Sparta/Alice In Chains/Velvet Revolver

Saw the above mentioned bands on Friday night. It was pretty awesome.The venue was a place called The Pavilion, an amplitheater in The Woodlands, which is basically a northern suburb of Houston.It was a pretty quick drive to get there, or atleast it seemed like it for an hour a half. Lots of really tall East Texas pines trees to look at on the way. When we got to The Woodlands, we weren't really sure if we were there or not, because all of the buildings and houses are obscurred by these trees. You have to follow the signs because you can't see anything. The whole town (from what we saw anyway) was extremely clean. All of the buildings and everything are just spotless. It literally looks like the whole city was built no more than three years ago. Lot of money in that place for sure.Anyway, we get there and park (free parking = score) and take a short walk to the place, immediately making our way to the merchandise to get our shirts. All of them were $35. I really couldn't believe it. Is that a normal price for a t-shirt? Because I've never seen them that high. Well being the sucker that I am, I forked over some green and got a kick ass Alice one. Needless to say that was the only thing I bought there.Then we went to get some seats. We had lawn tickets (which were also $35-ish) and were there pretty early, so we pretty much had first pick. This was my first non-festival outdoor concert venue, but I thought the place was alright. Had a pretty good view of the stage and everything.Sparta took the stage a little early at 6:45 or so. I thought I had heard of them before, but apparently I had not, because I was definitely expecting something a little harder and heavier. Maybe I was mixing them up with someone else. They were not very impressive. I really liked their drummer, but other than that there wasn't a lot going on with them. I just think there should have been a lot more of a heavier or louder band opening considering the two bands that were playing after them. Didn't seem like a very good match to me. I sat through their set like most of the people there and clapped when appropriate. My mind was thinking about Alice the whole time.Once Sparta leaves the stage a buzz definitely started to grow in the place. Actually, while they were setting up, they accidentely revealed this VR background that was for later while putting up a video screen, and a bunch of us freaked out for a second while we made sure that Alice was playing. It was pretty funny. Of the people that I saw walking around, there were definitely more AIC shirts being purchased than VR ones. It wasn't exactly a scientific poll, but from what I could tell it was pretty conclusive.When AIC takes the stage, everyone instantly stands and applauds. My mind was going pretty crazy. They opened with two songs from Tripod, "Again" and "Grind", before moving on to a mostly Dirt-filled set. That was also kind of funny, because I had told my friend (bassguitarhero) that in the weeks prior that if they just went out there and played the entire Dirt album I would be completely satisfied. Of course, I was completely satisfied anyway. They were so loud and sludgy. It was awesome.They had some pretty trippy lights and visuals going on around them. The video screen behind them would show some weird/cool looking graphics while the two on either side would have cameras of them playing, which are very nice when you have lawn seats. The whole set was phenomenal (I'll post it in the comments). Duvall has got some pipes. I thought he did a very good job handling the vocal duties. Sean was doing his crazy drum beats on his set. And Jerry of course can still shread like the pro he is. They did a song transfer from "Angry Chair" to "Man In The Box" similar to the one that's on the live album, and they brought out some guy to help sing it. The whole time I was trying to figure out whole he was, and I don't think they ever said his name, but oh well. He kind of annoyed me a little bit, actually, but the song still ruled. They closed out the set with a powerful "Rooster", complete with clips from the video and stuff. I was so hoping for an encore, but seeing as they weren't the headliners it really wasn't an option.I'm interested to see these guys' future. Supposedly they're writing new material (hopefully under a different name) and I would love to hear it. AIC got me through high school. It was very fulfilling to finally see them live.After listening to "Straight Outta Compton" over the speakers, Velvet Revolver takes the stage with a bang. I believed they opened with "Let It Roll". They had a lot of lights and a giant video screen that was going nuts the whole time to accompany the tunes. Scott Weiland was strutting the stage with swagger, Slash was owning the guitar, and they were all jumping on speakers the entire show. There was a lot of energy.Now I know there are a lot of Velvet Revolver haters on this site, and I probably said it before, but here it goes. They are straight up, in the words of Scott, "mother fuckin' rock 'n' roll". It's loud. It's fast. It's everything that rock should be. And many people say that they're dull or boring or that they don't do anything new or different. In my opinion, with everything else that's out on the radio these days, we need a band like this. And band that plays songs that are unsophisticated and sound rockin', who aren't trying to copy the current trends or fads. They are a necessity.Most of the show was sweet. To be honest I don't know a lot of their songs. I have both their albums, but I don't know the song until I hear it. They played pretty much everything. Scott loves to break out his megaphone, and switch clothing appearences between songs. Watching Slash during his solos is pretty much mind-blowing. He had a really long bluesly-solo lead-in to the last song before the encore that was awesome. Much to my delight they played three STP covers ("Vasoline", "Interstate Love Song", and "Sex Type Thing"), and during a short little semi-acoustic set they busted out "Patience", to which the crowd pretty much exploded. That was probably my favorite as well. The three song encore of course ended with "Slither". It was a rockin' good time.Go see Alice, go see Alice, go see Alice if you get the chance. They've definitely still got it.