[Updates] July 14th, 2016 Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field

[sandman]

[sandman]

[pilferk]

I think I've finally recovered from this show. I had no voice for nearly 3 days.

it was absolutely incredible. I hate to immediately call a show the best of my life, but this one is right there with GnR in June 1991 (which has been the gold standard of concerts for me and would be nearly impossible to top). but this one was as good. this band is so fucking good and Axl's voice is as good as ever.

I watched a few youtube videos of prior shows and I have to say, I feel like the band was really fired up for this show. I think they have actually improved since the Vegas shows. They are a little tighter and more comfortable with each other. And when you see Axl dancing and running all over the stage like a madman, you realize how much was missing in Vegas.  

Sorry was an incredible surprise. I love that song and I thought is sounded great.

Welcome to the Jungle was the best version I've seen either in person or on video.

it was hot. I spoke to some guards that said it was 125 degrees on the field in the afternoon. I started tailgating at the CBP parking lot at 4PM. I never felt anything like it. we had a crew of about 30 people and 2 felt so dizzy they had to sit in their cars with the AC on (they were not drinking either). we started walking at 8:45 and got into the pit by 9:15. it was really easy which was a nice surprise. there was no line at all to get into the pit. it was still really hot inside, but felt ok compared to standing in the sun at 4PM.

I saw several people that I went to the show with over the weekend, and heard from several others. everyone LOVED it. several of my friends had never seen them before, and most were absolutely blown away. a few of them just kept saying how they can't believe how great they sounded. they all said they will definitely see them again if they come back. a few of us are talking about heading up to north jersey this weekend for one of the shows. it was just that good.

I've been waiting for you to post your impressions.

Glad you had a good time, man, and that it was such a good show. Reports like this just amp me up for our show on Saturday.

Looks like we are likewise gonna have a scorcher...97-ish, though cloudy, and chance for some showers maybe (which actually might be welcome at that temp and what I'm assuming is going to be ridiculous humidity). 

Edit: If you come up to the show on Saturday, let me know.  We'll have to find a way to touch base. First round on me.

[D-GenerationX]

I saw several people that I went to the show with over the weekend, and heard from several others. everyone LOVED it. several of my friends had never seen them before, and most were absolutely blown away. a few of them just kept saying how they can't believe how great they sounded. they all said they will definitely see them again if they come back. a few of us are talking about heading up to north jersey this weekend for one of the shows. it was just that good.

I have found the same thing.

I just loved seeing that many people at a GNR show again here in the U.S.  All decked out in GNR merch, some it, quite vintage.

But afterwards, I talked to several people that went and loved it.  And I've talked to others that didn't go, but after talking to friends that did and seeing clips are pissed at themselves.

If they keep this line-up together, I assume we can look forward to a full scare arena tour nationwide in a few years.

[MrMojoRa]

awesome review RA

Thanks sky dog 


I still can't get over how happy Axl was. I've never seen him smile so much and I don't remember seeing him interact that much with the crowd before.


My guess, is that there was some form of relief & release for him in how the Philly crowd received him. I can imagine his no show in 2002 was in the back of his mind.

[MNGS717]

Another amazing show!!  Great to read some reviews on here!  Hope to read more..
Think it was around 7:30 my friend and I finally arrived in Philly.  As usual the traffic near Valley Forge going into Philly was pretty backed up.  We parked at a friends house in Fishtown, grabbed some pizza quick, and got a Uber cab.  It was getting closer to 8:30 by then so the driver sped up to 80mph down highway 95 to the stadium.  When we got close enough to see the stadium there was just a ton of people.  I have never seen so many people tailgating ever!  We told the driver we would just walk the rest of the way.  He was happy about that and said he got paid either way!  We missed the opening bands but that was fine with us.  We looked at merch and they still had the poster and the event shirt.  I liked the concept of the design but it reminded me of Ghostrider instead of Ben Franklin so I didn't buy them.  My friend from Philly liked it and bought the shirt. 

Other friend went to different place so my other friend and I went way up to the Top to M11.  He mentioned afterwards a girl behind him went into a seizure during COMA and had to be taken out.  There were signs outside warning of strobe lights.  Anyway, when we got to our section there were two dudes sitting in our front row seats but I don't blame them because we showed up so late.  The GN'R screens turned on shortly after and went on for a but longer than usual but was good to just relax for a minute.  I'm so glad they sold enough tix to leave all the upper sections open!!  Was a little worried they would try and make us move down lower to the back of another section.  Only a very small amount of seats were open off to our right.  Otherwise the place was jam packed!!  We never had seats for a Guns show but it was still a great experience.  The section we were in a had a strong marijuana smell at times and seemed like we had to stand up about 20 times to let other fans in and out of the row.  That was the only downside.  We didn't stand for the show since it felt like we were on the very edge of a 200 foot drop.   Everyone stood for Paradise City!

As far as sound goes it seemed to be even louder than the DC show and maybe the loudest concert we have ever been to.  I noticed on the few video clips I recorded that there is a slight but noticeable delay on the vocals.  Most likely due to being so far away and picking up sound from speakers on field instead of the stage.  But listening and watching live it was definitely not noticeable.  Sounded perfect!  After looking up and over at the stage from the DC show in the Pit is was interesting to actually be able to see the entire production/stage.  If I could see the show again I would be happy with similar seats again or the Pit. 

Other notes...  A few friends who have never seen GN'R were at the show and told me later how amazing it was!  I've been telling them for years but finally they decided to go.  One friend brought his young son Izzy who had been begging to go for weeks!  He loved it!  Another friend asked me when I'm going again.  They want to go along!!

After the show bootleg shirt dealers were selling shirts outside all along the sidewalks.  The farther we got away the shittier they were...from $20 all the way down to a black shirt with white only print for $10 but probably could have paid $5.  It was insane trying to figure out how to get back to house.  Uber jacked the rates up to $90!!  They may have been upset because they were waiting a little longer than expected for fans to exit the show.  We starting walking a few blocks and flagged down two cabs, both of which said $30.  Said no thanks but since it was getting close to 1:30am and we wanted to get to last call at a bar we tried the Lyft app.  It was also $30 but the driver showed up within 5 minutes.  He knew exactly what bar we wanted to go to...The Barcade.  I casually mentioned how good it was that the Uber driver earlier went 80mph down highway 95.  A minute later I looked at the speedometer and the Lyft driver was traveling at 87mph back up 95.  The Barcade was closing up so he took us to a dive called the El Bar where we were able to get drinks right before 2am.












Please don't quote this entire post!!  I'll be adding more photos to Flickr and maybe a few video clips to YouTube.

[D-GenerationX]

Wow, some great pics here

Hello, new desktop background.

[sandman]

I think I've finally recovered from this show. I had no voice for nearly 3 days.

it was absolutely incredible. I hate to immediately call a show the best of my life, but this one is right there with GnR in June 1991 (which has been the gold standard of concerts for me and would be nearly impossible to top). but this one was as good. this band is so fucking good and Axl's voice is as good as ever.

I watched a few youtube videos of prior shows and I have to say, I feel like the band was really fired up for this show. I think they have actually improved since the Vegas shows. They are a little tighter and more comfortable with each other. And when you see Axl dancing and running all over the stage like a madman, you realize how much was missing in Vegas.  

Sorry was an incredible surprise. I love that song and I thought is sounded great.

Welcome to the Jungle was the best version I've seen either in person or on video.

it was hot. I spoke to some guards that said it was 125 degrees on the field in the afternoon. I started tailgating at the CBP parking lot at 4PM. I never felt anything like it. we had a crew of about 30 people and 2 felt so dizzy they had to sit in their cars with the AC on (they were not drinking either). we started walking at 8:45 and got into the pit by 9:15. it was really easy which was a nice surprise. there was no line at all to get into the pit. it was still really hot inside, but felt ok compared to standing in the sun at 4PM.

I saw several people that I went to the show with over the weekend, and heard from several others. everyone LOVED it. several of my friends had never seen them before, and most were absolutely blown away. a few of them just kept saying how they can't believe how great they sounded. they all said they will definitely see them again if they come back. a few of us are talking about heading up to north jersey this weekend for one of the shows. it was just that good.

I've been waiting for you to post your impressions.

Glad you had a good time, man, and that it was such a good show. Reports like this just amp me up for our show on Saturday.

Looks like we are likewise gonna have a scorcher...97-ish, though cloudy, and chance for some showers maybe (which actually might be welcome at that temp and what I'm assuming is going to be ridiculous humidity). 

Edit: If you come up to the show on Saturday, let me know.  We'll have to find a way to touch base. First round on me.

I saw that forecast. brutal!! i'll probably make a decision on Friday. checking stubhub and ticketmaster.

if I end up at the Saturday show, I will definitely let you know so we can meet up for a couple. 

a few other general thoughts about the show....

1) I absolutely love the extended intro on DTTJ. it has a bluesy vibe to it and then it hits a bit a metallica-influenced riff. it's just nasty. and the fact that they started the intro what felt like a nano-second after WTTJ was awesome. Just kept that energy level at 10 for a long time. killer stuff.

2) ditto on the extended intro on "Better". just a great jam. these modifications to existing songs is part of why I loved GnR's live show so much back in the day (like the beginning and ending of SCOM). doing great songs and making them a little different and better live just adds so much to the show. glad to see they still do this.

3) many people I talked to said November Rain was highlight of the show, even though it's not a song they were looking forward to. I've walked away with that same feeling at a number of GnR shows. they just kill it live, led by Axl's vocals and added intensity near the end of the song.

4) I love Seeker! It's probably my second favorite Who song. I think it sounds awesome live and Axl clearly has a special connection with the song. the way he performs it, I think the lyrics are very personal to him. I've also always believed that the acoustic version of You're Crazy is influenced by the seeker.

5) it's honestly tough for me to pick a highlight or favorite moment. I've mentioned a few, but there were so many songs that sounded incredible. for me, the first 5 songs are worth the price of admission alone. so much energy and so incredible. and then they go into Estranged  . Rocket Queen was incredible, as was Civil War, LALD, TIL, and Nightrain. 

I honestly feel like Michael Scott when Schrute asks him what his favorite moment working at Dunder Mifflin was and Michael says "all of them."

[Bodhi]

What a great show!  That was my 17th GNR show, and it might have been the best one I have ever been to.  It is right up there for me with Albany 02, Hammerstein 06 and Vegas this year, which are my personal favorites.  Can't wait for the NJ shows this week.  Heres a couple pics from Philly I took with my phone that I thought came out pretty cool.

[D-GenerationX]

That last pic is great.

[sky dog]

watching this show now....ridiculously great. 

[sandman]

watching this show now....ridiculously great. 

I watched a good bit of the show this week, and I agree, even the youtube clips seem better than a lot of what I watched at other shows. they were on fire. as hot as it was, it seemed like they came out focused on delivering as good a show as possible.

maybe they are just continuing to develop and improve as a band, but Axl alluded to the '02 no-show, so that was on his mind. I have to believe he was a little extra focused on delivering a kick-ass show.

they even played Sorry for the first time, which is kinda an ironic song title to debut with this band in Philly. Not that the song is any type of an apology, but still kinda interesting.