It?s so easy for Guns n? Roses at Terminal 5Guns n? Roses played the second of three New York City club concerts last night at Terminal 5, once again delivering an epic, yet intimate offering of both classic and new Gn?R hits for a few thousand enthusiastic fans.
Following Friday night?s killer Roseland Ballroom performance (read my review of that show here), there was no doubt that show #2 of the Fashion Week concert series would be another spectacular, 20+ song extravaganza. Fans lined up outside Terminal 5 practically down to the West Side Highway as venue security performed exhaustive, TSA-style security checks, and forced anyone with a camera to leave it at coat check in a surprisingly strict and unexpected move. ?If you have a problem with this policy, please just call up Axl to get permission? the wise-ass venue rep told unhappy fans waiting on line.
Inside, the crowd filled the various floors, railings, and bars that make up the sprawling, triple level T5. The venue?s capacity is listed around 3,000, and while the show was technically sold out, scalpers trying to dump tickets outside for half of the $90 face value made it apparent that a late Sunday night show is simply not ideal for the average New Yorker. Nonetheless, the couple of thousand fans who did turn out milled about enthusiastically as even as it quickly grew stifling hot inside the former nightclub.
The lights dimmed at 11:30 pm, in what has become known as SAT (Standard Axl Time). For those of us who?d been at Roseland two nights prior, the opening notes of Chinese Democracy were a happy surprise, ensuring that the night?s setlist would be at least slightly different from Friday night?s show. Chinese Democracy led right into sports arena stalwart Welcome to the Jungle, and for anyone who?d been in doubt, the 21st century version of Guns n? f*ckin? Roses was once again on stage and ready to kick ass.
The transition from arena show to club venue is not one particularly well-suited towards Axl?s production extravaganza, but even without towering pyrotechnics like at November?s Izod Center show (my review here), the band?s furious energy dominated the floor and upper levels of Terminal 5. Fans jostled about as they sang along to old school classics like It?s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone, and like on Friday night, greeted the intense Estranged with excited cheers and clearly vibed with Axl and the band on the emotional ballad.
Despite his loner?s reputation, the sunglasses and fedora-sporting Axl seemed happy as could be as he danced around the stage, bellowing into his red microphone and waving to fans lined along the upper level walkways. The sound was a little iffy early on in the night, and unlike Friday night?s flawless tone, Axl seemed to struggle a bit with his signature howling screams during Live and Let Die. Nonetheless, between the band?s thick rhythms, blazing solos shared by guitarists D.J. Ashba, Richard Fortus, and the bearded, doubleneck guitar-wielding Bumblefoot, and the simply timeless nature of the classic songs, virtually every fan in attendance gleefully rocked out to a setlist packed to capacity with hits.
Chinese Democracy track Street of Dreams replaced Civil War in the only other significant change from Friday night?s setlist, but when You Could Be Mine and then Sweet Child O? Mine were followed by November Rain, Knockin? On Heaven?s Door, and Nightrain, it?s hard to complain about the song selection. The piano-led, rock guitar-climaxing November Rain by itself is one of the most exquisite live performances any rock fan can experience, and the female voices in the crowd may have just out-powered the guys on Sweet Child O? Mine, a tune that?s arguably contributed to more late-night bar hookups than any other song in existence.
Each guitarist got their own chance to shine, with Ashba jamming out on his self-penned Ballad of Death, Fortus shredding through a take on the James Bond theme, and Bumblefoot adding some crunch to the iconic music from the Pink Panther (read my November interview with Bumblefoot here). Keyboardist Dizzy Reed took the crowd through an instrumental Baba O?Riley, and bassist Tommy Stinson also sang lead vocals on his own punk song Motivation, giving Axl one of several breaks to change hats and leather jackets (it is Fashion Week, after all). Say what you will about Axl?s hired musicians and the modern day Guns n? Roses, but the quality, energy, and sheer impact of the night?s music and musicians definitively surpassed Slash?s own September 2010 Terminal 5 performance, even on many of the same songs (read my review of Slash?s concert here).
The night began wrapping up around 2am, with a six song encore performance that included two more Chinese Democracy tracks, a cover of AC/DC?s Whole Lotta Rosie, and an enthusiastically received Don?t Cry. Standard show-closers Patience and Paradise City finished up the night with blasts of confetti showering through the air and a mad scramble on the floor as a grinning Axl chucked his microphone into the center of the crowd for one lucky fan to take home.
Sunday night?s show didn?t quite live up to the insanely high bar set at Roseland Friday night, as Axl?s voice occasionally washed out in the heavy mix of guitars and keyboards, and the additional Chinese Democracy songs didn?t receive the same kind of warm response as the classic material. But unlike Roseland, the more spacious and less heavily sold-out T5 allowed fans to push up much closer to the stage, especially later in the night as the crowd began to thin after the 1am hour, for what may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be within spitting range of one of rock n? roll?s most iconic frontmen.
Like the November arena tour and the Roseland show, no particularly deep cuts appeared in the setlist, with the Use Your Illusion albums represented only by the major singles and cover songs. But Guns n? Roses, no matter which iteration, simply doesn?t write bad songs, and every single fan in attendance last night left with broad smiles on their faces and almost 3 hours of earsplitting rock n? roll in their heads.
It?s clear that after some 14 years of silence, Axl Rose has finally got his game back together, and is determined to continue performing at the absolute highest level of rock stardom. The band?s final NYC show is this Wednesday at Webster Hall, and as the smallest venue yet, as well as the site of the famous 1988 Live At The Ritz live recording, it?s likely to be the most packed and intense concert of the tour. Tickets are sold out, but can be purchased at a markup via Stubhub or Craigslist.
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