Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I have been to see VR twice in the last few days (Donington and Manchester) and one thing that I noticed in comparison to the three times i saw them in 2004-2005, is that Slash is on fire.

I've never doubted his playing ability, he is one of the all time greats, but I thought his better days were behind him. His playing wasn't poor, but he wasn't spontaneous, he was a bit sloppy and he didn't seem as into it.

But over the last two shows, he has been immense. I don't know whether his morale is higher or he is pushing himself harder but he has barely missed a note. He ripped up an amazing solo before Set Me Free, then played a beatiful piece on the double neck before Wish You Were Here. Aswell as this, he looks so much happier, he interacts with the crowd and other band members more, improvises parts of songs that sound awesome. I do believe that he is playing just as well as he did in 1991-93.

I now have such high hopes for Libertad. Roll on 3rd of July. Forza Slash!

Slash was Amazing last night. I have the solo before wish you were here which my friend recorded, it should be on youtube when processing finishes. All of the band were amazing last night, I thought Scott did a great job. I hope they bring out a DVD, as they were recording.

Now if we could just get the people who don't even like VR to stop clicking on the section, everything will be smooth!   :hihi:

it does not surprise me, He is SLASH  : ok:

I hope to see them in 07. Saw VR twice in 04 and once in 05 and Slash played fine then. If he is better now, more power to him. But I saw nothing to criticize in 04 or 05.

I saw VR last night at the Apollo.... well I was a bit dissapointed. I was bored up until they played the STP song, it was only then that Dave came alive! He looked lost on the side of the stage, he didnt do much up until then. Slash was a little sloppy and didnt have that Signature sound of his... it was only around the time Set me free was played and the solo trade off with Slash and Dave, that Slash really stepped it up. I understand that they have only one album out, but they played a GnR song, STP, Floyd, Talking Heads covers, and a bunch of songs that no-one has heard heard yet. At a few stages it didnt sound like they were all playing in time!  Scott wasnt too bad but he had to do alot more moving around because of lack of the other guys movement for the first half of the show. 
I love Slash and seeing GnR and Slashs Snakepit - really got my hopes up about seeing VR, but to be honest the first album didnt impress me all that much and they seem very unimaginative and following a certain formula... they just dont seem to have the killer songs and setlist.
I mean its not a good sign when me and the people that went with me talked about the Stone Sour gig that we saw their a few weeks ago on the way home, instead of the show we just saw.
I really didnt want to compare them to GnR but from hearing the new average sounding VR stuff and hearing the fantastic GnR leaks, its obvious who has the most imagination and songwriting skills... but if only we could hear the whole damn album. Plus its not too great when your best songs are covers.
I really enjoyed hearing Its so easy... but crowd participation wasnt all that good which surprised me, usually the peeps at the Apollo go nuts! Maybe it was silly of me to think that everyone at the gig would be a huge GnR fan and have known every word on Appetite'...

PS I dont really mind people talking about VR in GnR forums or GnR in VR forums - but I have tried to be constructive and not be nasty or fanboyish - I like both bands - and ofcourse this is all opinion. I overall enjoyed myself and dont want to piss on the chips of anyone who thought that this was an amazing show.

don't worry man, perhaps it wasn't a ?nice performance, if Stephen King wrote "The fog" why not Velvet Revolver woudn't do a bad show ?:hihi:

manchester was the best show i've seen them do.

i swear the guy was at a different gig to me, the band were on fire, the crowd was mental to the extent that the security actually had to come into it to calm it down at one point.

they played 4 covers (though they had a part in writing 2 of them), and then their own material including new songs from their upcoming album which they need to promote.

Slash is great...  no doubt about it...

I disagree.
He is playing even Better, technically he has improved a lot.

I saw them in Cardiff last Thursday and I can honestly say they ROCKED...i'm not a huge fan of Scott's but i was seriously impresed by him; he seems to have dropped his voice by an octave and he's not as out of breath and flat has he was last time i saw them. I don;t think I've head Slash play better since the early 90s - he was astounding and his double-neck solo before Wish you were here, was stunning. Even Phsycho Killer was heavy...some of the Contraband stuff was so much heavier and guitar orientated than on the album that it was almost unrecognisable!!! Thankfully the bullhorn wasn't used as much either? :rofl:

As for Dave...well he was rocking like the best of them; I honestly thought that if he shook his head any more it would drop off...

All in all a stunning show and one of the best i have seen. from ANY band.

Please dont take this as sounding like a complete asshole, but there isnt really a better way to put it but..... If you think VR are a stunning live band - you are definately in for a treat in future years, because there is so many better live bands and performers out there!
I suppose its all down to standards and how things measure up, cos its only natural to compare bands and live experiences, but VR arent even in my top 15 best live experiences! Granted ive seen alot of bands over the years... Megadeth, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Machine head, Van Halen, White Zombie, Slayer, DLR, Gary Moore, System of a Down and lots lots more - all better live than VR. Maybe I caught VR on a bad night, but there is another thread on here that has similar opinions to mine about them being average or poor live.

excuse me...but I think i might have been around a bit longer than you think. I've also seen GnR; metallica et al....i even saw GnR in the Marquee when they played there first before AFD was released. there aren't many bands i haven't seen over the last 22 years of festival and concert going...

and i will still say that the VR gig last Thursday was one of the BEST i've seen....and i still don't like Scott.

So please don't jump to conclusions with your 'i've seen it all'. so have others.

Or maybe theres many people who dont share your opinion.


Really?  Perhaps you can link to it.  Then well see if we can find more positive opinions.

just to add...

my friend came with me to the gig and he's seen just about everyone over the years everyone....Led Zep; AC/DC with Bon Scott...Jimi Hendrix...etc etc etc I could go on but i won't...

and he was also blown away by them...

Firstly I dont doubt that there is plenty of people that have seen every fucking band on the planet - but I find it hard, very hard to believe that if you have seen GnR in the appetite days and Metallica in their prime - that VR is the best live show you have seen. Plus I just said that I have seen alot of bands and said that alot of bands were far better than VR. Crime? I think not. I didnt after all say that I have seen everybody and I know it all... I mentioned a handful of bands that in my opinion were far far better than VR in showmanship and musicianship and just overall enjoyment and satisfaction. So dont get your panties bunched up mister...  who really is the one with the seen it all attutude??

I also mentioned on an earlier post that it is all opinion... my fave bands are other peoples nightmare and vice versa... and all I did was type my opinion, so if it aint cool to read criticisms, viewpoints, opinions and discuss things that other people may challenge you about - I suggest that you look somewhere other than forums and message boards... cos opinions are like arseholes - everyones got one!  :)

The link to that other thread is http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=46319.0     there ofcourse is mixed opinions, but the thread gets ruined by people that cant take that someone took a shot at a band they like.

When I saw VR 2 years ago they were fuckin' great and hard-rockin'. Not that I haven't heard a better setlist, but they are definietley one of the best live bands on Earth.

if you read my post i said it was ONE of the best...

Also...i'm NOT a huge VR fan...but credit where credit is due I will say when i think a band deserves credit for a cracking gig...as did VR last week.

My panties are not in a twist...far from it...but someone other than me brought other bands into the mix...not me...

i judge each band on the music they release and the gigs they play...end of story...and as such i will listen to both Libertad and CD with an open mind and ear

I've seen VR in 2005 in Germany and I liked them a lot, except for Scott. But I think I will never like him: not impressed by his voice and I don't like his style. He's an ok singer, but nothing special to me. To be honest, Duff and Slash were who I came for and they were good. The first I saw of VR this year was the SBQM video and I was embarrased watching it. The second thing I saw was the RAR bootleg and I was very dissapointed. Slash is my alltime favourite ?guitar player, but this was mediocre. I then already had pre-ordered my Libertad copy and now I started to doubt a little.
Until I watched the Donnington video. Absolutely AMAZING! The band was so good, I even liked Scott a little (although he should quit his "motherfuckers" calling, he's not 16 anymore so it's not really cool). But the show was really good. And especially Slash: playing like hell, running around, and you could see he enjoyed himself. ?So I have to agree to the topic: maybe he was not always as goo in VR in the past as he was in GNR, but now he is as good as ever!

HAHAHA Now u made me laugh with that system of a down crap? :rofl:

For me personally, I enjoy Slash's playing so much more now than at any point in his career.

Everything seems to have focus, less is more so to speak.

i think the same

when you watch his performance with guns in chicago 92, he sets HIGH standards i have to say.

but i felt he kept those up at the donnington show with VR

Slash is playing like always again! That's true.

I'll wait for his bandmates to do the same

Care to elaborate?

I agree, he absolutly tore it up at the Detroit gig

THe more time Slash spends around the guitar, the better he will become - certainly in his ability to play.
I was really impressed with his performance at the PNC in May 2005 and look foward to seeing them again around NYC

MNW

SlashBOG - Laugh all you want about that System of a Down comment fella... it is a sad state of affairs when a band Im not really into deliver a better live performance than my heroes in VR.

All in all I think Slash is amazing, I really believe though that a better songwriter and arranger or even a different producer could bring so much more out of Slash and put him back on top of the world - we can only hope that the new album is the best thing since sliced bread, and hope he goes out on top rather than fade into insignificance like Metallica are doing at the moment.

Its your sad state of affairs.  I think youre failing to recognize that most of the posters on this board dont share your opinion.

i don't get how you got the conclusion you did from that gig. i've seen metallica, gnr, slayer, soad as you have, i've been lucky enough to see the chili peppers in a venue that had 400 people in it for the gig. that intimate with a band who right now are the biggest in the world.

and VR were just on fire on monday in manchester. it easily compared to any of the other shows i've seen.