Tremonti
Photo By: Seth A. Kahaian
September 11, 2012
The Rock Junction
Coventry, RI
Setlist The Band
1- Wish You Well Mark Tremonti- Vocals, Guitar 2- All I Was Eric Friedman- Guitar 3- You Waste Your Time Garrett Whitlock- Drums 4- Giving Up Wolfgang Van Halen- Bass 5- Leave It Alone 6- Proof 7- So You’re Afraid 8- The Things I’ve Seen 9- Doesn’t Matter 10- Decay
Encores
11- New Way Out 12- Brains
Photo By: Seth A. Kahaian
This was clearly a night of firsts for me. It’s the first time I came to the Rock Junction to see a show (it’s right down the street from where I live) and to see Tremonti as a solo artist. If you are unfamiliar with Mark Tremonti’s work, I would be surprised. But in case some of you aren’t, he is the guitarist for both Creed and Alter Bridge. That being said, his solo album titled, All I Was, is much heavier than both of those two bands. I suggest you buy and hear for yourself how great the record is. There were two opening acts, which were Lansdowne and Charm City Devils. I missed them sorry to say. But I was there in time to catch Mark.
The Rock Junction was packed. As my friends and I were heading for the show we heard, but couldn’t believe it at the time, that Brian Marshall had to back out of the show at the last minute and Tremonti had to call in his friend Wolfgang Van Halen to fill in. Think about that for a minute, he calls up Wolfie and asks him to fill in and he says yes. How cool is that! Plus he has to learn the setlist in less than 24 hours. This should tell you how much of a talent Wolfie really is. Also keep in mind his father (Eddie, just in case you were wondering) just came out of the hospital. Now, I get to see Wolfie’s first show with Tremonti, I must be a lucky guy. I did see him in the so-called reunion tour a few years ago with Van Halen. But, this was a treat. Watching the show you wouldn’t know he was just called on to play this gig.
Photo By: Seth A. Kahaian
The show opened up with the powerful Wish You Well. Mark taking on the role of the front man of the band is something new for him. You could see it’s something that he still needs to get used to. He usually does backing vocals and to be in the spotlight seems bittersweet for him. He commented on it as well. His singing was as good as it sounded on his album, you can tell he didn’t use autotune in the studio. The band sounded awesome considering Wolf just joined them. I think what I loved best was the intimacy of the whole event. Being up close and personal while the band played. The place went nuts when they played You Waste Your Time, the single from the record. It’s probably the one track everyone knew. After that they rolled into Giving Up, which is one of my favorite songs on the record. Seeing them play it live just took me to another level of euphoria. Now all the members of the band are serious musicians, but I have to say drummer Garrett Whitlock was just something to behold. I don’t think he gets enough credit for how he plays. I mean the speed and precision he plays with has to be seen and heard. Seriously, his playing made this show that much better.
Photo By: Seth A. Kahaian
Proof was another song that went over well with the crowd. He has a lyric in that song that pretty much is prophetic. Here it is: Know that we have just begun, to forge a better day, open like another door, It’s feeling right again. Let’s just hope he continues this project. But the song I wanted to see live mainly for the solo was Doesn’t Matter. I think it shows how great of player Tremonti is. Give it a listen and you will see why I was excited to see it live and his playing didn’t disappoint live. They ended the set with Decay another classic on the album. The band came back out for two encores and you can tell how humble Mark and the rest of the band were. He truly appreciates the fans and the fact that they are coming out and supporting him. He ended with New Way Out and Brains.
Here is Tremonti doing Decay from the Rock Junction.
The only negative thing I would say is that the set was too short. He played his solo record complete but didn’t do anything from Creed or Alter Bridge. He didn’t even do a Van Halen cover (trust me I was happy there were no covers). Overall the show was definitely worth seeing and experiencing. They did a meet and greet after the show and answered questions, took pictures and generally were having a great time doing it. I met them and asked a couple of questions. The whole band was having a good time and yes even Wolfie was smiling. Check them out if you can, I only hope they come back this way again. You couldn’t ask for a better show.
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