Oslo, Spektrum, Norway - June 28 + July 8, 2006

[Steve McKagan]

So if there's a pre-show meeting, I'd prefer somewhere close to Spektrum....

I'm in!

[jaeger]

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me go to the 8th..

[Steve McKagan]

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me go to the 8th..

Why shouldn't they?

[jaeger]

Cause I live in another country?

[slash666]

Cause I live in another country?

thats a pretty good reason

[erose]

I'm gonna arrive at the Gallerian bus station in the afternoon, which I believe is close to Spektrum.

So if there's a pre-show meeting, I'd prefer somewhere close to Spektrum....

No need to waste time travelling around the town!?



/jarmo

give me a ribg and i'll pick you up!

i have to say tho, what a great gig last night!!! better than rir imo!

[Death Cube K]

Guns N' Roses Review Oslo 28th 20006


This review will be done somewhat different. It will give out the basic facts from the Oslo gig on the 28th of June, but it will also
bring up some issues that currently deals with Guns N Roses. Yes, I'm a big fan of GNR and I have been following especially
the new incarnation VERY closely the last 8 years. There are others like me of course, but if you want a "real" GNR review, then check this out.
It's free of media bullshit and stupidity by people who talks more than they should about GNR. However this is just my own
opinions, and things I saw and heard during the concert. It may of course be different in other countries.

Just before this concert, Axl had been arrested in Sweden for biting a security guard after the security guy supposedly started to intervene
on a discussion/fight between Axl and his assistant Beta. The cops says Axl were drunk and were biting and raising hell, Axl says he wanted
to protect one of his closest personal friends (Beta). The truth usually lies somewhere in-between the different versions.

I must say I was very worried about how Axl would handle this. All things pointed to Axl taking the arrest with a smile and some jokes like
he's been doing throughout their treck in Europe this summer, but I had to take Axl's past into the picture as well. I e-mailed Ron Thal and asked
him. He did not reply straight away, but probably the nicest and most humble member of Guns N' Roses ever replied to me the day after the
show and hoped I had a good time there. At 7pm the day before the GNR show Axl was released from jail only to refuse to get out of the
plane at Oslo Airport due to the amount of press outside. I did not give this too much thought as it was the press reporting it in a rather bitter tone.
The show was on.

Oslo Spectrum had sold out in about 30 minutes after the first tickets went on sale. A huge increase in interest since GNR's last show at Oslo
in 2001 (which was canceled) when they never reached sold out status.

Me and my friends came down there after the warm up band had played. I did not want to spent any energy on that crap band. I expected Guns N' Roses
in true Axl Rose style to be late. I thought they would show up around 11pm or maybe even 11:30pm. I was surprisingly wrong when the
intro started at exactly 10:30pm. The intro was very short this time and Robin started the riff to 'Jungle just after a few seconds of the
intro music.

True/false "Axl Rose can not sing anymore, Axl is overweight".

These myths can't be more wrong. Axl looks very very well for a guy his age. If I look so fit
when Im 44 I would for sure know I've done a good job. Axl Rose runs around during the entire concert and he screams like
a monster. His voice is incredibly powerful. There's just a slight tad of rasp there. Infact, it reminds me very much of the voice he
got during the AFD sessions. His voice is perfect. There's no problems. He's in key the entire time and nails all the screams, for example
the closing on You Could Be Mine. Don't worry!

Welcome to the jungle sounds amazing. The shear volume is perfect. Black Sabbath for example last year played so loud it was
painful to hear it. Guns N Roses nailed the sound.

They go through 'Jungle, 'Easy and 'Brownstone. Keeping the momentum up during the entire time. As I hoped and expected, Axl is in
a very good mood as always and are joking about the Swedish incident. He dedicated Out Ta Get Me to the Swedish police. Infact,
by the looks of Axl, he found the whole incident rather stupid and funny and not embarrassing.

True/false: The audience does not like the new songs/the songs are crap.

Axl introduces the first new song 'Better' by saying we might have heard this song if we have been very naughty Norwegians. Many of
us are. This song is accepted extremely well. 5 out 10 people around me knows the lyrics to the song. 8 out of 10 jumps up and
down and punched the air like hell exactly like they did on the previous songs. I.R.S does not get the same response. Since I.R.S
is a rather complex song it kind of needs time to grow on you. I enjoyed it a lot. It was very powerful. Less people were into it. It came
very late in the show and people might have been tired. 'Madagascar' is a crowd pleaser. There were people shouting for this song
all the way through the set. They played if second to last, different from the last shows. I might expect they heard the screams
coming from several people and not just me. It's a very very good song live. They also do 'Chinese Democracy' and I hear
people shouting for this song as well during the night. From my point of view, people enjoy this song, even though unknown to most. 'The Blues'
gets a very well response. This is not my fave song at all, but it seems that the average Joe loves this song. All the new songs
are without doubt good enough. The press slaughtered Appetite For Destruction when it came out, don't forget.

Guns N' Roses are putting on a 2.5 hour show. Axl nails the songs 100%. Because of the shear length of the show and
the songs, Axl goes behind the scenes a few times to get oxygen like he also did back during the Illusions days. They fill the show
with solos and a piano solo by Dizzy. The piano solo is very well released and people enjoy it. The solos does make the show loose
momentum, but from my point of view, the momentum of it all goes straight back when they do a song like Out ta get me. For people
on the floor I'd say it's a nice pause to catch your breath and to soak up the show and appreciate it to the max. To the people sitting
on the upper levels I would say the solos are rather pointless. I understand why they do so many solos, but my advice would be
to at least take one of them off the set list and let for example Tommy Stinson do a song from his solo album for example. The Robin
Finck solo before SCOM are pointless if you're not soaked in sweat, beer and tired as fuck. I were all those things and I'm
not complaining.

True/false: People at the concerts wants Slash

I expected Slash chants and morons in general. I never even heard a single chant for Slash, I did not hear any negativity from the crowd
from where I was standing (I was moving around from 3rd row to 6th row).
The biggest moron I heard was some guy shouting for 'Dead Horse' a song they won't do
anyway. I was very surprised at the shear positive tone in the audience. My friend even got a "Robin Finck" chant started. However,
most people do not know who every band member is, but that is to be expected coming from a band that got so much trouble
communicating with the press and other institutions like them. GNR's fault and not the public.


True/false: The set list are bad/need more Illusion songs

Yes and no. They do the songs people wanna hear. With the exception of Don't Cry and maybe Civil War this is the best set list they
can do for an audience that is not hardcore people who wanna hear "Bad Apples" or "Locomotive". For most people, songs like this would
almost be like playing new songs. Like it not, you can't please everyone and I think they've come up with a rather good list. The perfect
one would probably include the songs first mentioned as they are widely known. It all depends what you can cram into a 2.5 hour set list.

I've seen Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Turbonegro, Alice Cooper among others perform at the same venue and they do not come close
to the intensity of GNR and Axl Rose. True, Motley Crue put on a fantastic show and in general cooler and crazy than GNR did, but
GNR still did a better show musically. You don't need clowns, naked chicks or some guy with black make up on when you got Axl Rose.

With the exception of Robin Finck, the other two guitar players and Tommy Stinson comes off as a little anonynomus. Richard Fortus
looks like Izzy's younger brother and Tommy got a very casual look. This is not a cartoon character contest, but people do notice
these things since the old version of GNR had some very cartoonish characters in Slash and Duff. And so they disappear in the might of
Axl Rose. I thought Tommy Stinson put on a great show and Robin Finck is - well, Robin Finck, - and everyone thinks he comes off as the
leading guitarist and the guy to trust. What they might lack (to some people) in image they take back in their musical skills. Besides being
an amazing guy, Ron Thal is also a great guitar player. He does the Buckethead parts well, but he's not Buckethead. The songs miss
Buckethead's guitar presence, but the band comes off better without Buckethead on stage. Funny that. I do miss Buckethead though. Songs
like Knocking on heavens door and You could be mine are screaming for the Buckethead solos, but nobody but hardcore fools
do notice. No harm to the general public.

If you haven't been to a new GNR show then don't moan and complain about them. They are a force to be reckoned with. But, not before
they have showed they can write albums too and not just play the fuck out of the current songs. Only then they will be pure Guns N' Roses.

They are very close now.

[wells]

Guns N' Roses Review Oslo 28th 20006


This review will be done somewhat different. It will give out the basic facts from the Oslo gig on the 28th of June, but it will also
bring up some issues that currently deals with Guns N Roses. Yes, I'm a big fan of GNR and I have been following especially
the new incarnation VERY closely the last 8 years. There are others like me of course, but if you want a "real" GNR review, then check this out.
It's free of media bullshit and stupidity by people who talks more than they should about GNR. However this is just my own
opinions, and things I saw and heard during the concert. It may of course be different in other countries.

Just before this concert, Axl had been arrested in Sweden for biting a security guard after the security guy supposedly started to intervene
on a discussion/fight between Axl and his assistant Beta. The cops says Axl were drunk and were biting and raising hell, Axl says he wanted
to protect one of his closest personal friends (Beta). The truth usually lies somewhere in-between the different versions.

I must say I was very worried about how Axl would handle this. All things pointed to Axl taking the arrest with a smile and some jokes like
he's been doing throughout their treck in Europe this summer, but I had to take Axl's past into the picture as well. I e-mailed Ron Thal and asked
him. He did not reply straight away, but probably the nicest and most humble member of Guns N' Roses ever replied to me the day after the
show and hoped I had a good time there. At 7pm the day before the GNR show Axl was released from jail only to refuse to get out of the
plane at Oslo Airport due to the amount of press outside. I did not give this too much thought as it was the press reporting it in a rather bitter tone.
The show was on.

Oslo Spectrum had sold out in about 30 minutes after the first tickets went on sale. A huge increase in interest since GNR's last show at Oslo
in 2001 (which was canceled) when they never reached sold out status.

Me and my friends came down there after the warm up band had played. I did not want to spent any energy on that crap band. I expected Guns N' Roses
in true Axl Rose style to be late. I thought they would show up around 11pm or maybe even 11:30pm. I was surprisingly wrong when the
intro started at exactly 10:30pm. The intro was very short this time and Robin started the riff to 'Jungle just after a few seconds of the
intro music.

True/false "Axl Rose can not sing anymore, Axl is overweight".

These myths can't be more wrong. Axl looks very very well for a guy his age. If I look so fit
when Im 44 I would for sure know I've done a good job. Axl Rose runs around during the entire concert and he screams like
a monster. His voice is incredibly powerful. There's just a slight tad of rasp there. Infact, it reminds me very much of the voice he
got during the AFD sessions. His voice is perfect. There's no problems. He's in key the entire time and nails all the screams, for example
the closing on You Could Be Mine. Don't worry!

Welcome to the jungle sounds amazing. The shear volume is perfect. Black Sabbath for example last year played so loud it was
painful to hear it. Guns N Roses nailed the sound.

They go through 'Jungle, 'Easy and 'Brownstone. Keeping the momentum up during the entire time. As I hoped and expected, Axl is in
a very good mood as always and are joking about the Swedish incident. He dedicated Out Ta Get Me to the Swedish police. Infact,
by the looks of Axl, he found the whole incident rather stupid and funny and not embarrassing.

True/false: The audience does not like the new songs/the songs are crap.

Axl introduces the first new song 'Better' by saying we might have heard this song if we have been very naughty Norwegians. Many of
us are. This song is accepted extremely well. 5 out 10 people around me knows the lyrics to the song. 8 out of 10 jumps up and
down and punched the air like hell exactly like they did on the previous songs. I.R.S does not get the same response. Since I.R.S
is a rather complex song it kind of needs time to grow on you. I enjoyed it a lot. It was very powerful. Less people were into it. It came
very late in the show and people might have been tired. 'Madagascar' is a crowd pleaser. There were people shouting for this song
all the way through the set. They played if second to last, different from the last shows. I might expect they heard the screams
coming from several people and not just me. It's a very very good song live. They also do 'Chinese Democracy' and I hear
people shouting for this song as well during the night. From my point of view, people enjoy this song, even though unknown to most. 'The Blues'
gets a very well response. This is not my fave song at all, but it seems that the average Joe loves this song. All the new songs
are without doubt good enough. The press slaughtered Appetite For Destruction when it came out, don't forget.

Guns N' Roses are putting on a 2.5 hour show. Axl nails the songs 100%. Because of the shear length of the show and
the songs, Axl goes behind the scenes a few times to get oxygen like he also did back during the Illusions days. They fill the show
with solos and a piano solo by Dizzy. The piano solo is very well released and people enjoy it. The solos does make the show loose
momentum, but from my point of view, the momentum of it all goes straight back when they do a song like Out ta get me. For people
on the floor I'd say it's a nice pause to catch your breath and to soak up the show and appreciate it to the max. To the people sitting
on the upper levels I would say the solos are rather pointless. I understand why they do so many solos, but my advice would be
to at least take one of them off the set list and let for example Tommy Stinson do a song from his solo album for example. The Robin
Finck solo before SCOM are pointless if you're not soaked in sweat, beer and tired as fuck. I were all those things and I'm
not complaining.

True/false: People at the concerts wants Slash

I expected Slash chants and morons in general. I never even heard a single chant for Slash, I did not hear any negativity from the crowd
from where I was standing (I was moving around from 3rd row to 6th row).
The biggest moron I heard was some guy shouting for 'Dead Horse' a song they won't do
anyway. I was very surprised at the shear positive tone in the audience. My friend even got a "Robin Finck" chant started. However,
most people do not know who every band member is, but that is to be expected coming from a band that got so much trouble
communicating with the press and other institutions like them. GNR's fault and not the public.


True/false: The set list are bad/need more Illusion songs

Yes and no. They do the songs people wanna hear. With the exception of Don't Cry and maybe Civil War this is the best set list they
can do for an audience that is not hardcore people who wanna hear "Bad Apples" or "Locomotive". For most people, songs like this would
almost be like playing new songs. Like it not, you can't please everyone and I think they've come up with a rather good list. The perfect
one would probably include the songs first mentioned as they are widely known. It all depends what you can cram into a 2.5 hour set list.

I've seen Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Turbonegro, Alice Cooper among others perform at the same venue and they do not come close
to the intensity of GNR and Axl Rose. True, Motley Crue put on a fantastic show and in general cooler and crazy than GNR did, but
GNR still did a better show musically. You don't need clowns, naked chicks or some guy with black make up on when you got Axl Rose.

With the exception of Robin Finck, the other two guitar players and Tommy Stinson comes off as a little anonynomus. Richard Fortus
looks like Izzy's younger brother and Tommy got a very casual look. This is not a cartoon character contest, but people do notice
these things since the old version of GNR had some very cartoonish characters in Slash and Duff. And so they disappear in the might of
Axl Rose. I thought Tommy Stinson put on a great show and Robin Finck is - well, Robin Finck, - and everyone thinks he comes off as the
leading guitarist and the guy to trust. What they might lack (to some people) in image they take back in their musical skills. Besides being
an amazing guy, Ron Thal is also a great guitar player. He does the Buckethead parts well, but he's not Buckethead. The songs miss
Buckethead's guitar presence, but the band comes off better without Buckethead on stage. Funny that. I do miss Buckethead though. Songs
like Knocking on heavens door and You could be mine are screaming for the Buckethead solos, but nobody but hardcore fools
do notice. No harm to the general public.

If you haven't been to a new GNR show then don't moan and complain about them. They are a force to be reckoned with. But, not before
they have showed they can write albums too and not just play the fuck out of the current songs. Only then they will be pure Guns N' Roses.

They are very close now.

  ... great review

[Death Cube K]

I do my best mate Found a crazy typo in there but dont care 

[Steve McKagan]

So, any news on the pre-show meeting? Me and my friend arrive to Oslo at 12:45, leave the bags at the hotel and then we have plenty of time! It would be nice to meet some of you there.

The funny thing is that my friend isn't really a GNR fan, but he thought it would be fun to go to a rock concert. So it will be cool to hear some words about the show from a non-harcorefan. I bet he won't be disappointed...

[jarmo]

I'm probably also gonna drop of my stuff at the hotel and then head back to the Spektrum area.



/jarmo

[Steve McKagan]

I'm probably also gonna drop of my stuff at the hotel and then head back to the Spektrum area.

So no specific bar decided yet?

[jarmo]

i met dizzy last night at the last train which is my favorite bar in oslo, maybe we could go there beofre the gig on the 8th? or maybe elm street or mono like jaknudson mentioned, those places are located closer to the spektrum than last train!!

Elm Street or Mono I guess then?




/jarmo

[Captain P?l]

where is last train?

garage and Rock In are descent places too...

and Amplifier...


hey, i say, gather the whole bucnk going to this show in a park and buy some drinks and have a pre-party thing there!

[Steve McKagan]

Ok, you decide. I wait and see here...or I will walk around Oslo and find you on Saturday!

[Rainfox]

Elm Street or Mono........?

Let's decide.

We're four guys flying up from Copenhagen. Onee of which joined med at Roskilde and the two others are SOOOOO looking forward.  I ofcourse also saw them in Budapest.. 

Looking forward to hooking up.

Jarmo - I PM'ed you my cell.

 

RF

[Steve McKagan]

Elm Street looks cool http://www.elmstreet.no

It's open to 03.00 so we can go there afterwards too!

[Rainfox]

Yeah!

Whats the address?

[Steve McKagan]

Dronningens gate 32



 

[jarmo]

So Elm Street before the gig?




/jarmo