Cantrell's Big Sound Fills Small Venue

A full house on Tuesday night at Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., proved that bands like Alice In Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam would not soon be forgotten.

The crowd greeted former Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell with enthusiastic chants of "Jerry! Jerry!" and "You ... rule!"

Cantrell did not disappoint his fans as he plowed through a blistering hour and a half set, mixing solo work with Alice classics.

Early in the set, Cantrell focused on material from his two solo albums, which tended to be slow and gloomy. The highlights of his solo cuts came in the form of two of the less gloom and doom songs, "Cut You In" from 1998's Boggy Depot and "Anger Rising," the first single from his new album Degradation Trip. These two songs got the crowd moving and into the show, as many on the jam-packed floor sang along.

"Anger Rising" particularly showcased just how tight Cantrell and his band are live.

While some of the lyrics sounded muddled, on his newest hit Cantrell showed that although he may be best known as a guitarist, he can also hold his own as a singer.

Far and away the high point of the night, though, came with the last five songs.

Cantrell closed out the show with five straight Alice In Chains numbers, playing "No Excuses," "Would?" and "Down In a Hole" before an encore of "Angry Chair" and "Man in the Box."

The exceptional version of "Man in the Box" alone was worth the price of admission.

Throughout the show, Cantrell and his band seemed energetic and excited to be playing such a small venue, which is quite a change from their current opening slot on Creed's arena tour.

After the concert, the three members of Comes With the Fall, who did double duty Tuesday, serving as both an opening act and three quarters of Cantrell's backup band, shared their thoughts on rocking a small venue.

"I like the crowd way better on these headliners. It's more of a rock crowd," drummer Bevan Davies said.

"We get to do a lot of songs that we don't get to play normally since we get to play twice as long."

Bassist Adam Stanger agreed.

"These people were all here to see Jerry. These people were all here to rock. Sometimes when we play the arenas, we get people sitting on their asses yawning," Stanger said.

Singer-guitarist William Duvall also expressed his love of the smaller venue.

"I like these a lot better because I think that the crowds at these shows are more genuine music lovers as opposed to radio listeners," Duvall said.

"These shows feel more like rock and roll shows. They get to the heart of the matter," he added.

Duvall also said he liked the show better because he was away from Creed's "family-friendly, G-rated image."

Many fans seemed thrilled to have a chance to see one of the icons of the grunge scene up close.

"It's like playing in your living room," Matt Guthrie (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.

As the show came to a close and the fans filed out of the bar, everyone appeared to go away happy.

Rob Berretta (junior-political science) expressed a sentiment that seemed to be shared by many.

"Every time he plays he just plays for the crowd. He's just got an aura up onstage. He's awesome," he said.