October 31 - Jacksonville, FL @ Veterans Memorial Arena

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Regarding the billboard review- Yet another review from a critic with an axe to grind and has no clue. Chinese Democracy was to come out before 1996? It takes 3 guitarists to replicate Slash? This guy is not too bright, another one stuck in the past.

[newman]

Here's a much better review from a local paper...


Guns N' Roses puts on good -- not great -- show


By ROGER BULL, The Times-Union

There is something about standing there at 1:30 in the morning, listening to yet another guitar solo but knowing you're not going to leave until you hear Paradise City. Yes, Guns N' Roses did make it to the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on Tuesday night and put on a good -- but not great -- show.

All you needed was a little Patience.

It wasn?t the full, original band, of course. But Axl Rose was there, and that's who they came to see. They just had to wait until midnight to see him.

The whole delay thing started at the beginning. Though the concert was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., the doors didn't open until 7:30. So hundreds of people stood in line, listening to a monotonous recording telling them over and over that guns, knives and clubs were prohibited. The crowd was mostly in their 20s and 30s, but there were plenty several decades past that. Though fans had been encouraged to wear costumes on that Halloween night, not too many did.

There weren't more than 1,000 people in arena when 8 p.m. rolled around. Ticket sales had been slow but had reportedly picked up when prices had cut $13-$27. At 8:35, 35 minutes late, former Skid Row front man Sebastian Bach took the stage with his band. They played for a little more than an hour, a mix of Skid Row hits and some new songs.

Bach tried hard, you had to give him that. He still has his screaming pipes, and he went through all the requisite hair metal moves: Pumping his fist in the air, tossing his long blond hair and spinning the microphone. But the music just lay there flat like, well, old hair metal. Except when he played his bigger hits Monkey Business and Youth Gone Wild, he didn?t get the crowd very excited. Instead, he had to implore them to sing along, to jump up and down, even to applaud.

After Bach, there was a good 55-minute delay before Papa Roach came on. There didn't seem to be much work going on with the equipment. We just waited.

But when they did come on at 10:35, they got rocking right away with She Loves Me Not. The band was incredibly tight and energetic, all four fused into one solid beat. Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix even went out in the crowd on a couple of songs. More music, less posing and definitely a notch above Bach. They even got a mosh pit going on general admission floor.

By the time Papa Roach finished up with Last Resort, it was pushing 11:30. And it was midnight before Guns N' Roses came on. Keep in mind that if you were 18 when Appetite for Destruction came out in 1987, you are now 37 years old. And you may just have, you know, a job, a family. In fact, while most of the lower level was full by the time GNR took the stage, the crowd did thin during their two-hour set.

Axl and the guys (of which only keyboardist Dizzy Reed dates back to when they last produced an album) kicked it off right with Welcome to the Jungle. It was Axl Rose, all right. He's sporting a corn-row pony tail these days and he's a little heavier. He is, after all, 44. But the old moves are still there: the hop, the spin and the snake dance. He?s still energetic, running from one side of the stage to the other.

The voice, well, sometimes it sounded fine, especially on the shriek that sounds like nothing but him. Other times, it seemed to break and disappear completely and it was impossible to tell if it was him or the electronics that was failing. On the softer tunes like Patience and Knockin' on Heaven's Door, it's clearly a rougher, less agile voice than we remember.

At it's best, the concert was very good. It was, after all, Axl Rose up there singing some of the better songs in rock. And in the full two-hour set, he did just about all that you could ask for. At its worst, there were too many long guitar solos by guitarists are who not as good as Slash and who threw in too many silly theatrics. "Look, I can play my guitar when it's down by my ankles!"
When the band ended at 1:50 a.m., more of the crowd left, not waiting for the encore they knew would be Paradise City. The band came back quickly for its encore, and did a first-class version of a great rock 'n roll song.

Fireworks went off behind the stage, confetti blew out over the crowd that still remained on the floor.

That was worth waiting for.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

I read that on Jacksonville.com yesterday. That is a lot more of an objectionable review, much more accurate than that billboard.com review.

[crazycheryl]

I have to bitch about the security too cause in this day and age everyone is too politically correct, can't take a fuckin joke, and let's the power of security go to their head! That's bullshit about the costumes and the venue better have given those people their money back. But probably not because they will say it's their fault. Also, I go to a rock concert expecting to see people acting crazy - if you can't act crazy there, where can you? A mental ward but that will be my retirement home. Security is way out of hand at all events!!!! These people let a little power go to their heads and they think they can make or break someone's evening and laugh about it later. I'd like to see their asses get shut out of some thing they really want to see and paid good money for! Honestly, the whole thing has changed so much, it completely sucks! This whole country needs to smoke dope or take a pill. Chill the fuck out!

[Dr. Blutarsky]

If you dress up as Slash to a GNR concert in 2006 you have to expect a hard time. We all know how Axl feels about Slash T shirts ( RIR 3).

[duasoul]

Did anyone else notice the bra being thrown up on stage to Axl? Someone threw it to him from GA, and he slung it over his shoulder like it was a satchel. He walked over to Robin and wrapped the bra around his mic. Robin, Tommy, and Axl kept laughing about it for a good minute or two after.

It was even funnier watching Robin trying to figure out how to untangle it from his mic, whille still trying to play the material.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Did anyone else notice the bra being thrown up on stage to Axl? Someone threw it to him from GA, and he slung it over his shoulder like it was a satchel. He walked over to Robin and wrapped the bra around his mic. Robin, Tommy, and Axl kept laughing about it for a good minute or two after.

It was even funnier watching Robin trying to figure out how to untangle it from his mic, whille still trying to play the material.

I did notice that.  That was some funny shit.

Some fans must give the band constant entertainment at the shows.