Rock Am Ring, June 2 (N?rburgring, Germany)

[WARose]

i thought i`d post this in the right section as well

ok  i just came back from rock am ring yesterday and was to tired and exhausted to write a review...where do i start with?

we headed to the n?rburgring on thursday and the weather was absolutely shit. it was raining and cold as fuck, but when we finished building up our tents the sun finally came out and the weather became quite agreable hihi

then i went partying at the camps with a friend of mine. we met people from south africa and new seeland there;-) they said that gnr was one of the main reasons they were coming...   anyways.. lots of people there talked about gnr and stuff and you could hear gnr songs being played everywhere. i even heard "get in the ring" and "right next door to hell" once.

on friday the festival began. the first band i saw was bloodsimple. the band is opening for gnr in nijmegen by the way. the sound was complete crap and the music wasn`t that great either. next band was stone sour (also opening for guns in nijmegen). they were simply awesome and i even got an autograph from coury taylor and their bass player after the gig. after that alice in chains(also opening for gnr in nijmegen hihi) took the stage i think. james hetfield from metallica joined them for one song. the performace was quite boring though...

then dir en grey (a band from japan) and deftones took the stage. both bands aren`t really worth mentioning i think...

the next act was korn and they really rocked. 60000 people were jumping and  moshing. you couldn`t resist anyways... either noone was jumping or everyone... all in all a really great performace. i almost got killed though.. the first section was so fuckin packed, that the show wasn`t really fun anymore. also, i didn`t have the chance to drink anything for hours and almost passed out. i got nearly smashed while standing at the back rails, trying to get out of the crowd. when i managed to get out i stole a bottle of water from a security guy and had to enter the second crowd area.  i was able to catch about two minutes of korn`s performace on stage hihi

i was afraid i won`t get the chance to see gnr from the first few rows, but they opened the first section after korn and i got a really good position in front of the stage. it was still really packed. people were falling down and losing their shoes. even someone`s glasses got smashed...

tool did a great show i think, but it became quite boring after a while. the band was just standing there and performing their 10 minute long songs... basically i was just waiting for gnr to take the stage at the end of their performace.

after tool when the stage was set up for gnr the promoter( marek lieberberg?.. well, i don`t know who it was...) came on stage and talked a little about the upcoming performance. he said that the protagonists were all there and "if god is with us" everything should work out fine.

a female mtv reporter with a camera crew was standing on the stage and they interviewed some people and filmed the crowd while they were chanting for guns n roses. i don?t know if anything of that was broadcasted on TV allready....

anyways.... the atmosphere was really great and people were chanting "guns n roses" all the time. the crowd even cheered for the guy who prepared axl`s mic stand.

some people became impatient at 1:30pm and screamed for axl to come out (not in a negative way) even though gnr were scheduled to take the stage "sometime" between 1:15 and 2:00pm according to the guy, who talked to the crowd in front of the show. i guess he tried to make sure, people were staying calm. he mentioned that gnr took the stage two hours late in madrid and budapest.

i was a little surprised to see brain`s old drum kit onstage, but i didn?t really care about that anyways...

around afternoon there were rumours about the band not showing up floating around by the way. i guess some people misunderstood a radio report about pete doherty and babyshambles not showing up, because doherty got caught while having a shot.....

when the lights went down and the intro started the crowd was really electrified. you could hear 60000 germans chant "guns n roses". you couldn`t even hear yourself or the people around you, because the people in the back were that loud. i was really impressed by the intro by the way. it really fits and it`s..... great.

then the concert started with jungle and a really, really long axl scream. the place literally exploded. axl danced and ran around like a maniac. after jungle they played mr. brownstone and it`s so easy (as always... hihi). then axl talked to the crowd for the first time i think. i can?t remember everything so well, because i was drunk and really exhausted after 12 hours at the ring... he said something along the lines of "good evening germany" and " wow, a lot of you mutherfuckers made it tonight". then another "guns n roses" chant started and axl just stood there smiling to tommy. he then said thank you and robin started "better". i can`t compare it to other concerts, since RAR was my first gnr gig, but from what i heard from the bootlegs, this was the best performace of that song ever. axl?s vocals were perfect. the most surprising and impressing thing was, that better got as much applause as let?s say "it`s so easy". axl jumped off the stage during the end of the song to shake hands with the people in the first row i think. the next song was "live and let die". it sounded really good, but i could barely hear axl`s screams. you felt the flames during the chorus even while standing 10 metres away from the stage... i wonder how bumblefoot survived them, since he was standing right behind them...

[WARose]

nyways... then they played knockin`on heavens door and a little jam. then dizzy played let it be as his solo and started the blues. i think merck and beta were on the stage between two of thos songs.... then they played cou could be mine and out ta get me. nothing special about those songs. they were simply awesome and well recieved just like the rest of the show. then bumblefoot played his first solo and the piano was positioned on the stage. axl`s voice on november rain was just incredible. he sang it with rasp and.... well perfect. you people really need a proshot recording of this concert. i give a shit about all those bitchers and whiners on this board. nothing could top that performance.

but well....  after november rain axl introduced an old friend of his. some people were screaming izzy, but it turned out to be sebastian bach again. i was a little dissapointed about that, especially because axl mentioned later in the show, that "izzy was supposed to join us on stage tonight, but he`s ...somewhere. that`s all i know". sebastian and axl did a great performace of my michelle anyways, even though i think that sebastian bach is a dated 80`s rocker, which his moves proved even further...

anyways...axl introduced the band, robin played another solo and then played the intro to "sweet child o`mine". after that richard and robin played their "beautiful" duett. that was the only (guitar) solo the crowd really enjoyed.
the people in the first section always applauded after the solos, but i think the people in the back were a little bored...

of course nobody thought about any solos anyways, when nightrain started. it was definitely one of the best performances of the evening. really mind blowing... then gnr played 4 encores!! the first one being madagascar. the band started the song, but axl wasn?t ready and they had to restart the song. axl talked throughout the whole first verse and he blamed dizzy for the fuck up i think. axl wanted to continue the song, but the band started it  entirely new. he "thanked" them for that and the band started again. axl vocals were the best of the concert on that song. it was the best performance of madagascar ever i think.

after the song axl was joking around how it was just like, if izzy was in the band. (he said that he didn`t mean that in a mean or bad way... and talked about izzy being supposed to join them on stage at RAR, but he just didn`t show up.)

then they played IRS. it was my favourite song of the night. i was really curious to hear that song and even planned to make an IRS sign for the concert. the song was both musically and vocally perfect.

next song was patience. axl fucked up the intro again. he said "use your confusion" and then started singing.

the last song of the night was paradise city. another great song greatly performed. the solo kicked in with the usual pyros and confetti. everyone started to dance and i took the chance to move further in front of the stage. people around me were almost crying and hugging each other. i stage dove and stood right in front of the stage, 2 metres away from axl, while he was screaming "good fuckin night". just awesome. unfortunately the security guys were pushing me away though. i was going backwards to the exit to reenter the attendance and suddenly bumblefoot stood next to me. i couldn`t believe it and just screamed "bumblefoot you`re the man" and we shook hands. then two security guys carried me away........

when i was back in the crowd i saw the band bowing and the show was over. the people were standing there for 5 minutes afterwards applauding. i tried to get back to my tent to have some sleep, but i got lost and meandered between the camps for about two hours, before i finally arrived...

all the people i met or passed by, were talking about the show and how great it was. the worst comment i heard in two days was, that they played to many solos and slash was missing a little on november rain. except for that everyone was praising axl, his voice, his look and his performace and was really pleased by the concert.

listening to all the people talking about the concert was almost as awesome as listening to the concert itself...

i have to admit that all the negativity on this board really managed to make me a little sceptical about the concert, especially about axl?s voice and the crowd. i didn`t completely trust in the hardcores ya know hihi. But what i experienced for myself was simply the best i could`ve hoped for. well they didn`t play "there was a time", but i considered it as a nice little bonus anyways...

axl`s voice was awesome from the opening scream of jungle to the ending notes of paradise city. the crowd was chanting "guns n roses" after almost all the songs and singing along. i think axl was almost embarrased, because of all those chants. he was having a VERY good time and talked a lot to the crowd. he introduced one song as "a song not written by david hasselhof". i thought tommy was his best mate in the band. he and axl were always joking around and smiling at eachother. at one point axl was like: "hey tommy, i think all these people are watching us", then he sang something with his micky mouse voice and the people were cheering.

also, axl was the only singer out of 15 i saw, that ran to the sides of the stage. noone else did that. in general, no other lead singer had as much energy on stage as axl. james hetfield was great, but he`s carrying a guitar......   believe it or not, but axl was the highlight of the festival. not only for me, but for most of the people there i think.  i think he was a little drunk though. noone there agreed with me on that, but he was stumbling sometimes....

before the concert i thought people were missing slash big time, but i only heard one guy screaming " i wanna slash", followed by another guy screaming " i wanna fuck".... hihi

most people were like: "i thought axl would be crap without slash, but he`s the man" and
"he`s the same guy as in 92. his voice is great"

i`m definitely not in the position to compare this concert to the previous ones, since this was my first, but i`m pretty sure that this was the best one. i guess axl took his energy from the crowd.


i met lots of gnr fans there. Kiki, recklessrose, some other great people from dutchdemocracy.nl and tons of people from the german gnr board. i think someone mentioned, that limulus will get the dvd of rock am ring.....

anyways... i saw avenged sevenfold, reamonn, soulfly and metallica on the next day...  if you`re going to the concerts avenged sevenfold are opening for, i suggest you to come late.... i didn`t like them...  reamonn was just utter crap and even wanted to quit early, because the crowd didn`t like him. metallica and soulfly were really great though... i suppose many of you saw the webcast.  they did like 10 encores....

closing.... the show was fantastic, axl was fantastic, the band was fantastic and the crowd was fantastic. i hope axl comes back to germany soon!! beer