Jerry Cantrell, member of Alice in Chains started his solo tour this year for his new solo album I Want Blood. This is his third solo album, with his others being Boggy Depot and Brighten.
On February 19, his tour ended up in Indianapolis at the Old National Center in the Egyptian room. For this tour, Jerry Cantrell decided to partner with another well-known rock band ‘Filter’, for them to be the opener. Filter, like Cantrell, started their first albums in the 90s.
I arrived at the concert at 6 p.m. and was one of the first five people there. As much as I loved getting there early for the best seats, the gates didn’t open until 7 p.m. and it was 17 degrees by the time I got in line.
For this concert, I got a fast pass to be one of the first in, but the people ahead of me paid, even more, to get in at 6:30 p.m. to see Jerry Cantrell and Filter rehearse before the concert. When I got into the building I was one of the first due to the fast pass. Before I went to the Egyptian Room I got a drink, but even after getting my drink I still got excellent seats, being two rows away from the stage.
Filter the opening band started at 8 p.m.. They started the show with their song “You Walk Away” off the Amalgamut album. Out of the nine songs he played his other popular songs “The Drowning,” “Take a Picture,”, and their most well-known song “Hey Man Nice Shot.”
Richard Patrick, the lead singer of Filter still can hit all the same notes and octaves as if he were singing the songs in the 90s.
As Jerry Cantrell started to get ready I went to the shop to check it out, but the line for merch was packed to the other side of the stand. The Old National Center is a great event center – it’s a spacious place with tons of room for events that are even as crowded as this. One of the next events for the Old National Center will be popular indie artist Faye Webster who is coming on March 8.
At 9:15 p.m. Jerry Cantrell and his band consisting of names like Lola Colleta, Greg Puciato, Eliot Lorango, Zach Throne, and Roy Maygora entered onto the stage. The first song they started with was “Psychotic Break” a single he released in 2024 that later found its way onto his newest album called I Want Blood.
Right after that, he played one of Alice in Chain’s songs off Dirt called “Them Bones.” Just with one member of Alice in Chains it still sounded like when I saw Alice in Chains a few years back. The 8th song he played that night was a surprise cover of Aerosmith’s song “Sick as a Dog.”
This song might have been a reference to Cantrell’s condition at this concert. During the concert, he was still recovering from pneumonia. A great thing about this show was all the Alice in Chains songs he played. Counting “Them Bones” he played six Alice in Chains songs those being “Down in a Hole,” “Man in the Box,”, “Hate to Feel” (this song was a song Alice in Chains nor Cantrell had played in over 30 years since this tour), “Would?,”, and “Rooster” for one of the encore songs.
The whole concert from the opener to the end was amazing. Filter started the show and brought the energy immediately, while Jerry Cantrell carried it on even with how sick he was. The crowd returned the energy too, by singing along and interacting back with the bands. Overall it was a great show. Even with the misfortune of him being sick, I still left with wanting more.
