Download Festival - June 11th

[IFINGLOVEGNR]

They played Think About You ??

Is that a first for the new lineup??

Did you mean Used to Love Her?? I'm sure that one was a first for this line up

Yes, well that was an obvious first ?

But Think About You was played during the 2002 but I hadn't noticed it being played yet on this tour.

All that's left from the current setlist to be played is Rhiad.

They did play Used To Love Her during the acoustic set at that club in NYC..........The Plum??

The last show in NYC featured Think About You last month, with mr. Stradlin playing along.

And Used to love her was played at the private accoustic show the following night in NYC

[philspectorshotme]

cheers for the report adam.


any idea what the belfast/moon comment was in relation to anyone?

[EFISH]

Thanks adam! very cool review..

hhaa i just can't get enough of Axl's jokes   

[LittleFly]

They played Think About You ??

Is that a first for the new lineup??

Did you mean Used to Love Her?  I'm sure that one was a first for this line up

Yes, well that was an obvious first 

But Think About You was played during the 2002 but I hadn't noticed it being played yet on this tour.

All that's left from the current setlist to be played is Rhiad.

They did play Used To Love Her during the acoustic set at that club in NYC..........The Plum??

The last show in NYC featured Think About You last month, with mr. Stradlin playing along.

And Used to love her was played at the private accoustic show the following night in NYC

Ahh...well...errmm.....Well, that was private, and we are less likely to get real good boots of it   (is that a good excuse?)

Too many gigs to keep up on man 

[Dr. Blutarsky]

anyone know if this was televised in England? Maybe it'll surface somewhere if so.

[Tomorrows]

Well it was my first and long awaited GnR gig. It was certainly most eventful, and it started off reasonably with WTTJ, Easy, Mr. B and LALD which were normal/well recieved ...

Thanks for the write up man. Good to hear some first hand accounts. Sounds like an interesting day.

[CD2006]

Well it was my first and long awaited GnR gig. It was certainly most eventful, and it started off reasonably with WTTJ, Easy, Mr. B and LALD which were normal/well recieved.

Then the first of the solos started, and being as this wasn't a specific GnR gig there was a percentage of people who were either just watching it for the sake of it/moneys worth, were reasonable GnR fans back in the day or are casual GnR fans. I would say this counted for 20% of the people watching, and most of them started the typical slash chants and didn't take to the new band particularly well, either because of lack of knowledge due to no publicity (which there hasn't been over here. unless you look for it) or they think GnR died long ago.

This is when the solos especially were booed by some and bottles were thrown towrds stage. Bumblefoot especially took it in a light hearted manner, but some other didn't. There was still the majority of the crowd applauding after each solo though.

And with the tech difficulties during You Could Be Mine it was down to the guitarists to amuse the crowd, so they ended up taking the flak from those in the crowd less patient. By the time it had resumed to it's normal format Tommy announced that it's not on after being hit with a bottle of piss and that if it happened again he would leave, but if not then everyone can have a good time.

Axl soon introduced Izzy for Think About You, and the gig picked up with some meaningful perfomances of the more powerful songs which all went without a hitch or crowd trouble with everyone enjoying themselves.

At one stage Axl climbed down from the stage in front of the crowd and ran up and down letting people "touch" him. He also at one point joked "did you know that's the samew moon they had in Belfast" too which 1 of the other band members replied "You shittin?" then Axl said "I know cause my manager told me"

Axl who had always appeared cheerful and calm throughout, seemed to pick up even more by the time the encore came around saying that he "doesn't want to go home, which couldn't be said an hour ago" as he played a large encore. And after IRS which was very well recieved he said, "maybe we should think about recording that one, what with technology these days i'm sure we could find a way to actually get a recording of that" to which everyone laughed and cheered. At one point Axl also joked? by saying "i thouhgt u left the band" to Izzy+

Come the end of an explosive PC everyone had enjoyed it. Even the 20% who were sceptical and critical at 1st. Which i overheard some saying "wow it was actually quite good in the end" and the non GnR fans who seen it for the sake of it, typically tried to avoid defeat by saying stuff like "well they weren't as good as Metallica" as opposed to "get off the stage" and "wheres Slash" that was shouted previously. So by the end GnR had won everyone round, what was really a good performance without any noteable errors, apart from technical difficulties.

So the only real reason for the hostility i think, is due to a minority of cynicle people who, while being happy to watch GnR were almost always going to slag em off and the unfamiliarity with the rest of the band, who were targetted during solos was pretty much the only reason they had to be negative about. But they were won round in the end, and with some actual main stream publicity and some longevity from the current line up they have the potential to be as big as before and shutting up even the ever critical rock/metal fans once more.

lol axl's hilarious as ever

[Doc Emmett Brown]

axl's jokes are hilarious 

Thanks for the review, adamkelly

[timebomb]

we need a true complete setlist i have a 99.9 complete now where was out to get me played give a complete set please

[fishyguy]

Great review but how did the guitar players react to getting booed during their solo's?

What did you mean by Bumblefoot took it well and the others didnt?

[Neemo]

axl's jokes are hilarious?

Thanks for the review, adamkelly

I agree...very nice review

[philspectorshotme]

but what has belfast got to do with anything?

[adam_kelley2003]

Great review but how did the guitar players react to getting booed during their solo's?

What did you mean by Bumblefoot took it well and the others didnt?

I don't really know whether they would have heard the booing, it was only a select few who were booing n bottling. But if they did hear then they didn't show it.


Well Fink didn't take it badly and neither did the others except Tommy, but i meant Bumblefoot tried to make more of a joke of it.

[gnrbr]

axl's jokes are hilarious?

Thanks for the review, adamkelly

I agree...very nice review

aham me too

[fishyguy]

So I'm guessing Ron didnt play "Don't Cry"

[jonnybgoode82]

Here's what I posted about it at Metal Sludge - I made my mind up on the show as I was writing it. I'll try and upload some photos tomorrow as well.

Just got back from the show. Either the best or worst gig I've ever been to.

Band hit the stage 5 mins early which was a surprise - first 4 songs, WTTJ, ISE, Brownstone and LALD were off the charts, everyone hitting their notes sweet and Axl sounded tonnes better than on the 02 tour.

Problems started in KOHD. Axl had been having trouble with slipping near the front of the stage but it didn't seem to overly bother him. Then he went walkabouts at the front of the stage which in hindsight was a bad idea. Somebody got too close to him and he called the guy a cunt and itb went downhill from there.

The sound started to deteriorate as Axl described it as "the worst sound he'd had." Band leaves stage whilst the sound is sorted which was fair enough.

Robin Finck did his first solo leading into SCOM as the first rumblings of "We Want Slash" started to emerge. SCOM won the fans back over but Axl slipped big style and really lost it - berating someone at the side of the stage about "thought you'd sorted this".

Axl announces short break whilst "technical difficulties" are sorted. Cue huge bottle fight between the fans (something of an English festival tradition). Roadies covered up a patch of liquid at the front of the stage whilst Bumblefoot was sent into the line of fire to run through an instrumental Don't Cry.

Band comes back out - Axl having changed footwear - and run through YCBM. Axl didn't finish the song though and went backstage again prompting a third guitar solo which was the Beautiful/Christina Aguilera thing which did little to appease the crowd with more rumblings of "We Want Slash".

Finally back on track and the band breaks into "Better" which was met with absolute disdain. Towards the end of the song something appeared to hit Tommy and he just lost it, slung his bass to the floor, jumped on it then fired it towards a cameraman in the pit before stomping of stage. Song is met with a chorus of boos and a very audible "We Want Slash" chant.

Tommy then comes back and apologises to both Axl and the cameraman but berates the crowd telling us "I've been doing this too many fucking years to stand up here and get hit by things. Either have a good time or I'm going home." which was greeted with massive cheers. At this point it seemed like we were really watching the implosion of the band. Axl then tried to pull things together with a stirring rendition of Out Ta Get Me.

Thankfully, after another solo (piano) and the Blues, Axl manages to calm things down by introducing Izzy for Think About You which got things back on track.

November Rain was off the charts and from then on it was pretty much sweet. Sebastian owned on My Michelle. Izzy returned for Patience and stayed around for the highlight of the show, Nightrain.

Encore was Madagascar, Rocket Queen, IRS (complete with downloading rant), Chinese Democracy (changed a lot, pyro opening, slower tempo) a very patchy Used to Love Her (with Izzy, which I think Axl described as 'a mess') and finally Paradise City.

Of course, listening to Kerrang Radio on the way home it's full of Axl hate despite the fact that the guy held the show together and was pretty much spot on throughout.

My take on the show is it was pretty much the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. What was good was very good but my instincts tell me the show will be remembered for the other stuff.

If I was Axl I would drop one of the cover songs because KOHD was really tedious. The walk along the front was also a strange decision and it started to go wrong from there. From what I could tell somebody yanked at Axl and it seemed to mess with his remote microphone (somebody who was closer to the stage might be able to confirm this).

He'll take some flak for it but he was right to leave the stage whilst the sound was sorted and the problem with the stage/his footwear was addressed because the guy was putting his own health at risk.

However, at this point the band really needs to take a leaf out of the UYI line-up and learn a non-Axl cover or choose a song from the back catalogue that they can handle.

Drop some of those solos - Robin and Richard are really soulless guitar players - and fans have just not accepted them yet. A Christina Aguilera solo doesn't help either especially in a field full of pissed-up, pissed off metalheads.

After such problems do not play a new song. Better's one of my faves of the new bunch but went down like a lead balloon.

Tommy Stinson was a fucking scream. He tried to be bitchy to the crowd whilst kissing Axl's ass at the same time and just came across looking stupid. Yeah something hit him (the guy should be pleased that he's not in Bad News) but whilst we were waiting for the "technical difficulties" to iron themselves out we were all pelted with bottles, I didn't turn round and threaten to stomp off home because of it. Take Duff at the VR show in Manchester in Jan 05 - he got hit by someone's boot and laughed it off. Stinson could learn a thing or two and is also lucky he's not staring at a big lawsuit.

Great to see Izzy and Sebastian - they really helped get the fans back on side.

Agree with those people who have stated that this band's version of Nightrain is the best GNR have ever done it.

All credit to Axl, and to a lesser extent Bumblefoot, who kept the show ticking along. Axl sounded great and it was only in the encore on U2LH that his voice wavered even slightly.

In conclusion it was almost a classic GNR show - great music, rants, a tantrum, everything. Anyone who says this show was shit is a fucking liar - you couldn't take you eyes off it - no one knew what was going to happen next and isn't that one of the things that makes rock n' roll so great? Here's to the UK Tour.

[Chief]

thanks a lot for your review.. totally enjoyed reading it. what a show for you first guns show!!!  pretty crazy! sounds like they kicked ass once again!!!

Well it was my first and long awaited GnR gig. It was certainly most eventful, and it started off reasonably with WTTJ, Easy, Mr. B and LALD which were normal/well recieved.

Then the first of the solos started, and being as this wasn't a specific GnR gig there was a percentage of people who were either just watching it for the sake of it/moneys worth, were reasonable GnR fans back in the day or are casual GnR fans. I would say this counted for 20% of the people watching, and most of them started the typical slash chants and didn't take to the new band particularly well, either because of lack of knowledge due to no publicity (which there hasn't been over here. unless you look for it) or they think GnR died long ago.

This is when the solos especially were booed by some and bottles were thrown towrds stage. Bumblefoot especially took it in a light hearted manner, but some other didn't. There was still the majority of the crowd applauding after each solo though.

And with the tech difficulties during You Could Be Mine it was down to the guitarists to amuse the crowd, so they ended up taking the flak from those in the crowd less patient. By the time it had resumed to it's normal format Tommy announced that it's not on after being hit with a bottle of piss and that if it happened again he would leave, but if not then everyone can have a good time.

Axl soon introduced Izzy for Think About You, and the gig picked up with some meaningful perfomances of the more powerful songs which all went without a hitch or crowd trouble with everyone enjoying themselves.

At one stage Axl climbed down from the stage in front of the crowd and ran up and down letting people "touch" him. He also at one point joked "did you know that's the samew moon they had in Belfast" too which 1 of the other band members replied "You shittin?" then Axl said "I know cause my manager told me"

Axl who had always appeared cheerful and calm throughout, seemed to pick up even more by the time the encore came around saying that he "doesn't want to go home, which couldn't be said an hour ago" as he played a large encore. And after IRS which was very well recieved he said, "maybe we should think about recording that one, what with technology these days i'm sure we could find a way to actually get a recording of that" to which everyone laughed and cheered. At one point Axl also joked? by saying "i thouhgt u left the band" to Izzy
+

Come the end of an explosive PC everyone had enjoyed it. Even the 20% who were sceptical and critical at 1st. Which i overheard some saying "wow it was actually quite good in the end" and the non GnR fans who seen it for the sake of it, typically tried to avoid defeat by saying stuff like "well they weren't as good as Metallica" as opposed to "get off the stage" and "wheres Slash" that was shouted previously. So by the end GnR had won everyone round, what was really a good performance without any noteable errors, apart from technical difficulties.

So the only real reason for the hostility i think, is due to a minority of cynicle people who, while being happy to watch GnR were almost always going to slag em off and the unfamiliarity with the rest of the band, who were targetted during solos was pretty much the only reason they had to be negative about. But they were won round in the end, and with some actual main stream publicity and some longevity from the current line up they have the potential to be as big as before and shutting up even the ever critical rock/metal fans once more.

[RichardNixon]

Funny how the two reviews on this page give different accounts on the new songs.

-Led Ballon or going crazy for IRS?

[jonnybgoode82]

IRS was quite well received, it was Better that took a panning.

[TrueRock&Roll]

I think it's just a bunch of overreacting.  Everything will be all good