kyrie

Ok just thought I'd add in a few things

Whoever said the floor was empyty wasn't on it.

Floor was packed and everyone crammed forward throughout the show. It probably looked smaller at the end as everyone wound up packed in like sardines going to the front.

I can't speak for the stands because I wasn't looking at them but the floor was really into the show. Got some moshing going. Was tons of fun. If the World, Better, Street of Dreams, and This I Love went over best from the new songs. Jungle, Easy, Sweet Child, NR, YCBM, Nightrain and PC for the old stuff.

This show should put the Slash shit to rest - a guy right at the front had a big Slash flag. No one took it, no one spoke to him. I dunno what his reasons were - if he was trying to get a reaction, he failed. Just kinda looked silly and he put it away shortly after GNR took the stage.

Axl threw roses into the crowd at the end.

The sections at the back being empty - those were the sections right under the boxes at the back. They had people but not a lot, but there aren't even many rows. There was probably abot 1000 emptry seats in a place that holds about 16,000 for a concert. That's a guesstimate. That's upper deck only I might add. Lower bowl was full (I'm sure there was the odd seat), floor packed, upper bowls sides were packed, corners and back thinned out but those are the smallest sections. If you're bitching about the size of the show, a lot of bands don't get that kind of turnout these days. Billy Talent - huge here - didn't even try to sell as many tickets, they used a smaller venue configuration.

Some poor girl looked like she really wanted to flash. Like when the cameras were on the chicks she stood up, started dancing, she was smoking fucking hot, and no one put a camera on her! Just thought I'd point that out as a warm-blooded male... they kept going back to the same two girls - who were cute but there was lots of other lovely ladies in the arena last night.

I still can't get over the security overkill. Hamilton was much more laid back - but Toronto was the better show.

Posted this on HTGTH also:

Great show. Axl was chatting all night. Talked about basically going to Asia without management and more or less how it's the same on this tour. Mentioned partying in Montreal. Fortus speaks! Never heard him on the mic before, he was joking with Axl about Axl dancing drunk the night before. Axl also referenced jumping off shit (the piano in Montreal the night before?), being late, and in a really nice moment in Knockin' On Heaven's Door, talked about really wanting to play in Canada and how hard it was to get the tour together (this is where he mentioned management).

Also, he had an awesome Bubbles story - said a friend of Bubbles really wanted to be at the Toronto show but had to be in Europe on business. Bubbles texts Axl this story - the friend walks into a bar and meets Jimmy Page. Says she's from Canada and Page says "really? Do you know this show with these three trailer trash guys?" and she says "yeah I'm texting Bubbles right now" and Page got all excited

The band looked like they were having a blast! A lot of jokes. To quote Axl, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke"

Played Catcher and dedicated it to J.D. Salinger.

The Bras on guitars were cute - there was actually two I believe and one got passed around.

Great crowd. Slaughtered Hamilton - I thought the Hammer was a rock n' roll town?

This I Love goes over great live. So does DJ.

Ron playing two guitars on If the World is cool, and surprisingly - since I'm not a big fan of it on the album - it goes over really well live also.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. Everyone I went with had a great time. In fact a few non-fans who were tagging along really had a good time with the shows I've been to this tour.

The Sun posted attendence at 21,000 - it wasn't, I know why they put that, it's the hockey/full venue capacity so they were like "this looks sold out" and posted the first capacity they found. The show was 95% sold out. Nothing tarped off, a few sections at the back upper levels a bit thin but great showing. Probably about 15,000 or so.

Again, awesome crowd! No complaints other than - security/pay duty cops were DICKS! The guys and gals checking tickets were super nice! But the security inside in the bar areas were complete tools on power trips. Hassling people, rude, threatening - I know a few people got dragged off the floor and I'm sure some deserved it (one dude was passed the fuck out) but that's no reason to hassle the rest of us. ACC has quickly become my least favorite venue... hopefully next time the band is here it's summer and they play the Ampitheatre!

Back from the show too. Yeah, I would've liked Axl to start at 10:30, but why all the shock that he came on at 11:30? I remember back in 2006, I think both shows I saw he started well after 11pm. GN'R fans should be conditioned by now to realize that they may be waiting around a while. But yeah, the crowd was getting a bit restless and started booing every time one of the songs playing on the PA ended and GN'R didn't take the stage.

All in all the show lasted about how long I expected, 2.5 hours. Perhaps we got short changed on a few songs. Hamilton was the better show for me. Not that the band performed better there, actually I felt that they were probably better tonight. Axl was moving around more than he was at the Hamilton show, not that he wasn't moving lots there, but tonight it was almost like watching Axl in his prime. I guess with every show his conditioning improves. In Hamilton though, we were so damn close to the stage and just had a fantastic view, while tonight I was much further away.

Pretty good sound tonight, though there were times that Axl's vocals weren't loud enough. Not sure what the problem was there. The wheelchair, I think it was just Axl kidding around after he showed up late. Like lay off, I've got a good reason, I'm in a god damn wheelchair!

Ron Thal is the fucking man. He is stealing the show on guitar, IMO. And those guitars of his are so damn sexy. Watching DJ is like watching Slash, the top hat and the way he moves, I'm sure he's emulating the man. Never been a huge Fortus fan, but he's got tons of energy up there and is pretty fun to watch too, and the man can play. Can't really complain about these guys, other than to say none of them is Slash (), but Axl's assembled a pretty kick ass group of performers.

I'm starting to like TIL more and more, Axl just belts out those lyrics. Sounds amazing in a live setting. Paradise City was the best sounding I've heard the new band play it, ever! CITR, fuck yes! Love the song. The album version is an abomination, however. Hopefully we get to hear a great quality live version in bootleg form, because it sounded really great tonight. It still won't be up to par against the demo though. All that said, many fans were clearly not there to hear new material. As more and more new songs got played and the night started to drag on I think the late start hurt in this respect as many people cut out early.

The show was closer to capacity than Hamilton. I pegged Hamilton at 75% sold out of available seats, while the ACC may have been at 90%. It's pretty hard to tell just by looking though. In any case, more people were at this gig for sure. They had the upper bowl of seats open tonight, and there were a decent number of fans there. At Hamilton those seats were totally closed off and covered up. The lower bowl was much more filled out than in Hamilton.

Great review from KBear so quoting that to ensure it gets seen.

I have not seen mention of the comment that someone made, I assume about Slash? Just before they kicked into Sorry, Axl stated something along the lines of So I was talking with an older guitar player from Sebs band and I am speculating that someone yelled SLASH! because Axl then turned to the the crowd on that side and said something like No assswipe, I said Sebs band or something to that effect. Anyone hear that?

Ashba, Ron and Fortus were ALL great. They all did a great job and made their presence known. In 06 I thought that Fortus took a bit of a back seat but last night he was much more involved. Maybe it was optics, maybe he just moved around more., Whatever - it was a great show.

No Whole Lotta Rosie, but a great show.

Ok I'll field that one - about the Slash comment.

Axl told a story that sounded like "So, this old guitarist..."

and someone yelled out SLASH??

It wasn't a cheer for Slash, to me I think the guy assumed Axl was going to talk about him

and Axl was still finishing when the guy said it. "... from Baz's band"

And I guess Axl heard him and said "whoever the asshole is, stick it in your ass."

Actually though I don't think the guy yelling it had any intent behind it. It's just that when you hear "old guitarist" - but yeah it was yelled out somewhere near where I was unless someone else yelled the same thing elsewhere.

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Gallery+Guns+Roses+Regina/2467821/story.html

Haven't seen a review up yet.

nightrain closed it. danko jones was playing on it also.

I'm betting on Better, TIL, and then Nightrain.

better and patience played

fuck I was going to go to bed. checked into the sites on a whim, now I wanna stay up to see what the closer is

Example from this weekend:

I have that song on a mix in my car. My friend, who is 18F, not a fan, latched on to that song right away (she asked if there was an acoustic version).

So, I'd say that song could have some mainstream appeal, ballad or no. November Rain was huge after all...

I know Metal Sludge is not a source but there are plenty of well connected people in the Industry on there and a well respected ,legitimate poster said that GNR are under contract for three more studio albums. I'll try and dig up the post as he went into great detail about it recently. You guys can call bullshit but the guy has connections and is legit.

Yup - I call bullshit. Not that you're lying, but that Sludge has any respected posters. Sludge has got to be the most pathetic bunch of rejects and social maladjusts I've ever seen. Seriously, it's sad. I used to lurk those boards back before they died - so about... 6-8 years ago - and they were pathetic then, but at least amusing and active. Now, it's a graveyard of crybabies bemoaning a past era and wishing for the "glory days" of hair metal. 40 and 50 year olds calling each other gay and threatening to beat each other up. It lost it's amusing status ages ago and went to just plain retarded.

So personally - I wouldn't believe anything posted there, or at the very least I'd be taking it with a boulder-sized grain of salt.

Wow, tough room. I thought they were pretty good. Damn digital cameras are making everyone a photography expert these days

great topic.

Well, it inspired me to check for tickets, I picked Edmonton, and no problem first with floor access (they don't have seating), and second attempt brought up the center of the 2nd row of the side section slightly in front of the stage, in other words, prime seats.

Couldn't be selling very well.

Until recently, floors for Edmonton were gone. They were unavailable for weeks. They are available now which means another block was opened up. This is usually due to - venue getting the ok to have more people on the floor due to stage configuration, or blocks being held back while other sections fill up and then released later to screw over scalpers. Couldn't tell you which it is in this case but I wouldn't worry about Edmonton's sales. Floors from the initial batch of tickets when this date went on sale were gone in a day. It looks like they've released another block of 100 level seats also.

You look at the upper level seats and they're way at the back, even the full price upper level seats. This is something I never understood about ticketmaster - you sometimes get screwed by buying seats early. People who bought seats a week ago got 200 level seats at full price, yet now there's 100 level seats open for the same money.

Have the shows been starting on time?

so far. I think one of the reviews from Korea mentioned they went on 25 minutes late... so in essence (especially in GNR terms), on time.

Like what I'm seeing! But I wonder if true how This I love and November rain back to back will go down,being 2 slow Piano ballads one immediatly after the other?.Dont think I would have done that, Though I love both songs I'd prefer it if they were spaced out in the set.

I think they've done Street of Dreams and November Rain back to back before...

Axl shouldn't be playing any songs from AFD or UYI.

Just isn't right.

Why the hell not? VR played them. Camp freddy played them. Slash re-did Paradise City with Cypress Hill and Fergie... but Axl can't play songs that he wrote?

No, he didn't write all the parts to them, but no one person did. Get over it. Izzy was out on tour in 2006, and Izzy/Axl were the primary songwriters in the original lineup. If Izzy's down enough to play live with this band, what's the problem?

*sigh* tired fucking arguments.

posted at htgth, the guy only has like 30 posts.. so take with grain of salt..

_______________________________________________________________________________________

from local newsgroup,

some one claimed to be stage staff

has posted following setlist after today's stage staff rehearsal

will be examined in 2 days....

the way i see it?

it's highly possible....

1. Chinese Democracy

2. Scraped

3. Welcome To The Jungle

4. It's So Easy

5. Mr. Brownstone

6. There Was A Time

~ Richard Fotus solo ~

7. Live And Let Die

8. Sorry

9. If The World/Prostitute

10. Rocket Queen/My Michelle

~ Dizzy Fuckin' Reed solo ~

11. Street Of Dreams

12. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

13. You Could Be Mine

14. I.R.S.

~ DJ Ashba solo ~

15. Sweet Child O'Mine

16. This I Love

17. November Rain

~ Bemblefoot solo ~

18. Shackeler's Revenge

19. Outta Get Me

20. Nightrain

Encores:

1. Better

2. Patience

3. Paradise City

__________________________________________________

if its real then hurray, sorry is on.

I'm guessing that stuff like Used to Love Her, Down on the Farm, Madagascar, Nice Boys, etc. might pop up as alternates at some point. I highly doubt there'd only be two alternates.

Madagascar is my all-time favorite live track from this band but they've played it on two tours... Way I see it, there's six songs in that setlist I haven't seen live before, plus most of the classics. That works fine for me. I do wish they'd drop a couple solos and let Tommy sing a song. He'd be awesome doing some punk cover! Like... do two solo's a night, and one song with Tommy doing vocals.

I'd love to see Ain't It Fun, Don't Cry (played that one time in Japan in 07), Estranged, Yesterdays, or Civil War at least as alternates. I could do without Live and Let Die for one of those.

It's a safe bet that any Canadians who are going to the shows, and visit here as well, got their tickets long ago, for evidence I direct you to Mr Jackie Moon.

Yeah okay. Whatever. It's a safe bet that I, as a Canadian, already bought three tickets for this show. That doesn't mean I don't want to win two more and either give them to a couple of buddies or even sell them. Why wouldn't I try???

Yup, I figured people would be going that route. I did the same. If I win, my buddy who doesn't have cash for the show gets em. He entered as well.

gunsnroses.tocontests.com

Ontario residents only

No purchase necessary

Found it via The Toronto Star.

You need to pick up the tickets in person within 5 days of winning, in Toronto, so keep that in mind.

It's obvious the world outside the USA is more supportive of GN'R. As long as people keep focusing on the things that they should be the least concerned about (ticket sales etc.), instead of focusing on enjoying the shows, things won't change.

As long as people have that kind of mindset, don't be upset when tours start outside your country. Tour where people love you or tour where people whine about the shows before the tour has even started? Tough choice!

I guess some of the "true fans" who've kept whining about shit for years expect GN'R to just tour the USA first. There's a whole world out there that don't whine about the setlist before the first note has been played or whine about where the band plays. People who are excited about the prospect of a tour and hopefully they'll get to see the band play. Now that's a true fan.

/jarmo

I wonder what Axl and Irving Azoff would think if they knew that /jarmo is telling people that GN'R are intentionally skipping the States in order to punish U.S. fans for lack of support.

As much as I think Jarmo could have chosen his words a little more selectively, I don't think he really said anything like what you're claiming. He does have a point - play friends markets. There's so much scrutiny about the US, sales, is the tour successful, etc. There's more competition in the US for concerts. Canada, in winter - there's not a lot going on, and GNR has been AWESOME to us here, between 2006 and this tour! The only other band I can think of, besides Canadian bands, who have done Canadian tours like this is Pearl Jam.

Seriously thought people - and I'm guilty of it sometimes - need to chill about ticket sales etc. At the end of the day I just wanna see the band play and hear the songs I want to hear.

JLC rocked in 02 - it's not the venue per se, it was a better crowd. I'd hit that too if I could But, am already seeing two shows.

Thanks for the info! I'll be coming in around noon, and staying at the Radison, about 5 blocks away from Air Canada Centre.

Noon should be no problem - just check out transportation options at the airport.

I also found this: http://www.torontoairportexpress.com/

You could probably Google for some other options but the round-trip deal at first glance seems decent.

If they have a guy's version of that I might pick it up at a show...

More floors available today,

Gunsguy

Gone again.

Best pair now is 104, at the back of the section (which is at the back of the arena).

Hey guys, So I just bought some killer seats for this show and will be flying in from Chicago the day of the show into Pearson Intl Airport.

I've never been to Toronto, or Canada for that matter, and I was wondering if anyone here knew the best way to get to the Air Canada Centre from the airport. Are there trains or buses that could get us directly/close to there, or would we have to resort to catching a cab? Any help would be greatly appreaciated.

Thanks!

The airport is actually in Mississauga, outside of Toronto.

A cab would likely be quite expensive. There's probably a bus. Train service around these parts blows. Our subway is more or less two lines, one north-south, one east-west.

What time does your flight arrive?

Outta curiosity, how early you guys with floor gonna be queueing the day of the show? I wanna be there like 4 or 5 hours early, but I also don't want to spend my entire birthday in the fucking snow. Will the fact that it's in Janruary keep the queues down? I've done 8 hours of queueing before (for Maiden in Toronto), but it might be too much in the winter.

No idea yet. Honestly, I live relatively close so I might try and be a little tardy based on the weather. If it's nice I'll be more willing to freeze.

ok for those flying, flying into Toronto or Hamilton, (yes we have airport lol) it may be cheaper for you to fly to buffalo then cross border there into niagara falls, Hamilton is about 40 mintues from the border crossing. If you plan you trip and need help with logging or food ideas or hookers etc please let me know. Hamilton is located about 40 minutes from the border(niagara falls) and about 40 minutes from Toronto as well.

things to look into: would it be better to fly to Hamilton, Toronto or Buffalo airports ($$$???)

Gunsguy

COPPS:

101 York Boulevard,

Hamilton, Ontario L8R 3L4

From Toronto

* QEW to Highway 403 west Hamilton

* Copps Coliseum exit at York Blvd. South and follow directional signs to Copps Coliseum, at the corner of York Blvd. & Bay Street (5 minute from highway!)

From Niagara / Buffalo

* (approx. 86 km to Hamilton) QEW Hamilton to Highway 403 west Hamilton

* Copps Coliseum exit at York Blvd. South and follow directional signs to Copps Coliseum, at the corner of York Blvd. & Bay Street.

Gunsguy

I'd have to disagree with flying into Buffalo for several reasons. First off, the Buffalo airport is in Depew, about 40 minutes from Niagara Falls. secondly, it's rather confusing to get from Depew to Niagara Falls if you don't know the area well. However if anyone plans to go this route, remember to cross at the Rainbow Bridge right in Niagara Falls. I've taken the Buffalo and Lewiston bridges, and both are total clusterfucks, especially Lewiston. I've waited more than 2 hours to cross at Lewiston before, and never waited more than 10 minutes on the Rainbow bridge.

Friends of mine keep telling me to fly out of Buffalo whenever I'm traveling - I really don't see the benefit though. What you save in cash you're going to lose part of in gas money and rental car fees anyway. A flight from the US to Toronto round trip shouldn't be too bad at that time of year.

Keep in mind that if you're flying into Toronto, the airport is technically in the neighboring city of Mississauga, and is really nowhere near either the Toronto or Hamilton venue

how far is your hotel from the venue? i would highly suggest not driving to the ACC. Take a taxi

I second the not driving to the ACC option. Parking will cost you. Although, once upon a time there was at least one cheap lot fairly close to the venue, but I don't know if it still exists (was a small lot towards lakeshore/gardiner).

I would make sure you have a passport as US customs requires them. I've heard about the enhanced license too but I don't know what's involved. Ugh. I crossed the border back in 2000 with someone who had no ID at the time, he completely forgot his wallet, and they didn't even check. How times have (sadly) changed.

I'm just looking to possibly upgrade my seats. I am driving 820 miles to this show. From North Carolina to London.

Needless to say, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.

I'm in 104 currently.

Hi,

I live in London and have been to this venue on numerous occassions.

Pretty much every seat is good.

104 is a great place. not so much of a view front on, but really close none the less. I couldn't get those seats and would like to upgrade to where you are! I'm not looking for better seats, since I might end up working backstage for this one, and the band usually tosses in a couple of seats.

We saw KISS a couple of weeks ago from 106, row S. It was a great spot to see the whole show. Row S on that side of the arena is Great. It is right in front/under the suites, so there is a cement wall behind your seats, so you can hang your coat on your chair without people kicking it etc.

We saw the WHO a couple years ago from 110, and it was a great place is see the light show specticle.

We saw Stevie Nicks as well from floor seats in the first section. It was terrible. The seats were good, but no one wanted to stand, so we were dancing away and people complained to security, they said sit down or move....we moved to the back behind the floor seats, partied and danced and had a great time.

When Axl was here in 2002, we had front row almost centre. WICKED EXPERIENCE. We even took him a bouquet of flowers, which he took with a smile and a nod. If you look closely you can see it in the video of the show.

London typically has a great ROCK concert crowd.

I'm excited just talking about it.

Front row in 2002 here as well. AMAZING show. Not just the seats, but the crowd in London was awesome, place was packed, people snuck in, crazy guy got up into the rafters (pretty sure Axl saw him but he didn't skip a beat). London 02 was seriously one of the best shows I've ever been to.

I'm not sure about the "not a bad seat in the house" thing but being a smaller arena, that very well could be the case.