MANCHESTER, NH – Like many Gen-Xers, I desperately miss the ‘90s and grunge music.
I can remember a night in May of 1996, sweating in my college apartment, my then-dark hair tied back in a ponytail, drinking Natural Lights with my roommates and waiting for Alice in Chains’ “MTV Unplugged” to air.
All week, while washing dishes at a restaurant, I had been looking forward to it, and finally the night had arrived, and the show began.
On a candle-lit stage, guitarist Jerry Cantrell started strumming the haunting chord progression to “Nutshell” as, one at a time, the band members took the stage. The first to join Cantrell was bassist Mike Inez, who had written “Friends don’t let friends get friends haircuts” on his guitar—a dig at Metallica—much to my approval.
Finally, the late-Layne Staley appeared on the stage, doped-up, in dark shades. He sat down on a stool and belted out the first line: “We chase misprinted lies.”
To this day, it remains my favorite unplugged performance.
Eventually, I would have to cut my hair, and these days I wear my now-gray dome closely cropped, but on Saturday, May 17 at the Angel City Music Hall in Manchester, with the help of the tribute band Rotten Apple, I traveled in a time machine back to those halcyon days of the ‘90s and enjoyed a live musical experience with the songs from one of my favorite bands.
While I never got to see Alice in Chains play live, Rotten Apple is the next best thing.
The band, which includes two Manchester-natives—vocalist Demetri Papanicolau and guitarist/vocalist Nate Comp—informally started when Papanicolau and Comp found themselves in a jam room together one night in 2006. Comp took out his guitar and started playing Alice in Chains tunes, and Papanicolau joined in with his vocals. The two musicians played until 9 a.m. the next morning.
“We bonded that night in the jam room, and the idea of having an Alice in Chains tribute was cemented in my head,” said Papanicolau, who also plays with Comp in a local band they call D-Comp.
Then, in 2020, Panicolau was invited to feature at an open mic at KC’s Rib Shack in Manchester that Comp co-hosts with local musician Paul Costley. Recalling their jam session in 2006, Papanicolau suggested that they play an entire set of Alice in Chains tunes.
This never happened. All of the musicians contracted Covid-19, and the gig was cancelled. But the idea, still cemented in Panicolau’s mind, remained.
In 2021, Comp and Papanicolau teamed up with bassist/vocalist Sean Corcoran, guitarist Mark Fitzpatrick and drummer Simon Adamsson to form Rotten Apple, performing their first gig at the Angel City Music Hall.
They opened by playing almost the entire Alice in Chains “Unplugged” album, followed by an electric set. “Remembering that night still gives me goosebumps,” Papanicolau said.
Photos/Carol Robidoux
On Saturday night, the band returned to the site of that first gig and played a dynamite show to a packed crowd in Comp and Papanicolau’s hometown, adding the expertise of the band’s sound engineer Jim Roese, who also works with the national acts Fuel, Live and Melissa Etheridge.
The evening began with Jason Howes and Shawn Pedini, two members of a Pearl Jam tribute band called King Jeremy, performing an acoustic set consisting of largely Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder B-sides, with a few radio classics sprinkled in, such as “Daughter,” “Just Breathe” and “Better Man.”
The placidity of the acoustic music, however, was shredded to pieces as Rotten Apple took the stage and blasted off with a three-song medley that opened with “We Die Young” followed by “Them Bones” and “Dam That River” from the band’s 1992 album “Dirt.”
For fans of “Dirt”—which would include this reporter—Rotten Apple didn’t cheap out, adding “Rain When I Die,” “Angry Chair,” “Dirt,” “Would,” “Down in a Hole,” “Junkhead” and “Rooster” to their setlist.
After a solid hour of blowing the audience’s minds and eardrums, Rotten Apple settled into a short acoustic set that included the classics “Nutshell,” “No Excuses,” “Heaven Beside You” and “Got Me Wrong.”
Note for note, the songs sounded almost exactly like the originals with Papanicolau, Comp and Corcoran harmonizing seamlessly.
“We want to deliver the music so the audience can close their eyes and go back, authentically,” said Papanicolau. “We do it because we love it. Close your eyes and you’ll feel like you’re back in Seattle.”
Rotten Apple closed the show with a raucous version of “Man in the Box” off the 1990 album “Facelift,” leaving the audience with ringing ears and sated souls, forced to step outside the music hall and return to 2025.
Which, I have to admit, after Rotten Apple returned me to the ‘90s for a few blissful hours, was kind of a bummer.
Rotten Apple upcoming New England shows includes Grunge Fest on July 13 at Indian Ranch.
Tickets and more info here or scan the QR code.
