marino95

Best: Estranged/SCOM/WTJ

Worst: My World wins by a mile....but assuming we don't count that.... If The World/Back off Bitch/Breakdown

This is beyond excellent that we are hearing from you, Dexter. I've been inspired by you since I was 15 years old (1987) and have always been a "defender" to all the media speculators and the public that eats up what they hear and read. I've read (or tried to read) just about every word ever written by or about GNR Members, and it is so good to hear your side finally.

It is frustrating I'm sure - although I know you understand - that many of us lament for the days of the old band and the magic and brilliant music that ensued. However, I do think that your recent communication has helped (at least me) be more ready to move forward with the new music and band. We can clearly all put to rest our secret dreams of a reunion and begin to appreciate the fact that we have you back making music and performing as you do best.

While we all have our requests - we dont know the complications of doing what you do. All I hope for in the future is much more music from you and one minor request.....the opportunity to see you again in a smaller venue like I did in Hammerstein. That night was truly magical - and I wish more "old" GNR fans could have the opportunity to see you in that environment.

I've been checking this forum EVERY DAY for about 7 years and it is finally paying off! Cheers to you - have a happy holiday as well.

In the Life section of USA Today today, they say that November 25th is the tentative release date....... wonder where they got this? Just FYI.

People hate on Metallica about as much as they do GNR. GNR will never be like the Appetite days and Metallica will never be like the Master of Puppets or even Justice for All days. But that doesn't mean they can't make good music. Much like the masses probably will claim TWAT and Better are "crap", I still love them because they are Axl and I think they are really good songs. I also liked some of St Anger (although the production was hideous - check out the DVD of them performing them live though) - and some of the Load albums. I also think their new songs sound really really good. Are they as good as Master of Puppets? NOT EVEN CLOSE. So WHAT?

If New GNR and Metallica were both new bands, with younger, cooler people on stage with a little edge to them (rather than being bloated multi-millionaires), I promise we'd all be liking these bands. Hell, in their current states they are better than what else is out there in this genre of music (Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet for my Valentine for example).

I feel bad for Axl and Metallica both in this context. I guess the only way to get widespread respect is to do like Velvet Revolver and try to make records that sound as much like your old stuff as possible.

I think alot of people would still care. I think I heard somewhere that alot of their die hard fans thought the black album was one of their WORST albums. Based on Master, Kill 'em all and ride the lighting, I think that they would have a rather large following today.

I also agree..... I would rank the Metallica albums this way-

1. Master

2. Justice (both classics)

3. Ride Lightning

4. Garage Days

5. Kill Em All

6. Black Album

7. St Anger

8. Load

9. Reload

Metallica never interested me that much, and this new single reminded me why. I loved the Black album, and S&M, but I've never liked any of their other stuff except for a few songs here and there.

I'm sorry but the new Metallica song is great. People hate on them so much because they set the bar so high back in the day. But again, if they were a new band we'd all be loving it.

OK.... I'm going in. Cheers everyone.

What a pain in the neck. I figure this is better than standing up for the next hour and a half. Plus, plenty of GA tix were still available earlier tonight - so I'm sure I can work my way up close enough no matter what time I get in.

I'm actually at the show now myself....sitting in a parking deck across from the arena and picked upan internet connection w/ my laptop. Thinking I'll hang out here watching sports on my computer since Axl isn't likely to go on for at least another hour.

Sure aren't many people down here - I'm actually kind of hoping for a small crowd. Think SB is on right now.

What an amazing, amazing show that was.

We went to Mustang Harry's for a few hours mid-day - what an interesting group that was. Definitely a good place to go to get in the mood, although you really couldn't hear the GNR playing - it was down too low.

Decided to head over to the line about 7:30 when doors opened (had floor tickets). Much to our surprise, at 7:30 the doors had yet to open and the line was about 3 1/2 blocks long. Seemed like everyone who had a ticket was in line at 7:30. Doors finally opened and we found a spot about 10-12 people back from the stage on the right by 8:45.

Bullet is terrible terrible terrible. Ugh. After an hour of "the greatest hits of rock history" blasting over the PA, GNR took the stage....

Rather than doing a play-by-play (others have done that) - I thought I'd include my observations from the show.

1) I was BLOWN AWAY by how good Axl looked and sounded. He looked very cool - and actually made it through the whole show with NO costume changes. Just straight rock. His voice was in top shape to say the least. For those of you going later this week or seeing him in Europe - you're not going to believe it. He's also greatly improved his stage presence and energy over the 2002 tours. Can't say enough.

2) It seemed like after the rabid reaction during WTTJ and ISE, the crowd stood stunned in disbelief that a) it was actually Axl and B) he looked and sounded so amazing. I thought maybe some of the people around us were losing interest in the show because they were just standing there, but in between songs I overheard about 5 people say "This is f'ing unreal".

3) The duet with Bach was off the charts amazing. God, music today is so void of powerful great front men and seeing two of them duet together was something to behold.

4) The new guitarist was so-so. His solo was pretty pointless in my opinion.

5) TWAT, IRS and Better all translated well - in fact, I'd say TWAT was the highlight of the new songs.

6) People are talking about it being rough - I didn't feel that way at all. We were off to the side a little bit, but other than a little pushing here and there I thought it was pretty tame. VR at the 9:30 club in DC a few years ago was FAAAAARRRR more insane.

7) Why do people get so freaking drunk at these things? Maybe I'm just an old fart (33 yrs old) but there were several people around us puking and spending most of the show with their eyes closed. Genius.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the shows. I'll be happy to post more if people have more questions about the show. The story of the night though was the amazing return to form of Axl Rose. WOW.

Wow - just checked too - it's true.

' date='Apr 20 2006, 06:23 PM' post='1240740']

Can anyone post the recieved mail from Live Nation? Just curious, i'm not going to any of the US shows...

:krider:

The e-mail is a poster for the shows. It says May 12 & 14th. Then there is a password: #*%$? for tomorrow mornings pre-sale at 9:00 AM. I will try to get tickets for the 12th. Going to Hammerstein on a Saturday will not be a fun experience. So the first show is on a thursday. I will see what happens.

The 12th is a Friday - 14th a Sunday.

Trying to decide between floors and mezzanine myself (I have 2 and my friend doesn't care)

I'm 6 foot 3 220 - and have always LOVED the floor before. Seems like Mezzanine 2 (where my other tix are) would just be too removed from the action.

Has anyone ever been to Hammerstein?

What the heck is going on? I already check this forum 4-5 times a day - guess I'll have to live on here for the next week.

I couldn't agree more. GNR killed the hair bands - not Nirvana. Alot of people don't remember, but the Illusion albums (and Metallica's black album) came out in 1991. This was just before the Seattle grunge scene broke. Plus, groups like Soundgarden and Alice - part of the Seattle scene - were also a part of the "metal" world at the time. GNR, Metallica and those 2 bands were VERY different than the rest of hair metal - which I consider to be Poison, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, etc. They were REAL. Yet many people consider GNR to be a PART of the hair band scene which really bothers me.

In my opinion, what Nirvana did was make the over-the-top sensationalism and showmanship of Guns N Roses seem silly -(multi-million dollar videos with aircraft carriers and helicopters, stage shows with backup singers and horn sections, Axl backstage in his bathrobe, boxing gloves and filtered cigarette, for instance)

People responded to the stripped-down everyday PAIN that Pearl Jam and Nirvana helped convey.

But it was GNR that really set the tone for this - making balls-out fantastic music that spoke deeply to everyone between the age of 13 and 30 at the time.

I do disagree with one thing in your post. I don't think Eminem should be called a poser. I think he is the closest thing to Axl Rose in modern music today actually. He came from a crazy background and is admittedly f'ed up because of it. He's very clever and honest and emotional lyrically - and doesn't seem to give a crap about who he might piss off. Some of his tirades against people like Justin Timberlake, ICP and the media in general remind me quite a bit of Axl's old rants against people like Warren Beatty, Bob Guccione and others. Somebody like 50 Cent might be a bit of a poser - but I don't see how you can call Eminem that. He's as real as it gets.