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March 28th, 2013 - Abu Dhabi


Amir

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Pretty good show.

Went with my dad (his 2nd show, he went to the last Abu Dhabi gig with me as well), my sister (her first) and a mate of mine (his first, too). I was in the Fan Pit while they were at the back :P

They all had a great time. My friend said the opener was a bit flat, I said yeah, they should prob go back to opening with WTTJ.

If you're an obsessive fan, yeah, you'll notice some Mickey at the shows. He wasn't struggling for breath, though, some pretty impressive lung capacity on some bits (and unexpected rasp in places like Patience outro, which is usually Mickey as Hell). It was nice getting Catcher for the first time in a while (had seen it at L'Arc and Geneva back in 2010, I've never really liked SOD, esp live, so I welcome the replacement).

Got videos of Jungle, Better, TIL (which my dad really liked, don't think it registered for him at 2010 show, it's also one of my mum's favourite GNR songs), Catcher, and The Seeker.

Caveat: I was front row center, and the stage was high, so I struggled to make sure Axl was in frame on my iPhone camera. They're not Sonofabitch or Highvoltage quality, but they're watchable.

Some photos:

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Axl was prob the happiest I've ever seen him at a gig. As early as Brownstone he was commenting on how amazing he thought the crowd was; he was pogo-jumping gleefully for a bit in Rocket Queen; he screamed "ABU DHABI!" a few times, and said how happy he was to be back. Not saying any of this because I'm biased (even though I've lived here for a decade or so I have no great love for the place), he just genuinely seems to love performing here (I remember last time he commented on how great the weather was and how happy he was to be there). When DJ was doing some guitar riff intro (can't remember at what point) Axl started waving his arms up and down and got Bumble to join in. Pretty weird seeing him in such a playful mood.

Edited by Amir
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This time around you didn't get to meet him after the show, eh Amir?

Nah, family wanted to leave, and I have no idea where I'd even find the backstage in such a huge arena. SECC/Glasgow was pretty lucky, easy enough to find the back and I had to wait until early morning for a train anyway.

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Thanks for updating everyone! When we post pics that we didn't take can we add who took them into the post though? I like to group pictures like that sometimes, I know some are just random twitter people, some are not.

A simple line of where you got the photo would be most helpful :thumbsup:

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Here's the wonderfully tacky T-shirt I got. They may have done this in 2010 (without the 2013 date), not sure, I have a faint memory of that mosque image. There was another shirt which had the 2012 European Tour logo with 2 dates on the back (Abu Dhabi and I think the Beirut gig).

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Also, they had the Tour Programme from the European Tour on sale (same programme, still had the 2012 European Tour dates inside) for Dhs30, which is about £5 (half of what I paid in UK, but I got it signed by Axl there so it was worth it :D )

Edited by Amir
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I'm I the only one that doesn't care much for BBF's songs at a GNR show? (Bruno don't get mad lol)

Pink Panther was cool though...why change for worse?

I'm a huge fan of Bumblefoot's music so for me it's great, but I actually agree. It's easy to see why they fall kind of flat at a Guns show - nobody knows them. For a song like Glad to be Here the humor is in the lyrics, but the audience probably isn't paying much attention to what he's singing anyways.

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Yeah, like I said, if you're a longtime fan you'll notice the Mickey, but most people thought he was great.

Better:

You can hear that he can use rasp when he wants to, I think he was just doing too much damage to his voice in 2010 (cancellation of Sao Paolo and London private gigs because of health issues is evidence of that I believe). His voice to me sounded to me on par with the London and Serbia gigs I went to in 2012, for me the best 2012 gig I went to in terms of vocal performance was Atlantic City, though for atmosphere last night and Serbia were some of the best.

EDIT: I didn't bother recording songs I knew would be weaker like YCBM (though I think Axl smiled when he saw me scream "WITH YOUR ASS IN THE AIR!"). Low points for me at the gig were Estranged and Nightrain; I love both songs but Axl wasn't great on them last night (though he was much better on the 2nd half of Estranged than normal, since he went for an oxygen break instead of dancing on the side of the stage like he usually does). The last really good Nightrain I saw was at Atlantic City in 2012, here's my video of that:

High points for me last night were Better, Jungle (mostly, he cocked up the lyrics on one small bit, I dunno how he messes up lyrics for Jungle after all these years :P ), Catcher, TIL, Don't Cry (really good clean voice on that, a little bit of rasp, almost no Mickey), and The Seeker (my first time seeing that live, Fortus is great on guitar on it).

If you haven't seen GNR at all, or at least not since 2010, I'd still recommend going. If you've seen them multiple times in 2012, then maybe not. The crowds seem to eat it up wherever I go, the only major complaint my dad and my friend had was DJ wearing the top hat. My sister said she saw a guy watching Slash videos on YouTube during Mi Amor :P I mean, that's some pretty hardcore trolling there, but joke's on him for dropping the coin to see a band he doesn't want to.

I wouldn't say Axl's given up, he seemed to be having a great time and he still brought out some major energy to some songs. I just really want new music, from the CD sessions and from this band. I'm almost inclined to say that I think Axl's strategy of relentlessly touring is paying off since I know people who have listened to CD because of going to gigs and really liked it, and it's getting him more and more publicity.

Edited by Amir
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He's not mickey. That's a totally different voice actualy. He is not singing in a kinda falsetto, but in a lower tone, with a much better breathing, alternating with the raspy voice sometimes. When he is mickey, like the Bridge School and RIR 4, his voice is totally different.

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