ALTER BRIDGE/SEVENDUST/MAMMOTH WVH – PAWNS & KINGS TOUR

By Kat Gullage

Alter Bridge brings their “Pawns & Kings” tour to the Premier Theater at the Foxwoods Resorts Casino with Sevendust and Mammoth WVH for support.

A “strongpoint defense” in chess is defined as any heavily defended square. It can also describe this epic lineup that offered zero weaknesses.

Mammoth WVH was the inaugural act. Wolfgang William Van Halen is the son of guitar god Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli. WVH was the bass player of Van Halen beginning in 2006 until the band officially disbanded after the death of his dad in 2020. In 2012 he became the bass player for Mark Tremonti’s (Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist) band, Tremonti. He played drums on Clint Lowery’s (Sevendust guitarist) solo LP, God Bless The Renegades in 2020.

Photos Holly Roy Photography

Mammoth WVH is Wolfgang Van Halen. He is literally the entire band. Lead and back up vocals, lead, rhythm and bass guitars, keyboards, piano, percussion, songwriting. He tours with musicians because we can’t clone him yet. Frank Sidoris (Rhythm/Lead Guitar), is also the rhythm guitarist for Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (which I cannot recommend enough. Go get you some of that, like now!). Jon Jourdan (Rhythm Guitar), has performed live with Clint Lowery’s (Sevendust) solo project and is the songwriter, guitarist and vocalist for To Whom It May. Ronnie Ficarro (bass guitar), from Falling In Reverse. Garrett Whitlock, not the baseball player, (Drums) former drummer of Tremonti.

They got it going with their song titled “Mammoth”, followed by “Epiphany” with its catchy chorus, and “I’m Alright”. He addressed the crowd “Exciting news! Ummm, we released our second lp a week ago, uhhh can we play some for you guys?” His vocalized pauses were endearing, I mean they just did several dates as openers for Metallica and he still comes off a bit nervous, he’s adorable. They served up new cuts “Like A Pastime” and “Take A Bow”. Afterward he proclaimed “I was told by Sevendust this is a family and I’m feeling it!”

My heart ached as he performed “Distance”, a song he created as a tribute to his dad. Personally, losing my own dad has been the toughest thing that’s ever happened to me so I couldn’t imagine what it was like for Wolf to have to deal with that in a public way. Watch the video for “Distance” and get back to me. “You’re To Blame” from Mammoth WVH was followed by “Another Celebration At The End Of The World” from Mammoth II, which sports some heavy rocking riffs. The set wrapped up with “Don’t Back Down”. Wolf plays six versions of himself in that video. WVH: “Such a wonderful time, give yourself a round of applause, give it up for Sevendust and Alter Bridge! Thank you everyone!”

He then gave a shout out and intros to his touring band. There was no pit at this show, so only the first row or two were able to approach the stage. I had an amazing lower orchestra seat, but it was right in front of one of the stacks. The vocals got overpowered by the music for me, except for on “Distance”. However, I met up with a few friends whose seats were near the soundboard and they said the sound was spot on. Regardless, I highly recommend checking out Mammoth, the kid oozes talent.

I’m a spoiled Sevendust brat. They are the band I’ve seen the most, this was my 51st show. I’m used to seeing them in clubs (there have been a few festivals and larger theaters in the mix). I prefer joining my Sevendust family in smaller rooms because the band is more accessible and fans can jump around and not be confined to seats. Lajon Witherspoon (Vocals), John Connolly (Rhythm Guitar), Clint Lowery (Lead Guitar), Vince “The Boss” Hornsby (Bass), and Morgan Rose (Drums) didn’t waste any time with foreplay as they ripped our faces off with “Face To Face”.

Photos Holly Roy Photography

The venue was thumping, even though all we could do was bop around in our seats. I thought to myself “Is anyone here for Alter Bridge?” It seemed to me the Sevendust family made up the majority of the audience. The too short but carefully crafted set of ten songs from six of their fourteen studio albums continued with “Denial”, “Crucified” and “Karma”.

LJ proclaimed “We’re Sevendust and we are so happy to be here!” We had two weeks to taste their fourteenth studio album, Truth Killer, which was released on 7/28/23. I was excited to hear the new stuff live as they performed “Fence”, but really got off on “Disgrace” which I haven’t heard them perform in forever. The entire crowd got the feels during “Angel’s Son”, which is a beautiful song that pays tribute to their friend James Lynn Strait, but I sat it out cuz it’s basically their Freebird to me now. (see spoiled brat comment).

“Black” got the crowd as frenzied as possible in their seats. Some guy twice my size snuck in my row, we were jamming out but then he wanted to start moshing and the confined area did not allow that. I didn’t want to get hurt so I snuck down to a friend’s seat in like the third row but was immediately busted by security. I ended up safe in the row behind my seat.

LJ delivered a heartwarming speech about how the band and the fans are a real, true family. Veteran fans like myself can attest to that. I’ve seen them walk fans to their cars in bad neighborhoods, wait after the show until every fan was greeted, make time, even when exhausted, to acknowledge the praise and love. At one show they helped someone whose car got broken into. They found a garbage bag to cover the window and taped it with gaff tape. The gaff tape said Alter Bridge all over it because AB opened for 7D at that show. Touche. The familial speech led to another Truth Killer cut, “Everything”. The set wrapped up with fan favorite, “Shine”.

Alter Bridge is the band Creed with a different singer. AB is so good in their own right, you won’t hear any Creed at their shows. Vocalist Myles Kennedy has an impressive range of four octaves and eight semitones and also plays rhythm and lead guitar. Remember that awful Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star? Myles plays Mike, the guy Wahlberg’s character, Chris “Izzy” Cole, hands the microphone to at the end, passing the torch. Mark Tremonti (Lead, Rhythm Guitar, Backing and occasional Lead Vocals), Brian Marshall (Bass) and Scott Phillips (Drums), make up the rest of the quartet.

Photos Holly Roy Photography

It was obvious the crowd was heavy with Sevendust fans, even I was a bit gassed, but when AB busted out “Silver Tongue” off their new and seventh LP, Pawns & Kings, I was immediately reminded that they had previously indoctrinated me. Their sets are polished, professional and attention-getting. This night’s setlist contained fourteen songs from five of their seven albums.

The energy kept going with “Addicted To Pain” and “Come To Life”. We all found our seats (except the luckys in the first coupla rows) as the pace slowed way down with “Broken Wings” and “Burn It Down” (sounds like it should rock but it’s a slow jam) – a twist was thrown in with Tremonti on lead vocals for that song. “Cry Of Achilles” woke us from our daze, Tremonti’s precision and Kennedy’s vocal prowess shone through. A haunting acoustic version of one of their hits, “Watch Over You”, was a treat.

Myles addressed the crowd a coupla times, “Thank you for coming out tonight, grateful for our fans, we’re a family.” Band introductions, turns out we love some Tremonti! Back to our seats for ballads “In Loving Memory” and “Blackbird”. Don’t get me wrong, the musicianship and Myles’ pipes keep you entranced. “Isolation” woke everyone the fuck up and the enthusiasm was sustained with “Metalingus” and the hit from their 2004 debut album One Day Remains, “Open Your Eyes”.

At this point the band exited, but returned with an acceptable crowd response for an encore. They strung us along for eight minutes with new track “Fable Of The Silent Son” before they fed us what we wanted, their best song, “Rise Today”.

I believe Alter Bridge is an acquired taste. My kid once said “His voice is too high pitched for me.” I would highly recommend that everyone have a little taste though. Try it, if you like it, you will love their live show.

Thank you once again faithful readers and rockers! We love supporting music and sharing our experiences with you!

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