Jerry Cantrell & Thunderpussy – The Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ – Saturday, March 11, 2023
Review & Photos by Lori Schneider (IG: @LoriSchneiderPhotography)
American guitarist, singer, songwriter Jerry Cantrell best known as founder, lead guitarist, songwriter and co-lead/lead vocals for the Seattle rock band Alice In Chains, brought himself and his band to the Wellmont Theater for his US Tour – Brighten Tour 2023 in support of his 2021 solo album “Brighten”. Ranked as one of the greatest heavy metal guitarists of all time and one of the greatest guitar players of all time, he has earned numerous Grammy Award nominations (I believe I counted 11) as a member of Alice In Chains. With a solo career under his belt, he brought his grunge, heavy metal, hard rock sound to perform for a packed house.
Helping to build up the anticipation of the crowd and get the momentum going was opening support Thunderpussy, Seattle based quartet of female hard rockers formed in 2014. Their live show has been described as “Beyonce meets Led Zeppelin”, but after seeing them in person, their performance goes well beyond that. A killer live show!
Performing a 45-minute set, with a loud 70s rock sound, the crowd was pumped up and enjoying every minute of fittingly rowdy, frisky and playful Molly Sides (vocals), Whitney Petty (guitar), Leah Julius (bass) and Lindsey Elias (drums). These ladies were rocking out with attitude and seasoned prowess, dancing and jamming, putting every bit of energy into their live set. Their debut album “Thunderpussy” was released in May 2018.
Thunderpussy can be found online at www.thunderpussyusa.com and on Instagram @thunderpussiez.
To know how good Jerry Cantrell really is you must see him live. He took the stage with his guest musicians and took care of business performing a few minutes shy of a 2-hour set for a charged-up crowd (he knows a thing or two about riffs and harmonies). The band sounded incredible and featured Greg Puciato (backing vocals), Tyler Bates (guitar), Gil Sharone (drums), George Adrian (bass), Michael Rozon (pedal steel guitar) and Lola Colette (keys).
The Wellmont was a packed house with no open floor space available. Everyone was in the moment of every song. Feeling the music, the crowd sang along to their favorites which was pretty much the entire setlist. With his signature harmonized vocals, Jerry and his band performed 19 or 20 songs (I lost count) consisting of solo material with some Alice In Chains selections mixed in. Songs included: Atone, Them Bones (Alice In Chains), Siren Song, Cut You In, Had To Know, No Excuses (Alice In Chains), Angel Eyes, Man in the Box (Alice In Chains), Would? (Alice In Chains) and a few more. For an encore, he performed Whale & Wasp, Brighten, Down in a Hole (Alice In Chains) and Rooster (Alice In Chains). The frontman ended the show with Goodbye (Elton John cover). The night was all about the music as it should be. What a tremendous setlist and great night of rocking music!
Jerry Cantrell can be found online at www.jerrycantrell.com and on Instagram @jerrycantrell.
