Carnivals of Madness--Alter Bridge in WI and IA -- Part IV

Myles opening the set with "Slip to the Void"

(Remember, this is a crappy disposable camera...)

Alter Bridge put on an inspiring show, to say the very least, and Myles was in a great mood, possibly fueled by the presence of his wife, Selena, at the side of the stage. Sarah and I saw her at the same time and both had the same thought—We could be finally meeting The Wife tonight. This just kept getting better. It was an hour set, so we were able to enjoy the backbone of the set along with Blackbird, and the dueling guitars before Rise Today.

I have seen Myles and Mark’s “dueling guitars” at five shows already, and the difference between last year’s and this night’s was remarkable. Mark unleashes his speed demon fingers, as has did last year; but it was Myles who had taken this game to another level with his wailing, improvised blues licks, all the more entertaining given his wild range of facial expressions. There was no question afterwards that we had two winners—a metal god and a blues god, side by side. It was the highlight of their set.


Mark shredding it, as usual


Love it when Brian, Myles and Mark come together and tear it up!

That, and the love he showers on his “regulars.” He smiled broadly at each of us together and separately many times during the show and it always made my knees buckle. We sang/screamed every lyric—as did he this time, LOL—and had our fists in the air for so long my arms were sore for days. At the end of their set he came out on the towers and attempted to toss us a few picks. They all blew back under the stage. We laughed and held up our hands, telling him not to worry about it, and he shook his head laughing.

Then Flip the drummer came out on the towers with a drumstick, looking at me. (If my fist wasn’t in the air, I was air-drumming the entire time.) He aimed carefully and low, and the stick fell right at the feet of the young guard in front of us. We were relieved until the kid picked it up, smiled, and put it in his back pocket.



Oh, HELL no. You do not work a show to take souvenirs from the fans. The whole front row erupted in anger at the guy, who wasn’t quite expecting that. His smug look quickly faded as it became clear that we were NOT moving until he surrendered that prize to the one he was handing it to. I think this is another case where being 45 to his 20 gives you a leg up. We explained to him that he was breaking every working man’s protocol by stealing that, and that it was NOT going to fly. He soon succumbed, and handed it to me. I thanked him, grateful I didn’t actually have to jump the rail and pummel his ass for it. (Boy, that water REALLY gave me a renewed sense of energy!)

Following the episode, we took about 5 seconds to catch our breaths and let our collective blood pressures lower. Then we looked at each other and Nate and both said, “Let’s go.” As we did, my neighbor David and I made sure to get a young girl into my spot on the rail, as she’d been having hell the whole time. Yes, it occurred to me I could have done that much sooner and just leaned on the rail from behind her, but I’m not sure I could have taken the lack of air. We’d been there for 11.5 hours when AB took the stage, and I’m sure as hell not as young as I used to be.

As soon as she was planted, we worked our way out. Kids were looking at us like we had lost our minds. Who leaves before Theory of a Deadman?? Fucking Alter Bridge fans who have gotten a DM from the lead singer—that’s who. I handed my drum stick to Nate and furiously typed off a message to Myles that we were headed for the (now empty) signing booth and off the rail, so he could find us. We planted ourselves and waited.

By this time Nate’s girlfriend, Katie, had found us, so to kill some very nervous time, we chatted about grad school and other topics, waiting… just waiting. Sarah was watching every angle looking for him or the show owner—and we spotted tha latter at the same time.

He wasn’t close—but he was within yelling distance. It took both our voices to arrest him for a second, then we waved like idiots as he took a second to decide if he had the time to humor us. Thank God, he decided he did. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Myles’ message, showing it to the owner as proof that Myles really did want to see us—we just couldn’t get back there. At that moment, Myles sent another that simply said, “Hey where are you guys?” which clinched it for our new guardian angel.

“Alright,” he said, “C’mon.”

As we quickly mentioned that the kids were with us, he led the four of us through the gates and back behind the RVs. A small group of people stood under a light post chatting, Mark among them. As soon as he saw us he broke away and trotted over. Myles DM’d me again, saying, “I’ll be right out!!!!” So I looked at Sarah, phone in hand, and nodded from Nate to Mark, and she introduced them as I tweeted back that we had moved and were now backstage with Mark. The owner no longer had any doubts that he’d done the right thing, and we both took the time to give him a big hug (he’s a big guy!!) and thank him for taking us back, and letting him get back to work.

As soon as I looked up from my phone, Mark looked at me and said, “Has Myles seen you yet?” I told him no—but that we’d gotten messages he was looking for us. “Wait here, he really wants to talk to you guys. I’ll go get him.” And he trotted off towards the bus.

With barely enough time for Sarah and I to exchange glances that screamed, “Is this really happening?” Mark came back out, followed by a grinning Myles and his gorgeous wife. Put that feeling in a bottle and I would be a fucking billionaire.

I did not hesitate. I grabbed our cheap, disposable phone, hit the flash set button, and asked Katie if she’d take the picture. Sarah was already hugging Myles. I took my turn and said, “It’s been too long,” which is ridiculous considering we had seen them two weeks ago, and I had gotten to hug and talk to him back in May. But he took us each under an arm and I think between the three of us we emitted enough light that the flash probably wasn’t even necessary.



I think this was when the night finally turned surreal. Details aren’t fuzzy—just the order in which they occurred, so try and follow best as you can.

To be continued...