On Wednesday night, Jerry Cantrell brought his I Want Blood Tour into a packed House of Blues in Orlando, Florida, for a celebration of alternative rock. Opening act Sparta started the night with a 45-minute set of melodic alternative rock. The performance, led by Jim Ward’s emotional vocals and catchy guitar hooks, set the stage for a night of hard rock and nostalgia.
Backed by a three-piece band, Jerry Cantrell played a blistering set of songs spanning his solo career and early time with Alice in Chains. The performance had all of Cantrell’s trademarks: the sludgy riffs, the odd time signatures, intricate melodies, blazing solos, and anthemic sing-along choruses.
Cantrell and company started the show with newer songs, mostly tracks off of last year’s I Want Blood and 2021’s Brighten. Cantrell’s voice was soft but carried his familiar tone. Bassist Eliot Lorango and drummer Roy Mayorga laid down punishing rhythms while Zach Throne added a second guitar and backing vocals. Cantrell and Throne played with tablets clipped to their microphone stands, but rarely seemed to look at them.
Midway through the show, the band dipped into the older parts of the catalog, including Cantrell’s biggest solo hits, “Cut You In” and “My Song.” Not surprisingly, the biggest crowd-pleasers were the old Alice in Chains songs. Eight songs into the set, the crowd erupted at Lorango’s first bass notes in “Rain When I Die,” the first Alice in Chains song of the night, and sang along to every word while Cantrell and Throne tore through the song’s scorching wah-pedal riffs.
Cantrell’s songs, especially with Alice in Chains, heavily emphasize vocal harmonies. On those songs, Cantrell usually sang his own parts while Throne sang the parts belonging to the late Layne Staley, including the choruses in “Rain When I Die,” “Man in the Box,” and “Would.” Throne is no Layne Staley; no one is. Staley was one of the greatest singers in rock history. But he held his own with a powerful voice that harmonized well with Cantrell and was often drowned out by thousands of fans singing along.
Cantrell rarely talked to the crowd between songs, instead letting his guitar licks, singing, and compositions speak for him. From the midpoint on, the show had extra energy. Cantrell and the band tore through a fiery rendition of “Them Bones,” the propulsive “I Want Blood,” and ended the regular set with one of the greatest songs of the 1990s, Alice in Chains’ “Would.”
For the encore, the band started with the swampy solo ballad “Echoes of Laughter” and then closed the show with two more Alice in Chains songs, the string-bend-heavy “It Ain’t Like That” and the dynamic anthem “Rooster.”
Whether playing Alice in Chains songs or solo material, throughout the 90-minute set, Cantrell showed why he’s an alt-rock icon. The powerful riffs, murky tones, infectious hooks, and beautiful melodies he’s invented over the last 38 years are timeless.
