MistaBrownstone Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 He added 'with your ass in the air'?? Whoa! That's a first for the tour, folks. A good sign indeed.Yeah man when he sang that I screamed YEAHHHHHHHH. No one around me seemed to really care, there were a lot of casual fans there, which is expected. Shame no the whistle disappeared. Another note after the concert a lot of people were really impressed with Axl's voice, saying how he proved to them that night that he's the greatest singer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheldonR311 Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I wasn't casual, I was up front losing my fucking mind lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppruks Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 So now that I am more awake I can tell my tale of the concert. So I guess I'll start with the opener, Bach. He put on a hell of a show and really got the crowd pumped, although I didn't know too much of his music it was nice to see him open, he's freakin nuts on stage. So he got off around 10:15 and they started setting up stage. I'll be honest after about an hour I myself was getting a little pissed and people were screaming "COME ONE FUCKER, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU DOUCHEBAG!" It was a bit ridiculous but then at 11:28 the lights went out and the Dexter theme started. Some guy in front of me was like," The fuck why are they playing the Dexter theme?!?!" Then the screens came on with that screaming red baby thing and bam everyone was going nuts. When I heard those first chords on Chinese Democracy they were so loud it damn near blew me away, it was unreal I was so pumped. One thing that really caught my eye were the monitors and all that plays on them, those things really added flair to the show.Anyways fast-forward a few songs forward I was surprised they did so many songs before the first solo, and I was surprised that they moved RQ up the setlist but anyways the crowd seemed to really like Estranged. I noticed though during solos and new songs most people left and went to the bathroom or whatever, it was kinda sad. I did hear one guy when I went to the bathroom before the show say that hopefully enough people boo him on ChiDem so they skip it and go to Jungle. Anywho they sounded amazing, and Axl sounded killer, and he looked happy. Youtube videos may be nice to watch, but when you're there seeing the show, and feeling the energy it's a whole different story. What I liked about this venue is it was small so even though I wasn't in the pit I had pretty good seats. The band, was stupendous, the chemistry is just there. They all just fit so right on that stage, and they way they interact with the crowd is great. I love how Richard thew a few picks, Ron let people play his guitar and DJ threw some drumsticks after playing his guitar with them. Richard was a blast to watch, how he jumps, spins,twirls, strums he was just so interesting. Ron for awhile didn't really move and was kinda just passive which is understandable because of his injuries but he still gave it 110%. Overall for me it was a magical experience, especially the confetti at the end of PC (grabbed a bit and saved some) They showed me how great they are, and just made the night incredible, it's almost hard to put into words. I will list below a few points I thought were of interest.- As said before at the end of LALD someone nailed Axl with a cup dead in the chest and he just kinda shook it off, thank god it was the end of the song so he didn't stop it.- Axl added the "with your ass in the air" to YCBM which I thought was cool because it doesn't seem like he does it too often.- The crowd out of all three guitarist really seemed to like Ron the most, when he did his solo people next to me were like "FUCK YEAH THATS BUMBLEFOOT." Overall people just seemed to like him the best.- In the beginning Axl asked how we were doing, then almost walked off the stage and said "shit I wouldn't have been doing to good if I walked off that."- I forgot which song but DJ fell off the stage at one point and came back on a few seconds later.- Axl during KOHD said he may be our new neighbor soon, maybe he's buying a house in CT somewhere?!?- Axl and Tommy are fun to watch on stage just because they always joke around with each other and play games.- When Axl went to blow the whistle on Paradise City it like didn't blow for some reason and he just looks at the crowd shakes his head and goes "Well shit," and threw it anyways.actually he said: what a piece of shit...about the whistle...not that it makes any difference ...but had to clarify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistaBrownstone Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 So now that I am more awake I can tell my tale of the concert. So I guess I'll start with the opener, Bach. He put on a hell of a show and really got the crowd pumped, although I didn't know too much of his music it was nice to see him open, he's freakin nuts on stage. So he got off around 10:15 and they started setting up stage. I'll be honest after about an hour I myself was getting a little pissed and people were screaming "COME ONE FUCKER, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU DOUCHEBAG!" It was a bit ridiculous but then at 11:28 the lights went out and the Dexter theme started. Some guy in front of me was like," The fuck why are they playing the Dexter theme?!?!" Then the screens came on with that screaming red baby thing and bam everyone was going nuts. When I heard those first chords on Chinese Democracy they were so loud it damn near blew me away, it was unreal I was so pumped. One thing that really caught my eye were the monitors and all that plays on them, those things really added flair to the show.Anyways fast-forward a few songs forward I was surprised they did so many songs before the first solo, and I was surprised that they moved RQ up the setlist but anyways the crowd seemed to really like Estranged. I noticed though during solos and new songs most people left and went to the bathroom or whatever, it was kinda sad. I did hear one guy when I went to the bathroom before the show say that hopefully enough people boo him on ChiDem so they skip it and go to Jungle. Anywho they sounded amazing, and Axl sounded killer, and he looked happy. Youtube videos may be nice to watch, but when you're there seeing the show, and feeling the energy it's a whole different story. What I liked about this venue is it was small so even though I wasn't in the pit I had pretty good seats. The band, was stupendous, the chemistry is just there. They all just fit so right on that stage, and they way they interact with the crowd is great. I love how Richard thew a few picks, Ron let people play his guitar and DJ threw some drumsticks after playing his guitar with them. Richard was a blast to watch, how he jumps, spins,twirls, strums he was just so interesting. Ron for awhile didn't really move and was kinda just passive which is understandable because of his injuries but he still gave it 110%. Overall for me it was a magical experience, especially the confetti at the end of PC (grabbed a bit and saved some) They showed me how great they are, and just made the night incredible, it's almost hard to put into words. I will list below a few points I thought were of interest.- As said before at the end of LALD someone nailed Axl with a cup dead in the chest and he just kinda shook it off, thank god it was the end of the song so he didn't stop it.- Axl added the "with your ass in the air" to YCBM which I thought was cool because it doesn't seem like he does it too often.- The crowd out of all three guitarist really seemed to like Ron the most, when he did his solo people next to me were like "FUCK YEAH THATS BUMBLEFOOT." Overall people just seemed to like him the best.- In the beginning Axl asked how we were doing, then almost walked off the stage and said "shit I wouldn't have been doing to good if I walked off that."- I forgot which song but DJ fell off the stage at one point and came back on a few seconds later.- Axl during KOHD said he may be our new neighbor soon, maybe he's buying a house in CT somewhere?!?- Axl and Tommy are fun to watch on stage just because they always joke around with each other and play games.- When Axl went to blow the whistle on Paradise City it like didn't blow for some reason and he just looks at the crowd shakes his head and goes "Well shit," and threw it anyways.actually he said: what a piece of shit...about the whistle...not that it makes any difference ...but had to clarify Hahah ohh didn't hear correctly thanks for the correction, makes more sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizwontcry Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 He added 'with your ass in the air'?? Whoa! That's a first for the tour, folks. A good sign indeed.He said it in Houston, I remember 'cause I was all happy about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonofaGun Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 So many good comments in this thread. I have to say this is the best version of the band I have ever seen. Axl was just simply incredible, guy is a living legend and the production -staging,lights and sound were great. Agree with all of the comments about the venue-just terrible. I was really blown away by how good This I Love and Sorry were live. Out Ta Get Me was the best. I hope they come through again in the summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgy Zhukov Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Did they skip Chinese Democracy or something? I heard they've been doing that.A ton of celebrities live in CT, Johnny Depp and Keith Richards live in Redding which borders my town so that is kickass. Rich people love it here because the taxes are lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistaBrownstone Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Did they skip Chinese Democracy or something? I heard they've been doing that.A ton of celebrities live in CT, Johnny Depp and Keith Richards live in Redding which borders my town so that is kickass. Rich people love it here because the taxes are lower.No they didn't skip ChiDem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Linguini Occurrence Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Did they skip Chinese Democracy or something? I heard they've been doing that.A ton of celebrities live in CT, Johnny Depp and Keith Richards live in Redding which borders my town so that is kickass. Rich people love it here because the taxes are lower.Chinese Democracy has opened all 14 North American shows, there's no chance it will be skipped since it's the Chinese Democracy tour Perhaps you heard about the Argentina show where Axl stopped the song after shit was thrown onstage, he decided to skip the remainder of it and go onto Welcome To The Jungle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppruks Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 (edited) I wrote a review on the Ticketmaster site, thought I'd share, the inital review I wrote was a lot longer than that but had to shorten it down...my apologizes to any hartford residents, it's just that I didn't like the city at all As I’m sitting here on the New York-bound Greyhound, trying to get the **** out of dodge from the depressive concrete jungle that is the city of Hartford, I wrap a heavy woolen scarf tightly around my neck and sip on a cup of hot tea to slowly but gradually alleviate the symptoms of ‘screaming my ******* lungs out into the wee hours of the morning.’ In fact, I was battling excruciating pain when trying to convey to the housekeeping through the door of my single at the Holiday Inn that I was still not ready to leave the premises a half an hour past the check-out time. What can I say, I guess I was still on Guns N’ Roses time. ****! I promised myself that unlike 99% of the concert reviews out there I wouldn’t go straight to the starting time of the show, because I felt like I wouldn’t be doing justice to the breathtaking Rn’R spectacle I was lucky enough to witness. But, in my defense, at least the first paragraph of my review didn’t include any of the most common key-words such as: ‘Slash,’ ‘original band’ or a variety of derogatory labels that people like to stick on the band’s lead singer W. Axl Rose. Based on what I’ve read and heard over the past 9 years that I’ve been a fan, I’m inclined to say that the reasons for the late start times are most probably a mix between Axl’s nocturnal lifestyle and the tragicomical aspect of his existence that more often than not causes him to tiptoe on the thin line between success and self-destruction. And I guess it’s only fair to ask whether it’s acceptable that the daily lives of ten thousand people are affected by the personal drama and preferences of one man. But then again it’s just one night out of 365 and the on-stage passion and devotion like that don’t come by too often in an era where rebellion has become more of a marketing device than an intrinsic property of one’s soul. And once you have that ticket in your hands it’s like owning a lottery ticket. You know that it can go either way and by making the purchase you’ve already accepted the reality of the situation. And to put things a little bit into perspective there’s an old Russian proverb that goes: ’He who doesn’t risk never gets to drink champagne.’ In addition to the late start times, the whole old band/new band drama gets perpetuated ad nauseam and everyone and their mom seems to have an opinion on the matter. My opinion is: just jump out of it and take a look around! Izzy's rolling around the country writing songs about doing donuts, Steven has his own band ‘Adler's Appetite’ and Slash n' Duff have ‘Velvet Revolver’ and their solo projects. No one's kneeling in front of the other guys' houses begging for a reunion. Ultimately, it was their decision to make and not ours. The only thing that makes it a bit of a bummer is the fact that the people who write the reviews are still stuck in 1987 and their bitterness gets reflected in their writings that are read by casual fans. And rather than getting the real feel of the show they get the show through the distorted lens of some hack. The first 5h at the venue were spent waiting and waiting and then Bach came on and it was on. After a full hour had passed since Bach’s set finished, the house lights went down and I saw Axl walk into his tent wearing a familiar fedora and a leather jacket. The opening theme for the TV-Show ‘Dexter’ started and the crowd erupted. And after DJ Ashba took the stage and played the opening chords of the Chinese Democracy title track the guns were locked and loaded. Soon thereafter Axl stormed out of his tent and lashed out against the repressive Chinese government for the next 4 minutes. From the first second on I couldn’t help but feel that there was something intrinsically magnetic about the man. You just couldn’t stop looking at him. With the fedora pulled down, dark aviators covering half his face, the leather jacket and the chunky bling on his fingers and chest he was the epitome of everything that I’d thought a rock star should look like. And it wasn’t just that. I couldn’t help but notice how easily he unleashed his trademark screams and how much effort he put into owning the stage. For a second he was in one place and then he was everywhere. The stage looked like a rock n’ roll battlefield. The three guitarist, DJ Ashba, Bumbefoot and Richard Fortus, were running up and down the stage, the bassist Tommy Stinson had his own groovy thing going on with highly entertaining facial expressions and pirouettes, the keyboardists, Dizzy Reed and Christ Pitman and the drummer, Frank Ferrer, were rocking out at the back and in the middle of all of this Axl Rose found the time and strength to interact with both the crowd and his fellow band members. Cracking jokes between songs and pulling off signature Axl moves all over the place – the band seemed to be having a great time. The setlists of Guns N’ Roses shows have also been one of the main focus points of every review I’ve read, but with these shows I don’t think anyone can honestly say that they didn’t get what they wanted. In numbers, they played 7 songs from Chinese Democracy, 8 from Appetite for Destruction, 3 from the first Illusions record and 3 from the second, 2 from the Lies EP and 3 covers that included Rose Tattoo’s ‘Nice Boys’ and AC/DC’s ‘Riff Raff’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie.’ So for someone to say that they didn’t recognize any of the songs or that they played too much new stuff is just nonsense, because there was something for everyone in the 3 hours plus set. I personally would have wanted to hear such tracks as ‘Catcher In the Rye,’ ‘There Was A Time,’ and ‘Prostitute’ off their newest record, but in the words of Jagger ‘you can’t always get what you want’ and I was perfectly fine with everything I saw and heard. In fact, I paid very little attention to the actual setlist and let the natural vibe of the show guide me from the first chords of ‘Chinese Democracy’ to the very last scream to end ‘Paradise City.’ It would be hard for me to name a particular highlight, because after being a fan of the music and Axl’s lyrics for such a long time I have developed a personal connection with every single song they’ve ever released, but I must say that tracks such as ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘November Rain,’ ‘Estranged,’ ‘Sweet Child,’ ‘You Could Be Mine,’ ‘Heaven’s Door,’ ‘This I Love,’ ‘Better’ and ‘Shackler’s’ definitely got my blood flowing the most. And even though, Axl is typically seen as a hard rocker I personally think that his true talent is best exhibited when he gets into the more complex and musically demanding songs. As for the new record, that according to my iTunes I’ve heard over a thousand times, I’d say that people should at least give it a chance, because you might find something that you like on there if you put all the trivial bull**** that surrounds it aside. In addition, I was also amazed at how great of a piano player Axl really is. I mean I could definitely tell by the quality of the piano-driven songs on the ‘Illusions’ records and ‘Chinese Democracy’, but watching him in action during the piano solo and the subsequent ‘November Rain’ was an experience in its own right. Every single member of the Guns N’ Roses three-guitar-army also got a solo spot with Richard Fortus playing his ‘James Bond Theme’ that he initially recorded for Guitar Hero: World Tour, DJ Ashba treating us to his ‘Ballad of Death’ that served as an intro to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and the shredding-master Bumblefoot giving his rendition of the Pink Panther Theme before kicking into ‘Don’t Cry.’ But those were not the only solo performances of the night - the bassist Tommy Stinson was featured on lead vocals for a cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation,’ and keyboardist Dizzy Reed gave his interpretation of ‘Baba O’Riley’ as a segue into ‘Street of Dreams.’ All of this solo action just goes on to show that contrary to the public perception that this is the Axl Rose Band, it is a real band that has real musicians with their own personalities and they do act as a cohesive unit on stage. Most people will probably still show up only to see Axl, but that’s due to historical reasons and the fact that he is, at least in my opinion, the last remaining rock star, and not because the rest of the band wouldn’t have an artistic aura of their own. There are a lot of additional elements to the show besides the individual performances and together they form a holistic rock n’ roll experience. Every single song has its own stage mood presented by fireworks (the most visually-gripping songs being ‘Live And Let Die’ with it’s flames and loud bangs and the ending of ‘November Rain’ with a wall of brightly sparkling rain dropping from the skies), colored lights, twinkling lights, wide screens with detailed visuals to accompany the particular song and piles of confetti being blown into the sky at the end of Paradise City. And in addition to his mesmerizing stage presence and vocal prowess, Axl Rose adds an extra bit of visual attraction as he throws his round-shaped microphone stand around like a toy, hitting the lights on the drum riser so hard that the stage manager has to come over to fix them during the set. So to put it all in a nutshell, if you have any doubts and an opportunity to do so, go to one of their shows and see what you make of it yourself. Personally, I haven’t seen any other band perform as passionately as Guns N’ Roses did at Harford and I’m lucky enough to be able to see them two more times in the coming week at Albany and Worcester. I wish them all the best in their future efforts and hopefully at some point everyone who loves the band will be able to hear new music from the line-up that Axl Rose worked so hard for years to put together. And for this and everything else I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. Edited November 21, 2011 by ppruks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistaBrownstone Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 ppruks that was a great review, truly you nailed it. No hard feelings about Hartford either, I live next to the city and I don't like it at all. I love your line about Axl storming out of his tent and lashing out against Chinese government. Just a perfect review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppruks Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 ppruks that was a great review, truly you nailed it. No hard feelings about Hartford either, I live next to the city and I don't like it at all. I love your line about Axl storming out of his tent and lashing out against Chinese government. Just a perfect review.Thanks a lot, I'm glad you liked it. I'm an aspiring young writer, so I thought I'd have a go at a casual concert review for a change. I saw that the Gn'R facebook posts the reviews they like on their feed, so I thought that maybe they'd put mine up there too if I tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNRWAXLROSE Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Truly AMAZING show! This was my 3rd on the current tour (Orlando, Miami, Hartford) and it was up there with any of them. I was really glad that I got to hear "Nice Boys" for the first time ever live. He didn't perform that at the previous 2 shows I attended. Axl is on top of his game and the band is phenomenal as well. I will likely attend L.A. or Vegas for my 4th and final show on the tour and can't wait to see them again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Linguini Occurrence Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I wrote a review on the Ticketmaster site, thought I'd share, the inital review I wrote was a lot longer than that but had to shorten it down...my apologizes to any hartford residents, it's just that I didn't like the city at all As I’m sitting here on the New York-bound Greyhound, trying to get the **** out of dodge from the depressive concrete jungle that is the city of Hartford, I wrap a heavy woolen scarf tightly around my neck and sip on a cup of hot tea to slowly but gradually alleviate the symptoms of ‘screaming my ******* lungs out into the wee hours of the morning.’ In fact, I was battling excruciating pain when trying to convey to the housekeeping through the door of my single at the Holiday Inn that I was still not ready to leave the premises a half an hour past the check-out time. What can I say, I guess I was still on Guns N’ Roses time. ****! I promised myself that unlike 99% of the concert reviews out there I wouldn’t go straight to the starting time of the show, because I felt like I wouldn’t be doing justice to the breathtaking Rn’R spectacle I was lucky enough to witness. But, in my defense, at least the first paragraph of my review didn’t include any of the most common key-words such as: ‘Slash,’ ‘original band’ or a variety of derogatory labels that people like to stick on the band’s lead singer W. Axl Rose. Based on what I’ve read and heard over the past 9 years that I’ve been a fan, I’m inclined to say that the reasons for the late start times are most probably a mix between Axl’s nocturnal lifestyle and the tragicomical aspect of his existence that more often than not causes him to tiptoe on the thin line between success and self-destruction. And I guess it’s only fair to ask whether it’s acceptable that the daily lives of ten thousand people are affected by the personal drama and preferences of one man. But then again it’s just one night out of 365 and the on-stage passion and devotion like that don’t come by too often in an era where rebellion has become more of a marketing device than an intrinsic property of one’s soul. And once you have that ticket in your hands it’s like owning a lottery ticket. You know that it can go either way and by making the purchase you’ve already accepted the reality of the situation. And to put things a little bit into perspective there’s an old Russian proverb that goes: ’He who doesn’t risk never gets to drink champagne.’ In addition to the late start times, the whole old band/new band drama gets perpetuated ad nauseam and everyone and their mom seems to have an opinion on the matter. My opinion is: just jump out of it and take a look around! Izzy's rolling around the country writing songs about doing donuts, Steven has his own band ‘Adler's Appetite’ and Slash n' Duff have ‘Velvet Revolver’ and their solo projects. No one's kneeling in front of the other guys' houses begging for a reunion. Ultimately, it was their decision to make and not ours. The only thing that makes it a bit of a bummer is the fact that the people who write the reviews are still stuck in 1987 and their bitterness gets reflected in their writings that are read by casual fans. And rather than getting the real feel of the show they get the show through the distorted lens of some hack. The first 5h at the venue were spent waiting and waiting and then Bach came on and it was on. After a full hour had passed since Bach’s set finished, the house lights went down and I saw Axl walk into his tent wearing a familiar fedora and a leather jacket. The opening theme for the TV-Show ‘Dexter’ started and the crowd erupted. And after DJ Ashba took the stage and played the opening chords of the Chinese Democracy title track the guns were locked and loaded. Soon thereafter Axl stormed out of his tent and lashed out against the repressive Chinese government for the next 4 minutes. From the first second on I couldn’t help but feel that there was something intrinsically magnetic about the man. You just couldn’t stop looking at him. With the fedora pulled down, dark aviators covering half his face, the leather jacket and the chunky bling on his fingers and chest he was the epitome of everything that I’d thought a rock star should look like. And it wasn’t just that. I couldn’t help but notice how easily he unleashed his trademark screams and how much effort he put into owning the stage. For a second he was in one place and then he was everywhere. The stage looked like a rock n’ roll battlefield. The three guitarist, DJ Ashba, Bumbefoot and Richard Fortus, were running up and down the stage, the bassist Tommy Stinson had his own groovy thing going on with highly entertaining facial expressions and pirouettes, the keyboardists, Dizzy Reed and Christ Pitman and the drummer, Frank Ferrer, were rocking out at the back and in the middle of all of this Axl Rose found the time and strength to interact with both the crowd and his fellow band members. Cracking jokes between songs and pulling off signature Axl moves all over the place – the band seemed to be having a great time. The setlists of Guns N’ Roses shows have also been one of the main focus points of every review I’ve read, but with these shows I don’t think anyone can honestly say that they didn’t get what they wanted. In numbers, they played 7 songs from Chinese Democracy, 8 from Appetite for Destruction, 3 from the first Illusions record and 3 from the second, 2 from the Lies EP and 3 covers that included Rose Tattoo’s ‘Nice Boys’ and AC/DC’s ‘Riff Raff’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie.’ So for someone to say that they didn’t recognize any of the songs or that they played too much new stuff is just nonsense, because there was something for everyone in the 3 hours plus set. I personally would have wanted to hear such tracks as ‘Catcher In the Rye,’ ‘There Was A Time,’ and ‘Prostitute’ off their newest record, but in the words of Jagger ‘you can’t always get what you want’ and I was perfectly fine with everything I saw and heard. In fact, I paid very little attention to the actual setlist and let the natural vibe of the show guide me from the first chords of ‘Chinese Democracy’ to the very last scream to end ‘Paradise City.’ It would be hard for me to name a particular highlight, because after being a fan of the music and Axl’s lyrics for such a long time I have developed a personal connection with every single song they’ve ever released, but I must say that tracks such as ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘November Rain,’ ‘Estranged,’ ‘Sweet Child,’ ‘You Could Be Mine,’ ‘Heaven’s Door,’ ‘This I Love,’ ‘Better’ and ‘Shackler’s’ definitely got my blood flowing the most. And even though, Axl is typically seen as a hard rocker I personally think that his true talent is best exhibited when he gets into the more complex and musically demanding songs. As for the new record, that according to my iTunes I’ve heard over a thousand times, I’d say that people should at least give it a chance, because you might find something that you like on there if you put all the trivial bull**** that surrounds it aside. In addition, I was also amazed at how great of a piano player Axl really is. I mean I could definitely tell by the quality of the piano-driven songs on the ‘Illusions’ records and ‘Chinese Democracy’, but watching him in action during the piano solo and the subsequent ‘November Rain’ was an experience in its own right. Every single member of the Guns N’ Roses three-guitar-army also got a solo spot with Richard Fortus playing his ‘James Bond Theme’ that he initially recorded for Guitar Hero: World Tour, DJ Ashba treating us to his ‘Ballad of Death’ that served as an intro to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and the shredding-master Bumblefoot giving his rendition of the Pink Panther Theme before kicking into ‘Don’t Cry.’ But those were not the only solo performances of the night - the bassist Tommy Stinson was featured on lead vocals for a cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation,’ and keyboardist Dizzy Reed gave his interpretation of ‘Baba O’Riley’ as a segue into ‘Street of Dreams.’ All of this solo action just goes on to show that contrary to the public perception that this is the Axl Rose Band, it is a real band that has real musicians with their own personalities and they do act as a cohesive unit on stage. Most people will probably still show up only to see Axl, but that’s due to historical reasons and the fact that he is, at least in my opinion, the last remaining rock star, and not because the rest of the band wouldn’t have an artistic aura of their own. There are a lot of additional elements to the show besides the individual performances and together they form a holistic rock n’ roll experience. Every single song has its own stage mood presented by fireworks (the most visually-gripping songs being ‘Live And Let Die’ with it’s flames and loud bangs and the ending of ‘November Rain’ with a wall of brightly sparkling rain dropping from the skies), colored lights, twinkling lights, wide screens with detailed visuals to accompany the particular song and piles of confetti being blown into the sky at the end of Paradise City. And in addition to his mesmerizing stage presence and vocal prowess, Axl Rose adds an extra bit of visual attraction as he throws his round-shaped microphone stand around like a toy, hitting the lights on the drum riser so hard that the stage manager has to come over to fix them during the set. So to put it all in a nutshell, if you have any doubts and an opportunity to do so, go to one of their shows and see what you make of it yourself. Personally, I haven’t seen any other band perform as passionately as Guns N’ Roses did at Harford and I’m lucky enough to be able to see them two more times in the coming week at Albany and Worcester. I wish them all the best in their future efforts and hopefully at some point everyone who loves the band will be able to hear new music from the line-up that Axl Rose worked so hard for years to put together. And for this and everything else I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.Great review, well done Not to nitpick, but the Nice Boys cover is actually from the Lies EP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppruks Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I wrote a review on the Ticketmaster site, thought I'd share, the inital review I wrote was a lot longer than that but had to shorten it down...my apologizes to any hartford residents, it's just that I didn't like the city at all As I’m sitting here on the New York-bound Greyhound, trying to get the **** out of dodge from the depressive concrete jungle that is the city of Hartford, I wrap a heavy woolen scarf tightly around my neck and sip on a cup of hot tea to slowly but gradually alleviate the symptoms of ‘screaming my ******* lungs out into the wee hours of the morning.’ In fact, I was battling excruciating pain when trying to convey to the housekeeping through the door of my single at the Holiday Inn that I was still not ready to leave the premises a half an hour past the check-out time. What can I say, I guess I was still on Guns N’ Roses time. ****! I promised myself that unlike 99% of the concert reviews out there I wouldn’t go straight to the starting time of the show, because I felt like I wouldn’t be doing justice to the breathtaking Rn’R spectacle I was lucky enough to witness. But, in my defense, at least the first paragraph of my review didn’t include any of the most common key-words such as: ‘Slash,’ ‘original band’ or a variety of derogatory labels that people like to stick on the band’s lead singer W. Axl Rose. Based on what I’ve read and heard over the past 9 years that I’ve been a fan, I’m inclined to say that the reasons for the late start times are most probably a mix between Axl’s nocturnal lifestyle and the tragicomical aspect of his existence that more often than not causes him to tiptoe on the thin line between success and self-destruction. And I guess it’s only fair to ask whether it’s acceptable that the daily lives of ten thousand people are affected by the personal drama and preferences of one man. But then again it’s just one night out of 365 and the on-stage passion and devotion like that don’t come by too often in an era where rebellion has become more of a marketing device than an intrinsic property of one’s soul. And once you have that ticket in your hands it’s like owning a lottery ticket. You know that it can go either way and by making the purchase you’ve already accepted the reality of the situation. And to put things a little bit into perspective there’s an old Russian proverb that goes: ’He who doesn’t risk never gets to drink champagne.’ In addition to the late start times, the whole old band/new band drama gets perpetuated ad nauseam and everyone and their mom seems to have an opinion on the matter. My opinion is: just jump out of it and take a look around! Izzy's rolling around the country writing songs about doing donuts, Steven has his own band ‘Adler's Appetite’ and Slash n' Duff have ‘Velvet Revolver’ and their solo projects. No one's kneeling in front of the other guys' houses begging for a reunion. Ultimately, it was their decision to make and not ours. The only thing that makes it a bit of a bummer is the fact that the people who write the reviews are still stuck in 1987 and their bitterness gets reflected in their writings that are read by casual fans. And rather than getting the real feel of the show they get the show through the distorted lens of some hack. The first 5h at the venue were spent waiting and waiting and then Bach came on and it was on. After a full hour had passed since Bach’s set finished, the house lights went down and I saw Axl walk into his tent wearing a familiar fedora and a leather jacket. The opening theme for the TV-Show ‘Dexter’ started and the crowd erupted. And after DJ Ashba took the stage and played the opening chords of the Chinese Democracy title track the guns were locked and loaded. Soon thereafter Axl stormed out of his tent and lashed out against the repressive Chinese government for the next 4 minutes. From the first second on I couldn’t help but feel that there was something intrinsically magnetic about the man. You just couldn’t stop looking at him. With the fedora pulled down, dark aviators covering half his face, the leather jacket and the chunky bling on his fingers and chest he was the epitome of everything that I’d thought a rock star should look like. And it wasn’t just that. I couldn’t help but notice how easily he unleashed his trademark screams and how much effort he put into owning the stage. For a second he was in one place and then he was everywhere. The stage looked like a rock n’ roll battlefield. The three guitarist, DJ Ashba, Bumbefoot and Richard Fortus, were running up and down the stage, the bassist Tommy Stinson had his own groovy thing going on with highly entertaining facial expressions and pirouettes, the keyboardists, Dizzy Reed and Christ Pitman and the drummer, Frank Ferrer, were rocking out at the back and in the middle of all of this Axl Rose found the time and strength to interact with both the crowd and his fellow band members. Cracking jokes between songs and pulling off signature Axl moves all over the place – the band seemed to be having a great time. The setlists of Guns N’ Roses shows have also been one of the main focus points of every review I’ve read, but with these shows I don’t think anyone can honestly say that they didn’t get what they wanted. In numbers, they played 7 songs from Chinese Democracy, 8 from Appetite for Destruction, 3 from the first Illusions record and 3 from the second, 2 from the Lies EP and 3 covers that included Rose Tattoo’s ‘Nice Boys’ and AC/DC’s ‘Riff Raff’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie.’ So for someone to say that they didn’t recognize any of the songs or that they played too much new stuff is just nonsense, because there was something for everyone in the 3 hours plus set. I personally would have wanted to hear such tracks as ‘Catcher In the Rye,’ ‘There Was A Time,’ and ‘Prostitute’ off their newest record, but in the words of Jagger ‘you can’t always get what you want’ and I was perfectly fine with everything I saw and heard. In fact, I paid very little attention to the actual setlist and let the natural vibe of the show guide me from the first chords of ‘Chinese Democracy’ to the very last scream to end ‘Paradise City.’ It would be hard for me to name a particular highlight, because after being a fan of the music and Axl’s lyrics for such a long time I have developed a personal connection with every single song they’ve ever released, but I must say that tracks such as ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘November Rain,’ ‘Estranged,’ ‘Sweet Child,’ ‘You Could Be Mine,’ ‘Heaven’s Door,’ ‘This I Love,’ ‘Better’ and ‘Shackler’s’ definitely got my blood flowing the most. And even though, Axl is typically seen as a hard rocker I personally think that his true talent is best exhibited when he gets into the more complex and musically demanding songs. As for the new record, that according to my iTunes I’ve heard over a thousand times, I’d say that people should at least give it a chance, because you might find something that you like on there if you put all the trivial bull**** that surrounds it aside. In addition, I was also amazed at how great of a piano player Axl really is. I mean I could definitely tell by the quality of the piano-driven songs on the ‘Illusions’ records and ‘Chinese Democracy’, but watching him in action during the piano solo and the subsequent ‘November Rain’ was an experience in its own right. Every single member of the Guns N’ Roses three-guitar-army also got a solo spot with Richard Fortus playing his ‘James Bond Theme’ that he initially recorded for Guitar Hero: World Tour, DJ Ashba treating us to his ‘Ballad of Death’ that served as an intro to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and the shredding-master Bumblefoot giving his rendition of the Pink Panther Theme before kicking into ‘Don’t Cry.’ But those were not the only solo performances of the night - the bassist Tommy Stinson was featured on lead vocals for a cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation,’ and keyboardist Dizzy Reed gave his interpretation of ‘Baba O’Riley’ as a segue into ‘Street of Dreams.’ All of this solo action just goes on to show that contrary to the public perception that this is the Axl Rose Band, it is a real band that has real musicians with their own personalities and they do act as a cohesive unit on stage. Most people will probably still show up only to see Axl, but that’s due to historical reasons and the fact that he is, at least in my opinion, the last remaining rock star, and not because the rest of the band wouldn’t have an artistic aura of their own. There are a lot of additional elements to the show besides the individual performances and together they form a holistic rock n’ roll experience. Every single song has its own stage mood presented by fireworks (the most visually-gripping songs being ‘Live And Let Die’ with it’s flames and loud bangs and the ending of ‘November Rain’ with a wall of brightly sparkling rain dropping from the skies), colored lights, twinkling lights, wide screens with detailed visuals to accompany the particular song and piles of confetti being blown into the sky at the end of Paradise City. And in addition to his mesmerizing stage presence and vocal prowess, Axl Rose adds an extra bit of visual attraction as he throws his round-shaped microphone stand around like a toy, hitting the lights on the drum riser so hard that the stage manager has to come over to fix them during the set. So to put it all in a nutshell, if you have any doubts and an opportunity to do so, go to one of their shows and see what you make of it yourself. Personally, I haven’t seen any other band perform as passionately as Guns N’ Roses did at Harford and I’m lucky enough to be able to see them two more times in the coming week at Albany and Worcester. I wish them all the best in their future efforts and hopefully at some point everyone who loves the band will be able to hear new music from the line-up that Axl Rose worked so hard for years to put together. And for this and everything else I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.Great review, well done Not to nitpick, but the Nice Boys cover is actually from the Lies EP haha, thanks, initially I thought I'd made a horrible mistake by saying that Nice Boys wasn't an original song, but then I realized what you were saying...I guess yeah you can look at it either way...I generally just consider Lies songs to be the original stuff like patience, one in a million, used to love her and crazy...but point taken, thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Linguini Occurrence Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Hartford certainly was an extra-special night, wasn't it? We really lucked out.Compared to Sunday's concert in PA, the Saturday show seemed much better. 20 minutes longer, one more encore song, and THREE additional songs that have been rarely performed on the current tour (Shackler, Nice Boys & Out Ta Get Me).Like you I'm also going to Worcester this Friday, I'll hafta try like hell to not compare it to Hartford. I will look for your review of that show if you're up to it, you might be exhausted by then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailaway Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 (edited) Impressive verbal licks there Ppruks Trust me,there are worse places than Conneticut,Good luck with future endeavors.Use that talent! Edited November 22, 2011 by sailaway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abw1987 Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I guess no one likes posting the forum created specifically for this show?http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showforum=293Great review, pprucks, I think you nailed it.The show was absolutely thrilling. We didn't have great seats, but there really are no bad seats in an amphitheater like this. And of course, the amphitheater layout means much better sound than an arena. I got there around 9:00, just in time for Baz to take the stage. He always cracks me up; if nothing else I think he does a great job of warming up the crowd. He played for around an hour, after which I spent about 45 minutes in line for a beer. As I recall Guns began a bit after 11:00, and ended up playing for 3.5 hours. From the moment Axl appeared, he completely dominated. He's up there with the all-time great, charismatic frontmen. I had no qualms with his vocals, which tends to be the case with live shows where you're actually in attendance, and his voice is blended in with the rest of the band, as opposed to a sound board recording where every mistake stands out. I was really impressed at the energy he maintained for the entire 3.5hrs. Lord knows I was already exhausted by 2hrs into the set.What really caught me off-guard was the sheer talent of the guys that Axl has recruited to fill out his band. I knew they were good, but I had forgotten how good. They are all truly talented musicians. And the band is fucking tight too. You'd think with eight guys on stage, it would just sound like a wall of mud. Not the case at all. It's almost like a carefully-arranged orchestra, where every member has his place within a rigid set of lines that are defined to create the best overall sound. Remarkable. My only disappointment was the "Better" solo. I never even liked Finck - at all - but he's got a very specific touch on the Better solo that is difficult for anyone else to emulate. Other than that, the band nailed everything else. These guys must practice their asses off to learn the music so well. True professionals.No complaints about the set list either. In hindsight, I would have loved to hear TWAT and Prostitute, but I was so impressed with the length of the show that I completely forgot about which songs I wanted to hear. Every song was a surprise. I found it to be a perfect mix of material from the band's various albums. And I'm just so glad they played Estranged. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to see that performed live in my lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppruks Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 just got my review http://ppruks.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-concert-review.html tweeted by Gn'R!!! Couldn't be happier! https://twitter.com/#!/gunsnroses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistaBrownstone Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 just got my review http://ppruks.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-concert-review.html tweeted by Gn'R!!! Couldn't be happier! https://twitter.com/#!/gunsnrosesOh wow man that's freakin awesome! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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