During the summer I listened to the debut of Mayfield Four, the group that Myles Kennedy fronted before Alter Bridge, and I truly wondered whether a single person in the music industry had foreseen his evolution back then; the collaboration with Mark Tremonti and the others, the records with Slash, the jamming with Led Zeppelin when in 2007 Jimmy Page briefly contemplated on writing new material without Robert Plant.

The question is rhetorical, the fact is that England is perhaps the only country that has fully realized Alter Bridge’s quality, hence the headline shows in venues such as the 02 Arena. ‘Live at the 02 Arena + Rarities’ contains a fairly unedited live recording from London and a ‘rarities’ disc, containing the bonus tracks from their albums, a good gift for someone who doesn’t own the deluxe editions, especially since songs like ‘Symphony of Agony (The Last of Our Kind)’ from ‘The Last Hero’ would be lead singles for most bands.

Here’s hoping they headline Download soon.