CokeAddict

Hi Everyone.  I have been regularly lurking here for the past year and a half and finally feel up to posting, so here is my review!

I saw GNR back in '93.  Saw Snakepit a couple times, GNR in 02, 06, and then both Foxboro shows last year.  I thoroughly enjoyed last night.  When the reunion kicked off, I was over the moon excited.  I wasted many hours on this forum for any tidbit of news, watched all the videos, knew the setlist, etc.  This year as the novelty wore off I just check in occasionally, so I had a vague sense of what to expect last night, but didn't know exactly what was coming next.  Not counting the 02/06 shows (which I enjoyed but of course they were different) this was my first time seeing them up close in an arena.  That alone is more thrilling for me.  From where I was, the crowd was amped up, dancing, singing, on their feet the whole night. Energy was great.  No one around me seemed to dislike CD songs.  I thought the band was tight and played great.  Slash seemed really amped up, moving around and dancing more than I remember last summer.   3.5 hours is a long time, but went by really fast for me!

I thought Axl was very solid.  He didn't blow me away or make the hair on my neck stand up as he has before in the past, but he sounded fine and always appears to give his best.  Still love to watch him as a frontman.  Love watching him interact with the crowd and he stills seems so into it.  I think i would be bored doing the same thing all over the world over and over again, but if Axl is, I couldn't tell. There were times when he was great. Just love seeing him have a good time and seeming confident again.  I can't really explain and maybe I am projecting, but with this band, Axl seems like a like a happier, older version of the old Axl, as you would expect him to age.  In 02 and 06, maybe the cornrows and outfits distracted me, but it was harder to recognize him and he disappeared a lot when he wasn't singing.  He is more recognizable to me again.  I enjoyed him in all the Appetite songs, and love love love him on Patience, Wichita Lineman, Don't Cry.

I have to say Slash's solo spot was amazing.  It really caught me, the whole thing, from start to finish. Probably the highlight of the night for me.  I don't know, it feels like sometimes he is playing at the moment just how I would choose to play at that moment if I could actually play guitar and express myself emotionally like that.  I think the ending of Sweet Child gets overblown, but everything else in that whole section was a highlight.  Estranged was also great last night. Well he was on fire the whole night.

I gotta run, but the whole band felt very cohesive.  I kind of moved on from GNR after 06.  I mean, I alway buy Slash's solo stuff immediately and bought Chinese Democracy the day it came out.  But I stopped expecting anything from them.  So this whole last 18 months has just been icing on the cake for me.  It is hard to not start to want more, like a new song/album.  But I am not expecting it.  If it happens I will just be thrilled, but I am just so grateful that I got to see Axl and Slash and Duff again 3 "bonus" times.  And they seem to genuinely enjoy each other, so I am happy for them.  I do hope the original 5 play together since it is a miracle they are all still alive, but this current band is great and maybe there is a chance they will create something new together.