Guns 'n Roses lightens up for Calgary crowd
CALGARY- It would no doubt be hasty to try and claim that Axl Rose has lightened up.
It was only a month ago that one of rock's most notorious attack dogs made headlines for swinging punches at a member of the paparazzi. Speculating that he's mellowed seems awfully rash.
But damned if Calgary didn't catch the lighter side of the Guns N' Roses hellspawn Saturday night at Saddledome.
For one thing, the 47-year-old frontman hit the stage relatively early ? around 10:15 ? which is shockingly cordial behaviour for Rose, who started closer to midnight the last time he came through town.
Then there was the fact that, by all appearances,
he seemed to be having a ball from the get-go. After kicking off his nearly three hour set with the blazing hard rock of new tune Chinese Democracy, Rose then bitched to the crowd of 9,000: ?my people decided to leave me at the hotel. . . . I had to catch a cab here.? (It seemed like a dubious tale to me. Couldn't one get beheaded for that in Axl Land?)
In the past, such a story might be Axl's excuse for burning down the 'Dome with everyone in it. But Saturday night, he registered his annoyance with little more than an evil grin, seemingly resigned to it.
Then,
over the course of a sprawling, ambitious and mostly great rock show, he kept the levity coming, from cracks about Tiger Woods to the appearance of his old buddy Bubbles from TV's Trailer Park Boys, who toured with GN'R back in 2006.
Joking about their mutual love of tacky porno movie titles, the pair then downed tequila shots served by a bevy of lovely ladies before Bubbles sang his signature song, the country strummer Liquor and Whores, while Rose sang harmony.
It was a fun moment that had the crowd howling.
Even Rose's physical appearance seemed like that of a man more at ease than in the past. Gone were the angrily tight corn rows of Rose's last Calgary appearance. Saturday he hit the stage wearing sunglasses, a fedora and a bandana over his scruffily kept and fairly short red hair. He wore ripped jeans and an unbuttoned, untucked dress shirt which didn't cover up the minor paunch he's developed over the years.
It was one of many outfit changes, but other than the top hat and red velvety jacket he sported at one point, nothing Rose wore seemed overly image conscious.
None of this is to suggest that Axl wasn't taking his concert seriously, however.
Far from it. Backed up mightily by the seven heavyweight musicians whom he's currently calling Guns N' Roses (Axl is the only original Gunner left in the band) Rose led his army through lethal versions of his biggest hits, as well as a feast from Chinese Democracy, the album that he took 14 years to create.
Among the classics ? all of which were received rapturously ? was It's So Easy, still full of violent, punk spitfire, and Mr. Brownstone with it's mean blues-metal beat. There was Welcome To The Jungle, accompanied by deafening fireworks, which seemed to knock out a speaker momentarily (again, Rose took it in stride), as well as Sweet Child of Mine, and, come encore time, Paradise City and Patience.
The Elton John inspired power ballad November Rain went over with roars of approval too. That one's always been too overwrought for my liking, but Rose delivered the tune beautifully.
For the majority of the evening his legendary voice was in top form, banshee-like on the rockers but emotive, stirring and powerful on the ballads. When Rose hits his mark vocally, he's like a man possessed.That was most evident in the ballads from Chinese Democracy.
Street of Dreams was maudlin on record, but Rose delivered the tune with such striking passion live that it couldn't be denied. The same goes for the theatrical This I Love, which even seemed to win over the most hardened headbangers.
Still, some grumbling could be heard as Rose and company worked the Chinese Democracy record hard.
That disc sold disappointingly compared to the big business GN'R did in its heyday, and, consequently, some fans who were hungry for the classics had little patience for the new material. That's too bad because the majority of Chinese Democracy is excellent, and, for the most part, it came across as such at the 'Dome. Highlights from the album included the Nine Inch Nails-like Better, which deserved to be a huge hit, and the bitterly twisted ballad Sorry.
Sure, there were the odd songs that needed to be tuned up, like the choppy Shackler's Revenge, or, dropped, like the overblown Madagascar, but by and large the Chinese Democracy material proved its worthiness.
So did the current members of Guns N' Roses, actually.
I miss Slash and the boys as much as the next fan, and, truthfully, I still have trouble accepting the new group as GN'R. To me, they're the members of Axl Rose's solo band.
But that crew ? which includes Tommy Stinson, former bassist of The Replacements, along with guitarists Richard Fortus, DJ Ashba and Ron ?Bumblefoot? Thal ? all have much to offer.
Rose seems determined to prove that with extended solo spots for each of them. While the odd impressive moment came from those spots, a lot of it was indulgent ? fat that could have been trimmed away for an even stronger show.
Still, the great moments far outweighed the shaky ones Saturday at the 'Dome, and the opening acts were a part of the plus side.
Underrated Toronto rocker Danko Jones was a blast with his cocky, charismatic stage presence and molten-metal garage rock.
Hard rock animal Sebastian Bach, former lead singer of Skid Row, was a kick too. The big knucklehead is absolutely dedicated to the business of old school headbanging and at the 'Dome he punched his way through a set that was full of wicked energy, even if it was dated. At 41, Bach still wields plenty of magnetism, not to mention a mean rock 'n' roll scream.
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