Tommy Stinson "review" 12th of Oct, 2004, Oslo.
For starters, the train we took down to Oslo hit a car just 10 mins after it
left the station. Some signal stuff didnt work, and a car got its ass smashed in real good.
I dont't know what happened to the driver or any passangers, but if he was alone, I think
he was alright, although very shook up! We got a taxi to Oslo from there on, on the Norwegian railway
system's bill. Before the concert started I was also lucky enough to find a very good quality
Motley Crue, Girls Girls Girls Vinyl from 1987, with the tattoo sticker still intact!
The Alien Crime Syndicate guy did a few songs before Tommy. Meanwhile, Tommy was going
back and forth from backstage to the merchandise girl and I got the chance to get him to sign
my VGH album booklet and get a picture with him! We never got a chance to ask any questions, but
don't worry, we would later!
Tommy opened with 2 songs I wasnt familiar with, maybe called "7 days a week" or "On top of the world"
or something like that. He commented on my mate's GNR shirt that looked like a Jack Daniels
bottle. He thought it was rather wierd they didnt serve Jack at the bar. He also said he might have been
in Oslo before, but wasnt sure.
He did "Without a view" and "Light of day". He felt that it was a very relaxed
evening, but still very cool. During "Light of day" a couple of guys (including me) sang along to his song and
he commented after the song that "maybe his album wasnt so hard to find afterall". He didnt bring any CD's with him,
coz they were all stolen somewhere.
Then he played "Someday" with more sing along before one of the strings broke and they had to stop the
song and do another one instead with Malin's guitar. One of the songs of his "new old" album.
He finished with "Not a moment too soon". Really cool song live btw.
Ran into a couple of GNR fans from HTGTH from what I could understand and we hung out a bit.
After the show was over he went up to the merchandise stand again and we started talking to him.
We didnt get any "new" information from him, but yet a few interesting bits and pieces.
I asked him if he felt that the European audience were more hungry for live music than in the US, like
Nikki stated this summer. Tommy didnt think so, but he said it was very expensive to go touring in
Europe and had to strip it down to just him and his guitar with the ACS guy on backup.
On the subject of Buckethead: Tommy didnt like the guy at all. He tried to be friends with him, talking
to him and get a bit close to him, but it didnt work. He was a great guitarist, but didnt really
fit in just doing his thing, and the chemistry in the band was a lot better whith Buckethead gone.
He mumbled something about "shitting in his bucket", so no, Buckethead was in Tommy's opinion
not a nice person at all.
Richard Fortus: Tommy's best mate from what he told us. Richard was an fantastic guitarist and a really
good friend. I think he was very happy they had Fortus in the band.
Robin Finck: We asked what Robin was doing these days. I never caught it, but my mate said
Tommy said that Robin had been taking dancing lessons! Tommy said Robin was a great guy, and
the artistic bit in the band. He had been to his website and thought it was really cool.
February tour: As we propably knew, he wanted to do some solo touring in February, but it wasnt a done
deal, coz Axl needed him as well, so it would sort of be on and off with the tour and with GNR.
VMA 2002: He thought it was awesome. Just before they started playing, Axl cracked a joke and kind of
caught everyone a bit off guard when the carpet suddenly started rising and they had to stop laughing and start
playing!
Future with GNR: When the ball starts rolling sometime after new years, everything will happen. Videos,
interviews, a new and updated website. They will be making videos for sure and be on tour.
Bumblefoot: Never heard of him, but he said he would propably be filled in on that once he gets back.
He also introduced us to Nathalie (if that was her name) the merchandise girl. "Nathalie, this is the guys".
I thought that was pretty cool.
I dont know how long we talked to him, might have been 10-15 minutes or more. When Jesse Malin started
his show, Tommy went back to the hotel to check when their flight was departing.
Pictures of me and Tommy and others will be up at
www.gnr.com.ar or at
www.gnrsucks.com as soon as possible!
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