Hammerstein Ballroom - seven years later...

[magisme]

I was there. First time I saw Axl live cuz he didn't show for the Philly '02 shows. Went with my brother. The first few moments of the show were magical. Axl shot himself to the front and center of the stage and just stood there looking all badass until he did his backwards sliding leg stomp thing when the drums kicked in on Jungle. I was starstruck as hell. Maybe more than I'd ever been before. I thought, "Holy shit! He's still Axl!" He looked fit, sounded good, was energetic. I wished there was more interaction with the crowd, but whatever. I wasn't complaining. Energy subsided a bit as the show moved on, but when lolBaz came out for My Michelle, Axl kicked it back into gear in a major way.

I always loved Finck live, despite his sloppiness. BBF looked confused most of the night. I'm no fan of his in general, but you couldn't blame him at the time.

I stupidly wore my glasses in the pit. I left the show without them.

[blarkins]

I was at the 4th show.

2006 was such a missed opportunity. GNR came back from out of nowhere, the leaks came and had a positive response, the band was great, Axl was in shape and driven, and shows were getting praised left and right.

The general public I think was ready for GNR's return in 2006. Had they capitalized on the early buzz and momentum, things with CD might have turned out differently. Instead it was squandered, more people left the band, and for some reason Axl has now seems to have stopped caring.

Maybe the whole process disillusioned from 2006 to getting CD out in 08 and it not getting any real push just sucked all the energy out of him. It was his baby after all.

[volcano62]

I stupidly wore my glasses in the pit. I left the show without them.

Dude that fuckin' sucks! At least you can say you attended a historical GNR show.

[Black Sabbath]

Would have loved to go to one of these shows. Amazing stuff and the band was in top form back then.

[Nick85]

One thing the 01-06 lineup had that this current lineup sorely lacks is the feeling that anything can happen. At any point they could bust out a new song and there was still an element of danger and excitement.

This lineup...fuck....

[Jordan Rose]

The reason he told everyone that Better was a Robin song was because 'I bet that really pisses some of you off. I like that.' Words roughly to that effect.

Haven't seen that braids pic before, awesome, thank you. Really sad how that low quality, pixelated picture looks more like 90s Axl than any of the HQ close-up pics since 2011.

[T.wa.T]

I was lucky to be there at the second show.

My freinds aunt died, so he gave me n my girl his tickets.

[Tyler Drama]

In this video he says it's a Robin song *after* they play Better.

Then my memory fucking sucks

[batman007]

I rememeber coming to this forum for the presale password, nobody wanted to give it to me. I had been lurking around since 02, but joined in 06. I was working at hotels.com when the sale was on. I put a customer on hold, and was lucky enough to get a pair. I freaked out, and hung up on the customer. I flew from South Texas to NYC for the concert. My friend and I lined up around 9 a.m. There was about 5 people ahead of me. And those 5 including some people behind me, were fucking great people. We got to go eat, and they held our spot. And vice versa. I just remember some people were from Brazil. Another guy was a runner. A couple from Cleveland. And a guy with a sweet UYI tattoo. An drunk Asain guy joined our line during the day. He had no ticket, and probably didn't even know about GNR. He ended up pissing on the sidewalk while NYPD was passing by. The doors finally opened up, and I ran to the front. I got to be in the left middle. A guy from the subway who plays on buckets, was awesome! BFMV sucked ass! One of the guys from the front of the line gave us some earplugs for them. He warned up that BFMV plays too loud and shitty, to protect our ears. Jimmy Fallon was shaking some hands. A couple of hours later, lights out... My rock n roll dream finally came true. It was a surreal moment for me. I had been waiting years to catch them live. I was a big fan of the new lineup. So, it wasn't just Axl I was excited to see. Izzy was a plus to see. Kid Rock ruined Nightrain. The band played and looked great! The show ended around 2 a.m. A thing I still don't get. At the end of the show, Axl was calling Lenny Kravitz up for the bow. Hit the subway and had my first NY pie. I have seen Guns 10 times. Nothing will ever compare to that magical night in NYC.

Edited September 14, 2013 by batman007

[Randy Lahey]

I was at this show. Axl was great but Bumblefoot was a massive disappointment. I remember some of us were even booing when he brought out that ridiculous bumbleshit guitar. The highlights for me were Axl's scream on TWAT and his vocal performance on KOHD.

[magisme]

I stupidly wore my glasses in the pit. I left the show without them.

Dude that fuckin' sucks! At least you can say you attended a historical GNR show.

I lost them within like the first five minutes of the show, too. Every so often I'd be having a kick ass time and I'd suddenly think, "Fuck. I lost my glasses."

[Spuffy78]

I miss Brain on the drums. Frank's great but Brain's the best drummer they've had since Adler.

[Allen8R]

Anyone here remember all the hype and mystery surrounding the Hammerstein gigs? They were seven years ago, which is crazy to my mind. On one hand it seems like yesterday; on the other hand, it seems forever ago.

I decided to celebrate my day off work tomorrow by having a few drinks and watching the gig beginning to end. To place the show in context for people who weren't around the forums, people were excited because the band was back, period, and Axl's voice was better than in '02 in terms of rasp (I remember the live forum updates that night, and people were geeking out when the texts started coming in saying "rasp is back"). Axl looked physically fit, sounded good, the band looked good and a lot of people were happy that Robin Finck abandoned his goth image and people also thought Ron Thal's image suited the band better than Buckethead's regardless of your opinions on who's the better guitarist.

But looking back in retrospect I'm surprised by two things, namely: the band isn't just good, the energy and positive vibes from this show are pretty much on par with what always made GN'R great. I'm not saying they're as good as original GN'R, there's something obviously to be said for back when they were a nitty-gritty rock n' roll group and Slash and Duff were still around, but at the same time it's like comparing apples to oranges, and that's a debate that will always live on; but if you can put that aside, the band as a whole is actually firing on all cylinders and capturing the spark that made original GN'R so much fun back in the day. There's a sense of EXCITEMENT (not just from the crowd, but from the band itself!) that I humbly feel has been lacking since they decided to start touring the same setlist for years on end.

Also, Axl isn't just better than in '02. He's fantastic beginning to end. I remember listening to the bootlegs in 2006 and being a bit disappointed that he never managed to recapture the full depth of his voice from back in the '90s; but given the last few years, looking back now, I appreciate it way more, and think he actually sounds fantastic beginning to end. He may lack the depth he once had (the outros to songs like Patience will never be quite the same) and be using more of the thinner rasp and higher falsetto, but he's got a consistency and a power that has often lacked in the last couple years, and he sounds so much better than in 2002. He sounds conditioned and trained and looks hungry and ready to conquer the music world again. That may make it kind of sad to watch given what happened (or, rather, didn't happen), but it doesn't change the fact that he's delivering as an all-around performer here: his stage presence and voice are both tops.

I have a tendency to ramble so let me get back to the point here. I thought it'd be interesting to post the show and see what people thought -- both then and now. Anyone have any cool recollections of the lead-up to the gig? It was the first time Axl or GN'R had really shown up in public in like four years. Was anyone here actually at the show? And looking back at the performance seven years down the road, does anyone else appreciate it a bit differently than they may have in 2006?

Man oh Man do I ever feel old.

It's weird to think that the space of time between those gigs and now is the same amount of time that passed between the release of Live era and Oh My God.

A8R

[batman007]

I miss Brain on the drums. Frank's great but Brain's the best drummer they've had since Adler.

Brain was always a pleasure to see. And the best drummer, way better than Adler.

[Birk]

I was only at the first show but it was fucking amazing. Getting to hear Better, TWaT, IRS and so on live for the first time they were played was awesome.

I was at the 1st show also, at that preshow party called...hmm...fuck i cant remember the name of the bar.

Does anyone have this show on DVD??? I would love to see this show. I had multiple people promise me the dvd on this site, and it just never happened. lte me know, i can paypal!

[jimb0]

A couple drinks and watching GNR? According to a thread a few months back, you're a sad alcoholic

[Zint]

I was at the 4th show, the Izzy show.

Of all the shows I've seen from 20002 - 2013, it ranks in the top three (of shows I enjoyed the most).

[DizzyReed63]

I was at two of the shows that weekend. One of the best mini-vacations ever. Met a bunch of fans who had come from all over the country/world (including some of you). I remember the first night I went Lenny Krafitz and his family where sitting in a box seat near us, and they were getting impatient waiting for the gig to start. The light guy was looking at his phone, shrugging his shoulders .. and then finally near midnight the lights finally went down. Spent about $100 on Coors Lights and $100 on shirts and stickers. I was also on that stupid G4 Attack of the Show episode. They thought the new GnR would hit hard w/ their audience. They made me go to that Zen of Screaming woman and pretend I wanted to sing like Axl - and then sing to girls on the street lined up for the show. Looking back, it was hilariously epic despite how dumb it was. Originally they were going to visit me in STL and have me build a shrine and follow my journey to NYC for the gig - would've been much more fun.

Also remember feeling like this finally was what Axl had envisioned and we were about to be hit by a bunch of new material. Looking back, it's kind of depressing to see that the band was, in a sense, 0-3 in comebacks. I remember reviews in mainstream media being pleasantly surprised and people were full of curiosity. By the time things really did happen, people were over it and didn't care anymore.

Regardless, this was probably the height of being a gnr fan for us diehards.

Edited September 14, 2013 by DizzyReed63

[username]

That (2006) was a really cool time to be a GnR fan! It's a shame they didn't release CD that year. Would've worked perfect with all the buzz and mystery! I really think it would have changed things a lot back then.

I miss Robin.

Here's what I wrote about my GnR 2006 concert experience:

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/73984-guns-n-roses-live-at-gofferpark-nijmegen-username-reviews/

[Young_Gun]

Axl sounds and looks like a fucken GOD in that show... Wish he would get back to that...

[batman007]

I was only at the first show but it was fucking amazing. Getting to hear Better, TWaT, IRS and so on live for the first time they were played was awesome.

I was at the 1st show also, at that preshow party called...hmm...fuck i cant remember the name of the bar.

Does anyone have this show on DVD??? I would love to see this show. I had multiple people promise me the dvd on this site, and it just never happened. lte me know, i can paypal!

I have the last show on DVD.

[Estranged Reality]

That (2006) was a really cool time to be a GnR fan! It's a shame they didn't release CD that year. Would've worked perfect with all the buzz and mystery! I really think it would have changed things a lot back then.

I miss Robin.

Here's what I wrote about my GnR 2006 concert experience:

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/73984-guns-n-roses-live-at-gofferpark-nijmegen-username-reviews/

Good stuff man, I actually remember that thread from back when you posted it.

[Tom2112]

Damn! I wish they released this as a DVD, obviously with good quality... whoever filmed this... thank you! but for god sake hold still I'm going to look like this by the end of the show with the way things are going

Edited September 15, 2013 by Tom2112

[Birk]

I was only at the first show but it was fucking amazing. Getting to hear Better, TWaT, IRS and so on live for the first time they were played was awesome.

I was at the 1st show also, at that preshow party called...hmm...fuck i cant remember the name of the bar.

Does anyone have this show on DVD??? I would love to see this show. I had multiple people promise me the dvd on this site, and it just never happened. lte me know, i can paypal!

I have the last show on DVD.

ugh..i was only at the 1st one with one of my good friends, and i would love to get him and myself a copy one day. thanks anyways

[RussTCB]

I was only at the first show but it was fucking amazing. Getting to hear Better, TWaT, IRS and so on live for the first time they were played was awesome.

I was at the 1st show also, at that preshow party called...hmm...fuck i cant remember the name of the bar.

Does anyone have this show on DVD??? I would love to see this show. I had multiple people promise me the dvd on this site, and it just never happened. lte me know, i can paypal!

I have the last show on DVD.

I'd have to dig through my DVDs but I'm pretty sure I have the first show burned somewhere. There were actually two versions floating around; a 1 cam mix and a 2 cam mix. I think the only one I ever had burned was the 1 cam mix, but it's still better than nothing. I'll take a look for it and let you know if I can find it. If you're in the US, I can just send you my discs as I haven't watched them for years.

Edited September 15, 2013 by russtcb