Graspop,Belgium - 24/06

[Taylor Hicks]

yeah the solos suck.... too many of them and too long.. really boring... hopefully when they come back to the states they will drop those from the setlists.

[Miggy]

It was fuckin' great!

Stage-time: yeah, they were late, what else is new?

Crowd: great crowd, but everyone was a bit tired I guess. 

Axl: in great shape, he was running like the devil, his voice is very very good. 

Frank Ferrer: a great drummer, A LOT better than Brain (sorry guys, but that's how it is)

The band: a lot better than in '02, much improvement

The solo's: I only liked Richard's one, Robin can do much better and I hate Ron's shredding.

Over all a very very good concert, not the same as in the good old days, but hey, that's how it is.  Axl moved on, so must we.

[suicide]

Some reviews and pictures from Belgian newspapers. I don't feel like translating them 'cause they're full of bullshit and lies! One of the newspapers, "Het Nieuwsblad", didn't like the songs "Chinese Democracy" and " Madagascar". They didn't even play these songs motherfuckers!

Review from De Standaard (by Sasha Van der Speeten):

Karaoke op Graspop
Guns N' Roses lost hoge verwachtingen niet in

Het driedaagse metalfestival Graspop pakte op zaterdag uit met een publiekstrekker van jewelste. Zo'n 40.000 mensen kwamen kijken naar de afsluiter Guns N' Roses.

...

Boegeroep

Door het wegvallen van Korn mocht Soulfly extra lang spelen. Zijn holle gedram joeg ons extra lang de dichtstbijzijnde dranktent in. Het was nog langer wachten op de hoofdact Guns N' Roses . De wispelturige frontman Axl Rose joeg tijdens de voorbije tournee het publiek meermaals op stang door veel te laat te beginnen en op Graspop was het niet anders. Toen het na een uur wachten plots begon te regenen, steeg boegeroep op uit het publiek. Een kwartiertje later struinde de zelfvoldane Rose het podium op, zonnebril op de neus, dreadlocks in een staartje gebonden, biceps ontbloot.

Wat betekent Guns N' Roses nog als alleen de zanger overblijft? We vroegen het ons af toen we Rose zagen paraderen langs het kransje studiomuzikanten dat de hits naadloos speelde, maar de vonken had thuisgelaten. De klank op de weide was erg middelmatig (vooraan klonk alles flets, in het midden en zelfs achteraan op de weide was het geluid beter) en uitzinnig kunnen we de reacties van het publiek bezwaarlijk noemen - dat komt ervan als je zeventig minuten lang moet wachten op nog maar eens een fletse karaokeversie van een uitgedoofde hardrockgroep.

Maar goed, Guns N' Roses zal ongetwijfeld de nostalgici blij hebben gemaakt: ,,Welcome to the jungle'', ,,Sweet child o'mine'', ,,Live and let die'', ,,You could be mine'', ,,Knocking on heaven's door'' en natuurlijk ,,Paradise city'' waren knallers die luid werden meegebruld.

Dit concert leek eigenlijk verdacht veel op de Guns-N'-Rosesshow van drie jaar geleden op Pukkelpop - zelfs het decor was hetzelfde. Ook toen circuleerde het gerucht dat de nieuwe cd Chinese democracy snel zou verschijnen, na een wachtperiode van tien jaar. Maar die plaat is er nog steeds niet en zit er eigenlijk nog iemand op te wachten? Na de bedachte hardrocktheatershow op Graspop zouden we het durven betwijfelen. Slash, Duff, Izzy, kom terug, alles is vergeven en vergeten!

Het Nieuwsblad (by Wim Vander Haegen, who probably wasn't even there!):

Guns N'Roses sucks
Graspop haalt absoluut bezoekrecord ondanks tegenvallende headliner

Graspop Metal Meeting rondde zaterdagavond de kaap van 35.000 dagbezoekers. Meteen een record voor het elfjarige festival dat met Guns N'Roses ??n van de grootste hardrockvissen aan de haak sloeg. Pas nadat aan het eisenlijstje van frontman-annex- blaaskaak Axl Rose was voldaan, startte de band aan een lang uitgesponnen concert.

Twee?nhalf uur lang Guns N'Roses was het publiek beloofd, na het afhaken van Korn. Het werden er nauwelijks twee, waarvan drie kwartier werd opgevuld met oervervelende gitaar- en pianosolo's. De rest van het concert was redelijk, maar de gloriedagen van weleer waren ver te zoeken. Een behoorlijk benevelde Axl had naar eigen zeggen last van een hangover . Veel koop je daar als fan niet voor, natuurlijk. De band trapte af met Welcome To The Jungle en pittige versies van It's So Easy en Mr. Brownstone . Zonder meer goed gespeeld, maar een zwakke Axl zong de ene song na de andere de verdoemenis in. Bommen en vuurwerk smukten even later een uitgesponnen Live and Let Die op. Dizzy Reed kreeg (te) ruim de tijd om zijn pianospel te etaleren en ook gitarist Rib Bumblefoot Thal pingelde er tot vervelens toe op los. Megahits Sweet Child O'Mine, Knockin' On Heaven's Door en November Rain gingen er in als zoete koek, maar toch misten ze b?llen. Wat we van de nieuwe plaat moeten verwachten? Niet veel, vrezen we. Naast een lauwe versie van het titelnummer Chinese Democracy konden ook The Blues, Better en Madagascar niet beklijven. Enkel het lekker wegrockende I.R.S. bekoorde menig rockhart. Na twee uur hield Axl het voor bekeken met een door man en muis meegebruld Paradise City .

...

[Miggy]

The one of De Standaard is quite honest and right.  Except about using the same stage as in 2002.    About the piece saying that GN'R is a karaoke version of the old band, well, let's face it, to the outside-GN'R-world that's exactly what they are.  We moved on, they never will, which is understandable.

[The Prez]

3th time I saw them.

1. in '93: Werchter. Superb concert! Played as they were (are) the best rockband out there ! Best live concert I have ever seen (not only gn'r!)
2. 2002: Pukkelpop: bad concert, no inspiration at all, a cover band with Axl as frontman

3. Graspop, last saturday: my opinion:
Newspapers are fucking right! This concert was just not so good! Better than '02, that's for sure but not like 'this was an awesome concert', like I have read before.

When I saw some video on the net from the other europenan shows (and NY), I expected a really good performance...but no way: to boring.
And I really hate saying this, as I love the Guns. I really lost "touch" with them during the show...and this should not happen.

A guitar solo (even a drumsolo, like back in the day!) should not be boring. No people should love them, sing along, whatever... the solo took the "ambiance" away from the concert. The solo's in UYI world tour were never boring, in fact they put the songs together...

I really do not want to say that the new guns are not good enough because I really believe that they are fantastic musicians (they play the song very well), but they do not have (yet) that magic that the (old) guns once had!?

And if Axl & co likes to be once again the best rockband out there...well it's all about the magic! (which I did not feel last sautrday). Let's hope they have this for next time I'll see them!!

Cheers.

[CheapJon]

People complaining about the solos probably never had to listen to a drum solo during the UYI tour.
/jarmo

I saw them 5 times on the UYI tour and I can tell you that when Axl started to intro the band everyone knew the solos were coming and were not happy. Nothing worse than having to endure a Matt drum solo at 2AM!

guess we're off topic now but wasn't matts solos like 8-10 minutes long?

[waiting4democracy]

okeeee, finaly i'm home from a looong weekend...went to graspop saturday, came home around 5, went to paris with school around 7...slept 3 hours in 62 hours...AND have mixed feelings about the show.

first of all band was great, axl in good mood(but having a serious hangover like he said), richard amazing, ron was ok(not he best don't cry performance i've heard),finck was good(looking WEEEIRD haha, in a poncho and with a feather in his head...guess he goes from a pirate look to an aztecs ook or something...weirdo?

I? saw almost every bootlegvideo from the previous shows and my expectations were high but it just didn't felt good. An hour and 15 minutes late...ok i can live with that...it's guns n' roses, but the reason why was just fucked up. Axl acted like a fucking diva and the organisation had to rebuild the backstage area just for him not getting a little bit wet. If he had played the full promised 2 and a half hours i would have felt better, but they played like 2 hours and 10 minutes with at least 35 minutes of solos and bandjams...come on axl, if they do that in an arenashow it's probably great. But for a lot of metal fans who aren't really gn'r fans it just sucks. But then again, axl looked sharp, vocals were great, performance of the songs were good, new drummer didn't make a lot of mistakes....don't worry about that guy, he's great...axl was also in a good mood, but i think it's not going the good way with him. If he won't cancel some concerts of this european tour( still a loooong time) i would be surprised. It feels like he is unstable again, partying, getting arrested, having serious hangovers. Ok, that's rock n' roll, and in a way it's cool. But we all now what's going to happen if he would be to fucked up to play a concert and just cancels it --->last chance will be blown, and i just hope he makes it trough all the dates? .... looks like the last chance is already blown for the belgian press...i was expecting those fucked up reviews...and you can say a millon times the press isn't important, well let's face it...THEY ARE IMPORTANT! they can make or brake axl for a lot of people who aren't familiar with the new band etc.

mixed feelings, not exactly great if you are waiting such a long time to see guns n' roses and are sticking with the band for all those years with no album.

axl didn't 'disappear' alot after songs...the lights didn't go out...band just kept playing those catchy bluestunes, at one point he started acting like a duck on stage? and making ducknoises...weird?

setlist

welcome to the jungle
it's so easy
mr.brownstone
live and let die
better (great crowd reaction)
robin solo
sweet child o' mine
knocin' on heavens door
you could be mine
blues jam
dizzy solo
the blues
finck,fortus solo(beatiful)
out ta get me
band jam and axl piano solo
november rain
IRS
ron solo(don't cry)
my michelle
patience
nightrain

paradise city

[Evil Ash]

some more pictures!

http://album.zoom.nl/user/Paul%20MT/Graspop+2006/

EDIT: click the pictures for HQ!

[suicide]

some more pictures!

http://album.zoom.nl/user/Paul%20MT/Graspop+2006/

EDIT: click the pictures for HQ!

Oh man these are great!!! Thank you soo much!!! Evil Ash, did you take these yourself?

[Evil Ash]

nope, some fellow of an other (non-gnr) dutch board

[WARose]

It was fuckin' great!

Stage-time: yeah, they were late, what else is new?

Crowd: great crowd, but everyone was a bit tired I guess. 

Axl: in great shape, he was running like the devil, his voice is very very good. 

Frank Ferrer: a great drummer, A LOT better than Brain (sorry guys, but that's how it is)

The band: a lot better than in '02, much improvement

The solo's: I only liked Richard's one, Robin can do much better and I hate Ron's shredding.

Over all a very very good concert, not the same as in the good old days, but hey, that's how it is.  Axl moved on, so must we.

bullshit.....  did you see this band live before??

thanks for the pics by the way