Here Today... Gone To Hell!

This isn't a typical review, as it's been done 100 times already. Just my overall thoughts on the new band, after seeing them perform.)

I saw them in 2002 and a couple nights ago at Universal Studios. And let me tell you, the band is 100 times better now!!!!

Those of you that continually rip the new band apart, say there is no chemistry, that the band is just hired guns in it for the money, that Axl has "lost it" . . . . you've obviously haven't seen the new band perform live, or you can't get past the old band breaking up.

Axl's voice was spot on the entire show. It cracked a couple times during the end of Patience - but then he nailed the rest of the song. Axl's voice has WAY more range now than he did in 2002 - not even close. Hitting long high notes, deep growls, classic Axl sounds. Axl was on top of his game. I was impressed.

I didn't care much for Robin after the 2002 show, but Tuesday night he showed that he is the back-bone of the band. Axl may be the heart and soul, but Robin continues to improve and is the "man" now. True, Slash can never be replaced. But Finck is doing as good of job as anybody good. In 2002 he was sloppy, un-enthusiastic and seemed out of place. Today, he was all over the stage, great solos and it maybe superficual - but now he looks like a member of a hard rock band instead of like in 2002 where he looked like an industrial goth player.

Another thing I was impressed with was Axl's chipper mood. Several odd events happened that could have brought an explosion from the sometimes hostile singer, and each time Axl laughed or shrugged them off.

During the Nov rain pyros, the drums actually caught on fire, drawing stage help out to put the fire out. Axl started off with "that's a new one" which evolved into several jokes and cracking Axl up a couple different times. The funniest being when Izzy came out and started playing "Smoke on the Water" and Axl laughing and saying "You mean Smoke on the Drummer."  Axl also made a comment about this being their version of Spinal Tap.

You've heard about Izzy being late! I thought "oh shit, this is it" after he introduced Izzy and nothing happened. Axl just laughed and said "welcome to my world" and then started playing. Later he asked again if Izzy was there and said that he probably borrowed his car again and left "obviously an inside joke." The old Axl would hve been pissed and when Izzy did show up, would have said "Never mind, you made me look like an idiot already." But instead he was laughing and brought him out - 30 minutes later than originally expected. Izzy looked great. Older for sure - but like he's in great condition.

Bubbles from trailer park boys came out, and Axl seemed to have a good time with him. Saying that they met him recently and that once you become friends with the strange guy, he always seems to be around and never goes away.

When Axl was introducing the band, he says "Mr Tommy Stintson. Tommy, time for your bass solo." Then three seconds later he says "OK. On drums ...." It was pretty funny, even Tommy laughed. At the end of the show when everybody took off, Tommy left his bass on stage. Axl actually picked up the bass off the stage and said "Where's Tommy? Somebody go throw this at him." Laughing as he said it.

The show was LONG. They started on time - 11:45, which was about 20 minutes after Sebastain left the stage. I think they played for almost 2 1/2 hours. All the normal songs. Plus Down On The Farm, Patience, Rocket Queen, Think About You, Used to Love Her.

At the end of the show, Axl showed his only anger by kicking a guy out of the pit - which turned out to be a security guard who was letting a fight go on. The cool thing about the closing was after Parad City and the "thank you, good night" Axl and the entire band actually came back on stage for a couple minutes, once again Axl thanked the crowd, said what a good time he had, told us to drive home safely. He seemed to really appreciate the crowd's response.

Other notes:
Helmet sucked. The first couple songs were interesting. But then after 30 minutes of them, EVERY song sounds pretty much the same.

Suicide girls were OK. I "get" why they are there. Axl wants to put on a show - not just a concert. Strippers- obviously - go together with rock and roll. The girls weren't that hot though.

Lots of little kids at the show. I'm talking 7-8 year olds. Which is a little odd, as there is lots of girls flashing and lots of swearing at rock shows. I'm not sure I'd bring my 7 year old to see that quite yet.

Sebastian was awesome. I saw Skid Row open for Bon Jovi way back in 1989 or 1990, and he still has as much energy as he did back then. The guy maybe a duechebag in real life, but he knows how to work the stage. His new ballad is pretty cool, it would have been a HUGE hit in the late 80's. Check it out with an open mind. It's just as good as any of those old popular rock ballads like Every Rose and I remember you or any winger or warrant love song.

TOO MANY SOLOS in the GnR show. Ya, it gives the guys some individual time to shine, but the show started at 8:15 and lasted until after 2 AM. Three guitar solos and a piano solo were a little much. Dizzy's piano solo was pretty cool. But THREE guitar solos really does cut into the energy of the show. Bumblefoot is a ripper, no doubt. Intermingling Dont Cry in the middle of Eruption was cool. Fortus's solo was decent. Finck's was mellow and soulful. All three of them were cool. But just tooooo many, considering what a long show it was.
Again, love him or hate him, Baz coming out during My Michelle puts a LOT of energy back into the show.

Baz showed his Axl side by kicking a guy out of the concert EARLY into his set. It was actually sort of funny. I don't know what the guy did, but Baz called him a cocksucker and told him to enjoy the rest of the show in the parking lot.

I guess thats about it. I was impressed with Axl and the new band. They sounded great. The show was awesome. Axl was in a great mood and seemed to appreciate the energy of the crowd.

Oh yea. The new songs. Better got the best response and sounded great live. IRS the second best response and sounded cool live, though the lyrics to the main chorus sounds a bit cheesy live (that sort of surprised me). The Blues, Madagascar and Chinese Democracy did not receive that great of responses. I guess the biggest dissapointment for me was that the new songs didn't receive the same response as any of the old songs. Axl sang Chinese Democracy in a really deep voice - which I thought sounded cool.

glad you like Finck now, he fuckin rocks  :yes:

nice review.   i was at the show the night after.

Great review, I love the details! : ok:

I seen this band live and they do kick ass!

LOL! :D

Thanks for the review.  : ok:

I was at all three and the one youre talking about(19th) was by far the best of the 3. It was incredible.

Glad you were impressed with them 8)

I still think Robin should play solo #1 in November Rain, as I said on CD.com, he made it his own, gave it a new GN'R touch.. I loved it at Rock In Rio III.

awsome review
thanx dude : ok:

helmet was cool.  they got a good crowd response.  I was there the last night.  the new songs dont get the same response because 1) the average person never heard them 2) i think people like to listen to the new songs instead of screaming through them. 
I also think the differnce between fink now and 02 is the departure of buckethead.  bucket kinda took the spotlight away and bumble doesnt.  Anyone that cares what the guy looks like is gay.  Goth, hippie... who the fuck cares.  He plays like he's jeff Beck crossbred with Slash. 

i say the same, details are the things that makes a good review and this was a good one :yes:

Thank you for the nice comments! I'm glad you all liked the review.

Great job on the review? :beer:, really funny about the drum catching on fire  :rofl:

Wow the drums caught fire...it's funny that that Axl was cracking jokes about that.  Great review!!  One thing that most of us can definitely agree on is seeing them live really kicks ass. :beer:  especially if they are having an on night and like you said with a sometimes hostile singer, it's all good when he's all good.  :peace:

Thanks for the review.

The shows I was at, Better, I.R.S. & Chinese Democracy got the biggest reactions out the new stuff.

Just one comment on your Robin observation. I think back in 2002 Robin was more uncomfortable than anything. Look at it from his point of view. This was the first tour of the U.S., most of the casual fans had no idea Slash wasn't in the band anymore and here he was on stage "taking his place," so to speak. Not to mention all the asses yelling where's slash at some of the shows. This time around Robin was more comfortable and his playing said, "I'm the man now, deal with it." He also put his touch on the solos, which I thought was cool. That's the difference I saw between the show I saw in 2002 and the one I saw this year.

I was at the last show in Los Angeles and it kicked ass.It was one of the best Guns n Roses shows I have ever seen.Honestly I did'nt think they could pullit off without Slash but they rocked.I agree with this review.The only problem is they cancelled the Bakesfield shows and there are many many fans there too.All in all Axl was amazing and all the guitarists and wow Dizzy Reed really has been practicing his stuff.

Bakersfield shows I mean

Nice read thanks. : ok:

Yeah, and some people are still gonna hang up on that. But I think overall, it's an excuse. They say that, because they're cheap asses who make an excuse not the spring for concert tickets, while the rest of us are enjoying our asses off at the shows.

I saw them in New York, at the Hammerstein, and thought the new line-up was awesome!  Much to my surprise, the show was even better in Los Angeles.  They really came together as a band, and it was tight.  I'm so glad to have had the experience of both shows, both excellent, yet different.  I can't wait for the CD and maybe even another chance to see them touring again.  A live DVD would also be nice to have.  Hint, hint...

Oh, I almost forgot.  Baz was awesome!  My brother and I were the only ones in our section up and dancing, but we sure enjoyed it.  The people behind us were just sitting there.  Oh well.  I couldn't help it, I was on my feet for all of Baz's show and of course all of GNR's show.  It was fun!