you on any of the Jerry Cantrell boards? I'm still on the fence about the whole reunion thing. I was REALLY looking forward to solo stuff from Jerry, but I don't begrudge the guys for wanting to play together. I know they won't be cheesy about anything related to Alice. They have shown class about the Layne situation for years, never really talking publicly about it.

[AliceInChains]

I roam the Jerry boards quite often but have yet to sign up. Now may be a good time I suppose with the resurrection of the band, yes? I agree with you: they have been classy regarding Layne. I did see Jerry on the Degradation Trip tour and the singer from the opening band, Comes With The Fall, sang Layne's parts when Jerry performed Alice tunes (you probably already know this though!). Anyway, to date, he is the one being tabbed to do Layne's parts for the forseeable future, to which I respond with a \m/ and a "hell yeah," because he was impressive. There's nothing like hearing Jerry and Layne harmonize on "Down in a Hole," and this William fellow handled his duties admirably. Jerry, of course, simply rocks. They're planning a North American tour! Anyway, at the 9:30 club I'll be the dude who looks like Henry Rollins circa 1986 (no grays just yet!) and, of course, the AIC shirt on.

[Dogstar]

Quote: (Originally Posted by AliceInChains)

I roam the Jerry boards quite often but have yet to sign up. Now may be a good time I suppose with the resurrection of the band, yes? I agree with you: they have been classy regarding Layne. I did see Jerry on the Degradation Trip tour and the singer from the opening band, Comes With The Fall, sang Layne's parts when Jerry performed Alice tunes (you probably already know this though!). Anyway, to date, he is the one being tabbed to do Layne's parts for the forseeable future, to which I respond with a \m/ and a "hell yeah," because he was impressive. There's nothing like hearing Jerry and Layne harmonize on "Down in a Hole," and this William fellow handled his duties admirably. Jerry, of course, simply rocks. They're planning a North American tour! Anyway, at the 9:30 club I'll be the dude who looks like Henry Rollins circa 1986 (no grays just yet!) and, of course, the AIC shirt on.

Yes, yes about William DuVall. He is awesome, as is the whole band. They have a new album coming out soon, and there is a new song posted on the CWTF myspace site called Rockslide. It's great. I'm not sure if William is signed on for anything past the March 10 show, though. I've heard other singers are being considered as well. I kind of hope CWTF gets to tour, though. I would love to see them again.

[creedlvr]

Quote: (Originally Posted by AliceInChains)

I haven't seen that much smiling since that Gedeon dude on American Idol.

That was pretty funny!

Thanks for the post! I'm going to the Foxwoods show on Saturday. I'm so excited to hear these great reviews!

[Dogstar]

Quote: (Originally Posted by creedlvr)

That was pretty funny!

Thanks for the post! I'm going to the Foxwoods show on Saturday. I'm so excited to hear these great reviews!

I know Sheila63 doens't post here much anymore, but I'm wondering if she's going to that show, too. She's from CT.