First off, thanks to everybody who spotted my DELIBERATE mistake by putting in Madagascar and not 'The Blues'. Interestingly, it was only people on this here website who noticed that mistake (this review has been posted all over the net today!) so well done!
I appreciate all the comment made here tonight, but the one below got me so wound up that I though i would address each and every point individually.
Here goes:
lebowski, on Jul 20 2006, 10:36 PM, said:
I mean no offense here, but after reading your post, I have to question it. I will analyze this first
"PLEASE bare in mind that I am a huge GNR fan"
If this is true, you would sure as hell know that when you go to see GNR you can wait up to 2 hours + [
Anyone who knows about Guns N Roses should know about this. The first time I saw them at MSG in 2002, I knew that might happen. Are you trying to say that I am not a true fan because I expected them to finish the set instead of just going off because he had had enough? I have been to well over a thousand gigs in my time and I have never seen anything like what happened last night. Also, are you syaing that it is okay to cut a set short JUST because it is Axl? Why do we go on treating him like a god, in that he can do anything he wants just becasue he is Axl?
"Little did we fans realize that Axl would keep us waiting until 10:15 before he came on" - They certainly realized.
"We heard many people saying throughout the ordeal that they would give him ten more minutes and then they would go home" - Not true fans Why are they not true fans then? This is the single stupidest, childish comment i have ever read in my life! How can somebody have unconditional love for a band? I mean, I worship the Beatles, but if I was about in the 60's and was pissed off at a gig they did I wouldn't just say it was great because of who they are!
"I was heard saying Craig on more than one occasion, 'How can he do this to his fans? We have paid nearly £50 for these tickets and he just doesn't care.'"
On the contrary, he cares very much. He doesn't need to do this tour. He doesn't need to put out a new album. he is doing this for the fans. All he wants is to be treated with respect, and when you get hit in the face with a coin, that isn't respect. He doesn't even have to play the gig - its his choice. I think he just tries to weed the fans that just don't give a shit - out of the crowd when he waits that long. Also, you waited til 10:30 pm - big deal - I waited til 12:30 am on a weeknight when I went to the 3rd Hammerstein show.How old are you mate? Twelve? If you truly belive he plays these gigs because he wants to please his fans then you are either off your face on drugs or you have some sort of undying love that I can't understand.
"All three guitarists, and keyboard player Dizzy Reed (who looked painfully thin) all had their own solos. To me this meant one thing - time wasting." That is called giving everyone else in the band a chance to get the spotlight. Not many bands do this and we should give Axl credit for giving up the spotlight. Again, silliness. The reason everybody in the band gets a solo is to give Axl a break. I am all for solos, don't get me wrong. I thought Dizzy's solo was absolutely outstanding, one of the highlights of the show, I was simply saying that I didn't believe four seperate solos (including a rendition of Christina Agularia's 'Beautiful') were necessary.
"An example was when one of the guitarists used his solo to play a full instrumental version of Don't Cry. It left me asking why Axl didn't just come out and play the song, vocal and all." This is because Shannon hoon is dead, and he won't play the song anymore as a dedication. If this is true then I appologise. I admit I don't know every last fact about the band recently, as I have things going on in my life other than music.
"The night did pick up, however, with storming success as they belted their way through Sweet Child, November Rain and You Could Be Mine, and Madagascar." A true fan huh? Well then you should be ablt tell the difference beetwen Madasgar and the Blues. MISTAKE - I appologise. Does this mean I'm not a fan? Tell that to my bank manager who has to put up with me spending more than I really should on GN'R related gear. Being a trainspotter does not make you any more of a fan than me mate.
"At around half eleven, Sebastian Bach came out for his usual rendition of My Michelle" His usual rendition? You act like you saw it before. I act like I have read it in reviews and seen it at Download. I wasn;t having a go here by the way. I meant it as in he does it every night - i.e. not a bad thing (although I do think that in this song i would rather here just Axl's voice.
"and then Axl invited 'Old Friend' Izzy Stradlin onto the stage for a moment of jamming "
You should consider yourself lucky that you even got to see Izzy, let alone see him and axl play a Stones song with Maracas! I saw NO izzy at the Hammerstein show. It was a major bumer to hear he came out the next night - and then to hear the news that he does it every show - it killed me. I never got to see him.
A true guns fan would have emphazied the point that they got to see Izzy and Axl back together again. I woulf give anything to see them on stage together. Where do I say there is anything wrong with seeing Izzy? I went absolutely wild when he came on! I couldn't believe my luck. I don't know why you are having a go at me for this
"I was surprised when the band ripped into one of my personal favorites (and most underrated GN'R songs) "
Surprised? Why? This has been a staple in the live show since 88. They never stopped playing that live. You pretty much here it every show. Again, I didn't realise they played this often. Interestingly, though, this brings up something else I've been thinking about, in that Axl doesn't seem to think that any GN'r songs are B-sides. I mean most artists release an album. They release 2-4 single, then there are a couple of good tunes and the rest are considered B-sides. Because GN'R never released many albums it comes across like he thinks most of the songs are worthy of playing live (because he doesn;t have much alternative. I'm having trouble explaining what I mean here, but I would bet that at some point every GN'R song has been played live (even rubbish such as 'So Fine'. Sorry, I'm getting away from the point here. What I mean was that I didn't realise that Think about You was a 'Staple' of a live GN'R set.
"The band burst into Nightrain, with the crowd going crazy, singing every word in unison." Thats the worst part about a guns show - I come to hear Axl sing, not the crowd. I know that you are all into it, but I want to hear axl's voice live, not some dick that is singing a sloppy drunk version. What do you want the crowd to do? Stand at the back and quietly applaud him for being a genius? John Lennon he ain't mate. Of course the crowd will go mad and sing-a-long. Axl asks them to with his 'Knockin on Heavens Door' routine.
"A fan threw a pound coin which hit Axl in the face. He muttered something, told the band to stop playing and then walked off the stage, mid-song, and said ‘Good night.’ He then returned a few minutes later, told the crowd to tell security if they saw anyone throwing anything, and started Nightrain again"
You should consider yourself lucky that he even finished the show. That is true dedication. So he didn' tplay Paradise City? Big deal. That is the most played out and overrated Guns song ever. It does suck that they didn't do it though because you have all that confetti coming down and such, and the crowd going wild. I think they should change the setlist personally. Why play the same show for almost 20 years now? Its Duff's song, he probably is pissed, and Axl should just write another kick ass song to always be the encore, or just end it with Coma or something crazy. I personally don't think Paradise City is a great song - but it is the trademark of a GN'R show and I expect to hear it. I would personally have loved to have heard 'Estranged,' 'Bad Apples,' 'Dead Horse' or 'The Garden,' but I was over the moon with what he did play, because the mojority of fans would want to hear the more famouse tracks. Paradise City (Along with Sweet Child) are GN'R's most famous songs so I would expect to hear them at a GN'R gig. Also, he always ends with this song, which made it obvious that he left it out!
"The song drew to a close, the lights went out and Axl simply said ‘The show is over,’ and the houselights came on." You are mad because of this, but we don't know if security said thats it, we don't know why it happened. We assume it is because of the coin. Security could have seen a possible cause to end the show right then. We have no idea. I initially thought he had been told to cut the show short because of the time - fair enough. But on refelction I don't think this was the case, and if it was, then why did he make us wait for nearly 2 hours before coming on? Why didn't he start within an hour of BFMV finishing, then he could of played till his heart was content? Also, if he was told to hurry things aling, why did he restart Nightrain? Why didn't he go straigh into Paradise City? I don;t underatnd why You seem to think we OWE him something, like we should be gratefull that he turned up at all.
'I couldn’t believe this childishness. We had just seen a GN’R set without Paradise City." How about the childness of the guy that hit Axl?' How about the childness of you, who can't understand why someone would be enfuriated by being hit on stage. Why do you think Axl owes you Paradise City. He doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe the guy that hit him. You shuold be glad that he doesn't cancel the whole tour.
He is the greatest musican ever, and it is his way or the high way. That is something the fans have to accept. He is not some guy that writes crappy songs and doesn't care about the music. he is one of the few musicians that care deeply about his music. If the fans stop caring about the music - i.e throwing shit and being violent - than that is when the show ends. If anybody reading this believes what is written here then I have have no place trying to defend what I believe. This is like a 14 year old girl defending why she loves Robbie Williams
"He couldn’t care less what we think of him" He cared enough to end the show. He thought you thought of him as a target. Again, a load of bolony
"I totally agree with Deicide. I've heard the 'supposed' coin ( I don't care what anyone says, no one saw it), hit him in the leg.
But that’s' ROCK AND ROLL!!! Axel is old school, he'll have had much worse chucked at him in the past."
And if he was hit in the eye and blinded, I guess you wouldn't give a shit about that would you? Because that is rock n Roll! Wrong. Just as long as you get to see your precious Paradise City , that is all that matters huh? Fuck axl right? Its all about you you you. I travelled 191 miles from Bristol to see this concert. I didn't get home until around 5am. I took a holiday from work. The whole day cost me more than i would like to even think about. Not to mention that this was the most important night of my life - after a lifetime of worshipping this man. Last weeks I wrote a piece on Planet Sound (C4 teletext) saying how Vlevet Revolver mean nothing to me and that Axl is a musical God. Do you think really think I should unconditionally worship the man after being let down by what should have been a life defining moment? Unbelievable!
This post has been edited by Deicide: 20 July 2006 - 05:36 PM
Posted 20 July 2006 - 05:53 PM
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