June 23rd - Sydney updates

[sexkitten]

Thanks jarmo n gunnerdownunder,? tonya n tynia for the updates! I really enjoyed them.?

And thanks Guns N Roses and Sidney!

can't wait for the reviews.

dude, seriously love that roach, ant or fly signature thing...I stare at it for long periods of time

[sexkitten]

Alright, what a show!
Only caught the last few songs of Rose Tattoo. Seb Bach was amazing- what a showman. The guy belongs on a stage; really got the crowd going. He asked something along the lines of "So you guys like to rock n' roll all night, and party everyday, right?". So after the inevitable cheer he says "Good, 'cos I'll check back with you in 5 hours to see if you are." On the train home, people were saying how they thought he was joking!
Wasted a chunk of money at the merch stands- tour poster, 2 tour shirts and the GnR army shirt. It was annoying- some guy behind us spilt coke that came down and got on a bit of the poster.
Bach finnished at 10:50. We were joking that that's about when most other bands finish the entire show! The wait wasn't bad at all. At the Rolling Stones show I went to I'm pretty sure we wated longer. The crowd, you could see, were antisipating the band, but weren't getting reckless or anything.
And at 11:50- fuck! Absolutly amazing. Everyone was awesome, the band was great, and the crowd loved it.
Security seemed pretty tight over all- noticed a lof of security pointing lights into peoples cameras. It was pretty annoying/lame. There was a woman near me who just pulled out her camera to take a photo, and a dick head security stood in front of here with the tourch. I mean, that's pretty shit- she couldn't even take a photo from the stands.
Also did anyone see Borat get kicked out?! During the wait, in the silver GA, some guy in the Borat swimming costume was crowd surfing. Everyone was cheering him, but security pulled him out and kicked him out. That was pretty lame of them- it was just some fun. Everyone cheered him as he was escorted by.
The only negatives about the show were the solos. Now, I'll clarify, I like them (I thought Richards and BBFs were the best), but they were crowd killers. The crowd was really into a song, and then a solo, and everyone sat down. Then another song, and they got into it, and stood up agian, but then the same for a solo. And each time less and less people were getting back up.
Also, the worst song of the night to me was IRS suprisingly. For some reason it just didn't sound good. The guitars sounded screechy, Axl sounded screechy, it was at times almost painful to listen to... might just be me though.
It was a real shame to see what happened during the new songs. Everyone sat down. I mean, people should jump at the opening notes of Better, or cheer and everything when The Blues starts. It was just a shame to see people sit down as soon as they started.
That being said The Blues was amazing as always, and Madagascar really was awesome. The background video during the voice clip/solo section is amazing.
Axl's voice at times didn't seem to be that great. Like he was out of key or tune. But then again, while he had some iffy moments, he had some absolute awesome ones too! And besides- it's a live show, that's to be expected.
The crowd was awesome- very loud. During the KOHD crowd sing along the roof must have lifted a bit off the arena!
Axl was in a great mood! Told a story: In Brissy he was talking to some girl, and she asked something along the lines of if he was feeling well (hang over wise). And he replied something like how he feels bad etc. To which the girl replied something like- "Well, princess, this is Australia!" Axl smiled and laughed- "How about that? Princess for a day".
He was just in a great mood, you can see he clearly enjoyed having Angry Anderson up there for Nice Boys. When he said he was bringing a friend out I imediatly thought Bubbles; but luckily we were in for a bit more of a treat! When Angry left Axl joked around, fell to the floor 'dead' and slowly put his middle finger up. I don't know what he said- but the image of him falling and slowly raising a middle finger 'from the grave' was hilarious!
The band in general were just amazing. BBF- how cool is that guy! Everyone loved the solo. People were singing along with the national anthem, BIB and Don't Cry. I never really noticed how hard Rich hits those strings! Robin was great and energetic (did people see that they were selling Robin shirts at merch?). Frank is a damn cool guy- great drummer. Tommy seemed to really enjoy in.
It was awesome- after Dizzys solo (which was amazing), he got a huge ovation. Then Tommy came on and was pointing at him, and he got another huge ovation! You could see that he was appreciative of that.
Over all- what can you say apart from what a fucking show! Amazing. Hopefully tonights show lives up to it. And we get a nice 'last show' suprise too!

Edit- Also have to mention- during The Blues, Axl got on top of the piano and was dancing around on it!
Not sure if he often does that but it was fucking awesome!

Thanks for your review...sounds like you had an awesome experience.  I really enjoyed reading about it. 

[metallex78]

A big thanks to gunnerdownunder for the awesome tickets he got me for the show, best seats I've ever had for a gig at Acer Arena!

[Voodoochild]

Thanks for the review, metallex78! I was almost sure how Richard would be the one who would play the slide on Nice Boys... Good to know I was right, lol.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

A big thanks to gunnerdownunder for the awesome tickets he got me for the show, best seats I've ever had for a gig at Acer Arena!

It's awesome how Gunners always band together to help each other out eh?

[Regibold]

Good to see a bit of change there, Nice Boys is a great old song. Plus it seems they've been alternating the new songs more this time around.

[gnr2006]

clip from the end of the show (no music just the aussie chant)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR6qAuC4MI
downloadable .wmv (12MB): http://www.thenewguns.com/endofshowaussie.wmv  (right click and save as)

thank you for the updates jarmo & tonya

[stolat]

He does a good aussie accent! 

[LittleFly]

clip from the end of the show (no music just the aussie chant): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR6qAuC4MI

thank you for the updates jarmo & tonya

  That was great, thanks for the link.  Put a big smile on my face right before I go to bed (at 2 am) 

[badapple81]

I had an awesome time with metallex and some friends! Best show so far. Axl's rasp was there on every line of every song.

I loved the story about how a girl asked him if he is hung over and he said "yeah" and the girl said "well top up pricess cos you are in Australia now" ..

Also after Nice Boys he pretended to collapse and die whilst keeping his middle finger stuck in the air, takin the piss out of Angry?

Fun show. The crowd loved it.

I'll be sending updates to jarmo again tonight.

[ben9785]

That was just an absolutely fucking awesome gig. Shame I didn't get to see any of you guys there.. I only met one person who is a mod at a different forum, and somebody else as well, but nobody from here.

Anyway, I got there at about 7 or 8am expecting a lineup but there were 4 or 5 people lingering around. By about midday the queue only grew to about 10 or 15 people. Gradually it started to get bigger until about 5pm, and then the line started to grow.

I meant to get some merch but I just never got to it which sucks. Oh well.

I ended up on the barrier towards the left hand side. Great spot. Richard, Bumblefoot and Axl came over a fair bit, and it was surreal to see them all so close, in person, especially Axl.

They all did a fantastic fucking job. I was very pleased at people asking me which songs they were going to play on the setlist, and how many of them heard of the new songs, but when they played them, there wasn't much response though. A few people were bopping their heads and seemed to enjoy it. And I expected to get crushed during GNR's set. No way. That was the best crowd I have ever been in, particularly for such a large venue. I can even safely say that, apart from the casual crowdsurfers, everybody was great and having fun and looking out for each other as well.

The only dissapointment of the whole night was that they didn't play "Chinese Democracy", but oh well. The rest of the set kicked absolute ass. The response to the 'new' band members was a bit skeptical at first, but gradually to the end, people were starting to really get into it more and applaud the other guys.

Of course there were a few comments though people being impatient with Axl before they were due onstage (even though he was still pretty early compared to other shows), how they cant afford to stay out that late, and the usual crap about the 'original' band members not being there, blah blah blah. I told them that it was their choice to be here and while it is a shame the original members aren't there, that the new band members bring new intensity, technicality and power into the old songs and the new songs, and once the album comes out the point will be proved. I thought Jarmo would have been proud of me lol 

But my whole experience of the night was made by Mr Ron Bumblefoot Thal. Sadly I didn't get to meet him personally to sign my cd book which I bought along, but as I promised I wore my red beanie in dedication to Bumblefoot. I emailed him earlier on this week and told him about it, but I figured he would have just shrugged it off. Everybody around me didn't know too much about Bumblefoot, obviously they were there for Axl, but they were very happy at my enthusiasm for him. Anyway, when they started "Sweet Child of Mine", Bumblefoot turned in my direction finally and second glanced and as he was picking the opening chords of the songs, came closer to the edge of the stage with a massive grin on his face and pointed at me. Everybody patted me on the back that he noticed it. Then I started chanting and throwing my fists and devil horns at him and he was mimicking me back and bowing down to me and then he threw me a pick. Unfortunately the security guard picked it up off the floor, I told him to give it to me, but he shouted out something and gave it to one of the other security guys, who threw it into the crowd randomly The security guards were really nice though, don't get me wrong, and they kept cleaning up the space between the barricade so maybe he only had good intentions, but whatever. He was on fire, and it was an amazing experience to see him up close and what he adds to the songs, and how passionate he is even with the backing vocals, although you can't hear him that well obviously. Anyway, at the end during "Paradise City", he came down from the stage to the barricade and walked in the other direction from where I was. He came back and was about to go back up to the stage and I screamed out to him and he walked over, and even though he was still playing he yelled out "Hey man!" with a massive smile on his face and I grabbed his head and gave him a bear hug, and then he smiled and they were just about to finish the last chords of the song, and he held out his guitar to me, and I can say, with the best experience of my life ever, I played the final chords (or close anyway) of "Paradise City" to close the show.

That might be a lame story, but I don't care. It was probably the best concert I have experienced.

I wasn't going to go to the other Sydney show due to financial issues, but I ended up buying cheap seating tickets they had on sale even though I'm broke, so I'm heading off soon just to sit back and enjoy the show.

Thanks for reading my story.

[timewontletme]

That was a very nice story.  Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks also to all those who shared their updates and reviews.  Always great reading this stuff!

[ben9785]

Oh one other thing.
I saw film crews and the security guys said they were filming this show for a DVD release.
Didn't know anything more about it.

[Six Strings]

Nice Boys...wow...

[ben9785]

Oh and one other thing, Dizzy's solo... I think it was an INXS song. I remember thinking where I had heard that melody before and started singing along and it seemed to fit... It might have been 'Never tear us apart'..

[33]

Sounds like another amazing night for all you aussie fans! This gig has been fucking brilliant by the sounds of everything since this leg started! Feels good to be a GnR fan doesnt it?

Mike

[waxlrick]

Just flew back to Brizzy after the Sydney show. Looking at the reviews already posted they are pretty correct. I will clarify a couple of points. I was seated in Gold Reserve on the very right hand side of the stage 3rd row. Could have virtually "high fived Axl and Fink. Fucking great seat again. I have been spoiled at all 3 shows now.

Firstly regarding the "Princess story". I memorized his lines.

"So after the last show I was talking to this girl and she asked me if I was hung over?. I said hell yeah, I am all fucked up. So she says, toughen up Princess.....you're in Australia now. I like that....Axl Rose, Princess for a Day."

Axl's mike mix was fucked up a couple of times during some songs. Most notably YCBM and IRS. It would come good but there was moments where no sound came out at all. He definately looked more fatigued tonight. He was having a great time and doing his best to put on a memorable show but he was also blowing his nose between the songs last night so he is either coming down with a cold or very run down. I will be interested to hear how he goes tonight because I think he is getting sick. Maybe they will dose him up on some drugs.


Before they played Nice Boy Axl said that it was a song the he and Angrey both hate, but they will give it a go.

Anyhow for me the last week has been incredible. I have been an Axl fan for half my life and to see him 3 times in seating which enabled me to make direct eye contact with him was a dream come true. When I saw them in 93 at Eastern Creek it was too big an event to get that personal buzz. This has been a little bit of closure for me. My hope now is that he gets this Album out within the next couple of months. I can't help but feel that at 45, he is gonna be trying to cram too much into a short amount of time if he plans to rule the Rock World again. All in all though, I feel extremely lucky to have gotten the opportunity of witnessing the best Rock singer ever performing live. ?

BTW the Sydney crowd was awesome and incredibly receptive. They love Axl!!!!

[snow white]

Nice Boys fucking rocked. Axl sounded so damn good, straight out of the 90s. Actually he sounded awesome throughout the whole concert. I was further back this time than I have been before so maybe that had something to do with it, but to me it was the best sounding concert I have seen yet. Went off. Axl hit it with Nightrain. Was all very exciting.
He was in a really good mood, jokingly falling over after Nice Boys.
I can't believe someone called him 'Princess' and got away with it!

Anyways, sad that it's all over.


For now anyways......

[samoice]

was the nice boys he sang the short gnr version?
or the long rose tattooo version they do lve.. like
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1YyO_ozPmus

[Brettles]

I know Dead N' Bloated went to every single show on the Oz tour, I know he met alot of them too.
It should be really interesting to read his write up on his tour of a lifetime, if he could be bothered writing about it all.