Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged Concert could've ended in disaster, but it ended up being one of the greatest Unplugged Performances of all time.
0:00 - Introduction/MTV's Request
1:00 - Rehearsals/Layne's Issues
3:20 - Unplugged Performance
5:17 - Aftermath/Reaction
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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.
In November of 1995 Alice in Chains would release their final studio album with frontman Layne Staley. Nearly six months after the album came out the band hadn’t played a single date to support the record. In fact Alice in Chains hadn’t played a live show since early 1994, an acoustic set for a benefit show. It would be ironic their first show in two years would be another acoustic show for MTv’s unplugged program which took place in New York City in April of 1996.
According to guitarist Jerry Cantrell, the band had been asked numerous times by MTv to record an unplugged set. By this point Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots had already done the show. Cantrell would tell Kerrang “We were thinking: ‘No disrespect, but hasn’t this been done by everyone? We don’t need to do that!’” Eventually the band gave in to MTV’s request.
Alice in chains by this point in their career were no strangers to performing acoustically having put out the SAP and Jar of Flies EP. For the band the prospect of playing a live acoustic set was both scary and an opportunity to show just how good the band’s songs were with Cantrell recalling to Kerrang “There’s no safety net, so your songs better be pretty good,” “Boiling it down reveals the heart of the song, without all the bells and whistles, and if it still hits in that environment then you did good
While Layne worked with the supergroup Mad Season in 1995, his appearance had drastically changed since the last time Alice in Chains were touring. The years of drug abuse had clearly taken their told. Looking noticably thin and the colour gone from his face, he would emerge last on stage wearing sunglasses to cover his sunken eyes, a long sleeve t-shirt and gloves to hide his drug use. It was said by this point in time Layne had already lost several of his teeth to drug use with some pointing ot a noticeable lisp during the show. Even though the band had accepted mtv’s offer to appear on the program, whether the performance would happen was another question. Drummer Sean kinney telling greg prato “up to the moment it was just a nail-biter. Barely any rehearsing at all, guys not showing up - the same shit. Rolled out there and everything worked.”
Alex Coletti who was a producer at MTV had long worked on mtv’s unplugged series since it’s inception in 1989 would tell author david de sola that since the band wasn’t touring at the time it actually worked in their favour recalling “if you’re on tour playing arenas and big rock venues every night to unplug when you’re in that headspace is really hard, to kind of turn down. But coming from a resting period, they were able to approach it as if they were rehearsing this one thing. It wasn’t an add-on to a buy schedule. ”
The band would rehearse in Seattle before flying to new york. Coletti would recall to De Sola flying to rehearsals to discuss instruments, stage setup and gear. The band would work with Tobi Wright who did the band’s last two released jar of flies and their self titled record.
Colletti would recall getting a last minute request for lava lamps from the band recalling in the ssamemae book ‘i was getting them so late. Apparently lava lamps need to be heated and turned on for quite a while before they do what theyre meant to do. So if you watch the show, they’re kind of sluggish and not at full potential. So the lava lamps themselves were kind of grungy and just barely moving around. It was kind of fitting, but we didn’t do it on purpose.
Randy Biro who served as the band’s stage manager and guitar and bass tech recalled Layne bringing his own drug supply ahead of the gig which he brought in a glass pill bottle recalling “he hadn’t done enough where he was nodding off and drooling,:
The performance was also notable because the band debuted a new song in ‘The Killer is me’