jesse bee

jesse bee's review...

Just to give you some background...I have been a big fan since the early 90s and I have followed the forum since early 2000. I saw gnr in TO in 2002 and loved it, even thought I recognized that it wasn't as good as it should have been.

I brought my wife, my best friend, my kid sister, one of my wife's best friends and...strangely enough, one of my high school students. I am a teacher and I got one of my students hooked on gnr so he came to the concert with us. Sounds kind of weird and/or creepy but he fit right in. I am the biggest gnr fan of the bunch, but my kid sister and my student were pretty psyched. By which I mean we were mental. My wife said she would kill me herself if I asked her even once more "Do you know where you are?".

The suicide girls were LAME. I like naked girls as much as any normal man, but they made me wonder if maybe I turned gay. I have never been so unturned on by nakedness in my life. They had no talent (except the hoola hoop girl), they couldn't dance any better than me, and they woudn't know sexy if it hit them in the face. It isn't that they were trashy, I like trashy. They were just no good.

Sebastian Bach was amazing. Some of his songs were absolutely garbage. Eighties horrid thrash shite, but that man (born in peterborough, like me!) is a true showman. Seems like a nice guy too. Obviously 18 and life and youth gone wild were big hits and everyone was jumping and singing. Not many opening acts could match that. The trailer park boys came out midway through his set and, very surprisingly, almost stole the show. Bubbles played some nice guitar for Rush's Closer to the heart and also some other song that I couldn't understand but got the crowd going freaking wild. They cheered more for the TPB than I could have thought possible, almost as much as for GNR.

So, the main event.

Gnr onstage at midnight. WTF. Hey I didn't need to go to work the next day.

wttj

Easy

Brownstone

Live and let die

Finck solo

SCOM

YCBM

KOHD

Better

Piano jam

Blues

Band intro

singing happy birthday for 4tus

4tus solo

Out to get me

Piano noodling

November rain

BBF solo (oh canada and don't cry)

My michelle (with baz)

Used to love her

Patience

Nightrain

Encore (intro by TPB)

IRS

Madagascar

Paradise city

Over at 2:15

So, you know what? The show was awesome. I loved it. Standouts were YCBM, KOHD, NR, Used to love her, Patience and the entire encore (especially madagascar).

The crowd was into it, although lets me honest there was some serious momentum loss at times and near the end there were lots of sleepy people, but that isn't gnr's fault. It is hard to maintain excitement for 7 hours.

Axl was in a good mood although he didn't say much. Intro the new songs!!! Please!

The band was tight as fuck. No one who saw the concert could think otherwise.

Honestly? I hate to say it. The one thing that makes gnr so amazing was also the one thing that brought them down a bit last night: Axl's voice. Last night it was not so good. I want to lie. I wanted so badly for him to kick my ass but his voice is pretty tired. Obviously he has been touring heavily and he has sounded better at previous shows that I have seen online etc...but... By Better his voice was so thin and weak that he could only sing loudly and clearly at the times when it was really necessary. He also sang well during the slower songs. The crowd sang so much it was almost irrelevant about his voice. But really, axl should be able to be heard above a crowd, right?

Axl did give it everything he had and as my best friend said, he made sure that he pulled his voice out when he needed it. For songs like NR and Used to love her and patience and the whole encore he sounded pretty good again. But no where near his 90s self.

Still, not to be a downer, it was great and although the middle to last half lagged at times, the encore brought us back to our feet.

Maybe the best part of the night was me realizing that irs and madagascar were future classics. Better will rock in the studio and so will the blues (but live they were a bit weak). I was looking forward to new songs almost more than the old ones. The audience seemed to like them also. Even after hearing the new songs so many times they still sounded fresh. Chinese Democracy is going to live up to the hype.

Pluses: gnr! GNR! GNFNR! some songs that lived up to all the hype. irs, madagascar!!! Pyro! Knowinng that the new album (whenever it arrives) will be SENSATIONAL. I have no doubts at all. Axl (he may be untalkative and misleading and can't sing like he used to, but he still rocks hard.)

Minuses: Knowing that axl's voice is kind of toasted and that it probably won't get better. The solos (I know its been said before...) and the corresponding loss of momentum.

Wow, that was long and rambling, sorry! I guess I didn't get enough sleep, my 16 month old woke us up at 6:30. Aargh!

Bottom line, if you have a chance, go see them.

They are good photos and we all enjoyed them!

I understand your frustration because you posted something and you want people to appreciate it, but please, don't whine and threaten and use the f-word like you are someone we should care about especially much.

Idiot Wind (I love that name being a Dylan fan btw) you were spot on and sported a nice mix of humour and venom!

jesse bee

You know, I don't post a lot because everything I want to say has already been said by someone else better than I could have said it.

However, once in a while I read something that makes me angry and then I have to say something.

graemewark, you are an ass. Say what you want about the new band (you obviously are taking it pretty seriously) but there is no need nor any validation for cutting up Mr. Miser who was sharing an opinion that I personally found to be refreshing.

It is irrelevant whether Mr. Miser is correct, his comparison was a good one and I am sure it has at least some truth in it. Why should Axl rush, so wankers like you can complain that it isn't appetite for destruction?

For people like graemwark GNR is dead and I feel sorry for them. The rest of us are busy enjoying what we have now and you know what? I don't want another appetite for destruction. I want something new.

Mr. Miser, thank you for sharing your opinion!

jesse bee

Great review!

Glad to hear you thought the show was great and also glad to hear that all the fans were into it. Nothing bugs me more than people who go to a concert just to complain!

Thanks for the review, all the north american fans are drooling right now, waiting for our chance, and we need those reviews to tide us over!

I am only slightly less newbie than you, so welcome to the forum!

jesse bee