(Updates & Discussion) Las Vegas, NV 12/31/11

[HBK]

Concert review: Guns N? Roses

December 31, The Joint

As he introduced the members of the current incarnation of Guns N? Roses during the band?s New Year?s Eve show at the Joint, frontman Axl Rose carefully noted how long each person had been in the band. If Rose is a little defensive about his latest bandmates, he has good reason, since the majority of press about Guns N? Roses still mentions musicians who haven?t been in the band in a decade or more.

Would a show featuring those guys be exciting to see? Sure, but it isn?t going to happen, and the band that Rose has assembled instead sounds pretty damn good. Despite his reputation for being quick-tempered and chronically tardy, Rose took the stage just a few minutes after the band?s scheduled start time, and he looked energetic and happy throughout the show. More importantly, his voice sounded great, keeping its power for the entirety of the marathon three-hour concert.

That is, when he wasn?t taking his frequent offstage downtime, which came during nearly every instrumental break of every song, as well as during the lengthy solos afforded to five of the seven band members. Those diversions stalled the momentum of what was otherwise a tight, entertaining show, making its epic length sometimes more of a chore than a treat.

But when the band was in sync on classic GNR songs like ?It?s So Easy,? ?You Could Be Mine? and ?Nightrain,? the music sounded as good as any performance by the classic lineup. And it was a pleasure to hear more songs from the Use Your Illusion era than had been featured on previous tours, including impeccable versions of ?Estranged? and ?Civil War.? The seven songs from 2008 album Chinese Democracy were less thrilling, and a pair of AC/DC covers (?Whole Lotta Rosie,? ?Riff Raff?) brought more liveliness than dirges like ?Sorry? and ?This I Love.? But Rose and his band gave their all for the duration of the show, working hard to prove that the Guns N? Roses of 2011 (or 2012) is as worthy of the name as those who came before.

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2012/jan/04/concert-review-guns-n-roses/

[cotis]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

[axlrosegnr]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

Yup.

[cotis]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

Yup.

I have quite the picture of you - inside a certain bowling alley. Add me on FB and I'll send it over.

[axlrosegnr]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

Yup.

I have quite the picture of you - inside a certain bowling alley. Add me on FB and I'll send it over.

Fuck yeah!!!! I was wondering who took it....NICE!

[sexkitten]

I just went to the new years show. I just got to hang out with axlrosegnr and ray (don't remember his name here). Axlrosegnr is my herO and ray is a cool dude but would have loved meeting the rest of you. I made a lot of edibles for people and wound up not being able to share much. I wound up eating way more then what would probably be considered sane and uh... Fuck I realized during "sorry" that i was in pepper land. The show really was magic.

Damn, I missed out on edibles?  shit!

[sexkitten]

I thought it was really sweet when Baz brought  his beautiful girlfriend on stage. He just has alot of enthusiasm. And he still has a great mane and powerful vocals. And it's not fair sexkitten that you got to smoke and drink throughout the whole show and I was forbidden to bring in my Advil!

LMAO!!!  yeah, that's crazy you got advil taken away...Thats so LAME!!!  Annie, we were all looking for both you and Buddhamaster! I was dying to meet both of you. 

I wanted to meet you guys as well. I was just very, very tired. I had the flu the week before Christmas and I had to work the day before the trip. I had to get up at 5AM to make my flight to las Vegas. I was going to take a nap when I arrived but I was so excited after I checked in that I went out on the strip. I came back to the Hard ROCK and went to take a 5 minute rest and slept for 3 hours and woke up in a panic at 8:30 pm! I was supposed to get a better phone for Christmas with internet but it didn't happen.it's partly my fault for going to Navy Pier on Wed to get tinsel in my hair, but I got so many compliments it was worth it.

Saturday I went to see the ELVIS show and came back to the hotel and got ready and went to the concert. I did get to give Jarmo a hug at Starbuck's. I was so exhausted after the show I just went back to my room and collapsed. Alot of guys were pawing me so I had to get away. And getting my Advil taken away did not help matters. Ladies you know what I mean.
But meeting Mike Roche my tattoo artist was amazing. His mentor tattooed one of my heroines Angelina Jolie. I will try and post a pic of Axl ROSE STITCH with help from my friend Isabel.
 

yes, please post a pic of your tat!

[Mr. Redman]

To those I met - thank you! From totaling a car before I even left home to the weekends events this was a fucking blast.

Those that got my number - I think I forgot to get a few of yours, so make use of mine and gimmie a call or shoot me a text. We'll have to do it again sometime! With or without the others, we'll have to party again.

[russkwtx]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

Agree 100%

[Buddha_Master]

My review:

Best night of my life, topped the 30th by far.

Yup.

I have quite the picture of you - inside a certain bowling alley. Add me on FB and I'll send it over.

Fuck yeah!!!! I was wondering who took it....NICE!

Fuckin aye fellas... Sigh

Cotis you were the dude staying at Hilton too right? I pm'd you but, oh well maybe next time dude.

[cotis]

It was a crazy weekend.... Sorry we didn't get to catch up Buddha!

[troccoli]

Well in case u didn't know, the 31st was awesome as well of course.  I'm sure each night was even better for those lucky fuckers that got into the aftershows - damn you!  As I mentioned in my 30th review, did the VIP thing again tonight and let me tell you, the band and/or GroundControl fixed quite a few things.  First of all, they let us in before everyone else, and those that wanted to could have got right up to the barrier in the very front and stayed there.  Again the meet and greet wasn't until later which meant losing a spot.  If they could arrange it so that future meet and greets for the VIP thing are before or even after the concert that would be great.  This time the room was in the venue, upstairs, with plenty of great seating, cool posters, a bar, and great food.  Only 2 drink tickets tonight and no bonus concert ticket since there were a lot of folks for this meet n greet.  By the way, is anyone on here Mark from Arkansas or anyone know him?  Him and his wife were great people and I would love to keep in touch.  Anyway, the meet and greet was awesome again.  The guys don't just stand there and take pictures and sign shit - they also actually engage you in conversation!  If you are interested in which members attended just see the pics on gunsnroses.com.  The concert was terrific and my only gripe is that I was dissed by Jarmo.  What a jerk!  Only kidding.  Here's what happened:  I was on the floor this night.  On the 30th, even though they gave us floor tickets, I was in the seats since I drove from San Fran at 5am that morning.  Anyways, the floor there slopes up sligthly from the stage and each section has a little barricade.  During one of the songs Jarmo was walking by below me (I guess from the soundbooth) and I leaned over with my hand out.  Of course it was very loud so I didn't have a chance to introduce myself so he just looked up and moved on.  I don't blame him a bit - I'm a bigger guy plus I have a full beard right now so yeah, weird.  This night we did get the GNR card/placard:

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas.JPG

It's only signed by Dizzy and Bumble since I had them sign my other item the night before.  I would have had DJ sign it too but I forgot.  We also got a pick when we walked into the venue this night:

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas4.JPG

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas5.JPG

My friend got a white one.  Here's a pic of the laminate (not the greatest pics - one side was a like a hologram of sorts):

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas2.JPG

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas3.JPG

Finally here is what I had signed:

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas7.JPG

http://troccolitm.com/GNRVegas6.JPG

Yeah, that's right I had DJ sign it too but you know what?  I don't give a fuck.  All the guys liked it and told me I really needed to open it for the artwork.  I then told them that I had an opened one, scanned the artwork, and sold it.  All in all I would say that the VIP thing was worth it for the price.  If you are one of those lucky enough to get aftershows then you might consider skipping, but from what I hear some members that were at the VIP thing were not at the aftershow (sorry Redman!) so you never know.  The Joint also had an Axl display and a GNR shirt behind glass:

http://troccolitm.com/AxlVegas.jpg

http://troccolitm.com/ShirtJoint.JPG

Still don't think that shirt is official though.  Of course that don't mean it's not cool...Happy New Year!

[jarmo]

/jarmo

[One.In.A.Million]

/jarmo

Awesome photos jarmo. 

How toned and healthy does Ron look in that picture, he looks like he's in amazing fitness condition. 

[jarmo]

Thanks. 



Two more:









/jarmo