Science.

What gets a band more fired up to go onstage and rock out
than a nice conversation in the dressing room about science before they go on?

You might think that the band would discuss the set list, or
gear, or anything else music-related, but the pre-show conversation in Denver
revolved around the mercury levels in tuna.

There were plenty of other topics flying around, but if the
fans in Denver wondered what got the band in the proper mindset to come out and
put on a stellar show, it was a discussion about pollutants in our groundwater
and oceans.

So even though I’m now concerned about the tuna sandwich
I’ll be having for lunch tomorrow, at least a good show came out of it.

And that’s the bigger point here.

Alice In Chains are a consistently great live band.

That needs to be said straight off the bat or else what I’m
about to write will make it seem like they have off nights from time to time,
and they don’t.

But sometimes there are just shows that jump out at me as
having a little something extra.

A lot of times that has to do with the fans, and the fans in
Denver last night were awesome.

It also has to do with everyone in the band having a good night on the
same night, and that also happened in Denver.

Sometimes one of the guys will have an issue with their
in-ear mix, or maybe they’ll flub a note here or there, and when the show is
over not everyone in the dressing room will be thrilled with the way things
went.

Tonight in Denver everyone was in a good mood afterward, and
the consensus was that it was a great show.

I can’t think of a time I’ve seen these guys put out a B
effort.

Every single night this band puts on a solid A performance,
but once in a while, on the right night, with the right crowd, an A+ shows up.

So congratulations Denver, you played a big part in tipping
the show just a little over the top.

And for the sake of this write-up, so did a conversation about
the toxicity of America’s seafood ecosystem.