Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Guns N Roses
Continental Airlines Arena,East Rutherford,New Jersey
Nov 5'th --4 Stars!!

Axl Takes New Jersey With A Hit Packed Extravaganza

"Do you know where the fuck you are?!" Axl Rose howled,seconds after walking onto a darkened,smoky arena stage.It was,for once,a question worth pondering,if only because the anwser was so hard to believe:It was 2006 and we were somehow at a Guns N Roses concert-one where a bunch of guys with names like Brain and Bumblefoot were about to play an improbably note-perfect version of "Welcome To The Jungle"

Every riff,drum,accent,guitar solo,vocal harmony and scream was in it's place,down to Rose's song-closing "Huh!".Over the next 2-plus hours,the band went on to give the same precise treatment to most of GNR's greatest songs,from "Patience" to "November Rain",plus the old bands two most famous cover tunes,"Live And Let Die" and "Knockin On Heavens Door".

It sounded like the perfectionist Rose has been rehearsing this band-in which keyboardist Dizzy Reed is the only link to earlier lineups-for eight hours a day for years,forcing them to live up to the name they inherited.

The most significant departure from the original arrangements came in extended guitar solos from new guy Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal-the replacement for the departed Buckethead-who burned through un-Slash like alien-sounding licks.

The eight member band arrived onstage close to midnight,delayed by problems with a keyboard,and played until 2:00 AM."Those technical delays had nothing to do with my sorry ass-not tonight!" said Rose,who appeared to be roughly double the size of his 1988 self,which made his still nimble dancing seem more ursine than serpentine.But he was in a cheerful mood and in spectacular voice,or,rather,voices: As always,the emotive near-baritone he uses on "Patience" bore little resemblance to,say,the devil woman shriek of "Nighttrain".
If anything,the show-which came complete with long solo spots from most of the band members and lots of pyro was overslick,with a creeping Vegas-y vibe.

But Roses inclusion of four songs from the purportedly -due-this-year Chinese Democracy helped the performance feel vital,especially since one of them-the poppy yet headbanging "Better" is among the best tunes he's ever written. "I like it here" said Rose."I think I'll stay a while".

End.

Great review.

^? Hi, SLC!? <waves>

It's nice to read this review, especially after seeing this particular show bashed on the "fan" forums.? I <3 Rolling Stone!

is there any link?

thank you, cool review

I personally think he looks healthy now, not overweight in any way. ?In 2002 I agree he looked somewhat bloated but I think he looks great now. ?In 1988 he looked emaciated, I am not sure that look would blow over in 2006. ?

The rest of the review is great though. ?It was a perfect sounding show if I do say so myself! :peace:

darth vader @mygnrforum posted a scan of the review..bad ass pic of axl

(http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/2773/dscn2413qq8.jpg)

ummmm..... 1988 he looked like nicole richie.... i think his best was the 91-92 era. now he looks older but thats bound to happen to us all!!!!!  :crying:

This review, in my opinion, is the most important of the tour so far because it will reach the most amount of people.  The significantly large majority of people in the world will not go see them in concert, so shaping the public perception in this positive manner is great!

I agree  : ok:  :beer:

very very true.  being on the board, you can forget that most people are actually not following the band in its current form.  the only problems i have with the article are that it makes it seem like axl's overweight now when in fact i think he looks perfectly fine, and that they didn't mention that robin had a lot to do with better.

I suppose I'll take "over slick" and "Vegas-y" to "stormed off the stage," "five hours late," and "caused a riot."   ;D

Great review, and hopefully it will get non-hardcore fans amped up for "Better" and the rest of CD...

Concert reviews in RS are only out of 4 stars I think, so that's a perfect review!!!  That's huge coming from RS because because when I was a subscriber for a couple of years I hardly ever saw perfect concert reviews.  Of course that was quite a few years ago but still.  That is REALLY a rarity.  That shows one thing though, the magazine isn't biased against this new band and they probably won't be biased when CD comes out.  I've always thought RS and Axl have had a good relationship although some fans disagree.  He will definitely get the cover when the album is released.

If it's true about the 4 stars thing, then that is what Beck got in last issue. 4 Stars, Killers at MSG got 3.5 stars. For some reason I think it is out of 5.

Great to see the band getting good press!  Especially from such a major publication.

Ali

I think everything in the mag is out of 4 stars except for album reviews.  I just looked in an old RS and Jeff Beck got a 4 star review. Maybe the perfect concert reviews aren't that rare afterall?  I hardly ever remember seeing any perfect reviews for concerts in the past.  You said Beck got a 4 star review but Beck is supposed to be pretty damn good live and I assume Jeff Beck is as well.

Anyway, it's good to see GN'R even getting reviewed in the mag and a great review is only going to bring a little more attention to the band.  Hopefully a few people that were turning their back on GN'R may start giving them a second chance...

When I saw him in toronto recently he ddin't look cubby at all I thought he looked really fit

I completely agree with the author when he says that Better is one of the best songs Axl has ever written.

Im pretty sure its the only Guns' song where each stanza of each verse essentially rhymes with the last.

Its a poetic approach to lyric writing which suits Axl brilliantly : ok:

Love the review and agree with the analysis of Better. And its been quite promising all the really great reviews that have been coming from the shows since this leg of the tour began.

Good pic of Axl and Stinson.  The review is great, and as all of us do, "BETTER" is one of the top 5 GN'R tracks EVER.

Here's the pic they used for this review.?

(http://gypsysoul.lunarpages.com/rs113006.jpg)



 I don't see any "photographer credits" listed.

coolness, so good to see a postivie article.

Thanx Good read :beer:

Cool review.

I think the "double the size of 1988" thing is more a statement of how insanely skinny he was in 1988 than how fat he is in 2006... look at the picture... or if you just saw Axl in the street somewhere.... would your first reaction be... "Wow. What a fat ass!"!?!? I think not. There are so many more ridiculously fat lard asses in the world than Axl... many of them music critics.

i know better is going to be a chart topper.i allready knew that.i have full faith in axl's songs takin off.

Yes, I would totally agree with that statement. But I wouldn't say that he was much different in the 1980's from other singers out there. That was part of the stereotype created by Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, etc. in the 1960s and 1970s. Basically, it was very difficult to be a front man of a rock band if you weren't pretty skinny.

Axl now is what I'd call in "good shape" especially for his age (Plant was in worse shape at the same age, and look at Vince Neil and others out there). And when you consider how fat the average American is, Axl is not just in good shape, he's in GREAT shape.

Axl looks very healthy.  He has definitely added muscle to his frame since the early to mid-nineties  I think that is contributing to his "larger" body much more than any fat.

Ali

^^ It's all there folks. Nothing else to say.

The band rocks and the new songs will please the fans.

Bring on Democracy !

Except: "Isn't Better written by Robin?"  ;)

(yeah, yeah... collaboration this, collaboration that... if Axl said "the music for the track was put together by Mr. Finck", then its "his song" IMO)