Jerry never disappoints live, and this show was no exception. I’ve always liked that AIC shows are song-oriented rather than filled up with guitar solos, drums solos, bass solos…they come to play as a band, and the fireworks occur in the songs. Jerry’s tone is always rock solid, his vocals are great, and he makes everything look effortless. I’m a pretty big fan of twin guitars live, and Duvall was great on guitar, including some lead work, which generally came through, though it was sometimes difficult to hear him on rhythm.

The stage lighting and projections were excellent, and the sound quality for the headliners was generally excellent. As usual for me, Sean Kinney stole much of my attention. His style is fully unique, and the exaggerated ritards he drives (dropping the bottom out of the tempo for emphasis), which play so well (on, for instance, the chorus of Facelift’s “Sunshine”) show up more often in their live show, to great effect- an AIC signature. Mike Inez landed the gig of a lifetime with AIC, and he easily deserves it.

Duvall held his own and then some. He brought an element of solid projection to the vocals, especially in his higher range, that wasn’t a large part of Staley’s style. As you said, no one can replace Layne, but William’s a great fit for AIC.

Creature With The Atom Brain’s Thursday set was reasonably long, and they were probably a better group than it was easy to hear; their mix was pretty bad. It may be common knowledge that the opening bands get a bit screwed in the mix, but even by those lower standards, the sound could have been better. It was nearly impossible to make out the vocals much of the time. They had some good material, a lot of fairly extended mid-tempo grooves, but the drummer was a bit loose at times, and the mix often sounded like mud. They were easily good enough to interest me in hearing some studio recordings, but not so good that I’ve actually gotten around to it.