Their music has been on my stereo since I was in my early teens yet, with the paucity of performances over here it seemed unlikely that I would ever witness an Alice In Chains gig.
With the death of singer Layne Staley in 2002 it became a near-certainty.
Yet here I am, in the winter of 2009, standing in Manchester Academy, awaiting the very show I thought I would never see.
This tour has come about on the back of AICs first studio album in 14 years, the critically acclaimed, and quite frankly brilliant, ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’, which could have easily been released at the height of the bands power in the early 90s.
The record features new guy William Du Vall who has taken on lead vocals.
Replacing a frontman – especially one as distinctive and tragic as Staley – is undoubtedly extremely difficult and in most cases unwise.
In the case of AIC, however, it has been seamless and widely welcomed.
The thing with the return of Alice In Chains is that, in the old days, Staley and Jerry Cantrell shared the vocal duties on most songs and the continued presence of Cantrell’s distinctive tones bridge the gap between AIC in the early nineties and the reborn AIC of the late noughties.
The fact that Du Vall is also an extremely talented singer and performer, who happens to sound a lot like Staley in his heyday, certainly helps.
The sell-out crowd in Manchester is made up of thirty and forty-somethings, most of whom had been waiting a long-time for this.
And, from the minute the band took to the stage, It became clear that none of them would be disappointed.
Opening with Facelift classic ‘It Ain’t Like That’, the crowd were hooked.
Running through their repertoire of old and new, the band themselves were clearly glad to be and, as a unit, look and sound like they belong on stage together.
Cantrell, with his very presence, is the master of ceremonies but Du Vall, with his energy and enthusiasm and also his humility in the face of the band’s history, is an integral part of the event.
When the distinctive opening riff of ‘Them Bones’ kicks in, things in the mosh pit are really starting to heat up.
As you might expect it is the classics that get the warmest receptions of the night and yet the new stuff, especially single ‘Check My Brain’ seems to be just as well-received.
Over the night, Du Vall and Cantrell share centre stage and a particularly poignant moment comes when they slow things down to play the title track of the new album, a tribute to Staley, which is as beautiful and haunting as anything AIC have ever done before.
A well chosen encore of the awesome ‘Would?’ and ‘Rooster’ rounded off a show that these fans will remember for a long time and one that they certainly didn’t want to end.
Let’s hope there will be many more.