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A nice Monday night treat for us all was the visit of Mark Tremonti to Glasgow to promote his solo project’s latest album ‘Cauterize’.
With the good reviews following their Download set a couple of days previous, the crowd was buzzing, and surprisingly full for the support Halo Tora (5/10) the Glasgow based Alt/Post Rock outfit. Sure, they went through their paces, but for me they were trying a wee bit too hard, and were certainly a bit of a strange pick to play on the same bill as Tremonti. Don’t get me wrong, they are all good musicians, and probably would be great in their own headline show, but to be honest, they didn’t quite do it for me.
From the last time I saw him in Edinburgh, I remember that Mark Tremonti likes it loud, so my earplugs were firmly in when the man himself casually walked on stage, as if he was walking into a bar and ordering a pint, before suddenly remembering that he was actually there to do a show, when the penny dropped and we are into the opener ‘Brains’ and Boom!, the show was off!
The crowd was really pumped up for this one, showing the strength of support for all things Tremonti, indeed, the percentage of people with either Tremonti or AlterBridge shirts on is unusually high, I’d say at least 80%, something you don’t often see.
The Tremonti band has changed slightly from his last tour, with the highly impressive Tanner Keegan replacing Wolfgang Van Halen on bass for this run of shows. A big (literally) presence to fill, Keegan does a great job and would be a very good permanent replacement for Van Halen, should he decide to stop touring with his old man and also more to the point, making Dave Lee Roth sound good with his excellent vocals.
The mix and overall sound for the night is tip top, and it’s amazing to see how tight the band are as a unit, given the new member.
Funny thing is, I know a lot of AlterBridge fans who don’t like Tremonti’s solo work as it’s simply too heavy for them, but I definitely think that its an artistic avenue that is paved with success, as Mark Tremonti’s vocal delivery and the more thrashy/speed metal sound are a match made in heaven.
Tremonti, and his rhythm guitar sidekick Eric Friedman’s, playing is faultless (as you’d expect given that Friedman is also AlterBridge’s touring rhythm player) and also amusing to watch, especially with Friedman’s on-stage antics.
Drummer Gareth Whitlock is also on great form, and is surprisingly sweat free given the amount of effort he is putting in behind his kit.
The set is a relatively short 14 songs, but we certainly get our tw’penneth worth, and in line with his ‘Mr Nice Guy’ image, he announces that anyone who has a wristband from buying merch, will be invited to an impromptu ‘meet and greet’ after the show
This was a very good performance finished off with the encore of ‘Wish You Well’, and I can’t wait to hear what is next from Mark Tremonti, but I guess that will be dependant on his increasingly congested work schedule……but what a great problem to have!
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”18″ gal_title=”Tremonti”]Review and Photography : Gavin Lowrey
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