Facelift Live
Alice in Chains 8 PM Moore Theatre….
The band is in the backstage, they´re all laughing. The Moore is full of young fans shaking their heads. In some way, it seems a kind of too formal gig for a band that is just the opposite . The sound of a guitar and the image in black and white coming from the crowd, is the perfect start for the most iconic and beloved home video of our band, and if I may, a classic for every Alice in Chains fan.
I´m going to speak as a die hard, without skimping on compliments, I couldn´t do it otherwise. (For the Music Review please click the link Facelift Review where my colleague gives us a complete summary of the album.)
This home video was recorded on December 22nd, 1990 and released by Columbia Records in '91 in VHS format.
The concert starts with Man in the Box, Layne comes on stage with a plaid jacket, sunglasses and his hair full of dreadlocks.
We realize immediately that it´s been more than 20 years, because the sound of this VHS is not the best, however and despite this, I feel like a fan on the first row that can´t fail but amaze with Cantrell´s riffs and his beautiful blonde hair, the same with all the extraordinary style of Mike and his bass guitar playing.
Jerry wears a sleeveless black shirt that says "Central", of the Central Tavern. One of the dreams of Alice in Chains, was to play on that venue at its full capacity (a dream that was fulfilled obviously). Mike wears a flannel. The director makes a couple of pans to the crowd and in the first rows you could see several people wearing Alice in Chains t-shirts. By then, they already had faithful fans.
The stage has a very modest lighting and lacks of any kind of decoration. There´s just the band with their instruments, a couple of lights and smoke. We don´t need anything more ...
The start is devastating with Jerry´s guitar, the crowd looks wild while doing headbangers, the energy is unique. This is where I look Sean´s drum kit for the first time, he´s doing a masterful performance. Sean has very long hair and is wearing only shorts. The band´s performance makes the audience react to in a proper way, the stage is pure energy, youth and rock. It seems that The Moore is gonna burst.
The video is edited with some slower shots, giving the impression that it is a video clip as it is a widely used effect on them. You can see a clearly a little abuse on the editing, you can notice this when the directos shows the crowd and their movements do not fit the rhythm of the song sometimes.
Real thing is the second song they play, here you can observe some pans of a camera in the stage itself with very good Layne´s close-ups. Mike is a complete show by himself, he has so much energy has to play and move his hair!
After this, Layne takes his jacket and sunglasses off while he shows a white t-shirt. He greets the audience and ask them if they have nothing better to do ... then introduces the next song that is about suffering ... is called Love, Hate, Love.
This song is the masterpiece of this presentation, the band´s performance is awesome, vocally Layne at its best. While they´re playing the beginning, there are some very successful shots, showing only the outline of the musicians in backlights and full of smoke. Everything is in black and white, is the perfect atmosphere for this song.
Nea to the climax, Layne sings with heartbreaking but very tuned screams while Jerry waves his blonde energetically . They seem very connected on stage. Really masterly.
Layne takes his t-shirt off, and deceives us as he has other t-shirt under the white one. Thus, with Layne in black, Sea of Sorrow starts. This song is pure energy , very well played by the four musicians. I don´t have much more to say.
At last we see Layne shirtless wearing several necklaces on his chest while Bleed the freak starts. It´s the last song on this concert. In this song, each member has the moment to stand out; Sean with his cymbals steals some close-ups, like Jerry doing his wild riffs, Mike with his dances doesn´t stand out as Jerry and Sean e but the sound of his bass is very present …and Layne y has a camera behind him showing the crowd and his back.
The song ends, a brief farewell and depart to the dressing room.
The video ends.
At last we see Layne shirtless wearing several necklaces on his chest while Bleed the freak starts. It´s the last song on this concert. In this song, each member has the moment to stand out; Sean with his cymbals steals some close-ups, like Jerry doing his wild riffs, Mike with his dances doesn´t stand out as much as Jerry and Sean, but the sound of his bass is very present …and Layne y has a camera behind him showing the crowd and his back.
The song ends, a brief farewell and depart to the dressing room.
The video ends.
The concert was directed by Josh Taft and it is known that this gig was longer than shown here, proof of that is that years later a version of It ain´t like that appeared on youtube with very good quality image. Also, in the original VHS were included We die young, Man in the box and Sea of Sorrow videos (Sea of sorrow alternate version, where all members appear with alleged girlfriends, faking some love fights).
Wowww, I would watch this video thousands of times, is undoubtedly the best recorded, edited and produced live performance with Layne and Mike Starr, in the history of Alice in Chains, Don´t you think?
By Chainer
Translated by: Schulz
