themadcaplaughs

4 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

Just read the article.. Pretty cool and might check out his album.. Kenny Arronoff is an amazing drummer. 

Kenny played with Smashing Pumpkins when I saw them in 1998. I do not now if he was the best fit for that band, but no one could deny he was a killer drummer. 

For what it's worth, I had a chance to speak with an old Geffen A&R guy in 2015 who worked on Guns N' Roses (Jim Barber). He specifically said none of the new (at the time) members were involved with the live album, but I cannot deny it sounds a LOT like Robin Finck. 

I suspect this is this most anyone has talked about Ole Beich: like ever...

13 hours ago, RONIN said:

Yes, new songs will be debuted at Rock in Rio.

This will be the teaser for a giant retrospective box set releasing in Christmas which will feature AFD Remastered w/rarities from the AFD sessions, UYI: the original "naked" mixes w/ rarities (1/2 the album will feature the original drumming of Steven Adler), the 1996 "Lost Album" sessions w/ Izzy and Zakk Wylde, and Chinese Democracy era unreleased songs + the original "2000 Intentions" version of Chinese Democracy produced by Sean Beaven and a remixed Chinese Democracy featuring Duff and Slash. For nightrain members only, they will be bundling the box set with retrospective documentaries of the Appetite tour, UYI Tour (w/ backstage access to their legendary theme parties featuring vintage interviews w/ Mike Patton, James Hetfield, and Chris Cornell at the parties), the 2000-2002 shows and a pro-shot compilation 4k blu rays of the 1989 Rolling Stone/GnR shows, the 1991 UYI warm up shows, and the 2000 HOB show + warm-up shows at The Joint in 2001.

A bonus retrospective documentary blu ray of the "Wilderness Era" (1994-2005) will also be included in the box set. The "Lost Album" era and Chinese Democracy sessions are the focus of this documentary. It will be produced and directed by Werner Herzog in collaboration with HBO and narrated by Axl, Slash and Duff. The documentary will feature new interviews with the great Paul Tobias, Trent Reznor, Buckethead w/ hand puppet Herbie, Brian May, Izzy Stradlin', Matt Sorum, Josh Freese, Moby, and many others. These will be spliced with commentary and interviews from former producers and Interscope executives who worked on the Chinese Democracy project. Nothing will be held back. All the secrets of the last 25 years will be revealed....at last.

• You will get behind the scenes footage of those final Fall 1996 sessions w/ Slash, Duff and Matt rehearsing at 3AM with Axl while Del James and Paul Tobias sit in and observe.
• You will see Zakk Wylde and Robin Finck jamming with Duff, Slash, and Matt. Plus the "lost" 1995 Izzy sessions w/ Duff.
• The infamous last jam session with Matt Sorum, Axl and Paul Tobias where Matt yells "Fuck you Yoko" at Paul in the parking lot.
• Behind the scenes footage of Axl taking Slash to dinner and trying to convince him to sign on as an employee of the new Guns n' Roses in the fall of 1995. We will also hear the final phone call between Axl and Slash in 1996 and Axl's secret recording of the final dinner Axl and Duff have in 1997 where Duff quits the band. 
• You will see long hidden "media" footage of Axl running over albums sent by Interscope with his silver Ferrari and Buckethead terrorizing record execs with a butcher knife.
• The infamous late 90's Halloween Party at Axl's house where he's mistaken for Barney by a kid. The uncomfortable footage of Duff, Matt, and Paul Tobias drinking beers and trying to interact at the 1996 Halloween party (the day after Slash quit) will also be included.
• The crucial 1995 seance with Yoda/Sharon Maynard where she reveals to Axl that Slash and Izzy have bad psychic energies and may have been taken over by evil spirits trying to destroy Axl. Beta is seen in these sessions comforting Axl. Slash is rumored to be present at the seance, having flown out to Arizona in an emergency effort to save the band.
• Late 90's footage of Josh Freese and Billy Howerdell jamming and putting together A Perfect Circle out of boredom waiting for Axl to show up.
• The "lost" Brian May sessions with Sean Beaven.
• Buckethead's recording for Chinese Democracy w/ a dog shit smelling chicken coop and hardcore porn being played in the background as the man creates his genius compositions while Roy Thomas Baker stares in horror.

If that wasn't enough, a double album tentatively named "The Perils of Rock n' Roll Decadence" is being worked on now for a summer 2018 release and a three year "farewell" world tour to support. The 1996 "lost album" and original Velvet Revolver sessions featuring Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt will be reworked with Axl (and Josh Freese)  as the first album. It will be a hard rock album in the vein of AFD and UYI 1. The second album will be more progressive and experimental like UYI 2 and feature four original tracks from the reunited lineup (including Izzy and Josh Freese) + Chinese Democracy II big guns (reworked by Slash, Duff, and Izzy featuring Buckethead, Josh Freese and Brain): Thyme, Soul Monster, The General, Oklahoma, Atlas Shrugged, Oh My God Remixed (industrial elements stripped out) and a new final trilogy of odes to lost love w/ Stephanie Seymour written by Axl and Izzy Stradlin'. There will be some high profile guest collaborations on the 2nd album including Daft Punk, Maynard James Keenan, Dave Navarro and Josh Homme. Richard Fortus, Melissa, and Frank will not be featured on the album nor will they be joining the tour.

Both albums will attempt to leverage vintage Axl vocals from the 90's and 2004-2010 as much as possible - anywhere from 30-50% of the album will be culled from these vintage vocals.  There will also be a controversial hidden track to stir up some bad PR and keep in tradition with previous album releases by GnR. An instrumental only double album will be downloadable on gunsnroses.com for everyone who bought the album. Mike Clink will be producing the double album along with David Bottrill (Tool) and James Ford (Arctic Monkeys). The instrumental mixes will be produced by Trent Reznor, Empire of the Sun and James Newton Howard (Collateral).

The three year stadium world tour will be a celebration of the legacy of GnR and a final farewell to fans. Songs will be debuted at the Superbowl, billboard and mtv awards. All members of the band will be doing press prior to and during the tour. Some of the opening bands for the world tour will be Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, The Smashing Pumpkins (reunited), Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails. There will be a collection of co-headlining shows with U2 and Metallica planned to kick off year two of the tour. Steven Adler will be joining the tour to play all of AFD, Lies, and UYI material with Matt Sorum filling in as needed and playing the maracas and helping Dizzy with the bongos. Josh Freese and Brain will also be joining the tour to share drumming duties on Chinese Democracy and new material with guest appearances from Buckethead, Dave Navarro, Bono, and James Hetfield. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the band will be throwing mega theme parties all over the world after each show. Fans with VIP passes to the shows can hang out backstage with the band and attend these theme parties. There will be a rockumentary produced of this tour by Oliver Stone and HBO which will be released on gunsnroses.com to celebrate their final show. Live Blu Rays of these shows will be released + bonus songs jammed on tour with Izzy and Buckethead will be included on a three album greatest hits collection for the holiday season after the final show of the tour. 

It's a great time to be a GnR fan!

I think I got aroused. 

DJ is a tough one to examine. As a person, I actually find him to be a likable dude. Regardless of all his posturing, he clearly enjoyed playing in the band, went out of his way to be nice to fans, and certainly did seem to give Axl some energy. As someone pointed out, during the 2009/2010 shows I actually did not find much issue with him. Yeah, the top hat seemed a little cheesy, but he wore that before joining Guns N' Roses. He wore "plain" clothes at that time, and while he was certainly not perfect playing all the parts, he seemed to have a much more "Slash" vibe and I could not deny he had to learn a LOT of songs in a relatively short amount of time. Robin and Bumblefoot certainly weren't perfect when they joined the bands.

Unfortunately, instead of getting incrementally better over time, he seemed to get worse and worse. He clearly became much more interested in posturing and playing the rock star part than actually playing the songs well. He almost seemed to become a "Guitar Hero" like caricature of a guitarist more than an actual musician. 

As a musician, I cannot deny that he's clearly a talented songwriter, and I would even say a "very good" (B+ maybe) guitarist. The problem remains, much like it did with Paul Tobias, that simply being "good enough" can't do it in a band like Guns N' Roses. Robin did not play Slash's solos perfectly, but he could throw some of them out of the park ("Sweet Child O' Mine), make interesting interpretation of others ("Patience), and his solos on songs from Chinese Democracy were killer (I rank his solos on "This I Love" and "Better" up with Slash's). Bumblefoot may not have been the most perfect "image" for the band, but his ability to play the most difficult parts flawlessly made him stand out. DJ sort of became the worst of both worlds. His stage presence seemed rehearsed and not authentic, and his playing became worse and worse as he stayed in the band. The fact that DJ was surrounded by two guitarists light years beyond his skill level (and that one of them got relegated to rhythm guitar) only made the situation more laughable. 

21 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Seems accurate, but Axl called Slash in October 2014 (99% sure) and Slash was on tour at the time and then when he was back they met for dinner at Axls house (2015, not sure which month)

Obviously memories remains fallible, so we'll probably never get an exact timeline of what went down. I am fairly certain, however, that Slash and Axl did not talk personally until mid-2015. I think it's possible DJ knew the two began talking, but I have to imagine Bumblefoot left long before anything solidified. 

According to MSL (I know. He sucks but he seems to get details right), things had thawed between "Team Axl" and "Team Slash" by the time of the last Las Vegas residency because of how smoothly things went with Appetite for Democracy licensing. I would guess Axl and Slash had not talked yet, but Slash began campaigning about a possible return to the band; particularly given the fact that Duff played a good bit with the band that year, and Duff mentioned in interviews that he and Axl talked possible reunion plans. 

Apparently management simply told the 2014 band members that the band would be placed on hiatus post-Vegas, that Axl considered all of their obligations fulfilled, and they should feel free to pursue any other work that came their way. Obviously, Axl changed his mind fairly quickly as he seemed to be beginning the process of releasing new stuff as 2014 drew to a close, but I would imagine being told to move on gave DJ, Frank, Richard, and Ron the impression that Slash and Duff rejoining permanently was being considered. 

4 hours ago, jamillos said:

So he knew the reunion would happen already in 2014...

From what I've gathered reading about the years, I've gotten the impressions the timeline went something like this...

-Early-mid 2014: The Appetite for Democracy DVD/Blu-Ray got held up because of royalty disputes with Slash (songwriters have to sign off on videos. No compulsory rate exists like with recorded songs). Axl (or more likely Team Brazil) reached out to Slash around this time. They reached a deal with Slash and were, apparently, happy with how easy negotiations went. I assume this began the "thaw." Although there were, obviously, no "reunion" plans on the table, I'm sure the members of Guns N' Roses in 2014 started to see the writing on the wall. 

-Late 2014/Early 2015: Rumblings start coming from GN'R Truth that "hell froze over" during the winter, and Axl and Slash reopened communication. I do not know if this means Axl and Slash began talking personally, but at least that their respective camps began opening lines of communication. In that interview from last year, I remember Axl saying he told Fernando to get Slash's number around May or June, but I could be remembering that wrong. 

From what we've been told though (from people on here), it seemed like Axl planned on moving ahead with taking stock of what unreleased music was available, and trying to get a product out by Summer 2016. This makes sense. During this general time, we saw Chris Pittman tweets that he was in the studio with Axl and hanging out at Axl's house. That rumor came about that the band considered Orianthi as a replacement for Bumblefoot, and that DJ Ashba gave Axl recommendations for possible guitarists to replace Bumblefoot. 

-July 2015: DJ Ashba officially quits the band. In later interviews, he suggests that he quit specifically to make room for the reunion, but I have always been of the opinion he probably over-exerted himself with Sixx A.M. and did not actually expect plans with GN'R to start moving as quickly as they did. 

-August 2015: We see that interview with Slash where he confirms he started talking to Axl again. This is when the speculation about Slash and Duff rejoining the band really began. 

So, my personal guess would be DJ and Ron saw the likelihood of Slash coming back as soon as things started becoming congenial between them. They knew where things were headed, and had other projects they were more interested in pursuing (Sixx A.M. for DJ and solo stuff and Art of Anarchy for Ron). Of course, this leaves us with the various interviews where DJ claims Axl told him Slash was coming back and DJ could stay in the band if he wanted. Maybe around early/mid 2015 Axl was already starting to plan reuniting with Slash, and told DJ things. I sincerely doubt Slash would have gone with a three guitarist lineup, so my guess would be what Bumblefoot speculated on Eddie Trunk's show: DJ would play on post-Slash stuff and covers while Slash would play all his songs from Appetite For Destruction, Lies, and the Use Your Illusion albums. 

It was. In the after show interview with Loder, Axl mentioned that a full North American tour had been planned, and I think they announced it the next week (if not the next day). After the tour ended prematurely and Axl went into hiding, the label knew nothing was coming, but throughout 2002 they really did think it was in the can. Apparently, it was the most enthused Axl ever felt about the album, and it really was all but done.

This was resolved on the live album: "Rocket Queen." 

"You can dance to this shit." 

Wow, I completely forgot about that aspect of the stunt. It really did appear out of left field and seemed like a hoax at first. To quote former President Bush, "well that was some weird shit." 

First off, I hardly think Axl can be accused of "phoning it in. He seems a lot more passionate about performing than a lot of other musicians in "legacy acts." One of my best friends saw U2 and said once the thrill of seeing the band perform Joshua Tree wore off, it really became clear how stilted the band felt. I never felt that way when I saw Guns N' Roses in 2016. 

Prior to the 2016 show, the last GN'R show I attended was Atlanta in 2011; a show I would give a solid B+ or A- (the point being it was a great show), and the 2016 show absolutely blew it out of the water. Seeing the band play "Coma" and "Double Talkin' Jive" made the price of admission alone/ 

I just felt this needed to be shared with the community. 

http://www.metalinjection.net/metal-merch/former-guns-n-roses-guitarist-dj-ashbas-blockbuster-new-product-water1

I always dug Robin and Tommy. 

Axl sees boobies in 2006. 

On 4/10/2017 at 10:39 PM, Mendez said:

Well we don't really know that. (Unless you know something we don't)

If you look back at my post history, I've posted a lot about GN'R and Buckethead. I've never met the Bucket himself, but I have been a fan of his since 1992 and know a lot of people who have been a part of his "crew" for years, so I've heard my fair share of stories I'd be willing to believe. When Buckethead started playing with GN'R, it was one of those "worlds colliding moments" for me. 

Like every member who has been in Guns N' Roses from 1998 on, Buckethead got carte blanch to record whatever he wanted and show it to Axl and other band members to possible incorporate into new songs. That being said, by the time Buckethead joined the band, the "foundation" of Chinese Democracy had been recorded. So while "Sorry" and "Shackler's Revenge" made their way onto the album, the majority of Buckethead's contributions to Chinese Democracy were recording solos and leads to existing songs (which he did an A+ job of doing) or contributing ideas to existing songs. There may very well be a handful of alternate takes of guitar solos recorded by Buckethead that got cut (we've seen that from "Riad") but I would assume that the vast majority, if not all, the riffs of Buckethead's that we have not heard were meant for future albums and songs. In terms of Bucket's work on Chinese songs, we've heard most of it. Apparently, some of the other band members got mad that Buckethead ended up on so much of the album when he had so little to do with writing and forming the songs. 

As for Axl keeping the riffs and songs Buckethead may have contributed, it's unfortunate we may never hear them, but these types of deals are not uncommon with big name bands, particularly when their members are hired as employees like later day GN'R members. I used to hold out hope that we'd still hear a lot of this stuff, with Ron and DJ's parts added, on a new album, but I sincerely believe we'll never hear any of this stuff. I would be surprised if we ever get a brand new Guns N' Roses album. 

10 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Has anyone heard the TWAT leak (no pun intended) where they get rid of that ridiculous opening and closing choir sound from the album version? Exact same song just minus the choir part - so much better.

It's random flourishes like that which were completely unnecessary that makes the case that the more time went on, the more Axl was throwing in anything and everything into the songs to make them sound more epic. It really strengthens the argument some people here make about the album probably being stronger in '99 or '01 rather than the end product we got.

Had they kept the '01 date, we would have had more Buckethead contributions most likely. There was a forum member here back in the day who had connections to the Bucket camp -- he always mentioned how so many of the riffs Bucket gave to Axl ended up on the cutting room floor in the final product. He also mentioned how Bucket felt betrayed by Axl and does not acknowledge his time in the band even though he was a big fan of Axl and Gnr in the beginning. Part of the hard feelings also goes back to Axl being in control of these unused Buckethead riffs which will probably forever sit in the vault.

There may be unused Buckethead riffs and songs that were meant for later albums, but we got the vast majority of the stuff he recorded for Chinese Democracy. 

It was definitely cool seeing Duff back in the fold, but I would pin this leg of the tour as some of Axl's worst moments. What I remember more was that one dude who claimed he'd heard from band management that we were going to hear new material on the tour. 

I do not think it ended up being as much a "Bumblefoot vs. Buckethead" thing as the original poster makes it out. Outside of "Riad n' the Bedouins," which we do know Bumblefoot replaced, did he really replace anything else? I would not be surprised if Buckethead never got around to recording a proper solo for "Shackelr's Revenge." Bumblefoot's stuff really seemed to be more about adding to the sound. To Ron's credit, I love his solo on "Shackler's Revenge," and actually find that his fretless fill on the title track really fleshed out the song. As for the "Catcher in the Rye" solo, I agree with @Gordon Comstock that the Brain /may and Bumbelfoot solos in "Catcher in the Rye" are too different to compare. From the chats, it was clear Axl perceived that people were not "into" May's solo as much was he would have wanted, so it was going to be replaced no matter what. If it had to be replaced, I think Bumblefoot did a fine job. 

As for Robin, I'm biased as I love Robin in Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses, but I actually liked having him in the band alongside Buckethead. Obviously, the Buckethead and Robin guitar tones were very different than Izzy and Slash, but like Izzy and Slash, they had two very different styles going that somehow work in the context of the album. Buckethead (with the notable exception of his solo in "Sorry"), provides a very "inhuman" and "machine" aspect to the songs (in the best possible way) while Robin provides a very warm and melodic style. Robin is a very different guitar player than Slash, but his solos play the same role Slash's solos did in previous albums (if that makes sense). A perfect example: "Better." Buckethead plays those crazy leads which really propel the song forward and build energy, but Robin's final solo really gives some release. Regardless of one's opinion on how Chinese Democracy sounded "overproduced," it cannot be denied that Axl possesses a great ear for guitarists that play well off each other. (Although I suppose everyone makes mistakes, and Axl's would be DJ Ashba). 

Also, despite what someone else said, Buckethead did not play on every song. He does not appear on "Catcher in the Rye" or "This I Love." 

At this point, I accepted some time ago that we probably won't be getting any new music (either unheard music from previous lineups or music from this one), but I'm happy to see the band gelling and actually seeming passionate. It seems clear that, from this point out, Axl will be happy playing old stuff; might as well have a group of musicians that seems to be enjoying themselves. Axl seemed absolutely bored and uninspired in 2013/2014 (with the notable exceptions of shows from the second residency). 

On 3/23/2017 at 6:22 AM, Amir said:

He's a cool dude, liked his solos on Shackler's and Catcher (prefer his take to Brian's, as much as I love Brian May).

People give him shit for seeming like a drama queen but I think they underestimate just how much that car accident and the subsequent injuries and painkillers fucked him up. Good on him for making it through all that.

I agree 100% regarding the car accident. Ron's attitude about Guns N' Roses after the car accident really do show the typical signs of someone suffering mental and physical pain. I'm sure after an experience like that, he truly reexamined his priorities in life, and realized playing in GN'R wasn't one of them. 

I hold absolutely nothing but good will for Ron. I am not a huge fan of his solo work or Art of Anarchy, but I think he added some great things to Chinese Democracy, was a spot-on guitar player for the duration of the band, and pushed to have Axl add fan favorites like "Civil War" and "Estranged." Looking back on the final shows he played in Vegas, and the comments he made on here around that time, it seems like he truly stopped giving a shit and just pushed to play rarities like "There was a Time," "Prostitute," and "Yesterdays." The result: some of Axl's best performances of the decade (I'd argue better than some legs of the 2016/2017 tours). I wish him the best with whatever he does! 

It is what it is; the band trying, probably a little too hard, to "push the envelope." That riff when Axl sings, "but what would I do, with a bitch like you" part sounds cool, but that is about it. Really, it only piques my interest as a strange "look behind the curtain" as to other ideas that may have been circulating at that time. 

The only reason I made that guess about "Riad" was because, even at that time, it was such a rarity. As a matter of fact, I believe that show was the last time any lineup played the song. On the 2002 North American tour, the band seemed to stick, pretty exclusively, to "Chinese Democracy," "Madagascar," and "The Blues." Who knows though. We've seen Axl likes to randomly pull out songs every so often ("There was a Time," "Prostitute," and "Yesterdays"). 

18 hours ago, double talkin jive mfkr said:

this my friend is the holy grail of shows 

axl had secluded himself from the world for a good 7 years and created beyond mythical status for his persona 

to see this show would've been amazing for a GNR fan and for it start at 3:15am is unheard of/bad ass and awesome at the same time

It truly was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life. I essentially gave up having a car when I started college to see this show, and I still consider it one of the best decisions I ever made. Whenever a new tour starts after a few years/months off, we get the typical questions. "What will Axl look like?" "What will he sound like?" "Will he play new songs?" It had literally been over six years since Axl was at a public event (seven since he played with Guns N' Roses) and no one knew what the hell to think. Would we even recognize him when he took stage? Would the set be all new songs? Why were there two keyboard players (although I suppose that still remains a question today ). Who is this Paul Tobias guy Duff, Matt, and Slash hated so much? You can hear it in bootlegs, but they do not do justice to how immensely psyched the crowd was when Axl took stage. People next to me had literally been sleeping but when the beginning of "Welcome to the Jungle" started, the crowd went nuts. 

As memorable as it was, this truly was a time before video camera, or cameras in general, became widespread in crowds at concerts. Security was TIGHT about cameras, and I remember reading the handful of pictures we have from that show resulted in concertgoers being kicked out. As much as you swear you will never forget anything like that, time truly does play tricks on your mind. When a boot finally became widely available a while back, I was shocked at how much of the banter I'd forgotten. Also, I could have sworn, up and down, the band played "Madagascar" that night, but I discovered they did not break that one out until the Rock in Rio show. 

Russ, for what it's worth, "Riad" definitely received the weakest response out of all the new songs played that night. It still remains my least favorite GN'R song on that album. 

On 3/13/2017 at 6:59 AM, RussTCB said:

We drove through damn near blizzard conditions to get there. Had seats about 10 rows off the floor on Bucket's side of the stage. I can't remember which opener went on first but I think it was cky. Either way, cky got booed off the stage and somebody in the band was starting shit with the crowd as the house lights were coming up. I don't know all the details because I couldn't give two shits about cky, but I do remember those two things.

In between the last opener and GN'R, the sound guy played the entire Audioslave album at least twice through. The lights went down, Jungle hit and we were off and running. As with most GN'R shows of that era, you couldn't touch the electricity in the air during the first 5 songs or so. The band looked and played like they were there to prove something and so did Axl. 

Somewhere around the first guitar solo (which I want to say was Robin) is when things got weird. You (or at least I) could feel a shift in the air. The audience went from rocking and almost rooting for GN'R to just kind of being indifferent. Things were at their worst during Bucket's solo. You could tell the crowd was 50/50 split on him and it was causing an almost hostile environment. I actually saw two guys flat out yelling at each other during Bucket's solo. One guy was saying he was a genius, the other was saying he was a freak. This was my first live experience with the new line up, so I was just kind of taking it all in. 

They did 3 CD songs in a row (I think); CD, The Blues & Riad. I know they did Madagascar that night too, but I think it was later. Anyways; I'd barely heard any CD material up til then, so I was digging that they were playing stuff from the album. I really liked CD, LOVED The Blues and that Riad was an absolute hot mess. I actually remember leaning over to my buddy and saying "Swing and a miss, Axl" at the end of Riad. I think I mentioned this before, but the vibe in the room wasn't helped by the fact that Axl barely said a word all night. I'm not saying he needed to go off on rants, but anything at all would've helped. "Hey this is a new song", "Here's another new song".... anything like that would've gone a long way to keep the audience engaged I think. 

So the show kept going and eventually the Patience incident happened. When Axl tossed the mic before the solo, I actually put my coat on, got my keys and figured we were done lol. I was damn near in shock when he came back out to finish the song. I thought "No shit? Maybe he's gonna finish the show!" but NOPE haha. He just said "Thank you, goodnight", the band left the stage and the house lights came up. They'd played for around 90 minutes at that point, so it's not like we didn't get a full show for our money but it would've been cool to hear the next (probably) 2 songs in the set. 

The best way I can describe the "weird feeling" is to just have you watch Patience. I don't know if the mix was better on the other side of The Palace, where the video was shot from, but you couldn't hear anyone but Robin on my side of the stage. I can only guess that that's what pissed Axl off. The sound mix was good to great up til then so maybe he was having in ear problems the whole night or something. I really have no clue and it's always bugged me to be honest. I just wish I knew what exactly was wrong to get the show cut off.

Overall it was a good show and during those first 5 songs I remember thinking "Holy shit. He actually rebuilt Guns N' Roses. I can't believe he did it". I went in with an attitude of "This isn't GN'R, but I'll see Axl at least". I did have an open mind though and I'm glad I did. That show is the one and only reason I viewed that line up as "Guns N' Roses", because I saw GN'R myself with an open mind. It was the first time I'd seen them since '93 and it was the same vibe as the last time I'd seen them no matter who was on stage. On the way out, I bought what I now believe is the world ugliest tour shirt lol. I keep the shirt around only because it has dates on the back for an entire leg (2003) of the tour that never happened.

Sorry if this is all disjointed. I just thought I'd bust out some random thoughts on the show since you asked.  
 

That was awesome man. Thanks for your thoughts. The only time I saw this lineup (albeit with Paul instead of Richard) was 01/01/2001, so needless to say the audience vibe seemed overwhelmingly positive (even if people were a bit stunned or at a loss of what to think about Buckethead's solo spot). I always wondered what the vibe of a more "normal" show from the era felt like, and this felt like such a weird anomaly. Maybe, beyond the sound issues, Axl could tell the crowd was off. One of my friends who saw them in Columbus, Ohio said the energy stayed strong through the whole night. I've always figured busting out "Riad n' the Bedouins" was there attempt at getting the energy up or trying something new. Whatever happened, it must have been weird having the band end without "Paradise City." 

On a lighter note, everyone I know who attended one of the 2001/2002 shows mentions the sounds guys playing a whole album two or three times through before the show started. When I saw them, they played Pearl Jam's Ten at least four times; probably five or six. The rumor was that the band was supposed to start right after midnight (the beginning of 2001). They did not hit stage until 3:15 AM.