kanecrescente

Voted for Shacklers, purely for the intrigue alone.

Riad would be cool, could work with Axl's voice... I.R.S is the most GNR sounding but it's abit simple and Axl isn't making that note.

2 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

Finally can settle down and write out my thoughts on the show properly. 

Spent the holiday weekend up in Canada with my girlfriend, and I managed to convince her we should go see GN'R while we were in Toronto. She knows some of the songs casually, but wouldn't go so far as saying she's a fan so I was happy she was willing to fit that into our schedule. I wanted to see them again this year after seeing one atrocious show in 2021, and one much better, but fairly tame show. The setlists have been quite good - a number of songs I'd never seen live most grabbed my attention, but also Axl sounding better (Or at least more confident) from the bits and pieces I've heard. Add on the fact that they released Perhaps, and I was really itching to catch a gig again. 

I'm not a fan of Rogers one bit - it's congested, the facilities aren't that great, and the sound is atrocious. Last night was no exception on any of those fronts, but the band more than made up for it. The sound was seriously bad where we sat (In the lower level on Slash's side, straight in line with the side PA's maybe 40 feet away?) - there were times I couldn't hear anything at all except Duff and Axl, and I barely heard Richard all night unless he was playing a solo. But I knew what I was getting myself into at Rogers, and I can't specifically complain about that - it's just the nature of large, cavernous indoor stadiums. 

The setlist surpassed my expectations, even with a rough idea of what I'd get. None of the songs reintroduced to the set this year got dropped, first time seeing Hard Skool and Perhaps live, and on top of that we got Maddy, TWAT, and Coma all in the same set - what more could I ask for? Out of 30 songs, eight were new ones to me, and two more I haven't seen in the NITL era yet. Standout songs for me last night - Bad Obsession, Hard Skool (Just the idea that I'm seeing them play Checkmate live after all these years still blows my mind), Pretty Tied Up, Down On The Farm, Civil War, There Was A Time. It was pretty wild to see Reckless Life and Anything Goes from a sheer wow-factor point of view (Never expected either of those), but I'm also fine if I never see either again. 

In terms of performance and effort from the band, there's not much I can critique. Does Axl sound absolutely perfect? No, of course not. Some songs sound better than others, but it's so clear he's at least putting in the effort and I feel like that's all you can really ask. TWAT for example was pretty rough through the verses, but he was going for it on the outro and that's fantastic to see. Slash was probably the best I've seen him since the reunion. I've been quite vocally critical of my thoughts on his takes on the CD songs especially, but fair play to him TWAT was absolutely sublime. He maintained the contours of the solos, some of the key licks, but also put his own spin on them - that's all I've wanted of him playing CD songs. The rest of his playing was top notch also, but his takes on the CD songs stood out to me more than anything. The rest of the band was in fine form as always, not a whole lot of comments to make. 

The other big thing that stands out to me is just how lean this show felt. Yeah it was 3 hours 10 minutes, but it didn't feel bloated one bit - no endless solo spots, no rehearsed jam sessions, the only random cover was Wichita (Which I personally love), and not even much talking from Axl. KOHD even felt a lot better than normal, and RQ was the only moment in the show that felt like it dragged on for me. Other than the rapid-fire hour and 40 minute set I saw at Governors Ball in 2013, this was the most concise and tight show I've ever seen from GN'R. This was a well oiled machine like I'm just not used to seeing from them. 

All of that considered, the real highlight of the day for me was meeting up with @James Bond - it's been years since we've seen each other. Thoroughly enjoyed meeting up to hit some breweries, spend the afternoon together, and go to the gig together. It's always great to have good company for a gig and it really added to the atmosphere of what was already a fantastic evening. It was certainly one of my most enjoyable GN'R shows, probably my favorite all around since the UCAP show at The Ritz. 

Great review, glad you feel the same as I do regarding this show! I was also on Slash's side, maybe the issues were specific to there

28 minutes ago, FuriousStyles said:

The sound was uneven for sure, and dare I say, quiet at some times.

My thoughts exactly, the Pretenders seemed far louder most of the time. Still doesn't take away from it being probably my favourite of now 10 shows.

5 minutes ago, PaoloLA said:

Great show!! I was really impressed on how great the sound was. 
 

That was my biggest issue, if any... the levels were off alot of the time and certain aspects could've been louder for sure.

3 minutes ago, Drakestar said:

Just one other thing, I could have watched Susan dancing all night!

Ba-doing! Ba-doing!

53 minutes ago, James Bond said:

Even on the classics I felt that was the least Slash has "noodled" his way through the solos. He was on tonight.

That's what impressed me the most tonight too, he aced the ones that he'd usually autopilot through. That paired with an awesome and somehow unpredictable setlist made it special for sure.

Slash's tone and execution of the main solos were unbelievable too

2 minutes ago, Amir said:

Happy that @kanecrescente got some TWAT 🙂🤘🏽

My man!!😂 Great night so far! Can it be topped off with Locomotive?👀

38 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

Inside or outside? Were there many left?

Between gate 10 & 11 about 2 and a half hours ago they were half sold 

Went and got myself my first litho... would be rude not to in my second home!

1 hour ago, Drakestar said:

I think it might be a southpark thing?

Correctomundo!

https://youtu.be/kwSYPZ159Vg?si=jyn8slxAZRxgcHwm - for reference 😉

16 minutes ago, Drakestar said:

Maybe a Jimmy Buffet song?

 

AIDS Burger In Paradise pls

1 hour ago, Coma16 said:

Last night's show was arguably the shorter show. Fingers crossed 🤞 

I'm hoping it's an extra special show, considering they didn't play here  on the 2021 set of shows after the 2020 show was cancelled 

I need me some 'extra special'... though I've almost given up on getting Locomotive at this point

48 minutes ago, DSTK said:

A GNR shorter set will still be longer than anyone else's standard set of like 20 or so songs 

Not the point. Let's hope that's not the case.

Right on time for a sub-par performance and shortened set... let's hope that's not the case

On 8/29/2023 at 3:02 PM, Voodoochild said:

Here's the original post and the reply:

That woman bought a gnr ticket off me a couple months back😂

How's Rick  Dunsford managed to get in😂😂

4 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I suppose not? And why would something like that would be said?

I mean she does abit doesn't she?😂

3 minutes ago, VeeR said:

(x2) of Perhaps... Interesting. Knowing our luck they still won't play it tonight.

The same happened in Scotland back in June and here we are...😂

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

There have been racist connotations in some of the criticism by a portion of the fanbase (not so much on this forum, at least not currently).

For example, there is a popular gif/meme depicting Beta as a stereotypical immigrant maid from Latin America, but I think that most of the people who find it funny don't even realize the connotations.

You can't surely say Beta looking like Consuela from Family Guy is racist... would the same be said if she got compared to Elton John instead? They're just shite management

29 minutes ago, Rovim said:

just one show, in Israel.

Not me, seems we all just have back issues these days 😂

4 minutes ago, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

No joke here, Melissa Reese "liked" a Facebook comment I made on the GN'R page about tonight's show.

My comment?

"When's 'Perhaps' coming?"

While not a reply one way or the other, I found her "like" to be encouraging. Maybe they will roll it out tonight, but if not, it sounds like it's on the way. And yes, it looks very much like Melissa Reese's official page when I clicked on it.

Not to be a killjoy, but I believe somebody in the past has alluded to her having a person that likes most of her comments for her regardless of the content. 

5 hours ago, Rovim said:

it's a long show though.  Twice as long compared to other bands. At the show I've attended this year, there were 20 year old people sitting on the ground after a while in the front cause with the opening band and the time it took for Gn'R to go on stage the whole thing was 5 hours long. That's a lot of time to stand. I didn't sit for the duration of the show, but it was challenging tbh so not for just 93 year olds. 

 

That could've genuinely been me you're referring to😂  which shows have you been to this year so far?