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neon2002

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    An Open Letter From Merck

    in 2006

    Posted

    I always thought that Merck was a little bit of a jerk but after reading this my opinion of him has changed. He seems like a real class act! It's to bad that he won't be there "officially" when Chinese Democracy is Finally released in March 2007.

    Congratulations on all your hard work finally coming to fruition in March Merk, Axl & GN'R.

    :)

    Review

    in 2006 Tour Dates

    Posted

    Apparently GN'R didn't even hit the stage until 12:30AM!!! WTF???

    Guns N' Roses / Helmet / Sebastian Bach / Suicide Girls Live Review - 12.01.06 - Hilton Coliseum - Ames, IA

    Posted by James Munson on 12.07.2006

    Axl & company return with a second arena tour preceding the long-awaited Chinese Democracy. The accompanying stage show is a visual feast and the eight-piece all-star line-up sounds tighter than ever. Unfortunately, the overblown seven-hour concert turned away many fans before the main act even appeared on stage.

    When it comes time for a band to heavily promote its newest album, which – in this case- is thirteen years in the making, it would probably be considered an ill-fated move for this band to charge exorbitant prices for concert tickets, force their fans to wait for hours in anticipation, and then mock them. Then again, when you’re talking about Guns N’ Roses, this kind of behavior isn’t so shocking. Tonight’s train-wreck of a concert at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, IA (start time: 8:00 PM, end time: 3:00 AM) affirmed what GN’R fans have known for years: Axl’s attitude hasn’t changed and neither has his contempt for punctuality.

    The Suicide Girls burlesque show began around 8:15 and featured lots of leather, fire-laced hula hoops, and nipples covered in electrical tape. The five Suicide Girls on this tour frolicked across the stage to the tunes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The White Stripes, and Prince. Even though their punk/goth-tinged performances could have been significantly more effective in a club setting, the irony of their art was lost on most of the two-thirds full arena (predominantly the thirty-something males commanding the ladies to, “Show your tits!”).

    Primary opening act Sebastian Bach served stormed the stage with his four-piece band to a standing ovation. Out of everyone who preceded GN’R, Bach commanded the most audience attention. This was somewhat unforeseen because his set of newer lukewarm metal throwaways and Skid Row covers were surely less than impressive. He gave numerous shout-outs to Iowa (“Iowa, I’ll remember you!”), bashed Simon Cowell and American Idol in a ridiculous manner (“Shouldn’t the real American Idol be chosen by Americans?” It is.), and called out to the troops “fighting over in Iraq for our right to rock tonight” before introducing “American Metalhead”. Donning a tight black leather jacket and pants combo (sans shirt), Bach came off like a former high school classmate who was never really all that funny to begin with and never shut his mouth. Unremarkably, his set outlasted every other opening act at an hour and ten minutes.

    Helmet’s first-night appearance agitated the already restless crowd. Taking the stage at 10:30 for a fifty-five minute performance book ended by “Unsung” and “In the Meantime” from their 1992 peak album Meantime, they were greeted with middle fingers. After several lineup changes, this version of Helmet (led by sole founding member Page Hamilton) mixed more recent sub par material, from Monochrome and Size Matters, with older tunes from post grunge-era albums Betty and Aftertaste. Titanic slabs of rock like “I Know” came off as sluggish and monotonous. Hamilton’s voice, once omnipotent and wavering, sounded stale and lifeless.

    Following Helmet, the Suicide Girls performed three more skits while the flustered, impatient crowd derided them. Before Guns N’ Roses took the stage at 12:30 AM., a sufficient number of people left the venue and others booed in unison flipped middle fingers to the stage. One concertgoer noted, “This better be one hell of a show for them to keep us waiting this long.” Amidst darkness and smoke, former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck appeared in the shadows strumming the opening notes (complete with pauses, for dramatic effect) to “Welcome to the Jungle”. When a piercing voice shrieked, “Do you know where the fuck you are?” a spotlight beamed down on Axl Rose, sporting a braided ponytail with a button-up black dress shirt and denim jeans. At the song’s opening climax, six massive explosions shot out from the drum riser to expose the juggernaut eight-piece band playing in flawless syncopation. Rose danced his trademark side-to-side sway and paraded across the stage and risers while stomping his foot; moves he perfected years ago with the original GN’R lineup.

    As a whole, the performance was an exercise in bloated excess and offered a complete larger-than-life rock show package. Too bad the audience wasn’t livelier, but this was solely due to the band’s late start. Although the first four songs (“Welcome to the Jungle”, “It’s So Easy”, “Mr. Brownstone”, and “Live and Let Die”) bedazzled the remaining spectators with explosions and pyrotechnics, many continued to hold up defiant middle fingers. Axl responded with a weak explanation, “We apologize for our tardiness, but in the words of the great David Lee Roth, ‘I don’t feel tardy!’” Individual solos before crowd-pleasers like “Sweet Child ‘O’ Mine” and “November Rain” also dragged on the performance. Furthermore, GN’R previewed four Chinese Democracy cuts like the rave-up rocker “Better” and new ballad “There Was a Time”. The new material wasn’t half-bad, but hardly the brilliance one expects from one of the longest-delayed albums since Zach De La Rocha’s yet-to-be-released solo debut.

    Midway through, Rose asked the audience if they were awake because they weren’t close to being finished. This prompted most of the crowd on the floor to leave and the lower level seats also emptied significantly. Sebastian Bach made a brief cameo onstage with GN’R for “My Michelle” and, shortly thereafter, they closed with the one-two punch of “Patience” and “Nightrain”. GN’R concluded with “Paradise City” around 3:00 AM and, by this time, a third of the main attendees remained to witness streams of confetti and smoke filter through Hilton. Ultimately, Axl and his band may feel shameless about forcing their fans wait for them, but those same fans might not feel the need wait around much longer for Chinese Democracy.

    The 411: This could have easily been called the "Tour of the Has-beens". With the exception of Helmet's disappointing metal-by-numbers set, each act satiated the appetites of those who paid to see a rock show. However, the only point proven by tonight's headliners and Sebastian Bach is that people will willingly shell out $75 to experience a piece of nostalgia, no matter how bland or turgid it is.

    Final Score: 5.0 [ Not So Good ] legend

    http://www.411mania.com/music/concerts/483...---Ames,-IA.htm

    Axl can't emotionally handle burying the old GNR, isn't that the issue?

    in 2006

    Posted

    I think we can stop speculating if 2006 is the year and start discussing why Chinese D will never be released. While the Axl lites continue to count the Tuesdays left in 2006, can the rest of us at least find some closure to this pain by speaking, not with frustration anymore, but with empathy for Axl?

    Axl wanted to make a solo album, but the moment he decided to think that he alone was Guns N Roses was when it all went wrong. I think deep down inside he knows that this ersatz Guns N Roses is not really GNR, and while you can slap a name on merchandise and sing the same songs, the sum of GNR is not greater than its parts. And deep down inside, Axl probably still loves the original band...for how could he not, they delivered him from poverty to god-like status. It wasn't all him, we've heard Axl's material prior to GNR, it was shit.

    So releasing Chinese D, calling it the new album from Guns N Roses, is sort of like the final nail in the coffin for the old band...and it's a move Axl himself can not do...nor does he intend to do it...you can tell by his body language when Kurt Loder asked him about the release date this year, Axl shrugged back, he cowered at the question...not the body language you would expect from someone excited to put the past behind him and drop the ultimate GNR record.

    Also, Axl's new role as ultimate leader of GNR is too much for him to handle...there's nothing for him to gain, only everything for him to lose. So he helps the careers of the hired new gunners, but what do they do for him? Nothing except lower his status for people blame Axl for losing Slash, for calling this new band GNR, for taking so long to produce so little.

    Everytime Axl must say to himself Chinese D is done, he probably catches in the corner of his eye the album cover for Appetite for Destruction and that image cripples his confidence. Sure Chinese D may have 13 wonderful songs on it, but will it do what Appetite did? Will it capture the energy and grab people by the throat and say, "you know where the fuck you are?" Most likely no...

    A 44 year old man is chasing shadows, spoiled by unimaginable success at an early age, Axl Rose is trying to recreate Guns N Roses...the transformation of the band is only complete when the new album drops; this new band has been together longer than the original GNR and can't even release a single: doesn't that speak volumes to all of you! It does to me. I feel bad for Axl, but please William Bailey, just call up your old friends, release Chinese D as a solo album, the reunite as GNR...that wouldn't be so hard...

    The sad thing is that judging by what we've heard so far I think that CD could be an amazing album. But the longer he waits to release it...

    If u judge CD based on the leaks..

    in 2006

    Posted

    Let´s say that those leaks we´ve heard represent the standard of CD, would it fulfill your expectations? Would you explain Axls work as an success or an flop?

    It would be Great! I love Better, T.W.A.T., The Blues, Madagascar & Catcher In The Rye!!!

    I.R.S. & Chinese Democracy are okay.

    The rest (Silkworms, Rhiad...) are pretty bad.

    Were you satisfied with 2006?

    in 2006

    Posted

    Yes, we're a little disappointed that 2006 is coming to a close in a month's time and Chinese Democracy isn't in our hands. I still have faith, albeit very little. But let's take a step back for a sec and reflect on this past year. First, we had pictures of Axl appearing in public. Then the Rolling Stone interview. More public appearances. The announcement of a European tour. Four songs leaked. The surprise Eddie Trunk radio interview (man, the excitement on this board when that happened, I don't think that will be duplicated until the release of the album). Hammerstein shows. Another radio interview, KROQ. European tour goes through as planned. North American tour. Sebastian Bach confirming to Rolling Stone he's heard the album, and revealing another track title. We didn't have any of this shit at this time last year, in fact, I'd be willing to bet a good number of you would have stopped visiting this forum by now had Axl decided to stay in his state of reclusiveness for another year. So, what do you think? If CD fails to surface in the next month, will you still think 2006 was a good year for Guns N' Roses or will you feel let down?

    If CD is out this year as promised then yes I'm satisfied. If not then no I'm not.

    http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=83734

    :question:

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