G N' R Play Troubadour Friday, April 1, 2016: Axl, Slash & Duff Reunited

[Voodoochild]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpGJ4AWQOiE&list=PLq84ew1n_hYnIsnLp4odU9cg8oScc7-m8

Its nothing we didnt see before, but those videos of ISE, WTTJ and PC are new.

[sandman]

the last week has been incredible. my production at work on Friday was not good. 

I still can't believe this is happening. it was unreal to see all these videos and actually see Axl and Slash killing it on stage together. Good stuff!!!

and i still can't believe there is a GnR date at in Philly at the Linc! I'm trying to get 16 tix for various friends and a bunch more are getting their own. trying the presale today and the general onsale on Friday (from my hotel room in vegas). pretty cool to see our band on top of the world again.

can't wait for Friday night.

[Sosso]

[jamillos22]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

Amazing!

[D-GenerationX]

All those clips were amazing.

He just looks so happy.  It's so refreshing to see.

[jamillos22]

Slash looked really focused though.

[MrMojoRa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

Goosebumps!

[JAEBALL]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

I will be watching this on repeat for the next five hours ... Not a lie.

[MrMojoRa]

I keep watching the moment where they fire it up at the 1:30 mark.

It's like somebody hits the on switch to a power station; its gears inactive for 23 years.

In 87, when it began, I was all in for this band. Axl's voice was the most amazing sound that ever echoed through my head. Appetite For Destuction was/is the greatest album ever in my world.

I was born and raised on the Beatles, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Eagles, Floyd.....8-track cassettes plugged into the car, records spinning at home. GN'R changed me. Helped me through rough teenage years and early adulthood.

When they split up I followed Axl while always supporting Slash & Duff. I loved Velvet Revolver (saw them live, bought all their music) and some of Slash's solo work (Safari Inn is amazing).

I was okay with the break up as long as Axl still kept singing.

This reunion is something I never expected to see. Not in this lifetime.

But now that it's happened, this feels better than I imagined.

[Sickthings3]

I would give literally anything to have a pro bootleg of this show.

this guy...

And to Fernando, Team Brazil and everyone who made this possible: BIG THANKS AND MUCH RESPECT! One of the best marketing we could have possibly dreamed of! The band gets tones of praises but I just want to stop for a moment and say THANK YOU to the people who made all this possible, so Fernando, Beta, whoever else worked on this and I don't know, THANK YOU!


Looking forward to Vegas, will be at the show on the 9th, my birthday is on the 8th, flying in 8th in the morning, I'm indeed living the dream. THANK YOU!

Happy birthday! mine is the 8th too! enjoy the show to the max!!! on me!

Same as Izzy, right? Mine is the 7th! But I can't make the show! Happy Birthday and enjoy your time!!!

same as Izzy, yep! wonder if he'll show so Axl can sing Happy Birthday to him! 
and Happy Birthday to you, too! how i wish i could go!!! many medical problems that surfaced during the last few years restrict me though.    i would seriously seize. i'd need a medic/handler with me.

so awesome the first date of the show is on 4/8 though. 

Thank you! I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it's all under control and you're doing better now!

[PSZU]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

This is a very cool clip!

[Executioner]

Questions We Still Have About Guns N' Roses' Reunion
Even after their surprise Troubadour show, there's still a lot we don't know
By Andy Greene April 4, 2016,RS

Axl Rose and Slash shared a stage for the first time in 23 years on Friday night, kicking off one of the most-anticipated (and potentially lucrative) reunion tours in rock history. No member of Guns N' Roses has yet said a single word to the press, but the show still answered many long-burning questions. We now know that Axl, Slash and Duff McKagan were joined by keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and new keyboardist Melissa Reese. We know that at least two Chinese Democracy tracks will be in the mix for the tour, as well as the Use Your Illusion super rarity "Double Talkin' Jive." But there are still a ton of lingering questions. Here are six of them.


1. What's the deal with Steven Adler?
Perhaps nobody on earth wanted to see the original Guns N' Roses lineup reform more than drummer Steven Adler, and since the reunion announcement, he's been completely silent. Many fans figured that meant he was involved at least to some small degree, and when he bailed on a solo show at the Whisky a Go Go a couple weeks back, it seemed like possible confirmation. But he was nowhere to be seen onstage at the Troubadour.


L.A. Weekly is reporting that his absence was due to medical reasons. "A source close to the band told me that Adler is having back surgery, which is the real reason he pulled out of the Whisky show," they report. "I've also been told he's not ready to tour with GNR, not yet, and maybe not ever." If true, that's an incredibly cruel fate. Let's all hope it's not true and they're just waiting for Coachella to break him out.
2. Was Izzy Stradlin even invited back?
The reclusive guitarist gave us quite a surprise last month when he joined Twitter and called us up to say that he wasn't involved with these comeback shows. Sadly, we never got the chance to question him. Did the Guns N' Roses camp make any attempt to bring him back into the fold? Was he made an offer he deemed insulting? Did they worry he was simply too unreliable to depend on for an extended tour? Does he even want to be a part of this? As of now, we simply have no idea.

3. How exactly did Axl and Slash mend their relationship?
Axl Rose made it abundantly clear in nearly every interview he granted over the past two decades that a reunion with Slash ? who he once deemed a "cancer" ? was a non-starter. "Give me a fucking break," he told Billboard in 2009. "What's clear is that one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is. Those decisions were made a long time ago and reiterated year after year by one man."

What exactly changed? Did Axl simply get a monetary offer he couldn't refuse? Did they actually sit down and mend their personal relationship? Did it take an army of lawyers, managers and therapists, or did they handle this themselves? There wasn't a lot of onstage interaction at the Troubadour. Are they even speaking terms even now? Once again, we don't know.

4. Are they planning on recording new music?
Few people buying tickets for this tour care much about hearing Guns N' Roses perform new music, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Axl Rose and Slash have a pretty good track record in the studio. For all we know, there have been secret sessions this past year and a new album is in the works. That feels unlikely, but the cone of silence around the band makes almost anything seem possible.
5. Do they ever plan on talking about this?
Their "no interviews" strategy hasn't exactly prevented them from getting much press. If anything, it has added a huge aura of mystery to this whole thing and gotten them more attention. It's easy to imagine this entire tour selling out fairly quickly. If that happens, what motivation do they have to submit themselves to potentially awkward questions like, "Hey, Axl, is Slash still a cancer? What made you say that in the first place?" Still, one of them needs to eventually talk about this, right?
6. What happened to Chris Pitman?
This might seem like inside baseball, but keyboardist Chris Pitman joined the group in 1998 and was involved in all activities through 2014. Dumping guitarists D.J. Ashba and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal makes sense since Slash was coming back, but why did Pitman leave? "We are playing at Coachella 2016, look out!," he wrote a few months ago in a now-deleted Tweet. "I was just informed by mgmt to not acknowledge anything about coachella, gnr, etc," he wrote soon afterwards. "When I said 'We are playing at Coachella,' I meant me and my daughter like to play in the sand." Not long afterwards, he scrubbed all mentions of Guns N' Roses from his Twitter page.
Did his loose lips sink him? Did they simply want to replace him with Melissa Reese? And what's her deal? How did she break into the Guns N' Roses boys club? As usual, we have a lot more questions than answers

[Factory Girl]

It's amazing how they make each other better when they're together!

[JAEBALL]

Questions We Still Have About Guns N' Roses' Reunion
Even after their surprise Troubadour show, there's still a lot we don't know
By Andy Greene April 4, 2016,RS

Axl Rose and Slash shared a stage for the first time in 23 years on Friday night, kicking off one of the most-anticipated (and potentially lucrative) reunion tours in rock history. No member of Guns N' Roses has yet said a single word to the press, but the show still answered many long-burning questions. We now know that Axl, Slash and Duff McKagan were joined by keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and new keyboardist Melissa Reese. We know that at least two Chinese Democracy tracks will be in the mix for the tour, as well as the Use Your Illusion super rarity "Double Talkin' Jive." But there are still a ton of lingering questions. Here are six of them.


1. What's the deal with Steven Adler?
Perhaps nobody on earth wanted to see the original Guns N' Roses lineup reform more than drummer Steven Adler, and since the reunion announcement, he's been completely silent. Many fans figured that meant he was involved at least to some small degree, and when he bailed on a solo show at the Whisky a Go Go a couple weeks back, it seemed like possible confirmation. But he was nowhere to be seen onstage at the Troubadour.


L.A. Weekly is reporting that his absence was due to medical reasons. "A source close to the band told me that Adler is having back surgery, which is the real reason he pulled out of the Whisky show," they report. "I've also been told he's not ready to tour with GNR, not yet, and maybe not ever." If true, that's an incredibly cruel fate. Let's all hope it's not true and they're just waiting for Coachella to break him out.
2. Was Izzy Stradlin even invited back?
The reclusive guitarist gave us quite a surprise last month when he joined Twitter and called us up to say that he wasn't involved with these comeback shows. Sadly, we never got the chance to question him. Did the Guns N' Roses camp make any attempt to bring him back into the fold? Was he made an offer he deemed insulting? Did they worry he was simply too unreliable to depend on for an extended tour? Does he even want to be a part of this? As of now, we simply have no idea.

3. How exactly did Axl and Slash mend their relationship?
Axl Rose made it abundantly clear in nearly every interview he granted over the past two decades that a reunion with Slash ? who he once deemed a "cancer" ? was a non-starter. "Give me a fucking break," he told Billboard in 2009. "What's clear is that one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is. Those decisions were made a long time ago and reiterated year after year by one man."

What exactly changed? Did Axl simply get a monetary offer he couldn't refuse? Did they actually sit down and mend their personal relationship? Did it take an army of lawyers, managers and therapists, or did they handle this themselves? There wasn't a lot of onstage interaction at the Troubadour. Are they even speaking terms even now? Once again, we don't know.

4. Are they planning on recording new music?
Few people buying tickets for this tour care much about hearing Guns N' Roses perform new music, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Axl Rose and Slash have a pretty good track record in the studio. For all we know, there have been secret sessions this past year and a new album is in the works. That feels unlikely, but the cone of silence around the band makes almost anything seem possible.
5. Do they ever plan on talking about this?
Their "no interviews" strategy hasn't exactly prevented them from getting much press. If anything, it has added a huge aura of mystery to this whole thing and gotten them more attention. It's easy to imagine this entire tour selling out fairly quickly. If that happens, what motivation do they have to submit themselves to potentially awkward questions like, "Hey, Axl, is Slash still a cancer? What made you say that in the first place?" Still, one of them needs to eventually talk about this, right?
6. What happened to Chris Pitman?
This might seem like inside baseball, but keyboardist Chris Pitman joined the group in 1998 and was involved in all activities through 2014. Dumping guitarists D.J. Ashba and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal makes sense since Slash was coming back, but why did Pitman leave? "We are playing at Coachella 2016, look out!," he wrote a few months ago in a now-deleted Tweet. "I was just informed by mgmt to not acknowledge anything about coachella, gnr, etc," he wrote soon afterwards. "When I said 'We are playing at Coachella,' I meant me and my daughter like to play in the sand." Not long afterwards, he scrubbed all mentions of Guns N' Roses from his Twitter page.
Did his loose lips sink him? Did they simply want to replace him with Melissa Reese? And what's her deal? How did she break into the Guns N' Roses boys club? As usual, we have a lot more questions than answers

All very fair questions.

[JAEBALL]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

This is a very cool clip!

For the first night out... considering the three of them haven't played together in 23 years ... PLUS Slash having NEVER played with Frank or Richard before... it sounded amazing.

Once they get rolling... oh man...it's going to be sick.

[Sosso]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

This is a very cool clip!

For the first night out... considering the three of them haven't played together in 23 years ... PLUS Slash having NEVER played with Frank or Richard before... it sounded amazing.

Once they get rolling... oh man...it's going to be sick.

That was one of the most interesting parts of the concert for me.
Richard and Slash are a great guitar duo  Duff, Richard and Frank are building a awesome rhythm section as well.

[Anguro]

Who sang "New Rose"...? Duff..?

[JDA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

Amazing!

Wow, so fun to see...

[Sosso]

Who sang "New Rose"...? Duff..?

Who else should sing it? He sang it on the album, so why not live too?

[JAEBALL]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOsD-UasC8

This is GnR walking out onto the stage and the very beginning of ISE.

This is a very cool clip!

For the first night out... considering the three of them haven't played together in 23 years ... PLUS Slash having NEVER played with Frank or Richard before... it sounded amazing.

Once they get rolling... oh man...it's going to be sick.

I look forward to hearing what Slash has to say about playing with them. We know he has long been a fan of Richard's work.

As for The big three and their chemistry... Let's face it ... That's just magic.