Review of Aalborg, Denmark show (Rox Off)

[Rainfox]

(posted in two posts due to length)



My Way

Guns N? Roses on the home stretch



LIVE: Guns N? Roses

June 14, 2010
Gigantium, Aalborg, Denmark



Time waits for no man. Well, maybe Axl Rose.

The unofficial over/under betting line on the start time in Aalborg was around midnight, and anyone who knows anything about Guns N? Roses would have had their money on over. The band - guitarists Richard Fortus, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman, drummer Frank Ferrer, bassist Tommy Stinson and singer/pianist Axl Rose  ?  kicks in with Chinese Democracy's title track at the perfectly decent time of 10:05 p.m., under an hour after opener Danko Jones had said their goodbyes and farewells.

As the arena goes black, three video screens flash the GNR logo in the defining color of ? duh ? red. The crowd goes bonkers. New man DJ Ashba appears perched upon two back speakers in Hitchcockian silhouette, guitar dangling and legs apart. He gestures in the air, and then ? the brutal, stabbing riff of Chinese Democracy pierces through the air, bouncing off the walls and settling down over a sea of raised hands. The sound is noticeably good and that?s a relief, because out-of-towners may have been somewhat shocked in discovering that this brand new sports facility - packing close to a capacity crowd of 8,000 ? mostly resembles a pig factory. Complete with a portable cabin for a Men's Room (seriously). For a Monday evening in northern Jutland (about as far from Copenhagen as you can get within the country limits) the turnout is impressive. Case in point; KISS drew only 3,500 two days later.

Axl Rose enters from stage left (your right) in a silver jacket, black fedora and shades, calmly swaying his way through and between his seven-piece band. ?It don?t really matter, you?ll find out for yourself,? he sings. We find out quickly. At 47, Rose sounds as good as ever ? if not better. He struts and smirks. It?s probably early for the vampyric Los Angelenos but he?s in a playful mood. In 2010, Rose looks like a cross between a veteran pirate and an outlaw bandito, sporting shoulder length hair (un-braided) and packing a few uncharacteristic pounds on the waist ? a departure from the GI Joe measurements he cut on the two previous tours. As per ritual, anthem staples Welcome To The Jungle, It?s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone follow, but something feels different and more vivid this time around. The band dubbed ?new Guns?, ?Guns Version 2.0? or ? if you disapproved ? ?The Axl Rose Band?, are no longer carrying a cross on their back. So if you?re seeking a gritty raunch n? roll show or a big rock production with lots of stuff that goes bang, boom and swoosh or even ? yes ? a semi-dangerous, chaotic balancing act like old Guns could muster (on a rare night) ? well, you get it all here. This is your ticket.

It?s been 11 years since Axl returned and it?s evident now that the passage of time has been his best ? if not only ? friend. Rose and his new comrades have braved the elements, the shitstorms of insanity (including maybe Rose?s own), the constant battering from critics, fans and foes. They?ve weathered it all, including financial turmoil and cancelled tours, and they finally got the illustrious album out. Sure, it made little impact above ground level but it has since proven to be remarkably resilient both artistically and commercially. So in the spirit of the World Cup, the consensus is once again forming on going for the ball. Not the man.

New tune Sorry sets the tone. Rancorous, bitter and funny, it sounds absolutely massive live. Chugging along, Axl?s answer to either Slash or the media (or both) hits the mark and connects. Rose stalks the stage but pauses to deliver the Mother lode in barking clarity: ?Truth is, the truth hurts ? don?t you agree? It?s harder to live with the truth about you than to live with the lies about me.? Ashba plays the beatific guitar part (as performed by Buckethead on the album) with a soulful glee. He replaces mesmerizing principle Guns guitarist Robin Finck, who went out with NIN for their farewell jaunt the very year Chinese Democracy was unceremoniously released. This scheduling conflict then left GNR without their key guitarist when it finally came time to tour.

Finck, on the album and in live settings, was the pointed cabbage to Axl?s blue cheese (a marvelous dish; sprinkle with sea salt and roasted nuts) and it would be wrong to say he isn?t missed. His fragmented sirenhorn guitar contributions to songs like Better, Street of Dreams, There Was A Time and This I Love, stand as some of the most memorable moments put to disc under the Guns N? Roses banner. Like Rose, Finck follows an unpredictable muse, so these are tall shoes to fill, but the young Ashba (he?s missing ten years on the rest) has yet to record and write with GNR. On stage he does what he can evidently do well: honor the music handed down to him. As a performer, he strikes an incendiary persona, not unlike something that could have walked out of a Tim Burton movie about the Sunset Strip.

[Rainfox]

Piano man

Overall, Guns is a retardedly-talented group of musicians and now that they?re no longer out to also sell a comeback, they seem less rigorous and more ensconsed in the basic artistry and performance. The punkish You Could Be Mine, a song that has rarely ever worked live, sounds fresh and dare I say, fun! Appetite For Destruction closer Rocket Queen is turned from funky hard rock to metallic funk, with a backbreaking bottom by Stinson and Ferrer. The charmingly gaited Better is served up full of bravado and booty. It?s a beguilingly off-centre song (co-written by Finck) yet effortlessly catchy and the band are killing it tonight. The interaction on stage is red hot. These guys can play and they love doing it together.

Of course, everything rises and falls with the salient frontman. In non-stop motion, running from one wing to the other, his was always a panoptic approach. Going through four or five sweat-soaked shirts and hats, Rose eases his way to a little tent at the side of the stage during some songs, to change garments and probably suck some oxygen. As amazing as it is to hear the classics, old and new, performed with this much enthusiasm, brawn and flair, the quieter and more mellow moments - courtesy of Rose front and center - resonate the most. The heartfelt November Rain is pivotal and gorgeous this evening; a song with almost 20 years to its name, the ending takes flight like the coda of Stairway to Heaven. As the stage crew rolls in the grand piano to begin with, the band can be heard (not seen) loosely jamming on Pink Floyd?s Another Brick in the Wall Part II. Axl sits down and begins to hum along as the lighting comes back. He begins to sing it. A potent moment indeed when the crowd exuberantly chant the chorus and drown out both him and the band.

Earlier Rose had singlehandedly frozen the same crowd in place, belting out the bone-chilling This I Love in his trademark rusty wail (while Dizzy Reed handled the piano), accompanied only by a single strobe spotlight. He probably hasn't entirely abandoned his old tics and still wallows in doomed love for his ex-girlfriend but genuine moments like these of talent and poignancy defy origin and inspiration, and simply demand attention. Right here, right now. Ashba peels off the blistering solo (again, Finck) to complement. A transcendental moment of which there are all too few in live rock n? roll.


Free from the ball and chain

There?s a celebratory vibe in Gigantium and it rises as the show progresses. This is Aalborg, it?s a tiresome Monday and there are a lot of locals judging by accents and the amount of spilled draught beer on the floor. An educated guess is that half the crowd came in only to see the giraffe, but while they maybe didn?t come as fans, they will leave as fans. The first encore, the majestic Madagascar, sounds beefy and dexterous, complete with authentic Martin Luther King backdrop clips on the videoscreens. ?Free the ball and chain, we held toooo-geeeether!?, Rose screams not from the pits of some hell, but from the borders of no-mans land, in this personal and comely decree.  The crowd responds rapturously.

A Guns N? Roses show these days is usually awaited in breathless anticipation by some ? will it be a crash, a crush or will it be cancelled? And when will Axl arrive? But how many of today?s iPod generation can stake that claim of suspense, even morbid fascination? Of course, those are not novelties but the truth leans heavily in a different direction regardless of Rose?s reputation (fair or unfair). New Guns border more on rock exhibitionism at its most rehearsed and professional, than anything resembling petulant, cranky rebellion. Yet you are also at the mercy of a band ? and a man ? who operate on their own terms and in their own world. Their album was the most anticipated in rock history but released to a deafening silence from the artists themselves. It?s ongoing also; GNR recently split with manager big shot (and Ticketmaster CEO) Irving Azoff, pretty much cutting themselves off from ever touring the States again. Defiant to the end, even if it will one day do them in, the spirit of Guns N? Roses is alive and well.

As the last confetti rains down during Paradise City, with Fortus, Thal and DJ rollerballing riffs to a swirling crescendo, Guns have rocked and rolled for over two hours. The band come back out to take a group bow, Axl gives sincere thanks (this is the last gig before the Summer, they pick up again in the Fall), and both the performers and crowd look beamingly happy. It?s fitting (and naturally deliberate) that the PA then blasts out My Way by Frank Sinatra to accompany all of us exhausted souls heading for the exits.

Judging by this performance, the ball and chain is off and if Guns N? Roses can continue this cadence, having already torched through Asia, South America, Canada and now Scandinavia, democracy in China may not be far off. Axl Rose is all things to all people ? hero, villain, poet, scoundrel, primadonna, charlatan ? but tonight he?s something close to a deity.

Regrets? He?s probably had a few, but then again too few to mention. He did what he had to do and he saw it through - without exemption.



Rating: ***** (5/5)

By P. Venkman

ROX OFF
July 2010

[norway]

Thanks for that review.

Axl Rose is all things to all people ? hero, villain, poet, scoundrel, primadonna, charlatan

So true!

[Voodoochild]

Awesome review! This guy (Peter Venkman? ) knows the band and everything from this Chinese Democracy era. Loved how he gave kudos to Robin.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Nice review by Venkman, Looking forward to what  Stantz and Spengler have to say!

[richwoman]

Nice to read something that`s a fair review of the show and not stuck in the past i wish more journalists would get on board with whats happening now rather than what happened years ago when the`re talking about G N`R

[russtcb]

Cool review. Nice to see someone actually point out that Robin IS missed.

[Chief]

Thank you. great review and very well written.  hope you get to some more shows this year!

[Axlfanatic]

Awesome & Accurate review- rare these days indeed. Exactly the way I would review the Canada shows I saw.

This sentence scares me though:

"It?s ongoing also; GNR recently split with manager big shot (and Ticketmaster CEO) Irving Azoff, pretty much cutting themselves off from ever touring the States again"

[Ignacio]

Thanks a lot for posting this review Rainfox, quite an interesting read!

[richwoman]

Awesome & Accurate review- rare these days indeed. Exactly the way I would review the Canada shows I saw.

This sentence scares me though:

"It?s ongoing also; GNR recently split with manager big shot (and Ticketmaster CEO) Irving Azoff, pretty much cutting themselves off from ever touring the States again"

I wouldn`t worry about it there`s no way he can stop them touring it would be an infringement of there rights, any way europe, south america north america,and asia loves the Gunners  they can just keep coming here

[Leddy]

Awesome & Accurate review- rare these days indeed. Exactly the way I would review the Canada shows I saw.

This sentence scares me though:

"It?s ongoing also; GNR recently split with manager big shot (and Ticketmaster CEO) Irving Azoff, pretty much cutting themselves off from ever touring the States again"

I wouldn`t worry about it there`s no way he can stop them touring it would be an infringement of there rights, any way europe, south america north america,and asia loves the Gunners  they can just keep coming here

I think the articles inference is that it could stop them from a routing/financial viability/venue control perspective - Which is flawed as G'NR have been beating the odds for years, this is just another challenge to stick a finger up to.

We should know by now not to write these guys off 

[Rainfox]

Just read the Merlinin Kazani (Turkish website) interview with Ron Thal (posted in its own thread).

I stumbled over this:



MK: You're on tour as GN'R. How is concerts going? Which concert is your favourite until now?

RT: Been touring since last December - played Taiwan, S. Korea & Japan, then Canada in Jan & Feb, some acoustic shows in NYC, then South & Central America in March & April, Scandinavia & Russia in May & June... it's been a wild one!! I think our best performance might have been the very last one in Aalborg Denmark. My perspective is different than the audience's, or other bandmember's, but for me something felt really good in every way at that show. The Russian shows too, Japan, Sweden Rock... and the Latin American shows were intense... I don't have a favorite, I can't choose ? they each had their own special moments, ya know?