anyways... 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
. 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"....
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!!
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