kyrie

Look at what a top album sells these days. It wouldn't take much for a record to go #1 or close to it at this point, with one decent song with decent airplay/promotion.

The label I suspect wants to do the bare minimum however.

The cornrows

The jerseys

Basicay the 2002 look

And I know I'll take shit for it but Buckethead... Awesome player but not a great fit

I greatly prefer today's lineup

But of course he's been wrong who hasn't?

I can't see them not being a headliner but I noticed there's 1 day with no bands announced I think

They should drop the S and call it Bluefest. It's not "Labatt Blues" anyway it's "Labatt Blue" so it would make sense and make it less confusing to casual festival types who see the name pop up.

Now the big question, will there be other Canadian shows... I'd love to see a solo Ampitheatre show in Toronto. And they could do something like Oshawa or Kitchener if they want to hit markets they haven't done before (not to mention Victoria out in B.C.). I really wish canucks would do the festival thing more. We don't even seem to be getting HeavyTO this year.

I find it interesting that Don't Cry keeps getting left off the "must play" / hits list people are mentioning.

I'm sorta with Wasted on this in the end.

To me, at least 7 or 8 the following must be played on any given night:

Welcome to the Jungle

Sweet Child O' Mine

Paradise City

Don't Cry

You Could Be Mine

November Rain

Live and Let Die

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Patience

Estranged

Those songs were all big hits for them.

Then there's the "you should probably play these" group:

Mr. Brownstone (still played on radio around here a LOT)

It's So Easy

Nighttrain

Rocket Queen

You need a few CD era songs as well. My fave is Madagascar which has been dropped lately; good luck even pleasing all the diehard fans right?

Better/CD/TIL/SOD

Catcher, TWAT, Maddy, Sorry, ITW, IRS, Scraped, Shacklers

At least 3 on any given night, maybe a few more.

That doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for stuff like:

Down on the Farm, Use to Love Her, You're Crazy, My Michelle, Think About You, 14 Years, etc.

And we know this band likes to do cover songs which, despite the complaints on forums, is an old rock tradition (I started this thread with a Primus reference, and I own Miscellanious Debris which is one of a few cover EPs they've done).

Not a lot of wiggle room really.

Ill never understand why people who do not like what GNR is today keep coming back to a Internet forum dedicated to them.

+ 9480957901380488904398438493804390438438329575081290309713095

+ 1 for the hell of it; cupcakes need to get a life.

So... I couldn't think of a better title for this thread.

However, in every single show thread, there's a ton of bitching about the lack of changes to the setlist, and how the band just alternates a few songs in and out each night. And as a fan I love seeing long, varied shows, but I got to experience the other side of that last night and figured I'd throw this out there:

I'm a casual Primus fan. I own Pork Soda and Tales from the Punchbowl, and I love My Name is Mud and Mr. Krinkle and Winnona's Big Brown Beaver, basically the hits, and a few other songs. John the Fisherman, Jerry was a Race Car Driver, Southbound Pachyderm.

Last night I caught Primus at the second show of a two-night stand in Toronto. I had my list of songs I wanted to hear. I wasn't sure if they'd play Winnona's Big Brown Beaver since it became "that song" for them, but anyway, I figured if I heard 3 or 4 of my favourite songs and a couple other songs I knew (I checked out Lee Van Cleef and Tragedy's A Comin' off the latest album), I'd enjoy it.

Now, it was a great show, Les Claypool is a wizard with a bass, the 3D light show was cool, but frankly - they played two completely different setlists Friday and Saturday. No repeats. And guess what - every single song I wanted to hear was either played Friday, or not played at all, save for Jerry was a Race Car Driver. They did play a couple songs off Pork Soda (Bob, Hamburger Train, one other) and one song (Del Davis Tree Farm) off Tales from the Punchbowl that I like, but that was it. I spent a lot of time going "I have no idea what this song is" and the whole time (since I didn't see Friday's setlist til after the fact) I'm hoping for one of the "hits" thinking they'd at least spread them out between shows (I know Primus likes to mix it up a lot, just didn't realize I'd be that unlucky in the setlist).

That's it. Food for thought. Guns have a lot of casual fans to win over and please. Playing 3 CD songs at a festival gig seems like a pretty acceptable number given the shortened set time and the fact that, if you start sacrificing hits, people feel a bit let down.

All that said I enjoyed Primus live - loved the musicianship, though one less Popeye video during the intermission would have been fine with me - but I still wish I had grabbed tickets for the Friday show. And I'm suddenly quite appreciative of that fact that I've seen Guns live 7 times, and each time out got a new song I hadn't heard live before, but still didn't feel like I missed anything.

Got a glowing review in thh New York Times. Note- I cute off the end of the article which talks about the hip hop acts and other acts and just included the GN'R review.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/after-the-rain-a-night-of-rock/

After the Rain, a Night of Rock By JON PARELES
Kings of Leon, who would have headlined Governors Ball on Friday before rain ended the night early, gave the event a rain date on Saturday night on Randall’s Island. The band squeezed onto the main stage just before Guns N’ Roses.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Caleb Followill, the band’s singer and leader, after joking that Kings of Leon was back to being “just the opening band.” That made rock with guitar muscle even stronger on Saturday’s agenda at Governors Ball.

Kings of Leon, which played its sturdy, modernized Southern rock, is not flamboyant onstage. It just plays through the songs, letting the music — the grain of Mr. Followill’s voice, the breadth and drive of the riffs — carry the concert. It easily did: the unswerving beat (hinting at dance music) in “Knocked Up,” the buildup and U2-like “whoa-oh-oh” singalong of “Use Somebody,” the patient guitar meditation of “Closer,” the springy hint of ska and urgent lyrics of “Sex on Fire.” The band introduced what it said was a song it had never performed that reached back to the frenetic strumming of its early days when it was often compared to the Strokes.

In its performance, Guns N’ Roses brought the rock-star struts, rowdy fashion statements and pyrotechnics of 1980’s-vintage stadium rock. When Axl Rose first remade Guns N’ Roses as a band of sidemen rather than a group that had built its songs and career together, he ended up with sterile technicians. Now he has a band that reclaims nostalgia-enhanced memories of the band’s 1987-1991 heyday by expanding the lineup to hit even harder.

It has three guitarists — Ron (Bumblefoot) Thal, Richard Fortus and DJ Ashba — instead of two. It has two keyboardists — Dizzy Reed, the only link with the 1991 band, and Chris Pitman — instead of one. And its bassist, Tommy Stinson, and drummer, Frank Ferrer, share a wallop, sometimes underlined by fireworks onstage. The three guitarists can reach back to blues and soul, shred at top speed and play wailing hard-rock guitar-hero solos. Mr. Thal hardly lets a lead phrase go by without a pitch-bending wiggle of the whammy bar.

Guns N’ Roses did not reveal new songs. Its most recent album, “Chinese Democracy,” brought together nearly all of the current members but that came out in 2008. Yet they wrung all they could out of the older songs. Mr. Rose, whose high, electrocuted-tomcat wail gave Guns N’ Roses its edge, sounded oddly dulcet during the early part of the set. Then his yowl and screech returned.

The band filibustered the songs a bit — ”November Rain,” with Mr. Rose at the piano, got Pink Floyd and Elton John excerpts as a prelude and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” had extended guitar passages — and guitarists got to show off while Mr. Rose was backstage changing jackets, T-shirts and hats. Charging through songs like “Nightrain” and “Paradise City,” Guns N’ Roses delivered 1980’s rock excess, rowdy and unrepentant.

Governors Ball on Satuday also had a hip-hop contingent that was as triumphal as Guns N’ Roses. Nas, headlining on the other large stage doubled as the wise elder and current contender. He summed up the life of the urban ghetto with songs from his 1994 album “Illmatic,” and went on to explore pleasure and politics. Kendrick Lamar traded the self-questioning of his recordings for the shouting and cheerleading of live hip-hop; the audience happily supplied words whenever he gave them a chance. Azealia Banks, dressed in a cutout fluorescent garment, rattled off high-speed rhymes that flirted, boasted and picked catfights over throbbing, skittering tracks, while concert-goers pumped their fists.

It'd be funny if the "Pigeons of Shit Metal" were opening for GNR again.

I'd expect someone like Monster Truck, who are also on the bill and opened for GN'R in Buffalo this month. They're pretty decent, Canadian, should go over well. Even The Sheepdogs (I've seen both MT and Sheepdogs live and personally prefer Monster Truck) could work.

By the way, 97$ for a festival pass to see that many bands over more than a week is sick! Nice job to whomever organizes this festival, because that's generally what you pay for a single day festival or even a single band. Even if you like only a handful of bands, that's a sweet deal. I paid 140$ for a two-day festival last summer

GNR underneath the Black Keys? Omg..

Huh? Read the schedule next time, those bands are playing on different days. The Black Keys are on the 6th, headlining, while GN'R plays on the 12th, and are the headlining band for the day (only band announced for that day so far). This is a very long festival btw, Weezer headlines the 9th. Bruno Mars the 8th, Wu-Tang Clan the 5th, Rush the 10th, Def Leppard the 13th. Pretty wide range of acts.

Guns n Roses delivers the goods in Outer Harbor show Jeff Miers Updated 2013-06-06 05:32:47 1 of 1

Monster Truck a Canadian rock band from Hamilton, Ontario, opened at the Outer Harbor for Guns N Roses Wednesday night .Members include lead singer and bassist Jon Harvey, guitarist Jeremy Widerman, keyboardist Brandon Bliss and drummer Steve Kiely. (Photo by Harry Scull Jr. / Buffalo News)

Did he still have the banshee howl?

Its been a long time since Axl Rose was the undisputed king of the underground Los Angeles rock scene. Back then, his band, Guns n Roses, was the it band, the group that had been able to navigate the terrain between punk, metal and glam rock.

It has been 20 years since Guns n Roses played Buffalo, the last time being a headlining slot at what was then known as Rich Stadium. The slightly metal-inflected version of the GnR take on Aerosmiths early work has not exactly been in vogue over the past two decades. Were the GnR faithful still out there?

On Wednesday, as Guns n Roses kicked off the the Outer Harbor Concert Series season, it certainly seemed that the the folks who worshipped Appetite for Destruction had not forgotten their band. And judging by appearances, a whole new generation of Guns lovers was eager for their first experience of the band as well.

The concert site at the Outer Harbor was stuffed with rockers, folks who, one surmises, like their rock jarred and their choruses memorable. It was cold, unseasonably so, and very windy too. But when Guns n Roses took the stage - at 10:15, perhaps surpisingingly, given singer Axl Roses tendency to start shows as late as midnight - it felt as if Appetite for Destruction had just come out, and Paradise City was still in sight.

The Outer Harbor series has made some serious improvements since last year, its maiden voyage. In addition to much more accommodating parking, the investment in sound, production and staging was immediately apparent on Wednesday. The sound was incredible - loud, well-mixed, and abundantly powerful.

The band? Yes, this is the version of Guns n Roses that lacks founding member and guitarist Slash. And yes, so much has been said about singer Axl Rose over the years since Slash left to suggest that the GnR singer is pretty much a nut job. But Wednesdays show suggested something different. This version of GnR came to kick butt and take names. And, flying in the face of Roses tendency to take the stage hours after the published time, the band arrived by 10:15 p.m., and tore into a set that could not have left diehard Gn R fans disappointed.

Opener Chinese Democracy gave way to Welcome to the Jungle, and the place went nuts, cell phones held aloft bobbing in real time to the groove. Rose, a heftier and significantly more Southern rock-looking form of the man all of these people had fallen in love with in 1989, accorded himself well. Its So Easy boasted much of the strut of the original, as did the decidedly swanky Mr. Brownstone. Rose was energetic, on point, and if he couldnt quite deliver the goods with the power he displayed in the old days, well, who could blame him? He was certainly going for it.

Rose, from the beginning of his career, sang in a hyper-powerful head-voice falsetto of the variety that does not age well. That he could sing as well as he did during older tunes like Rocket Queen and the highlight of the evening, a take on Paul McCartneys Live and Let Die, was rather incredible.

Without founding member, and acknowledged guitar god Slash, the 2013 version of GnR fell back on the talents of three sublimely gifted guitarists. Led by Ron Bumblefoot Thall, and including DJ Ashba and Richard Fortus, the guitarist lineup delivered an inspired mix of blues-based hard rock, virtuoso shred playing, and post-Keith Richards slop. It all added up to some killer playing, though at times it did seem that there was simply too much guitar in the mix.

Rose did highlight each player - pianist Dizzy Reed vamped on Led Zeppelins No Quarter, while a jam on Pink Floyds Another Brick in the Wall Part II gave way to the power ballad November Rain - with Rose seated behind the piano in all his Elton John-esque glory ,and finally, guitarist Bumblefoots Objectify. These were some of the sets high points, and seemed to get former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson in the mood to rock.

But in the end, this is Roses show, and he lorded over it - for better and for worse - throughout. GnR in 2013 still kicks butt. Even if Roses voice is not what it once was. But then again, what was it once? A scream that perhaps could not endure then test of time.

That said, Wednesdays show was a riot. Fantastic sound, plenty of room, and the sort of sightlines that would make Bonaroo proud.

http://mobile.buffalonews.com/?articleRedirect=1

Civil War back

Grogan must be a fun guy to have at a party

Seriously some people in here are bitching just because they need to hear themselves whine. GNR could still do an MSG show but no doubt the festival gig means they cannot do a solo show within X number of miles for a certain period of time. Almost all festivals require that.

So they're doing a lil fan show that is being put on -by the festival- (presented by) and you act like the sky is falling. Get a grip. Anyone who actually seriously thinks they'll be making bowling alleys a regular tour stop is an idiot. Every single person who posted "they're playing bowling alleys now?" - that is directed at you. You have absolutely zero common sense.

Tl;dr - haters seriously need to get lives.

Nice Sabbath! Good luck!

Warm up gig for the Governor's Ball I take it?

Monster Truck are decent I've caught them live

Complain, complain...

So was Izzy there?

Seriously pissed they dropped Better. It's my favorite song, ever.

It's a festival show. Shorter set time, and what gets dropped are usually the songs that aren't classics. I'm sure it'll be back.

Holy fuck that is an ugly coat!

As for the show - some people tweeting it was great sone didn't like it and one sorry bitch who is shocked she can't bring a professional camera to a concert (this is called normal!!). In other words normal for a festival. People go to see specific bands and just check out the headliner, some just won't like it

I like the hats personally

Seems like a large chunk of the band has been together of late, Dizzy/DJ in the studio, DJ/Ron at the awards show, Axl/DJ at the Stones gig. This could be friendly hanging out, but they could be working on something. Cool if so.

Hating on people for the way they dress... Yeah we've got some real special people around here.

This is a band that started out with tight leather pants, Axl's biker shorts, etc. Oh no DJ dresses dark! You guys need perspective.

Crue is done in a few years they've said so themselves

DJ suits GNR I really don't get the hate.

He's 50 and looks better than a lot of 40 year olds. You guys are fucking hilarious when it comes to the age thing.