Credit: Rob Hanson and leadertelegram.com

CADOTT – While fans thrashed to Limp Bizkit’s obnoxious and mostly unimaginative opening act Sunday night at Rock Fest, headliners Alice In Chains won over fest goers with their classic charm.

Humble and haunting, the fathers of grunge capped off the four-day festival with the nearly two hours of their gritty hits.

Alice in Chains has toured in support of their September 2009 album “Black Gives Way To Blue” since it’s release. But on Sunday night the foursome stuck mostly to the “Facelift” and “Dirt”-era tracks that propelled them to fame in the early ’90s alongside fellow Seattle garage rockers Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.

The band kicked off the night with “Rain When I Die,” before rolling through a slew of oldies but goodies, including “Them Bones,” “Dam That River” and “Again,” all in front of trippy video visuals like insects decomposing the body of some unfortunate rodent.

The Grammy-nominated “Check My Bain” led off the few new songs, which really are a tribute to the original Alice In Chains sound. It’s been 14 years since their last studio album, but the band’s new material continues on its tradition of sludgy rhythm sections, wah-drenched leads and harmonized wails.

Alice In Chains closed their set with “Man in the Box” and an explosive encore of “Would?” and “Rooster,” but not before insisting fans in general admission swamp the up-front VIP section.

Singer William DuVall was the third frontman in a row to express distaste with VIP-seating elitism.

“Finally it looks like a (expletive) rock show,” DuVall said after fans stood on the benches and fist-pumped through the encore. “… This turned out to be fun after all.”

Overall, time has been good to Alice In Chains. And despite losing their original singer Layne Staley to overdose in 2002, the band has moved forward with potentially the best replacement imaginable.

When left on his own, DuVall slightly strays from the Staley style. But 99.9 percent of the time his voice harmonizes perfectly with that of guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell like it was 1992 all over again.