December 20th - Gibson Amphitheatre DISCUSSION THREAD

[Robman?]

Great review, and great pic of Robin and Axl 

[dodger girl]

When does this happen?

I've seen 13 or so shows this year and.. haven't really ever noticed Robin mess up.  Everything sounds fine to me.

lucky you

and I agree, Robin sounds fine to me, I love the guy! my favorite new member

and to see critics raving for him makes me feel proud somehow lol

[bazgnr]

...I do.? Here's hoping others come around once CD is out.? ? ?

Well I feel everyone eles's style. I even like Finck's studio stuff. But live..? . Naw.

He just seems sloppy.. and not in a soulful good way. I mean how many times can you mess up The Blues solo? And it's not like he misses notes all the time consistently, but damn its a whole lot of the time. It shouldn't even be 70% of the time.. he should hit notes almost all the time.? I shouldn't have to worry before he plays a solo. One he probably wrote at that. And don't get me started on the old material. I just feel like hes more of a rhythm guy.. and I know that I'll have to "get used to it" but man.. I wish Richard was the main solo guy. He has a good mix of soul and technical ability...

Not to sound like Nesquick.?

I just feel like reviewers are praising Robin because they heard he was the lead and that he was good. In the same way that the reviewers often just repeat what they heard from other reviews... to sound credible.

Anyways, I'm ok with Robin, hes a cool guy, and a good writer. So thats my 2 cents. Doesn't do anything for me live.

...I do.? Here's hoping others come around once CD is out.? ? ?

Like I said, I like Robin's playing on the demos.. but not live. I'm sure his contributions are huge.

Got it.? There's a big difference between appreciating studio/writing contributions and "feeling" that same player in a live setting.? Oftentimes, there's a really poor translation between writing/recording and live shows (To me, Blink-182 epitomizes this...the songs, while bland and predictable, can sometimes be catchy and are well-recorded, yet live...good God, I can't stomach more than a few notes whenever I've seen a televised performance.)?

When I praise Robin, I'm primarily referring to his studio stuff and writing abilities.? Given that I'll be listening to CD far more than I'll be seeing the band live, I'm more forgiving of a sloppy live performance...

[Eva GnRAxlRosette]

A third guitarist stood apart from the others both visually and sonically, effortlessly tearing through every riff and solo like a man possessed; think Jimmy Page on ecstasy. Even after Rose introduced the bearded, sunglass-wearing phenomenon by name, dressed like a cross between Jim Morrison and Chris Robinson, I still couldn?t believe I was looking at Robin Finck. Having proficiently handled axe duties for several years with Nine Inch Nails, Finck looked back then to be something out of the circus of the apocalypse, but the man played like the devil himself. Exuding a confidence no amount of posturing can imitate, he brought a searing intensity to each Guns song with impassioned intricacy and soul. His beautifully shredding five-minute solo following "Better" was a standout performance in a night full of highlights.

Finck was great before his apparent bohemian awakening, but this was something else entirely. He was essentially running through a gallery of world-renowned portraits and landscapes, the best of their time and sacred to many, casting his own colors and impressions onto each canvas. Somehow, blasphemy be damned, he made improvements.

  Robin 
This part got me really psyched!  Fuckin' awesome for Robin 

[EFISH]

A third guitarist stood apart from the others both visually and sonically, effortlessly tearing through every riff and solo like a man possessed; think Jimmy Page on ecstasy. Even after Rose introduced the bearded, sunglass-wearing phenomenon by name, dressed like a cross between Jim Morrison and Chris Robinson, I still couldn?t believe I was looking at Robin Finck. Having proficiently handled axe duties for several years with Nine Inch Nails, Finck looked back then to be something out of the circus of the apocalypse, but the man played like the devil himself. Exuding a confidence no amount of posturing can imitate, he brought a searing intensity to each Guns song with impassioned intricacy and soul. His beautifully shredding five-minute solo following "Better" was a standout performance in a night full of highlights.

Finck was great before his apparent bohemian awakening, but this was something else entirely. He was essentially running through a gallery of world-renowned portraits and landscapes, the best of their time and sacred to many, casting his own colors and impressions onto each canvas. Somehow, blasphemy be damned, he made improvements.

  Robin 
This part got me really psyched!  Fuckin' awesome for Robin 

Yeah, deffinetly the highlight of the article.

And he's right: 2007 is Axl's year.

[bazgnr]

Off all the reviews mentioning the new songs...has anyone *not* raved about "Better?"? Seems predestined to be the next GnR classic...

Any way to consolodate these two threads on the same thing, Mods?

[dodger girl]

this review made me wish we had this show on tape..

is there a boot of this show out there?

[EFISH]

this review made me wish we had this show on tape..

is there a boot of this show out there?

There will be soon, we arranged a fund to buy it for $500 bucks and I think we've just about got that much $.

It looks like the best bootleg of the tour. 

[bazgnr]

Now that's  very cool.  Who's the "we" you mention?  What a great show that would be to see/hear...   

[Jim Bob]

He left Used To Love Her out of the set, and it was most definitely played after Think About You because I remember Izzzy fucking Stradlin teasing the crowd with the intro.

but thats being nitpicky     Great review!! seriously, its great that so many positive reviews have come out of this tour.  Especially love what he had to say about Robin.

[dodger girl]

this review made me wish we had this show on tape..

is there a boot of this show out there?

There will be soon, we arranged a fund to buy it for $500 bucks and I think we've just about got that much $.

It looks like the best bootleg of the tour. 

awesome, thanks to everyone that put money for this, and for all the bootlegs for that matter, i love you all

[Robman?]

Yep great review, and Robin Rocks!!!

 

[freedom78]

Jack.

I was standing right next to you on the 20th....maybe we're not hearing the same band? 

I don't know. Lol. Honestly, I just don't feel like the guy is very great at all. Good? Sure. But, not great. I feel nothing when the guy plays

And right now, off the top of my head, I know he botched the end of The Blues on the Dec 20th show... I was there. I know he did pretty much the same thing at Pittsburgh in '02. And yeah thats not too many examples, but it's just from what I've heard.

And on the old material.. I really would say, almost all examples. Like the SCOM solo.. the Patience solo especially. It's not so bad that it messes up the song, I just feel like when people say "Finck adds his own style to the song" that he's just fucking up.

It just seems like Finck struggles on stage.. and it's almost stressful to watch. It's weird.

I take back what I said about him being really.. poor and sloppy.. because I can't prove that you know? That's just how I hear it. Everybody will have their own opinions. It's just I don't feel like he has stage presence or great playing ability and I'm always wondering why he plays over Richard and Bumble when I feel like they are more talented.

But I'm no hater. Robin is a great writer, and I feel he is a great studio musician. I don't mind him being lead too much and I'm over it anyways.

Sorry Finck fans! No offense meant.

I don' t know if my opinion captures how anyone else feels about Robin's playing, but I'll give it a go.  I don't mean this in a particularly positive or negative way, but his playing, especially solos, seem to give each note its own space.  What I mean, is that each note seems very independent of the one before and after.  I THINK this may be what some mean when they call him sloppy, though I'm not sure it's sloppy so much as it's just his style.  This "spacing" is most obvious (to me) in TWAT, though I can also hear it clearly in the patience solo posted earlier in this thread.  It took me some time to get used to, and I'm not saying it's bad...it's just different.  And, since GNR is a blues based hard rock band, many of the solos from previous material had that feel where each note seems to bleed into the next.  That's not Robin's style, IMO, and I'm sure what HE does will work well when it's featured.  If his style isn't the best to solo on a particular track, well, there ARE three guitarists! 

[Chief]

About the Patience solo - he plays it differently because he wants to. I'm sure he can play it close to or exactly the same as the album version but he doesn't.
IMO , something like the SCOM solo is closer to the original.  But, overall they play the solos differently because they are different people.  A ton of people can mimic the album version exactly but then that wouldn't be good either, at least not to me.

Jack.

I was standing right next to you on the 20th....maybe we're not hearing the same band? 

I don't know. Lol. Honestly, I just don't feel like the guy is very great at all. Good? Sure. But, not great. I feel nothing when the guy plays

And right now, off the top of my head, I know he botched the end of The Blues on the Dec 20th show... I was there. I know he did pretty much the same thing at Pittsburgh in '02. And yeah thats not too many examples, but it's just from what I've heard.

And on the old material.. I really would say, almost all examples. Like the SCOM solo.. the Patience solo especially. It's not so bad that it messes up the song, I just feel like when people say "Finck adds his own style to the song" that he's just fucking up.

It just seems like Finck struggles on stage.. and it's almost stressful to watch. It's weird.

I take back what I said about him being really.. poor and sloppy.. because I can't prove that you know? That's just how I hear it. Everybody will have their own opinions. It's just I don't feel like he has stage presence or great playing ability and I'm always wondering why he plays over Richard and Bumble when I feel like they are more talented.

But I'm no hater. Robin is a great writer, and I feel he is a great studio musician. I don't mind him being lead too much and I'm over it anyways.

Sorry Finck fans! No offense meant.

[Voodoochild]

Thanks for the review. I like when they talk about the new songs, but I really don't know what's the deal to say they are a natural evolution from UYIs. I can't see anything in common besides the obvious presence of Axl.

And right now, off the top of my head, I know he botched the end of The Blues on the Dec 20th show... I was there. I know he did pretty much the same thing at Pittsburgh in '02. And yeah thats not too many examples, but it's just from what I've heard.

What do you mean? The end of his solo, right? Because the last solo is Richard playing..

I take back what I said about him being really.. poor and sloppy.. because I can't prove that you know? That's just how I hear it. Everybody will have their own opinions. It's just I don't feel like he has stage presence or great playing ability and I'm always wondering why he plays over Richard and Bumble when I feel like they are more talented.

IMHO, all the three can play anything Slash wrote perfectly, but it's obvious that they want to put their own touch. Also, if you wonder why Robin gets more spotlight, just listen to Better solo again.

[SterileEyes]

I must be the only person who still doesn't "feel" Robin's playing. Well.. I feel something... heh. And it's not good.

Relax bro, I am a member at a guitar forum and absolutly nobody there likes the poor guy. I am trying my best to defend him but I guess alot of people dont like his "style"

Finck's great live, musically. He was flawless on the 17th. On the 20th, he was obviously drunk, and it showed at times. What? A GN'R guitarist played a gig drunk? I know, but in Robin's case, it bordered on sloppy and careless at times. Slash was drunk and sloppy often, but never careless. My opinion.

Presence wise, I've stated a hundred times I think that black hat in the beginning is just so tacky, lame and unnecessary. Also, there's a fine line between 'confident' and 'cocky', sometimes Robin comes off cocky. When you're assigned the position of filling Slash's shoes (or being Axl's guitar player, whatever you want to call it), he could be a little more personable onstage. In my opinion, he has too many calculated rock star poses and not enough crowd interaction.

Bumblefoot, to me, comes off as a class act as well as a great player. He's personable with fans and obviously grateful to be in the position he's in. Same with Richard, actually...even Tommy has a great sense of humor. I don't get that vibe from Robin.

Robin still gets an 8/10 from me overall, I can't deny he's an amazingly talented player - especially blues stuff.

And come to think about it, I suppose if I were in his shoes I'd need to be extra cocky to get up there and play the Sweet Child riff without having my hands slip up or something.

Oh, and since this is the "Praise Only" GN'R board, even though I say mostly positive things about Robin here, I'll add one more compliment to go alongside the bits of criticism - his writing so far based on what I've heard is fantastic. The Blues solo, the final solo in Better, the music to Better since I understand he wrote a good share of it...all great, great material.

[Jizzo]

if anyone could get the audio into a seperate file of bumblefoot playing the grinch song id be forever indebted

[BumbleFinck]

I must be the only person who still doesn't "feel" Robin's playing. Well.. I feel something... heh. And it's not good.

Relax bro, I am a member at a guitar forum and absolutly nobody there likes the poor guy. I am trying my best to defend him but I guess alot of people dont like his "style"

Finck's great live, musically. He was flawless on the 17th. On the 20th, he was obviously drunk, and it showed at times. What? A GN'R guitarist played a gig drunk? I know, but in Robin's case, it bordered on sloppy and careless at times. Slash was drunk and sloppy often, but never careless. My opinion.

Presence wise, I've stated a hundred times I think that black hat in the beginning is just so tacky, lame and unnecessary. Also, there's a fine line between 'confident' and 'cocky', sometimes Robin comes off cocky. When you're assigned the position of filling Slash's shoes (or being Axl's guitar player, whatever you want to call it), he could be a little more personable onstage. In my opinion, he has too many calculated rock star poses and not enough crowd interaction.

Bumblefoot, to me, comes off as a class act as well as a great player. He's personable with fans and obviously grateful to be in the position he's in. Same with Richard, actually...even Tommy has a great sense of humor. I don't get that vibe from Robin.

Robin still gets an 8/10 from me overall, I can't deny he's an amazingly talented player - especially blues stuff.

And come to think about it, I suppose if I were in his shoes I'd need to be extra cocky to get up there and play the Sweet Child riff without having my hands slip up or something.

Oh, and since this is the "Praise Only" GN'R board, even though I say mostly positive things about Robin here, I'll add one more compliment to go alongside the bits of criticism - his writing so far based on what I've heard is fantastic. The Blues solo, the final solo in Better, the music to Better since I understand he wrote a good share of it...all great, great material.

slash isnt mr crowd interaction himself

[WeHeldTogether]

Have you guys heard Robin's new solo he plays?  It sounds Zeppelin-ish, and its really awesome.  Robin puts so much emotion into what he plays, it seems like he's putting it all into each note.  There's a youtube vid of it from 12/19.  It's great.  I don't know how you guys can be calling him "sloppy."  Everything doesn't have to sound perfectly right.