Concert Review: Alter Bridge live in New York
Alter Bridge's career has been defined by consistency. For more than twenty years, the quartet of vocalist/guitarist Myles Kennedy, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Phillips has released compelling records and excelled on stage. Although Tremonti and Phillips also committed to Creed and its recent reunion tours, Alter Bridge found time to release its eponymous eighth studio record on January 9, 2026 and tour the world to support the album. On May 12, 2026, Alter Bridge headlined at The Paramount in Huntington, New York on its What Lies Within Tour 2026.
As the band has done for at least the past decade, it opened the show with the first track off a new album, this time the pummeling "Silent Divide." AB also featured the tour's namesake "What Lies Within" as well as "Tested and Able" from the 2026 LP. The New York show also marked the live debut of "Scales Are Falling".
The Alter Bridge catalogue is well regarded, with Blackbird and AB III arguably the band's best material. Alter Bridge made a conscious choice to perform more of a "throwback" set because it did not perform a single track from its three most recent releases (aside from this year's Alter Bridge) Pawns & Kings, Walk the Sky, and The Last Hero. As such, twelve of the fifteen selections were released from 2007 to 2013, the band's critical peak. Notably, AB featured a set-high four songs from One Day Remains, the band's standout debut.
Fortress was well-represented with "Addicted to Pain," "Cry of Achilles," and the title track, which were played consecutively after the opener. The anthemic Remains cuts "Broken Wings" and "Open Your Eyes" were joined by "Burn it Down' and set closer "Metalingus." "Ghost of Days Gone By" and "Wonderful Life" from AB III were arguably the most emotion driven songs played during the evening. While "Rise Today" and "Watch Over You" were fine Blackbird selections, the epic title track once again was the lone encore. The iconic Tremonti solo remains arguably the most notable moment of the band's career, and continues to garner industry-wide praise twenty years after "Blackbird" was released.
When you see Alter Bridge live, you know what you are going to get - a top notch performance, note-for-note. That is precisely what fans have experienced on the What Lies Within Tour, which continues across the United States for the next week before the band crosses the Atlantic Ocean for the European leg of the world tour.
