Copenhagen, Denmark, June 27 - 2017

[Tongue-like-a-razor]

A thread dedicated to the show in Parken, Copenhagen. Bring it on, muthafuckers!

[Rainfox]

I propose a meet up for all those going/attending:

Cafe Bopa

A nice little cafe / dance-dj-late hours place that is rather cult in that part of town (eastside, Copenhagen).

It's about 400 meters from the venue, so there...

Outside seating as well (sun should be out on showday).

Anyway, we'll be there, sipping coffee and beers from around 1600...

If we don't see each other / meet up - have a great gig everyone!

Cheers,

RF

[allwaystired]

Any updates? What's the litho look like for tonight?

[Spirit]

1. It's So Easy

2. Mr. Brownstone

3. Chinese Democracy

4. Welcome to the Jungle

5. Double Talkin' Jive

6. Better

7. Estranged

8. Live and Let Die

9. Rocket Queen

10. Whole Lotta Rosie

11. You Could Be Mine

12. You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory/New Rose

13. This I Love

14. Civil War

15. Yesterdays

16. Coma

17. Speak Softly, Love

18. Sweet Child O' Mine

19. My Michelle

20. Wish You Were Here

21. Layla/November Rain

22. Black Hole Sun

23. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

24. Nightrain

Encore

25. Patience

26. The Seeker

27. Paradise City

[Spirit]

[Spirit]

[allwaystired]

Oh- just chucking Rosie in there! I like that!

What's Speak softly love?

[allwaystired]

Oh, ok -I got it! The Godfather Theme!

[PermissionToLand]

That's a good pic. Slash always has cool shirts.

[izzyjim]

Thanks for the update.
LOVE the poster, so dark and gloomy!

[Tongue-like-a-razor]

Very good show IMHO. Axl's voice was - compared to various YouTube videos - the best that I've heard so far on this tour. I was front row (Slash's side) and the sound from Frank's bass drum was quite massive - but that's to be expected from that position. Some reviewers seem preoccupied with the overall sound quality, and they're really thrashing the show because of that. I don't know what the sound was like in other parts of the stadium (some of my friends have written on FB that it was quite good) but I think it's unprofessional to write a concert review where the main focal point is the sound - and not the music or how it was played. The audience was quite responsive and gave the band a relatively warm welcome - mind you, this is Denmark not Argentina...

[Wooody]

Very good show IMHO. Axl's voice was - compared to various YouTube videos - the best that I've heard so far on this tour. I was front row (Slash's side) and the sound from Frank's bass drum was quite massive - but that's to be expected from that position. Some reviewers seem preoccupied with the overall sound quality, and they're really thrashing the show because of that. I don't know what the sound was like in other parts of the stadium (some of my friends have written on FB that it was quite good) but I think it's unprofessional to write a concert review where the main focal point is the sound - and not the music or how it was played. The audience was quite responsive and gave the band a relatively warm welcome - mind you, this is Denmark not Argentina...

Hmm, yeah but sound quality was an issue for me too (another previous country) I couldnt hear when Axl's hight pitched vocals kicked in. 

[chriskon72]

How can it be unprofessional to review a gig based on the sound? How can you tell how if the song is being played well if you can't hear it. What should be the focal point?

[Tongue-like-a-razor]

Sound quality matters, of course. But one reviewer in particuler (Thomas Treo from eb.dk), rated the concert two out of six stars because of the supposedly bad sound. Most of his review consisted of rantings about the sound and the venue, and not the music. A two star review gives the impression that GN'R put up a shitty performance - which was definitely not the case. Now, Parken in Copenhagen is quite notorious for having sound issues, but I feel the reviewers/journalists should dedicate an entire article to that particular problem instead of ditching hard working rock bands.

[Rainfox]

Retro Rigmarole

Nostalgia show plagued by lackluster involvement and terrible sound


Guns N? Roses
Telia Parken
Tuesday, 6/27 2017


* *
(2 out of 5)


Seven years after their last visit and nine after the last album, Guns N? Roses returned to Denmark and failed when they should have conquered. National stadium Parken is a European ? if not global ? disgrace with horrid acoustics that few bands manage to survive and while the semi-reformed GNR came out alive last night (if only barely) the aural challenge was not the culprit.


The legendary Los Angeles outfit braved the teeth cleansing sonic experience (it was bad but got better) with a workmanlike three hour set. The trio in charge ? Axl Rose (vocals), Duff McKagan (bass, vocals) and, of course, Slash (guitars) ? flashed on the videoscreens the majority of the time as it was their right; some 39,000 more tickets were sold this evening than in 2010 when the band last stood on Danish soil. That was before a just-under-capacity crowd of 10,000 in a hockey arena in rural Jutland without Slash (or Duff) and ? shock ? well, that was a better Guns N? Roses show. It had what this heralded reunion severely lacked: nerve and resonance.


The Slash-less 2010 concert was a part of the Chinese Democracy trek. A never ending Bob Dylan-territory tour that lasted some fourteen years with a revolving door of musicians in support of an illustrious album now pretty much only celebrated for its price tag (13$m). That accompanying Slash-less record dropped as far back as 2008 and key writers, contributors, performers and collaborators had long since left by then ? namely spirited, genuine players like Buckethead, Robin Finck and Brain. So Rose and his then right-hand man, bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of The Replacements, you can?t make this up), had to scramble to assemble a viable touring outfit. They managed to some extent with mixed results (hiring guitarists Ron Thal, DJ Ashba and drummer Frank Ferrer) and toured extensively for a handful of years, playing a mish-mash of old and new but ultimately serving up what we also got this evening: a greatest hits nostalgia package.


There were both highs and lows during the Democracy days but the band somehow remained interesting (if not mostly a curiosity) because of the sheer defiance of Axl Rose against everyone and everything; the music business, his peers, critics, the press and sometimes even his own fans. While the setlists got more and more predictable, on stage Rose remained unpredictable. Axl?s mythic je-ne-sais-quoi-ness was intact and the saving grace and lifeline even in the dying years of New Guns. Ultimately, the project was not to be and ended awkwardly with a Las Vegas residency complete with strippers on poles, strobe lights and dumb drunk crowds. This last era is weirdly also documented with a live DVD/Blu-ray. Heavily edited, manipulated and, well, unwatchable. In other words: life in the jungle without Slash and co. hasn?t been all roses for Axl.


GNR hit the stage tonight with punk classic It?s So Easy from their legendary album Appetite For Destruction and seeing Slash out there again was ? for a brief moment ? encouraging. Given the bad blood between Axl and Slash this was something else. Duff too, looked ready to hold his own, and the three sliced up the stage pizza-style, each initially showcasing and carrying their (bargained) weight. However, it quickly became apparent that the setlist bore a striking resemblance to the last many years of New Guns only sprinkled with a few deep cut rarities and (way too) many covers. Never mind that this then felt like Old Guns doing a New Guns nostalgia-show, never mind that the pyroeffects that go boom were the same or that November Rain still featured a glowing-lights waterfall or that everything ended with a train-honking Nightrain and a confetti-sputtering Paradise City. Hell, never mind that original songwriter and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin (?they wouldn?t split the loot equally?) wasn?t anywhere to be found. I?m not going there.


No, the issue was that the show severely lacked intensity and any amount of richness in expression. Were the band members actually enjoying themselves up there? Here was the self-proclaimed reunited Guns N? Roses churning out song after song like an emotionless jukebox. Even a home field football team needs to go out and first play the game ? before they can announce the win. Only intermittently did the show feel like GNR wanted to be there and celebrate, much less prove something. The long-distance affair ended up being 180-minutes of fizzle past midnight with lines streaming out of the venue before the encore.


There were some highlights if not only retro-fluctuations on account of the strength of the material. Civil War, from when old Guns suddenly got political and were surprisingly good at it, roared and soared in moments and cult favorite Estranged, also from Use Your illusion II, Rose?s piano-nightmare ecstasy, swayed majestically to the delight of the diehards. Rocket Queen, from Appetite, had menace and ? in glimpses ? a lure of danger to get the Golden Circle frontlines going but holdover New Guns drummer Ferrer has been funking this baby up since late 2006. Dusted off and unpacked for this tour, the supererogatory monster Coma that ends the first Use Your Illusion was scattershot and never fully materialized despite a pained vocal effort by Rose. Still, it was captivating in its novelty. Singles and chart-toppers Sweet Child O? Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, You Could Be Mine and November Rain got the draught-beer crowd on their feet momentarily but ultimately left a drained impression and a worse-for-wear indifferent audience the further the show progressed. The communication breakdown was simply too overwhelming.


This should have been a festive commemoration and a rock n? roll lovefest. It instead felt like what New Guns was called for years: a fake experience. Because Guns N? Roses peers like U2 and related giants like Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones have all in recent years triumphed with some form of nostalgia-heavy tours, it was frustrating to witness them not take the ball and run with it.

..continue..

[Rainfox]

..continue..


Showing up and playing faultlessly is only half the deal. The event and performance tonight (dare I say whole tour) was laced with a lack of sincerity and there was no natural joviality on stage among the performers. Most of that falls on, yes, Axl. So here we go again. The mercurial and notorious singer is now older and thus heavier and more portly but he was ? as he has been all tour according to reports ? in very fine voice. At 55, Rose is a superhuman force. Still out there doing the snake-shimmy dance, costume changes and all (although one Harley Davidson t-shirt is hard to distinguish from another). But where?s the heart? Axl, now, feels more mechanical than mischievous. For sale and not not-for-sale. That?s a problem.


Then there?s Slash. Looking like he never left and not having visibly aged much (despite years of substance abuse), he noodled and noodled with trademark bluesy runs when not manifesting and underlining the very songs he co-wrote with his piercing Les Paul grandeur. It was inspiring ? if only in flashes ? to hear and witness the mighty Guns classics played by the top-hatted one once again. In a live setting, Slash?s muscle remains in this ability to twist and wrestle songs within their consisting framework and then never consciously overstepping into showmanship. Tonight he mostly saw to that. Sure, there was a lot of endless soloing but people who have been unfairly hard on Axl and New Guns must have felt somewhat vindicated, fair or unfair, as Slash cocksurely leaned in to every single song and owned them. He didn?t steal the show tonight ? there wasn?t much to be stolen ? he helped save what scraps could be saved. However, cascading riffs and Guitar Hero stances don?t necessarily translate to artist-and-audience unison and Slash has a share in the apathy of the performance ? and of his frontman. This is their ?joint? reunion first and foremost, remember? There was no emotional rescue or any form of interaction visible between the two. Duff, bless him, trodded about the stage and looked beamingly healthy and took the mike for a while (New Rose, from the covers album, Spaghetti Incident) but everything was visibly pre-planned in that (his) department. Rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, another New Guns holdover and trusted agent with 15 years of service, shone in the few spotlights he was given with some crisp playing. That was almost a relief. A breath of fresh air.


All in all, Guns N? Roses could easily be forgiven a nostalgia-heavy show ? remember they practically only have 3-4 albums worth of own material ? but then at least perform with some form of oscillation. Sense and purpose. Rose uttered one sentence all night. One. After This I Love, a Rose-Finck gem from the Chinese years that Slash lovingly and effectively chain sawed like a mad scientist (not one of the three Democracy songs played tonight did Slash do remotely as on record), Axl introvertly quipped: ?Took me a while to get that sucker back.? Whether he was talking about Slash, the song, his voice, the damning audio-echo of Parken or something else altogether we will never know. The frontman felt disinterested at best. Only during the next to last song ? one of too many covers (Who classic The Seeker) ? was a satisfactory smile visible from the head honcho. For a brief moment, Rose sounded and looked like a man who believed in what he was doing. Too little, much too late.


What a missed and deflating opportunity for Guns N? Roses, now into the second year of this retro rigmarole called ?Not In This Lifetime?. They?re setting box office records gig to gig but tonight it did not translate into anything truly sincere or forthright. It?s actually hard to pinpoint what was most depressing; the complete lack of freshness or the complete lack of genuine nostalgia. Prospects of new music look dim at best judging by the non-existing chemistry onstage, so we?re not left with much. There is no mold anywhere for the making of another Axl Rose and the clock is ticking. Maybe in a future lifetime then, Guns N? Roses will come back with some sort of purpose, music or otherwise, and want to captivate its audiences again. One of the two could ? would ? have sufficed tonight and made all the difference.


BY PETER VENKMAN



Shows reviewed:

Guns N? Roses, Forum, Copenhagen (DEN), 1991, Rating: 5/5
Guns N? Roses, Gentofte Stadion, Copenhagen (DEN), 1993, Rating: 3/5
Guns N? Roses, Arena, Budapest (HUN), 2006, Rating. 5/5
Guns N? Roses, Roskilde Festival (DEN), 2006, Rating: 4/5
Guns N? Roses, Spektrum, Oslo (NOR), 2006, Rating: 5/5
Guns N? Roses, Sweden Rock Festival (SWE), 2010, Rating: 3/5
Guns N? Roses, Gigantium, Aalborg (DEN), 2010, Rating 4/5
Guns N? Roses, Parken, Copenhagen (DEN), 2017, Rating 2/5

[TheBaconman]

That's a great review

I guess even as a one off show some people just don't like it     I really did like his comments though especially around the way to many covers.  Etc...  and he really seemed to give the Axl lead 2000s band a chance which is cool.  As they where so real kick ass shows played in there

He only voted the 1993 concert a 3/5 though.  Wonder what he didn't like about that one?