Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I know concerts are meant to be watched live and not just listened to so this might make my point totally invalid but whatever. I was listening to the entire concert today at university and I thought the solos really weighed things down.

From about LALD onwards the show just seems to lose all its steam as it gets bogged down in a bunch of excessive solos.

Dont get me wrong - the solos are technically impressive and Fortus' in particular was amazing. Initially I was wowed by each solo, but I quickly got quite bored.

The only person who really should be doing solos IMO is Ron Thal because he is "the nuke" and needs to establish himself to fans.

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So yeah, in summary, the solos are good but they needlessly slow the whole show down.

From RIR it was apparent that Axl couldn't keep up with the pace even with the solos there to give him a breather, so we won't be seeing them removed.

I figured that might be a likely reason, but even if they replaced them with some kick ass full-band instrumentals I think things would go over better.

or finding a song that one of the other band members could sing, like they did back in the day with attitude.

good point

you'd have thought Axl might have learned a lesson or two from the UYI boat era - apparently not

but in saying that, the band is left with little or no choice given Axl's ongoing penchant for leaving the stage several times during a show

solo spots are just momentum killers for a crowd

I never could understand why people don't like solo's!! I love the solo's! Gives the audience and the band a little break and the artist gets to show some outside talent. I say keep them.
amy

Why does the audience need a break?

An onslaught of GnR takes hours to get overwhelming  :peace:

I'm on the fence with the solo deal - but it would be cool to have tommy sing a song from his solo album.

I think right now the solos are important, so that those people who don't know the new band very well, are able to get to know them..

love the solos, it makes it more of a GNR show than the Axl show, also it is practical, it gives Axl a breather. The solos also showcase how good the other guys are, nice to see a band in 2006 with some musicianship skills.

Bumblefoot and Tommy would both be able to pull off a tune, both are very accomplished singers with plenty of material to choose. I recently brought some of BBF's albums and was surprised he didn't use a song off there as his solo.

For what its worth - I really loved Dizzy Reed's Ziggy Stardust solo. Cant wait till I see it on vid  :hihi:

If Axl didn't want their shows to come across as "The Axl Rose Show" then Im still wondering why none of the new guys really interact or speak with the crowd at all...?

Like how come Tommy doesn't grab the mic and be like "What's up Rio?!!?!?!"

Or Bumblefoot could be like, "So this is a little song I wrote called...."

Just an idea :peace:

I know I love the Beautiful solo between Fink and Fortus.  I could listen to that everyday and never be bored.  I agree with willow though, it's nice to have a breather every once in a while.  Ok, maybe I'm just old  :hihi:

I remember at the Hammerstein, Tommy did say something into his mic to Axl/the audience.  Unfortunately, the volume on it was turned down so much, that I at least couldn't hear it :(

At least it separates GNR from the dime-a-dozen grunge/nu-metal/indie bands out there...

These are definately nothing more than a break for Axl, sure maybe solos were more popular in the early 90's and it was more exciting to see Duff sing a song or Slash solo than say Ron Thal. But as long as Axl needs his breaks from performing, there will be solos. Let's just hope they get a little more exciting...

Cut the drum solo.  Give all the guitarists and Dizzy a minute or so to jam leading into a song.  That works fine

I'd say get rid of the solos....if not then at least trim them down quite a bit. Pretty boring.

Unfortunately only Richard is capable of bringing decent solos. They should just let Richard do maybe one or two solos per show. Bumble could also "introduce" himself in these early shows.
Finck's solos are pointless.

I totally understand what you mean. Maybe they should cut it down somewhat. Have one big ass one. Let Ron rip for a fair amount of time,than have Fotus and Finck join him before going off into the next tune.

Solos are annoying, especially in this case. Sorry for all the Finck/Fortus/Foot fans, but it's not like we're hearing Slash, Metallica or AC/DC solos... What we have in GNR right now are the most boring guitar solos I've ever heard. Just my opinion.

Unfortunately, Axl needs some time to catch his breath meaning we'll still have these, and given the energy he displays on stage, it's not surprizing that we get 5 or 6 of them. If only they could cut that down to a couple, that's be much better. I like the instrumental suggestion someone talked about. That'd be more interesting.

Personally I rather watch an hour of kick ass rock n roll but a cool thing with Robin Finck's solo was that what he actually played was Finlandia by Sibelius and I don't think that many of you got that.

Yes it was and it's fucking amazing!  :D

solos are pimp its fucking concert who cares