Slashmatt98

Last night was amazing! I thought axl sounded pretty strong last night. A few voice cracks here and there but his voice was strong last night! Axl and his mic stand absolutely crack me up if you watch him during the show. Durin YCMB, he was swinging the thing like a gigantic sword and just doing all sorts of funny things with it. Axl was in a great mood all night and so was the entire band. These guys are clearly having a blast on stage together and enjoy putting on a 3 hour 30 minute show!

There were some more funny moments like when frank fucked up the beginning to YCBM and Axl made fun of him. Someone already mentioned the train horn not working which was funny as well. During KOHD, during Richards solo, Axl was swinging his mic like a baseball bat, a golf club, and doing all sorts of funny shit when Richard would hit this one note in his solo. If anyone saw this, you’ll know what I mean. 

The show was great and I was pleased to here TWAT in person.. Axl sounded good and I thought did a nice job on the outro. He was very strong on a lot of songs and really impressed me. 

Slash was his usual crowd-stunning self. He was on fire (as usual). Not much more to say, he always shows up to play.

Some highlight songs for me were: Jungle, YCMB, TWAT, New Rose, Coma, Black Hole Sun (Axl sounded amazing on this song), Nightrain, and Madagascar (Axl was strong as f*** on this). Now every song was great, I just feel these were the best sounding ones last night. 

One other quick thing, people who say Axl is overweight and out of shape, can’t sing with any power. Just stop. I bet there are only a handful of people in the world who can RUN around on stage singing incredibly difficult songs for 3 and a half hours. I give him so much credit for that, as with the rest of the band. They bring so much energy each show. 

This show was such a great experience, as I got 8 more songs than I did last year at Soldier Field, plus My Michelle over OTGM. Only complain was I didn’t get to hear Prostitute but hey, I like Sorry so I can’t complain! Really enjoyed myself and hope everyone else did! Cheers!

 

People need to stop acting like this band owes them something (i.e. A better set list). GNR can and will do whatever they want and remember they are playing this show for mostly casual fans who aren't all in on the deep cuts. They don't owe it to the FB live viewer so and periscopers to change the setlists drastically every night.  99% of people at the show haven't see Guns on this tour yet. They already have a pretty good set list as it is. This is still the same tour as 2016 and everything seems to point at an album after this tour concludes. So have a little patience and just enjoy that Axl, Slash, and Duff are playing together and are still alive.. we've lost a lot of great musicians lately and we all should be grateful that we have all the GNR members still alive and well. 

Stop being so negative. They don't owe you anything. Enjoy this or at least try not to bring the morale of this forum down every show.

Guns N’ Roses 6/1/16 Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois Review

 

So to start off let me tell you I’m only 18 and haven’t been to too many concerts (this being the largest one).

I attended the show with my girlfriend and had seats in section 314 row 3, which really wasn’t a bad place to be.

The overall experience was fantastic I must say. I have been such a big Guns N’ Roses fan for years and this moment was the highlight of it (maybe even my life so far!). To start off we got to the show around an hour before Alice in Chains came on. I picked up my silver bullet t-shirt I ordered and it was all good. We met up with some friends before AIC and chatted about everything going on at the stadium. We got back and at exactly 8:00 AIC came on. They played a 43 minute set and by the end they really made a good impression on me. The guys seem really cool and they sounded great. But now on to the part we all want to hear about.. 

The changeover for GNR was fast, and all the animations started about 15 min before i thought it would’ve! Then when the looney toons music came on I knew it was starting. 

 

It’s So Easy:

I personally think this is a great opening song and the crowd went nuts when the band came on. Slash nailed the solo and Axl had full on rasp for the outro (these will be common themes for the show).

 

Mr Brownstone:

Nothing too special, one of GNR’s best songs imo, Whole band sounded great on this one.

 

Chinese Democracy:

I actually am really digging the CD era stuff with Slash and Duff. Slash’s sound completely changes the tone of the songs and makes it a lot darker and just better imo. I really like the riff for this song and Slash plays it much better. The crowd didn’t seem too into it, but since it was the beginning of the show, people still were standing.

 

Welcome To The Jungle:

Axl brought his A game here. The crowd was going crazy on this song! But Axl really had a great sound on this song, and it was great to hear.

 

Double Talkin Jive:

Slash owned this song. Axl did do the “homefuck” at the end of the second chorus. But Slash completely killed the solo and had myself and the people around me in awe. 

 

Estranged:

Slash’s guitar tone stood out here. The melodies ringing through the stadium was magical, along with Axl again singing incredibly. There was a moment after Axl sang the “To find ourselves so far apart” line, it looked like he put his arm around Slash for a second. I don’t know if anyone else saw it, but I thought it was cool.

 

Live and Let Die:

This was one of the crowd favorites. This song roared! Axl’s bone chilling screams ignited the crowd and brought so much energy to the show.

 

Rocket Queen:

Axl sounded pretty good on the beginning of RQ, and Slash performed a great talk box solo. But the end of RQ made it great. Very cool moment with how hyped the audience was for the outro of RQ. Axl’s voice was incredible paired with Slash’s solo. The crowd absolutely loved it.

 

You Could Be Mine: 

Now this song is what rock is about. The amount of power in this song is so much more evadable in person. The guitars and Axl really sounded great and just so strong!

 

You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory/New Rose:

Unfortunately, a lot of people used this time to go get a beer or whatever. But I stayed standing (as I did the whole time since the animations came on). But I was a fan of this, and Duff really did a great job.

 

This I Love:

While I don’t think the crowd got into this, I thought this was Axl’s best performance of TIL. He sounded fantastic the whole song. I was amazed at how much rasp he put into the verses and I thought it was great. Slash’s solo was magical and he adds such a great aspect to the song. 

 

Civil War:

This song just flat out rocked. This is rising to the top of my favorite songs GNR is playing live right now. The amount of power and energy in this song was amazing. Axl was hitting every note and Slash’s guitar rang throughout the stadium. Really a great performance and at the end, Axl said something about how he found the lyrics “as popular war advances, peace is closer” in a newspaper he got at a 7/11.

 

Coma:

Axl said how this will be the second time in 24 years they’ve played this song in Chicago. I though that was really cool that he brought up when they played here in 1992. Song sounded great, and Axl again nailed the ending.

 

Band Intros/Godfather theme:

Axl introduced Slash the same way he did at the Ritz in 1988, which was one of the coolest moments for me. But then Slash was fantastic on the Godfather. He did miss a couple timings, but really I’m not gonna get on him about that. 

 

Sweet Child O’ Mine: 

The crowd was so loud I honestly had a hard time hearing Axl clearly the whole song because everyone was singing along. But from what I could make out, it was his clean voice (not mickey!) mixed with rasp. But in all honestly, Slash stole the song. His solo sent chills throughout the audience and really was fantastic.

 

Better:

A lot of people around me sat down for this song. But I thought the band killed it and Axl really brought the rasp on this song. Melissa also had a nice presence on this song. 

 

Out Ta Get Me:

One of the most energetic songs of the night. Axl sounded incredible on this song. This is becoming one of if not Axl’s strongest song on this tour. 

 

Wish You Were Here/Layla:

Richard and Slash both were great on WYWH, Slash played some really sweet licks on this one, as did Fortus. Layla was good as well. 

 

November Rain:

I really think Axl didn’t sound bad at all on this song. He had his rasp for the last couple lines as he usually does. But again Slash really energized the song. I thought all the pyro for the outro solo was cool and added a nice visual effect (I wish Slash would get on the piano though!!)

 

Knockin’ On Heavens Door:

This song was definitely better to experience live than over a periscope stream. I thought Axl sounded alright on this one.

 

Nightrain:

The band roared through this song. This is one of my favorites as Axl sounds great on this song. His rasp is always strong and Slash also goes off during the outro for this one.

 

Encore:

 

Don’t Cry:

Great performance by the whole band, Axl hit all the notes and it sounded really nice. It was a cool moment when they played this.

 

The Seeker:

While I was hoping for a deep cut or Slither, the band burst into The Seeker. But I am a fan of this song, and hearing it live only made me like it more. The whole band really seems to get into it, which makes it 100x better.

 

Paradise City:

Fireworks were everywhere on this song. But this is truly a great closing song to a set. Again, it was harder to get a full reading on Axl’s voice but from what I could hear, it was his clean voice with a little rasp at moments. But this song put an end to a great night and now Ill talk about each member individually then my closing thoughts.

 

 

Axl:

He truly sounded great the whole show. He was interacting with the crowd, running all over the stage, changing outfits left and right, it was awesome. He really had a great show and the power of his voice was evident to me for the first time since I have never seen them live. Now let me say this, before people start criticizing Axl for his clean or “mickey voice”, please go to a show on the NITL tour. I personally thought that when Axl did use that voice, it sounded good. He was hitting the notes and it really is much different in person than on periscope or youtube videos. But Axl was truly incredible. 

 

Slash: 

Slash being back in the band brings them to such a new level. As a guitarist myself, I have always been in awe of Slash’s guitar tone. Specifically from the UYI tour. Seeing him live last night was such an incredible experience. Hearing his tone in person is such a different feeling. His tones on Estranged and SCOM to the roar of his guitar of the opening chord of Nightrain were that more spectacular in person. 

Slash did have a few little mess ups here and there but he’s human so I really won’t get on him. But what was evident tonight was how much Slash has improved over the last few years. Slash was a great guitarist back in the 80s and 90s, even when he was loaded. But ever since he sobered up, he has taken his playing level to a whole new level. He can do things now that I just don’t believe he could do back in GNR’s old days, and maybe even in Velvet Revolver. Slash was the man last night and the whole vibe in the stadium seemed to be in awe of Slash.

 

Duff:

Duff is so underrated. His backing vocals and great, along with his lead. And his bass has such a great beat to it that sets the tone for the band to play off of. Not to mention but Duff looks great for his age. My girlfriend was shocked when I told her how old these guys were, specifically Duff. Congrats to Duff, he’s truly a great guy.

 

Richard:

His playing style is definitely more NuGNR feeling. But I don’t really mind Richard. He’s been in Guns a long time and has Axl’s trust. I’d prefer Izzy, but Fortus isn’t a bad guy by any means.

 

Frank:

I’ve really come along to like Frank. He has for sure improved since this bands first show back in April. The only time I didn’t like what he was doing was in the verse for SCOM. He was playing too loudly it just made it awkward. But other than that, I thought he was alright. I think he’s a cool guy, and he’s only improved so I respect that.

 

Dizzy: 

Absolutely nailed the Estranged solo!!!!!! other than that…. Wheres Dizzy?? Haha but no disrespect to Dizzy, I think he fits in alright. 

 

Melissa: 

I like Melissa. She doesn’t do a whole lot that we know of, but she adds some great backing vocals, and she isn’t bad looking. I support Axl’s decision to have her in the band, she’s a nice piece and all the guys seem to like her.

 

The Crowd:

Wow is all I can say. That stadium was packed the whole show. And it was loud. That whole stadium was filled. The fans were going nuts for Guns almost the whole show. The only times where they weren’t as intense imo was the CD songs. But the crowd was cheering and singing along that it even made it hard to hear the band clearly! But the crowd was great and really made the experience a hell of a lot better. Props to everyone who came out to support GNR!

 

My closing thoughts:

This night was one I’ll never forget in all honesty. This has been a lifelong dream of mine and it finally came true. The band was on point all night and the crowd was going crazy. I had the experience of my life. Seeing Slash and Axl play songs like Estranged and Coma was a lifelong dream, something I never thought I would see in this lifetime.