JERRY CANTRELL BLEEDS NEW LIFE INTO ANAHEIM ON THE I WANT BLOOD TOUR
The House of Blues Anaheim rattled to life as Jerry Cantrell stepped onto the stage for one of the earliest chapters of his I Want Blood tour. For me, it struck deeper than just another night of heavy guitars and howling amplifiers—it carried me back to childhood rides in the back of my dad’s car, when Alice in Chains poured out of the FM radio like a sermon of grit and anguish. Decades later, Cantrell’s presence onstage carried that same weight, only now weathered with the authority of someone who has lived every note he plays.
From the first strike of his guitar, it was apparent that Cantrell wasn’t chasing nostalgia—he was reaffirming his place as one of rock’s most enduring craftsmen. The new songs roared with sharp edges and unflinching urgency, yet when the older cuts appeared, the room swelled in a way that felt almost spiritual. Fans leaned into every chord, every lyric, as if the music itself was pulling memories out of them the way it had mine.
Cantrell’s band was tight, delivering the kind of backbone that lets his signature guitar tone cut through with surgical precision. The solos weren’t displays of ego but statements of character—dirty, melodic, and resolute, carrying the kind of soul that separates rock lifers from the rest. Between the dense shadows and bursts of light onstage, it felt less like a modern production and more like a gathering in a timeless hall of sound, where the past and present kept trading blows.
What lingered wasn’t just the familiar darkness of Alice in Chains, nor the thrill of his newer material, but the sense that Cantrell is still writing his story on his own terms. Anaheim wasn’t offered a trip down memory lane; it was handed a living, breathing extension of grunge’s legacy, tempered by years and still burning hot enough to set a room ablaze.
The I Want Blood tour may be in its infancy, but if this performance is any forecast, Cantrell is carrying the torch with a conviction that few of his peers can still summon.
