Review by Anthony Cusumano.
Acclaimed '90s rockers Jerry Cantrell and Richard Patrick have every reason to rest on their laurels. On Sunday night at the Vic Theatre, they chose not to.
Cantrell, best known as the guitarist and chief songwriter for Alice in Chains, had a hand in penning no fewer than 35 songs that appeared on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart between 1991 and 2019—five of them hitting #1. Patrick, the jack-of-all-trades mastermind behind Filter, has fewer hits to his name, but the two biggest—1995’s “Hey Man Nice Shot” and 1999’s “Take a Picture”—are enough to secure his alternative rock legacy.
Having seen Alice in Chains live twice, the chance to see Cantrell perform cuts from his less renowned solo albums was only a mildly intriguing prospect for me. Likewise, while I enjoy Filter and have dug into their catalog beyond that aforementioned inescapable pair of hits, much of their discography is more grating than gratifying to my ears. Pairing them on the same bill, however, turned two moderately appealing shows into one irresistible one.
Perhaps because Cantrell is promoting a fresher record—his fourth solo album, I Want Blood, was released in October, while Filter’s latest, The Algorithm, dates back to summer 2023. Cantrell serves as headliner on this tour, and, going into the show, I was more eager to watch his performance than Filter’s. In hindsight, however, Filter’s high-energy opening set made me wish the roles were reversed.
Kicking off with the slick “You Walk Away,” from 2002’s The Almalgamut, Filter started strong and only raised the stakes as they continued. Patrick’s voice has held up tremendously over the last three decades. I’ve always regarded him as one of rock’s best screamers thanks to his unparalleled ability to hold loud and lengthy notes that don’t result in guttural garbage, and while there were a few instances in which he lowered the key of a song or didn’t sustain a note as long as he did on a record, his gift for the soothing scream has not faltered over the years. He even added an a capella tag onto “Take a Picture” that wowed the crowd.
Since 1995, Patrick has been the lone constant in Filter, its ever-evolving lineup populated more or less by hired guns with short stints—“Filter is not a band, it’s a project,” he said in 2012. This current group is a powerhouse, combining note-perfect technical prowess with gritty intensity. From the chugging riff of “Obliteration,” a single from The Algorithm, to the ethereal harmonies accompanying “Take a Picture,” every element of Filter’s performance far exceeded my expectations. Any '90s rock fan who might be on the fence should absolutely see them live.
Cantrell’s set was a much slower burn, however. Accompanied by a second vocalist who generally handled the higher parts, including those once sung by Alice in Chains’ late original lead singer Layne Staley, both singers were initially overpowered in the mix for nearly a third of the show. Those audio issues only underlined the stark contrast between Patrick’s stage presence and Cantrell’s. The guitarist stood stoically in place, lifelessly going through the motions as he and his band performed cuts from his solo career, plus one token Alice in Chains favorite in “Them Bones.”
“It’s like an Alice in Chains cover band that writes its own songs,” my friend mused. It wasn’t until the set’s halfway point that Cantrell finally seemed to loosen up. Whether fueled by the horror movie vigor of I Want Blood’s title track or perhaps the predictably red-infused strobe lights that accompanied it, there was a clear transformation that took place, and the remainder of his set had much more oomph to it, including four additional Alice in Chains classics.
Even so, this show truly belonged to Filter. They took their shot, and man, was it a nice one.
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