It’s true that Sparta was opening the show for Alice In Chains and Velvet Revolver last Friday, but I think my mind went in reverse for this show. We caught the first half of Alice in Chains and missed out on all of Velvet Revolver. We got in there just in time for Sparta to take the stage, though.
Actually, RadioZoom was slated to have yet another interview with the band[RZ#118, RZ#130], this time with Keeley and Tony. Sadly, and you can read Rebecca’s post about the whole night, it just didn’t work out. This was night number one of being on this tour with VR, taking them around various parts of North America.
Combine the working out the kinks and a big arena show, it wasn’t the strongest performance I’ve seen from Sparta. Don’t get me wrong, they played really well, and the last few songs all seemed uber tight and rocking. I chalk it up to first show jitters. The quarter full Pacific Colosseum received them very, very well.
As an extra mention, Alice In Chains, believe it or not, were pretty amazing. I was a total, non-believer of them going back out on the road without Layne Staley[wiki]. At the same time, we have to be honest to ourselves and understand that Layne is gone forever, so that this would happen isn’t all too surprising. You can’t expect it to be the same or as good as it ever was, so the show must go on, right?
Well holy crap, was I ever blown away. William DuVall[wiki] actually works. The guy has a voice that fits with Alice In Chains, and stage presence never hurts. Even though he has big shoes to fill, I think he is doing a hell of a job making a mark for himself. When they opened up with Again and then busted into Grind right after that, I looked at Rebecca and asked, “Remember when we were sixteen?” To me, that means something. I wanted to keep hearing them rock out and relive my glory days in the nineties, but I had a job to do.
As a side note, I can also say that I’ve seen Jerry Cantrell[wiki] play. Maybe not one of the biggest guitar gods in the world, but a prominent person, to me, in rock and roll history when it comes to the heyday of the Seattle grunge scene. He’s really skinny, too.
i first found this site when you guys posted the interview with jim, which was an awesome interview, and here i am cruising the web only to find you have another interview with keeley! too bad this one didnt go as planned im sure you wouldve been three for three. these interviews are a great help as im currently trying to update spartas wiki, along with the pages for the individual members with new info, better sources, stuff like that.
thanks again!