Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I'm curious on everyone's opinion on what's a better opener Welcome to the Jungle or Chinese Democracy. I feel both songs work extremely well. Chinese Democracy w/ that subtle opening followed by the tunderous and choppy guitars n' of course Axl's howl all leading to a fantastic fireworks display.  Where as Welcome to the Jungle the opening chord is all the fireworks one needs. An instant classic!! I'm sideing w/ good ol' WTTJ on this one..That song is meant to open up any and all events, why not a GN'R show...Who cares if it's been the set opener the last 2 tours, hasn't Paradise City been the set closer even longer!! I feel CD would make a great lead encore, followed by Sorry n' than Paradise City.

For this tour, it must be CD.

Overall, I think Jungle is the best opener, but then again, that's my favorite song of all time.

Guns did it right this time.  All the fans have been clamoring to have CD open the show, and by George, we got it.

It's the first time since 1993 that a song other than Jungle has kicked things off.  The people at the Taiwan gig should feel very lucky.

CD by a longshot.

Kick their ass with the new stuff, then remind them of the classics.

I'm ALL ABOUT Chinese D as the opener. I love me some Jungle and all but I've been dying for CD to be the opener for ever. I'd even move Jungle further back.

If I were to design a setlist specifically myself, I'd have say 5 or 6 Appetite songs about 2/3rds of the way through the set, beginning with Jungle, and use the rest of the time for C.D. and Illusions stuff - but that would never work, let's face it. A lot of people go to see GNR for the Appetite material and you've got to space it out through the set to hold their interest.

Yeah, I was hoping they'd go super CD and take out some of the older songs  and I think opening with CD is the right decision.

Id love to see Jungle open the encore. that would be pretty bad ass. Jungle Better PC to close   WOW!

It must have been so amazing for those lucky fans!

I hope they go through the whole tour with "Chinese Democracy" opening.

Not necessarily because I love the song alot, but just because now is the time for the album to get the exposure it deserved.

Last time around the casual and hardcore fans alike got a familiar setlist of songs. Now is the time for them to pay more attention to the new music and what this band can do rather than just going for the sake of Axl singing the classics.

 Jungle to encore
 Chinese as opener . : ok:



The pyro on chinese its insane.

Jungle all the way!!

CD without doubt. I want to hear the new album take centre stage - the band deserve for the CD songs to be at the centre of these shows, I'm sure thats why they sound so good, this is their shit now. I wouldn't even have had PC as the last song I would of had Prostitute, also wish they would have done IRS but hey there is plenty of time for that. Just glad to have them back and playing so fucking well.

I gotta say....(and i fucking LOVE the whole album Chinese Democracy).....that I though Jungle should never be replaced as opener.....however...I think I already mentioned this in another thread...I'm a sucker for pyro...That CD opening was NUTS!! But in the end, I guess I really don't care....the band is up there, they can do what they want and I'll be fuckin great!!

On that note though....hahahaha.....they can never replace Paradise City as closer...haha....sorry, im drunk.

I hope they'll start with It's so Easy at some show. Loved that back in the days.

it's kinda hard.. either one could be the first song and the first song of the encore.. love them both, but with the pyro and that was in taipei for CD, i'd take that as the set opener

basically, why don't ya decide which after you hear it live yourself?

yo, this aint burger king, it's not have it your way ;)

WTTJ is so powerfull, it's an hymn of Rock History. Chinese Democray is a average rock song, it can be work in this tour  as opener but over next years and tour, nobody'll miss CD if it's not in the set list, quite the contrary with Welcome To The Jungle.

guess i'm a nobody then : ok:

Just watched WWTJ form the other night. As the 2nd song, it totally works!! CD gets the ball rolling n' WTTJ just adds to the momentum...

I think it would be killer if Jungle came right after the encore

Everybody calming down and AXL SCREAMING "DO YOU KNOWWWWWWW WHERE YOU ARE?" haha

I would like to see Shackler's Revenge as opening!

It has to be Chinese Democracy for this tour. Its a powerful rocker! and the opening bars are pretty amazing with DJ Ashba on the stage in spot light before GNR explode...and just when you get a chance to get your breath back, the belt into Jungle.
I like what they have done with the quick 1-2 punch!!!

Thing is, WTTJ in the old days was played mid set, always confused me, was always an opener, espec with the pyro they use these days, but didnt back then

but it has to be CD for this tour, and it is a great rival to wttj

I used to think welcome to the jungle was the perfect opener. But I must say I like it better when it comes second and chinese democracy stays the opener. I was sceptic about this when I read the Asia setlists. But when you experience this live, not youtube, but live. You'll see/hear/experience what I mean!

The whole eerie intro, people clapping with the beat, ashba rockin the first chords, the fireworks and BAM! full band rocking on stage makes everybody go wild :) And after that when you hear the first notes of welcome to the jungle it only gets wilder. Wilder than when they play wttj first and cd second, I'm sure of that.

Chinese is perfect as the opener.

People are ecstatic that the show is starting, the lights go out, the intro starts, Dj plays the opening riff....

Then when people are ready to catch their breath, you hit them with Jungle...





/jarmo

i will always prefer Jungle as the opener but Chin Dem is the perfect replacement

they need an opener that represents the 'New Guys' (i dont like calling them the new guys but i guess you gotta call them something)

Totally disagree! 

When you have a song called WELCOME To The Jungle, it's a given that you got THE opening tune!

They should NOT open with a song that less than half the audience is familiar with!


Or... When 100% of the audience is pumped that the show has STARTED with Jungle, you hit them with a new rocker from CD (Shackler's, ChiDem or whatever...)

I'm really torn by this, and I'm still thinking about it.

But I really have to agree that Welcome To The Jungle is the perfect opener. I have seen both openings (2006/10) and I also have to say that Chinese Democracy works really well too.

You see Chinese Democracy has to either be an opener or used as an encore, due to it's build up. Welcome To The Jungle in 2006 was a brilliant opener with Robin teasing us with the riff. It is really hard to choose, and I totally get the use of CD as the opener by Axl, with the album being released and this being the first world tour since.

If I had to side with one or the other, I would choose Welcome To The jungle. Simply because it's my favourite song ever, and it worked so well in (2006/07) as the opener I thought.

wttj was perfect for the old band, cd much better for the new band.

That's another reason why it's so great. It's the first song so people are obviously paying attention. The show has started, the excitement level is probably at its peak.



The song's intro works really well as the intro to the whole show. You know the shows that are part of the tour that's named after the album.... An album which title track we're talking about!



/jarmo

It's just a matter of preference. Both are equally good as openers.

It is the chinese democracy tour right?  : ok: