LUPO'S HEARTBREAK HOTEL • PROVIDENCE, RI
October 7, 1998
Reviewed and contributed by The Inconspicuous One
I went to the Jerry show last night at Lupo's in Providence RI. We got there around 7:30 surprised to see less than ten people waiting around. The doors opened at around 8:30 and we walked right up to the barrier and secured our spots. Pearl Jam's "Ten" played in the background until Cold came on to start kicking our asses. Despite some equipment problems Cold played a great set, the crowd was liking it. After Cold's 4 or 5 song set they left and Metallica's "And Justice For All" played over the P.A. Most of the crowd was singing and jumping around to Justice when Flight 16 came on.
I dont know who set up so that Flight 16 went up after Cold, but whoever did should be shot. Flight 16 is a symbol for everything thats wrong in music. Their pretty boy designer clothes and shiny guitars were truly Matchbox 20 like. The drummer and bassist earned my respect but the two guitar players were terrible. Flight 16 stole 45 minutes of my life that I will never get back and for that I am pissed. After those 45 minutes of crap we were again treated to some "Justice".
A few minutes later a radio station guy came out, started throwing T-shirts and told the crowd that Jerry wasn't coming out until we made some noise. So the crowd erupted with, Jerry... Jerry... Jerry. Then, from around the corner came Sean Kinney and behind him, with a shirt that said something about homemade crank, was the man with Jesus hands himself, Jerry Cantrell. Wasting no time he started the set but unfortunately I can't remember what it was. He went on to play, in no particular order, Dickeye, My Song, Settling Down, Between, No Excuses, Brother, Heaven Beside You, Them Bones and a few others I cant recall. Halfway through, he stopped and said, "I have no problem continuing to play for you just don't spit on me. Thats gross, okay?"
If you've ever been to Lupo's you will know that there are a lot of dead people's pictures plastered on the wall. Frank Zappa, Patsy Cline, Kurt Cobain, Jimmi Hendrix etc. Jerry looked at the back wall and said something like: "theres pictures of dead guys everywhere. I was just looking at Hank Williams so we'll play something we dont normally do" and then they played a Hank Williams song that the bouncers seemed to like. He left and came back for Cut You In and Dark Side Of The Moon. The crowd was psycho and it looked to me that Jerry was a little embarrassed at their adoration but maybe I'm wrong. Bottom line, except for a mess-up on Between and a downright bad sounding Settling Down (my favorite song), this show will hopefully surface because the crowd was crazy but Jerry was amazing. Please catch him if you can!
We left with 2 guitar picks, 1 autographed drum stick and an autographed sleeve to "Alice in Chains."
