[madison]

Just a few thoughts on the show ...

Well, I arrived around 9:15, so I missed Baz. But I did see Papa Roach, which was OK for the first few songs. The lead singer has a good stage presence, is energetic and interacts with the fans directly as he actually walked among all the fans in the GA section for some of his songs, which was cool. However, after a while, the set dragged on and I found myself looking at my watch, which is never a good sign at a concert.

The crowd was only about half full for Papa Roach, but totally filled up as soon as Guns hit the stage around 11:10pm.

As everybody knows, the setlist was the same. For the critics complaining that the band should add more new songs to the set -- I disagree. The album needs to come out first and here's why: The large majority of the people in my section weren't even familiar with the four new songs that were played - and actually went completely silent during those tracks, with some even sitting down in their seats. So, if Axl had added more new songs, I think he would have lost the crowd. The album needs to be released before any more new songs can be added to the setlist. jmo..... Having said that, I think the band could have mixed in some different tracks from the AFD and Illusions days which would have kept diehard fans who have been to multiple shows happier.

It didn't help that I was sitting in a section that I think would take home the prize for having the most drunken fans. Let's see -- several rows of people (including myself) were "sprayed" by an unknown liquid from behind at least three times before security finally came over to find out what was happening. ... Then there was the girl in front of me who was dancing up a storm with a drink in each hand through Papa Roach and even through the intermission - only to pass out slumped into her chair for the entire Guns show. Her boyfriend kept trying to wake her up, but couldn't. ... Oh - and then there's the guy beside me, who spent his entire time photographing his girlfriend in every position possible through the whole show. Yep -- real diehard fans. ... but I digress...

Overall, I think the band has really geled since the Hammerstein shows, where the timing of every note and stage move seems tight and concise. And I liked how they've even added drums and guitars between songs so that there's no "dead air" between tracks. However, this well-oiled show was almost too greasy at times - as Axl seemed tired and mechanical during some songs, such as SCOM, and went into "helium" mode during a couple of tracks. But overall, I thought his vocals were strong, and he really shined when playing the new tracks. (*I thought this was the best version of the Blues I've heard yet).


The sound mix was poor - where Axl's vocals were very low - at least from where I was sitting on the lower left hand side next to the stage. Not sure whose fault that would be, but I hope they fix it for the next show.

The crowd responded extremely well - thunderous applause for the classic GNR songs, but (as I mentioned earlier) rather subdued for the new songs - except IRS, which got a great reception.

Other parts of note: Finck was awesome. He is so charismatic and energetic, and even staged-dived into the crowd and crowd-surfed for a while as he was playing. .. Axl caught a black bra during Nighttrain and spun it on his finger before putting it down. ... He also thanked some friends for helping him get home at a reasonable hour the night before.

I agree with the people who complain that the guitar solos are too long. In general, I happen to really like guitar solos because - to me - that is real rock n roll. But these solos were far long. *I found people in my section sitting down, playing with their phones, and even chatting with each other during the solos. I think they need to be cut in half.

Overall, a solid show - but not as good as the Hammerstein ones. jmo.

[GNR Rocks35]

oh man...just got up

Ok....i saw GNR at Hammerstein Ballroom on May 17th, and this MSG show blew that away. It was unbelievebale.

The thing that makes the show for me is just when axl screams "do you know where the fuck you are" and then just struts out onto the stage. WTTJ is sucha great opener and had great energy. They did'nt even pause before starting ISE and the same with Mr.B. ......LALD was great...the crowd was almoust drowning Axl out cause i cold hear that almost everyone in MSG was singing their hearts out. SCOM was great although there may have been some sound problems through it. (i dont know why someone on the sound crew does'nt hear that AXL's mic is too low and turn it up). i think then they did KOHD which was great and when the crowd sung it was awesome.

Axl really seemed to be enjoying the show. The first time he said anything was after LALD i think or after Brownstone i dont remember....but he said "nice to see you again new york"...and every1 went nuts.

I think then he went to the new songs which were The Blues and then Better. He played the Blues later.

He played YCBM sometime in the middle and that had alot of energy.

Then came November Rain which was amazing....lighters everywhere and axl sounded great. THe hwole place was singing along.

Then came Patience around there somewhere and that was great with the sing along of the crowd.

Idk exactly when it was but then Ron Thal did his amazing Don't Cry solo.....which was incredible...people thought they were actually gonna play the real song with the whole band singing...but then he motioned to sing and the place sung .....LOUD


I may be skipping some songs but then they played Nightrain and that had soooo much energy and they sounded great. (i think nightrain is the best song they play live)

He said good night.,..and they went off

A few minutes and then CD came on....which is a great live song (IMO)

...but we were all waiting for Paraidse City which was insane and had the entire place going absolutely bannana's...it was great...confetti....sparks...awesome.

what a great show.....he came on with the whole band to say goodnight and he said something like " We hope to come back to see you the fuck again"

i can't wait till they come back to NY it was great.

****for the people wanting to know....it was SOLD OUT****

[bucket13]

Great show! I loved it. The crowd was so into Guns. And I agree on Madison's comment bout the new songs because I did notice a lack of agression in the crowd during like Better, the Blues, and even IRS. But the rest of them were pretty hardcore and Axl was AMAZING!!!! Im soo glad I went.


"...there was this guy taking pictures of his girlfriend for the whole show..."

Madison what seat did you have? Because there was this couple taking pictures of themselfs and the guy taking pictures of his girlfriend in front of me and the lady next to him was getting really annoyed.

[Raincoats]

I regret buying tickets for the Toronto show. This tour is the biggest insult to fans.

This setlist is so repetitive, we're actually looking forward to terrible GN'R tracks like Down The Farm, just because it's a change.

[madison]

bucket13, on Nov 11 2006, 11:21 AM, said:

... Madison what seat did you have? Because there was this couple taking pictures of themselfs and the guy taking pictures of his girlfriend in front of me and the lady next to him was getting really annoyed.

No, it couldn't have been me. I never reacted or said anything to the guy - it was just an observation. In fact, he joked with me about the woman in front of us who was passed out in her chair. lol.

I did chat with the guys behind me a few times when we were trying to figure out who it was that was spraying everybody with a "mysterious liquid." Was that you? Which section were you in?

[DirtyDeeds]

Madison, I agree about not adding more new songs. I saw them a week ago in Greensboro. Of course there were not nearly as many people present for this show as in NYC, but I would venture to say I was one of three people in the entire crowd that knew and was singing along to the new songs. There was virtually no reaction or applause upon the completion of these new songs, and the band also did not seem as tight playing the new ones as compared to playing the old ones.

[lebowski]

I was like ten heads back in the GA section. Axl was so close it was incredible. Amazing show. Fincks stage presence was insane, and on an unrelated not, Down on the Farm is a great song.

[Patience 4 Axl]

Before the show I was hanging at a bar down the block from the Garden who were playing only GnR tunes. They had plasma t.v.'s everywhere and were showing all the GnR videos. Needless to say I wanted to stay longer, but finally left and got there towards the end of Bach's set.
Thought it was funny when he said something like "Hey, you guys remember that show Supergroup I did and I said I was gonna quit drinking? Well, FUCK THAT! Oh, and fuck Ted Nugent too!"
Bach sounded great, and I thought Papa Roach sounded really good as well. Seemed like cool guys and talked alot with the audience and being in NY and playing MSG, etc.

Quote

I agree with the people who complain that the guitar solos are too long.

Glad YOU said it madison, because when us regular members say it, we're accused of bashing the band or not knowing what we're talking about. Yes, the crowd just dies when they play them, it just sucks the life out of the show. I would love if they cut Finck's solo out all together, and just have him and Richard do Beautiful together. When I listen to Finck's solo I feel like I'm sitting at sound check. It just goes on and on... Ron's Don't Cry solo is good, we just don't need the 10 minute pre-solo before he finally gets into it. Dizzy's version of Angie on keyboards is sweet.

Anyway, I'm sure there's some good technical explanation for it, but I just assume if Baz and PR have no sound problems, then GnR shouldn't have any. I know people are singing way louder for the GnR songs, but I heard the background vocals pretty clear, just not Axl at all times.

Out of the 3 shows I went to this year, Axl talked the LEAST to the crowd at this one. Disappointing.

And by the time the lights came on after PC, the venue was almost half empty. I could not believe how many people had left early. Axl dedicated the show to a few people. I remember he said the name Diane as one of the people. Anyway, the show was good, the crowd was good, and everything else was predictable.

[Madagascar88]

OK... my turn I suppose.

Very good show- except for the sitting in the 400 sections part. I went with 7 friends, mostly fraternity brothers and we definitely all had a blast.

Arrived right at the end of "I Remember You" for Seb Bach which sounded good as we were walking in. Youth Gone Wild was cool. Can't say I think much of Scott Ian from Anthrax... he just seems lame to me albeit a skilled bassist (is that what he plays?).

Papa Roach was getting no reaction from where I was sitting. He said something along the lines of: "Who enjoyed Sebastian Bach?" and the crowd roared, then he said "Whose looking forward to Guns N' Roses?" and the crowd went crazy and then he said "Who wants more Papa Roach?" and everyone stayed silent or said "NOOO!!" which was funny. But I think we all enjoyed "last resort."

The beginning of the Guns setlist was rather anti-climactic just because I couldn't hear shit due to all the screaming in the stadium. While I also contributed to that- I think they should have the turned the sound up or something... But, from what I could hear, all the songs sounded great. My friends all sat down after Knockin' on Heaven's Door but I kept at it obviously. Axl did the whole singing on top of the piano thing for "The Blues" which was cool but didn't really help garner more of a reaction out of the crowd. A couple haters in the 400s attempted to rally the audience into leaving during the 'Beautiful' rendition. They were screaming obscenities and saying how it's not Guns N' Roses and saying your basic haters un-enlightened material. But they left shortly into Out Ta Get Me so no damage done. I think the band went into a bit of "Double Talkin' Jive" during one of their jams... can anyone confirm this? I liked Dizzy's new piano solo- he got a great applause... in fact most of the solos got great crowd reaction (besides Beautiful).

Band sounded tight- good chemistry on-stage I'd say- sound could've been better and yes the setlist could've been changed but I was happy.

Got an invitation from Mr. Reed to go to the after-party in the lower west-side. Showed up there and waited for GNR to arrive. GNR was on the list to attend the event. There were a couple other GNR fans also waiting outside the club who were cool to meet and talk to. Seb Bach/Scott Ian arrived and went inside to play an acoustic gig or something. I called Dizzy several times to no response and assumed he had passed out somewhere, lol. Oooh... and also Eddie Trunk was there- seemed like he was waiting for GNR too- he was just standing outside for a good 10-15 minutes chatting with people before he went inside himself. O well... second time I've gone to the GNR after-party only to not meet up with the guys. Minimum two bottles of liquor to enter the club- $600!!! Holy shit- people were getting fucked up in there though. Jeezzz... two kids came back out of the club with blood streaming from their head from getting beaten up by bouncers. One passed out on the sidewalk- looked like a concussion or something- they had to bring an ambulance to the entrance of the club for him. But Fuck it- it was cool anticipating GNR's arrival anyway!


By the way- for those of you who keep bitching about them not releasing the album- here's Mr. Reed's input: "Yes we are all aware of the importance of the record coming out but it's
out of our hands at this time."

by the way, I REALLY appreciate you guys re-moving this topic back into the main discussion area. I make the suggestion once again that mygnrforum.com discussion just seems much more lively if the most important topics are discussed in a central hub (i.e. don't move fun topics to other sections of this board just because they fit the category better)... just splits the discussion up too much and makes the entire board seem less active than it is... anyway, that's my two cents from an Ivy League education which clearly focuses on the psychological intricacies of fan-board marketing.

This post has been edited by Madagascar88: 11 November 2006 - 12:31 PM

[madison]

Patience 4 Axl, on Nov 11 2006, 11:54 AM, said:

...Glad YOU said it madison, because when us regular members say it, we're accused of bashing the band or not knowing what we're talking about. Yes, the crowd just dies when they play them, it just sucks the life out of the show. I would love if they cut Finck's solo out all together, and just have him and Richard do Beautiful together. When I listen to Finck's solo I feel like I'm sitting at sound check. It just goes on and on... Ron's Don't Cry solo is good, we just don't need the 10 minute pre-solo before he finally gets into it. Dizzy's version of Angie on keyboards is sweet...

Well, I like guitar solos because that's real rock n roll.
I don't think Finck's or anybody else's solos should be eliminated -- I just think they should be shortened. As you mentioned, Ron's "Don't Cry" solo is awesome, but I agree he could eliminate the 10-minute pre-solo. I really liked the way the entire crowd sang along to Don't Cry - it was magical.

Quote

.. Out of the 3 shows I went to this year, Axl talked the LEAST to the crowd at this one.

This is an area where Papa Roach was very strong. The lead singer really connected with the audience throughout his set, talking to them and mingling with them.

*On a side note, we decided to move this thread to the main section for a day (rather than the concert section) because some people were starting threads asking where the reviews were. So, we'll keep it here for a day before moving it back to the concert section.

[zint61]

madison, on Nov 11 2006, 11:36 AM, said:

spraying everybody with a "mysterious liquid."

Kaneda blowing his load..

[bin laden killed gnr]

Madagascar88, on Nov 11 2006, 12:09 PM, said:

Can't say I think much of Scott Ian from Anthrax... he just seems lame to me albeit a skilled bassist (is that what he plays?).

No. He plays guitar. How can you say you don't like him if you don't even know which instrument he plays?lol

[xghlph]

Hey. I was at MSG in 2002, went to two Hammerstein shows, and was at last night's show. I've enjoyed all of them, and think the band was particularly good last night. I was on Madison's side of the audience and Axl's voice got lost sometimes in the sound, but whatever. It's astounding just how good a band they've turned into. At the same time, they've played a lot of shows in this city now using the same primary setlist. I honestly think that's lame, especially seeing how this city has been their best market for these tours, dating back to 2002. It feels worse than lame, to be honest.

Anyway, two other thoughts: first, the new songs. Having heard them a lot now, it seems to me that a lot of them are labored and ponderous. There's enough space in them for guys to try and cover and make them gel, and none particualrly sound bad. But there's not one that, to me, has the snap or tightness of any of the appetite stuff, or the better illusions stuff too. That's to me, others might feel differently. And I'll still buy the CD and play it. But I especially saw/heard the difference last night.

On another matter: I think Axl needs those solos. He runs off stage all the time, during every sone, at every musical break. Don't know if it's for oxygen or something else. We all know that all long concerts have those solo areas so that different musicians can take a breather, and so that's fine. But I'd guess that with Axl and his middle aged body and whatever's going on in there (voice, lungs, whatever), he really needs those breaks. Otherwise I can't imagine why Robin is taking a ten minute solo just three or four songs into the concert. My guess is that Axl's voice and body can handle that first round of hard work, and those songs back to back to back, and then he needs some treatment or something.

Anyway, I had a good time last night. But I do think the setlist is a joke at this point.

This post has been edited by xghlph: 11 November 2006 - 12:31 PM

[Madagascar88]

bin laden killed gnr, on Nov 11 2006, 12:28 PM, said:

Madagascar88, on Nov 11 2006, 12:09 PM, said:

Can't say I think much of Scott Ian from Anthrax... he just seems lame to me albeit a skilled bassist (is that what he plays?).

No. He plays guitar. How can you say you don't like him if you don't even know which instrument he plays?lol

haha... I am not talking about his abilities... simply his personality- based solely on his constant VH1 cameos and that reality show "Supergroup"

[bass71player]

Madagascar88, on Nov 11 2006, 12:09 PM, said:

Can't say I think much of Scott Ian from Anthrax... he just seems lame to me albeit a skilled bassist (is that what he plays?).

he plays guitar to answer your question... i think he's fucking awesome and would have loved to see him on youth gone wild.

edit: bin laden killed gnr beat me to it

zint61, on Nov 11 2006, 12:18 PM, said:

madison, on Nov 11 2006, 11:36 AM, said:

spraying everybody with a "mysterious liquid."

Kaneda blowing his load..

This post has been edited by bass71player: 11 November 2006 - 12:35 PM