I am somehow only seeing this for the first time in my life now.
How was it not obvious Staley was going to die?He looks awful.
Yeah, I find it very hard to watch, he was in brutal shape.
Looked awful but that gig is amazing. I still regularly listen to (but rarely watch the DVD) the album. The writing was on the wall for the poor guy and I remember reading lots of commentary at the time in magazines that his drug abuse had gotten so severe he was on injecting in his hands, hence the gloves he had on almost all the time. Such a waste of talent but such is the sickness of addiction.
Mark Lanegan was almost as bad around that time but managed to turn it around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jamJIe332R0
Jesus took me a sec to twig that's Josh Homme on second guitar
Must have been nuts being around knowing he hadn't long
An outstanding album
Staley is superb, on an edge, barely keeping it together for such a brilliant performance
Whole band is brilliant
Like most of the grunge bands around that time, their songs translated so well for those unplugged sets.
Really doesn't feel like it was 23 years ago either :o
Quote from: Jward on January 30, 2019, 11:24:10 PM
Must have been nuts being around knowing he hadn't long
An outstanding album
Staley is superb, on an edge, barely keeping it together for such a brilliant performance
Whole band is brilliant
Absolutely agree with all this, exceptional band at the time. I get that the skag has visibly taken its toll by now but the way everyone is talking about Layne not having long left, youd think he died soon after. Unplugged was in 1996 and he died in 2002.
Imagine how utterly fucking awful those six years must have been.
He didn't appear too much after this gig. Maybe one more tour with Kiss if memory serves me correctly?
No doubt his final years were abysmal.
There was a great artitle about his last few years where he pretty much stayed in his house all the time, never contacting anyone, playing video games and getting high. Must try and find it again
Sure when they found him he was half rotten the poor bastard..i.e. he was decomposing. Unplugged is one of the greatest performances I´ve ever heard. I got it when it came out and still regularly listen to it..a thing of immense beauty. Staley was sublime on it, they all were.
Quote from: Trev on January 31, 2019, 09:19:21 AM
There was a great artitle about his last few years where he pretty much stayed in his house all the time, never contacting anyone, playing video games and getting high. Must try and find it again
Think this is the article you're on about:
https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/alice-chains-untold-story-layne-staleys-final-gloomy-days-frontman-seattles-grunge-legends
Always rated this the best of those Unplugged sessions. Staley was a wreck, which strangely makes the performance otherworldly. Superb stuff.
And for anyone who hasn't heard Mad Season with Staley on vocals, time to get onto it straight away. Incredible album. Mike McCready on guitars..sublime stuff
Brilliant gig, regularly listen to it. Has a lot of the best versions of Alice In Chains songs in my opinion, the version of Nutshell on this is just brilliant. All the songs from the dog album work better on this album too imo. I'd listen to these versions of Heaven Beside you and Over Now and probably even Down In A Hole over the originals.
Quote from: Herbert West on January 31, 2019, 12:41:18 PM
Quote from: Trev on January 31, 2019, 09:19:21 AM
There was a great artitle about his last few years where he pretty much stayed in his house all the time, never contacting anyone, playing video games and getting high. Must try and find it again
Think this is the article you're on about:
https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/alice-chains-untold-story-layne-staleys-final-gloomy-days-frontman-seattles-grunge-legends
Thanks for that. Great read , all though sad at times.