I meant to post a review after the VR show, but this website was giving me some trouble. But now that its not, I just want to share with you the delights that were at PNC Arts Center on Friday 5.20.2005.
Its a miracle that I made the show. My train pulled in at the Matawah/Aberdeen stop at 9:36 pm, and there was a taxi at the station ready to pull out. So I just made the taxi. There was a GNR fan inside and we discussed the latest with VR and GNR. When we made it to PNC, I was pissed because I could hear Suckertrain Blues being played and thats like one of my all-favorite VR songs. What a way to start the show
. Well it didn't matter that I missed it, because I could hear Do It For the Kids, another favorite of mine. There was much more in store...it all exceeded my expectation. I didn;t expect to hear VR sound so tight, but they did!!!
I grabbed me a Miller High LIfe (good call!!!) and made it to my seat. I won;t do a song by song review, but you should have seen me folks -
I was doing the Axl dances to all the songs (which I typically do when Im moved by a GNR/VR song) so they were definitly getting the job done (unlike the nu-GNR show in 2002 when after halfway through the set I stopped dancing because watching Axl & that nu band didn;t move me like the old one did). I thought "You Got NO Right" sounded really awesome live - you should have seen me dance to that - almost the way that AXL dances in the video for Estranged. So I take back my bad review - there's a lot to the song. Of Course "Set Me Free" - my favorite song on the record, sounded great. The best part of the show wasn't even the songs - it was watching the players. MAN WAT HAPPENED TO DUFF - HE FUCKING SUPERHUMAN!!! DUFF adds so much to VR - and he runs around stage with Slash now, unlike when he was in GNR and took a couple of drunking hops to the amp and back to the mike stand. Its really a shame that he wasn't like that when he was in GNR - I think he could have made the band even more popular back then than they already were. It was cool watching Slash for the first time. After the show, I was like "Slash Still Has It". Slash was cool the way he introduced songs - just like he did back in the 80's at the Ritz & at the clubs in the GNR glory days. Slash looked like he was in great shape with Duff, so did Dave Kushner, Scott Weiland & Matt Sorum, I wonder who their personal trainer is, because all the players look like they are in great shape ( even as Slash still drinks a lot). Scott Weiland is a very charismatic - dynamic frontman. He does a great job filling Axl's shoes by ranting at the crowd, he spat in someone's face for being an asshole to him and ranted him out, he swayed, he leaned over, he used a lot of energy. All the players ran around, jumped off amps, and they haven't lost a step since the GNR days (the same cannot be said for Axl). I felt that unlike the Nu-GNR when Axl's moves seemed more contrived and less of the natural expression of his performance that he used to do, Scott really gave a great show full of human emotion, grit and moves on stage that complemented the songs. U could see him sweat, and strain, and contort he body...he was putting on a show we could only watch Axl do on old bootlegs today. Its a miracle that he didn;t trip over himself, or over the other players, because he looked like was about to - he was so out of control.
It was cool when they did "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. That not only won the NJ crowd, but Slash's bluesy solo, really set the mood, just like he used to do with GNR back with "Only Women Bleed" before "KOHD" every show. That makes you realize that while Axl was a big part of the GNR show, so was Slash, because he sets the mood with bluesy guitar and peforms it in such a stance to evoke incredible goosebumps - something that can't be said with Buckethead. Also, Mr. Brownstone sounded incredible as well, and I danced my heart out with taht one. People may have thought I was crazy, but I was just being me around great music. Every time, Duff or Slash jumped off the mike, I cheered extra louder.
The only complaints about the show are sparse, but I didn;t like Its So Easy so much. Also, there were a few songs where the band seemed having communication problems and were having a hard getting the song off the ground musically. Also, they were showing too much Scott Weiland on the big screen - they should have shown more Duff or Slash, because they were just as much of stars on that stage as he was.
For me, rock concerts - particularly a great one - is a release of personal inhibitions. This show satisfied all my rock cravings. I enjoyed the show, the VR songs, the old songs. Most importantly, this band still has it. They look like they have more music to come. It was a miracle not only to see VR (because all the members were close to dead at various points in their careers), but to see them put a show that rivaled GNR. Even with the 40 degree weather, they still heated up the house. It looked like everyone was into it, everybody had their hands up after each song - I am still recovering my voice!!!
BTW, the show looked 97% sold out, so they are definitely doing something right outside the die-hard GNR/STP fans. There may have been empty seats, but they were very few (no more than a hundred or 2).
Great Job VR, thanks for bringing back the Rock N' Fucking Roll
Mark N Roses
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