Budapest Sportarena, May 31 (Budapest, Hungary)

[ericy210]

FYI- In Lisbon, Tommy smashed his guitar into pieces 1/4 of the way through Jungle after obviously having problems with it

[gandra]

i 'm just back from budapest,so i will write my review tomorrow.
Show was amzing,axl too,finck awere real leader,and on knockin on heavens door Axl sang with crowd like in 1992...

Crowd were fantastic

[szmore21]

i was there too. here's my review:

So, we get to the Arena at 11:45. Not many people were there, so we could just sit in front of the gate. Just before the let us in a guy with a camera come there. He was form the band. He said he's filming for a dvd. Don't know if he meant  a DVD with CD, or a seperate DVD, but he said that it'll come out towards the end of the summer. He was also filming the show with his camera. They let us in at 18:30, but we have to wait again inside, before we could go in frot of the stage. I was at front row! The opening band supposed to start at 20:00, but they didn't get on stage until 20:45. They played only about 30 mins, so i thought GN'R could start at 22:00, but they didn't, of course At 22:00 i could see the setlist on the monitor that showed the lyrics during the show. There was also TWAT, CD, patience on it, that was not played.  The organizer then came on stage, and said that  the band and Axl is waiting to get on stage, but there are some technical problems, so we have to wait 20-25 minutes... Well, it become a little more. One of the photograpers told us that Axl was still in Milano at 22:00, not sure if it's ture or not. The band got on stage at about 23:45. the intro was soo fucking long, my whole body was resonating...Robin did't look happy at the begining, he kicked the mick stands several times, and after WTTJ or ISE, he threw his guitar away. He got normal after that, he also threw some bottles of mineral water to the crowd, and i got one of them Axl appologised for being late. I enjoyed the show very much, the band sounded good, and Axl's voice was awsome! It really worth that long waiting.
Lot of people didn't wait till the show started, they left earlyer. The press says lot of shit about the show and axl
and to the press: Get in the ring Motherfucker!!!

here's some photos i made:

[Zsolt]

photos:
http://hvg.hu/galleryContent/3bd283ea-41ad-42b5-bc89-ff5a0f17c2e7.aspx

[Eva GnRAxlRosette]

Thanks for the details/reviews and photos guys!

BTW:  I don't blame Robin or any of the guys for getting pissed over the sound/tech problems... 

[supaplex]

ok. i'll try to post a review of the show. please take note that this was my first gnr show so i might sound a little enthusiastic.

it was a 15 hour long drive to the show from bucharest romania (come to fuckin romania gnr!) so i was a little tired.

got to the arena half hour before the gates opened. there wre like 2000 people already there so i got in line and waited patiently. the gates finally opened and everybody was rushing in. got into the arena and took a spot in the 3rd-4th row in front of the stage (in the front of robin's mic). and then the waiting begun. didn't bring a watch at the show so i don't know exact times and delays

the opening band
don't know their name but i think they were pretty bad. they played the same song over and over again with a few variations. probably the lyrics were different but i don't speak hungarian so i couldn't tell. anyway, if i remember corectly they copied a whole alice cooper song (don't remember the name) and only put some different lyrics to it. there was another song that sonunded a lot with my michelle, at least the chorus was exactly the same. and their last one had the intro identically with locomotive. so... i didn't like it. sorry to all you hungarian fans but...

the wait
and after the opening band (glad that they were done) the waiting begins. after 30-45 mins of watching the gnr crew setting things on stage a guy comes out and says something in hungarian and everybody starts booing and shit and he goes away. i had to ask around what the fuck he was saying. you don't announce something at a gnr show just in hungarian. there's people there from all over the world that don't speak the language. speak some fuckin' english. anyway, some guy said that they'll be another 20-25 mins late due to technical difficulties (madrid, anyone?). so the 25 mins turned into 45 then into 1hr and a half. if axl wants to get this band rolling he should get his shit straight and come up on time or 30 mins late maybe but not more. i was standing there for five hours waiting for gnr. how to find the energy to jump and scream? (i found it when the show started). to the people saying i shoud've known they'll be up late: i'm aware of that but it was fucking hard to go through the wait.

the show
i'm not gonna list the songs because you've already got the correct setlist
so... the lights went down and the intro started. you know the 1 min intro that everybody knows just that this time we got the 1min turned into the 15 min intro because there were sound problems. i think that there were some problems with certain effects from chris's synth because my body was resonating at certain points. so they tried the intro a lot of times but it just wouldn't work and i thing they gave up on it.
the intro riff of the jungle started and the place went nuts in the first rows. jumping and pushing and screaming and singing along with the band. it was awesome to see the guys 6-7 ft away. i've watched a lot of shows on my comp but you can't compare that with the real thing.
so the first 4 songs were wttj, it's so easy, brownstone and better. before better axl said somthing about computers and downloading and stuff and he went on with the song. i was really losing it when the song started and i was jumping and singing along the lyrics while people around were looking at me and the few others that sang along with the "what tha fuck?" look on their face. it didn't matter to me. i was there for gnr. after better there was a solo. i was happy that a solo was next so i could catch my breath cos i was barely breathing from all the singing and jumping.
then it was live and let die and the crowd was singing along and the huge flames went off on stage making the air even hotter in there.
axl introduced madagascar with a one line something like: "i had to get a map to locate this" and he went on with the song. it was awesome hearing it live finally. madagascar and better were the 2 "new" songs i relly really wanted to hear and they played both. yey!
then it was time for robin's solo and we all know what song followed. yep, scom! when the intro to sweet child started everybody went nuts and sang along the whole song!
then another guitar solo. this time it was richard. and i have to say that this was my favorite of all the solos. i can't say exactly why. after the richard solo robin joined him on stage and they did their "battle" and sang "beautiful". it was a great moment to see this two guys interact and play from the heart. i think it was one of the few moments i saw robin smile during the show. it was awesome!
you could be mine followed than a jam (axl called it the taking out the piano song) to give time to the crew to get the piano out for dizzy.dizzy played a piano solo then they started the blues which sounded great. they hid the piano under the drum set and went on with out ta get me and knockin' on heaven's door. he did the i sing one you sing one thing but the people were already singing so he said "oh, i see you already know this". they played my michelle next and then it was time to take the piano out again. axl played a small piano solo and then november rain followed. this is the first song i remember from gnr (i was 3 years old when appetite came out) and is still one of my favourites so to hear it live it was unbelievable. it totally blew me away. all the solos during it were great. after nr they played another jam and axl joked saying "i guess we'll call this an old hungarian folk song" and smiled. i think he made refference to the 92 show and that it was just a joke not really a hungarian folk song.
they went on with nightrain and it was fantastic. i think during this robin tried to croud surf but the security didn't allow him to. the guys really nailed the song and the crowd was great. then they went off stage. some gnr chants started and ron got out and did the don't cry solo. it was definitley longer than the one in lisbon and tha crowd was singing along and ron was smiling and kept encouraging people to sing with him. which they did. he finished with an army style salute and gave a kiss to the croud. it was time for robin to take the stage and do his part. when he finished axl came on and said something like "that was mr finck doing somewhere over the rainbow" or something like that. he definitly said "over the rainbow".
then paradise city started and i knew that it was almost over so i jumpend and screamed my ass off. robin got down in front of the crowd and played while running in front of the people in the front row. then ron came down 3ft from me and was shaking hands and he got his guitar up and people grabbed it and he was holding on to it, that was really funny. all this was happening during paradise city. they closed the song, axl said good fuckin' night and that was it.

a few thoughts
it's a pity that they don't come out for encores after paradise city. they just turn the lights up and put music so no matter if the croud chants for them to come back they don't return.
during the breaks between songs there were some gnr chants going and tommy was really happy and smiling and he started jumping on stage with the chants and making funny faces. he looked like he was having a good time. one of the times he was acting funny axl came out from backstage and said in a joking way that a daddy has to let his children misbehave once in a while or something along those lines.
the solos were nice but there's too many of them. it gets people off the energy they get from the songs. for me they were welcomed because i was losing my breath and it gave me time to breathe. but theres too many solos.
to the people just standing around at the shows not reacting. i was there to rock the fuck out so don't get all upset because i'm jumping and screaming. you should do the same thing. a guns n' roses show doesn't happen everyday so i'm not going to stand there like in a theatre. rock n' roll fuckers'!!
i wasn't paying attention at the exactity of the songs, whether they sound exactly like in the studio or shit, so i can't tell you if someone missed a note or shit like that. i don't care. they sounded awesome overall. they maybe made some mistakes but not noticeable. axl's voice was awesome, he sounds great, so no problem there

to the haters
yes axl was wearing the same clothes like all the other shows. who gives a fuck? how many bands wear the same clothes at their shows? and he even has 4-5 jackets. most of the other frontmen only have one. he looks good. he's 44 years old. i don't think the kilt and the shirt like a net would do it anymore.
yes the setlist wasn't that different but if you think that they'll change the setlist a lot because it's another show? you don't get different versions of movies for different cities do you? fans at a gnr show will want to hear wttj, it's so easy, paradise, sweet child, nov rain, knockin and a few other and they have to play 2-3 new songs so that won't leave a lot of room for variations.
and it's not axl fault that we're downloading motherfuckers and have all the recordings that exist from this band and we all knoe how the show will look like before it even starts. well, it is his fault that he gave us 10 years time to collect all that stuff but... just be thankfull that gnr are out there playing and touring again. go to the shows and rock the fuck out. don't look for mistakes in the solos or in the songs, just go and have fun.


quite a long post i know but it was a great show for me. sorry for the typos and all other mistakes. got to see gnr live and the guys are great.

to everybody going to the shows have fun and enjoy it while it lasts!

[Neemo]

Thanks supaplex!! your thoughts on the "robin incident"? seriously though

[supaplex]

i said this in the other thread but i missed the robin incident because i was looking at the other guys and didn't get the smashing guitars part only that he was backstage for the last part of better. but the soud problems were there. hope it'll go well furher on

[Neemo]

i said this in the other thread but i missed the robin incident because i was looking at the other guys and didn't get the smashing guitars part only that he was backstage for the last part of better. but the soud problems were there. hope it'll go well furher on

Thanks I saw your other repsonse too

[sbecike]

Sad to say, but the hungarian concert had an awful critics in the local press. I think the band would have been criticised even if they had taken the stage on time. But due to the delay some 800 "fans" left before the start of the Gn'R show and the band got a disappointing critics in the press the day after.
However the fans stayed in the arena that night saw a great show, at least in that part of the show when the band was on stage. We had couple of solos due to the alleged waist-problems of Axl, he probabaly wanted? to rest his back to avoid further injuries. A guy working backstage saw the total setlist which initially contained TWAT and Patience as well. The songs that we eventually did not manage to hear.

The warm-up band (Sex Action, local band) took the stage at 8:30 instead of the originally planned 8:00 p.m. They had a 45 min. long set, but as they later revealed, the promoter was praying for them to play one more song to win some time. When they did that, they were asked to play more, but they refused. They left the stage shortly after 9:15. At this point Axl has not even arrived in Budapest.
The flight with Axl from Milan landed at 9:30 p.m.
The head of the promoter company got on stage at 10 p.m. asking for some patience (he mentioned 20-25 mins.). I think his timing was reasonable, because normally the show could have started at 10:30, since by that time Axl was in the arena.
But due to his pain in his back and waiste, Axl asked for a masseur in his dressing room. He got it. He allegedly got some painkiller shots.
Meanwhile the booing of the crowd got louder and louder, some guys took their hats and headed home.
Though the diehard fans knew that waiting for Gn'R concert for hours is a regular thing, a part of the crowd was not aware of that and began to swan.
At around 11:30, the intro started (it was a Madagascar kind of fanfar) which was great, but after 9 mins it got very boring, believe me.
Then they started the concert with WTTJ and the crowd exploded, everything was forgiven.
Axl is killer on stage, he's got a kind of mythic appearence and he knows that.
I will not repeat the setlist, you know that already. After 2-3 songs he disappeared, during which the guitarists amused the crowd. I personnaly did not like neither Bumble's nor Robin's solo, but Fortus was great. We don't know what Axl did during these breaks, but the members of the warm-up band did:

Axl had 2 dressing rooms, one a bit further from the stage and the other one is right beside the stage.
There's a picture in the below link (refering to the official page of the warm-up band) showing a breathing machine. The photo was taken in the dressing room of Axl's being closer to the stage.

http://www.sexaction.hu/cgi-bin/index.php?...m=20060531_guns

You'll find the official schedule of the day of the concert there as well. The curfew was at 11:00 p.m., when the band did not even take the stage.?
An other alleged (I read this in the newspapers) request from Axl was that when he arrives at the venue, he did not want to meet a single person from the car to his dressing room. So the doorways were completely emptied. Nobody managed to meet him from the fans, so for sure from this show there will be no pictures taken with Axl and fans.

Getting back to the show, Axl was in a good shape. His voice was brilliant and during the time he was on stage he gave 100%. His contact with the crowd was less than average due to the prior happenings (2,5 hour delay), though at the beginning of the show he apologized for the delay.
At the beginning of Mr. Brownstone he ranted like "Rock show, we would break a rock show, a rock show, a rock show" and from the tone of his voice (it was quite sarcastic) I conclude that he quoted a backstage conversation he had had with the promoter when the guy tried to convince him to go on stage at last.
During Knockin' On Heaven's Door he got the crowd sung, in the famous "I sing one and then you sing one" way.
Don't Cry in the encore was unique, since it was instumental, without Axl singing.
At the end, during Paradise City the crowd exploded again.

To sum up, it was a great show (except the "breathing breaks" and loads of solos) and I think everybody enjoyed it who could master his / her harms due to the delay.

[Vezara]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvZDLLmPsao

I had such a good laugh watching this show again.

Axl was late for more than two hours. Everybody was pissed, including the band... you can see Robin kicking the mike stands, breaking his guitar... He is furious, refuses to play...
A couple of songs into the show Axl says: its not the time or the place (for arguing with Robin)