Sep 6

Sep 6 Show Review: Alice In Chains, Breaking Benjamin Bring Co-Headlining Tour to Mountain View

Alice in Chains
Breaking Benjamin
w/ Bush, Thunderpussy
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Mountain View, CA
September 5th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

I can’t talk about this show without referencing the heat. Yesterday, Northern California experienced a record-breaking heat wave, with temperatures rising to nearly 110 degrees. Despite the heat, fans flocked to the Bay Area’s iconic Shoreline Amphitheatre for one of the year’s hottest rock shows, both literally and figuratively. Alice In Chainsand Breaking Benjamin put on a compelling co-headlining show, the two bands taking the stage with support from Bush and Thunderpussy.

Up until yesterday, I actually wasn’t aware that Thunderpussy would be opening up the show. With that said, I was excited to see them. I had seen them once, in passing, when they opened for The Struts in San Francisco, and I looked forward to checking out another set all these years later. With the direct sunlight beaming down on the stage, they played as if the high temperature didn’t even phase them, playing an intense and lively opening set comprised of excellent rock and roll. All four members of Thunderpussy are energetic and play with a great deal of passion; it's an element of shows that I’ve been noticing with a lot of up-and-coming rock acts, and it’s nice to see. No one looks bored on the stage anymore.

Several people I spoke with were surprised that Bush was opening the show. This was a stacked lineup all around, and I think that any one of these three acts could have been headliners. As the sun began to set over the Bay Area audience, the four-piece rock act took the stage for a power-packed set that highlighted some of their biggest and best hits. They were in perfect form, and tracks like “Glycerine” and “Comedown” provided some of the biggest crowd reactions of the night. Vocalist Gavin Rossdale thrilled the audience by running the entire length of the amphitheater, singing to and greeting fans as he made his way through the crowd.

By this point in the evening, the sun had almost completely disappeared and the air was starting to finally cool. As the temperature started to drop, Breaking Benjamin kicked off their set with a wall of fire that punctuated the heaviest moments of every song. Their performance was quite good, and one of the heaviest acts of the evening. Tracks from albums like We Are Not Alone (“Firefly”, “Follow”, “So Cold”) and Phobia (“Breath”, “Until The End”) made up the bulk of the set list. They even played an acoustic cover of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever”, who vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Burnley proclaims is his favorite band of all time. Breaking Benjamin is a heavy band, but they write highly melodic choruses that manage to stay in your head for days. Look no further than “The Diary of Jane”, the closing track of the evening and the band’s massively anthemic hit from 2006’s Phobia. It still holds up after nearly two decades.

Alice In Chains took the stage around 9:40 PM, launching into dynamic tracks like “Again”, “Check My Brain”, “Grind, and “Them Bones”. William DuVall delivers most of the lead vocals for Alice In Chains, with guitarist Jerry Cantrell providing a number of vocal lines throughout the show. My personal favorite section of the evening was the performance of “Man in the Box”, with Cantrell delivering a vocoder-driven guitar line as DuVall sings along with it. The track has always been a standout in their catalogue, and it feels even bigger in person.

A fun moment occurred when the band announced that tomorrow (technically, today) is DuVall’s birthday. The audience sang “Happy Birthday” to the band’s lead vocalist, while the members of Thunderpussy walked out on stage to deliver balloons and a birthday cake during the sing along. It was a sweet moment, and it made everyone around me (including myself) smile. Later in the show, a performance of the band’s song “Nutshell” was dedicated to vocalist Layne Staley (who sadly passed away in 2002) and bassist Mike Star (who passed in 2011). The presence of these musicians can still be felt at an Alice In Chains show; Staley’s vocals in particular were so impactful on a generation of young music fans in the late 80s and early 90s. I obviously can’t speak for them, but I think they’d be proud of their bandmates if they could see them today. They’ve kept Alice In Chains going for so long and are able to still deliver an excellent performance.

The show concluded with a performance of “Rooster”, as the first night of the heat wave subsided over the San Francisco Bay Area. This was an excellent rock show, and one offered at a good value to ticket holders. Even with the heat bearing down on the Bay Area crowd, fans were given a chance to see three of rock’s biggest names in one place, distracting us temporarily from the weather raging around us.

Alice In Chains Set List
Again
Check My Brain
Grind
Them Bones
Dam That River
Hollow
Your Decision
Angry Chair
Man in the Box
Nutshell
The One You Know
No Excuses
Down In A Hole
Would?
Rooster

Breaking Benjamin Set List
Blow Me Away
Sooner or Later
Firefly
Follow
So Cold
Angels Fall
Breath
Failure
Who Wants To Live Forever (Queen cover)
Polyamorous
Give Me A Sign
Red Cold River
Until The End
Torn In Two
I Will Not Bow
The Diary of Jane