Rate the shows you have seen

[JAxlMorrison]

I am bored at work, so I figured I would just rate the shows I have been to in my lifetime.

1. Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, 5-12-2006

Rates #1 because it was the first time I saw Axl, the first ever inclusion of new songs like Better, IRS, and TWAT, because Axl seemed to be in great spirits, looked great, and because it really felt like the beginning of a whole new era. Was there for pre and post parties, so the whole day was just an awesome experience. Highlights: TWAT, November Rain

2. Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ 11-26-2011

Best show out of the 3 I saw on this tour. Most energy from both the band and the crowd. If Civil War would've been included it would probably be my favorite of all time. Better in the encore was pretty sweet though. Was extremely happy to see the guys performing in the Philadelphia area again and rocking the shit out of an appreciative crowd. Highlights: Rocket Queen, Estranged, Whole Lotta Rosie, Better

3. IZOD Center, East Rutherford, NJ 11-17-2011

First show I had seen from the boys in 5 years. Will never forget hearing that Dexter intro for the first time, or Estranged live for the first time. Loved the crowd, loved the setlist, loved the venue. Highlights: Chinese Democracy, Estranged, Shackler's Revenge

4. Madison Square Garden, NYC 11-10-2006

I wasn't as big a fan of this show as I was my Hammerstein experience, due to less new material, but it was still fun nontheless. Great NYC crowd.... Highlights: Chinese Democracy, Out Ta Get Me, Better

5. Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes Barre, PA 11-20-2011

Hated the crowd here. I had good seats but I saw and heard alot of bitching aboiut the "late" start and more where's Slash type rhetoric than any other show I have been to. No Better on the setlist...I still had a blast though. The band was great, Axl was awesome, told some fun stories, and my gf became a converted fan. But still, the lameness of some crowd members knocks this show down a peg or two for me. Highlights: Whole Lotta Rosie, Eestranged, This I Love

[Tyler Drama]

JAxlMorrison, I was at all those shows except Wilkes-Barre. I also went to the 5/17/2006 show at Hammerstein. All A+ performances.

[ironmt]

1. Three Rivers Stadium 7-26-1992. Use Your Illusion Tour. What more needs to be said. 2. Covelli Centre 12-07-2011. Awesome show with civil war and estranged In the same set. Good crowd. 3. Mohegen Sun Arena 11-20-2011. Very good performance with without a doubt the worst crowd for a concert that I have ever personally seen. 4. Mellon Arena 11-22-2002. Ok performance but the jersey dreadlocks and buckethead did nothing for me.

[cspalding22]

1- 1992 Orlando, FL - Metallica got booed off the stage, not once (walked off them came back for 3 songs) but twice (never returned). Guns came out to a tense crowd and destroyed. Awesome show.

2 - 2011 Worcester, MA - Awesome show, production was good and everyone played great.

3 - 2002 Boston, MA - Very good show considering half of those guys aren't in the band anymore.

4 - 2006 Worcester, MA - Still a good show, thought Fink actually played very well.

* As a side note, had tickets to the 1991 show in St. Louis, however my cousin in NY was getting married that week and mom made me go, thus missing out on history. I don't ever let my cousin forget about it.

[JAxlMorrison]

I had tickets to 5-17 but scalped them unfortunately...just couldn't afford to go to both....and I missed Izzy and Kid Rock!

[situation]

best to worst

1. Edmonton - 2010

2. Edmonton - 2006

3. Calgary - 2010

4. Tacoma - 2002 *TERRIBLE*

[JAxlMorrison]

What was so awful about Tacoma in '02?

[situation]

What was so awful about Tacoma in '02?

Well.. I had been waiting my whole life to see gnr live.. the first time they came to my city I think I was around 13 and I wasn't allowed to go to the concert so to say I was excited was an understatement. I actually had tickets to the Vancouver show the day before the Tacoma one but that didn't work out well. My biggest disappointment was Axl.. this was not the Axl I loved when I was younger... to me his voice was terrible, for the majority of the concert I couldn't even hear Axl and when I could hear him I wished that I couldn't cause it was so terrible. The arena was half full... I don't know how to fully explain it was I was beyond disappointed. Axl fully redeemed himself to me the next gnr concert i went to in 2006 though.

[Georgy Zhukov]

How was Paul Tobias live?

[Cosmo]

Live in Apoteose, Rio de Janeiro 2010 - A+. Even though they didn't play Shackler's or ITW, it's the best concert I've ever been to. Period. They were all awesome. Axl didn't interact much but his voice was awesome. The band just nailed every song and I couldn't believe how good the concert was.

Rock in Rio 2011 - B-. Still one of the best concerts I've been to but considering the rain, Axl's voice (which there was no way to notice it was that bad live), my physical state (after having to watch 4 bands before them) and the fact the only difference in the setlist was Estranged and Mi Amor, it just didn't pair up with 2010.

[axlsend]

1st 18.10.10 MEN, Manchester

2nd 13.10.10 Bercy, Paris

3rd 07.06.06 Hammersmith, London

4th 29.07.06 Wembley Arena, London

5th 13.10.10 O2 Arena, London

6th 17.10.10 NEC Arena, Birmingham

7th 25.07.06 NEC Arena, Birmingham

8th 13.07.93 Bercy, Paris

9th 14.06.92 Maine Road, Manchester

10th 22.05.93 Milton Keynes Bowl

Not rating the Freddie Tribute as it wasn’t a GnR gig....... it was just special.

Edited December 15, 2011 by axlsend

[youngunner]

I have seen GnR 7x since 2002. Very hard to rank them but there are 3 that absolutely stick out and were absolutely great in every way...

1)MSG-2002

2) Hammerstein- 2006- 1st show

3) Camden- 2011

These 3 were far and away the best of the 7

MSG 2006, NJ 2006, NJ 2011 and the 3rd Hammerstein SHow were all ok but do not come close to the 3 shows above

[sailaway]

List and Rank "all" the Guns gigs I've attended.?

I stopped counting a long time ago,and have been avidly attending since the late 80's.

[sailaway]

C'mon! List them!

Yeah,I'm really tempted to "list and rank" every GNR GIG I have been present at since The late 80's.

Sounds too much like work,and my e-peen doesnt need viagra

[Chewbacca]

A+ to all of them. I hate rating.

[sailaway]

A+ to all of them. I hate rating.

How right you are,so great a variation of venues,stadiums,wide variations of countries,and crowd ambience makes it impossible to "rate"

[tkarmy]

1. Last Hammerstein show 2006- Izzy was there and I met Axl that night! Plus it was the beginning of a start and Axl was in really good form.

2. Saskatoon 1993 - The old band. I was young and it was amazing. Everyone sounded great and November rain stripped down was amazing.

3. First Hammerstein show - Same as the last one but it was my first time in NYC and it was an amazing error.

4. Saskatoon 2010 - Great new band. Axl sounded great and so did the band. 3 hour show, they played Catcher, DJ messed up and started Paradise city before Axl wanted to ... so they ended with Night Train with Sebastian as a guest

5. Calgary 2010

6. 3rd night at Hammerstein 2006- Axl blew his voice pretty bad the first night, so the second night wasn't as good. I switch to the balcony for this show and it was WAY better to see.

7. Winnipeg 2010

8. Edmonton 2010

9. Regina 2010

10. 2nd night at Hammertein 2006

[IRS2008]

Man most of guys are young!

Number #1 -Definitely Greensboro 1991- at the time Gnr's longest show ever- Skid Row opened- It was about a month before UYI'S came out & they played fucking everything- I mean Everything! 4 separate encores- the band would keep leaving the stage & then come back on- the last Encore almost everyone was gone- i was halfway out the door & AxL said "hey greensboro anybody who is left come up to the front of the stage & they ripped thru PC- It was fucking amazing!!

2- Greensboro- 2006 first time saw band since 1991 with the new line-up & i was very skeptical- the new band blew me away- AXL's voice was unbelievable & that show re-ignited my passion for GnR- seen them 12x since then

3- London 2010 w/DuFF - incredible- AXL was the most intense i have ever seen him first time i ever heard him sing"I'm gonna watch you FUCKING bleed" during Jungle- I was front row on the rail that nite was pure magic & the best from the new line-up.

4- Hamilton CANADA 2009- band once again on fire & last time they played "TWAT"- it sounded incredible live & AXL nailed it!! Don't know why they don't toss it in more often.

5- Prudential center , NJ 2011- - 3 hour show, AxL sounds amazing, the band is ripping thru concerts like a well-oiled machine- "Estranged" back in the set list- what more can i say?

Edited December 16, 2011 by IRS2008

[Powerage5]

Best to...less best (There's no "worst" with GN'R!) for me:

Hamilton '11

There's really no way of topping this show in my mind. Added this one at the last second after the Albany cancellation, because one show this year just wasn't enough. On the barrier, just left of center at this one. The band was on fire, Axl was in a great mood, everything about it was great. Saw Sonic Reducer live for the first time, which was great live! Caught a pick from Fortus, and got a copy of the tour setlist from a security guard up front. Oh...and the after show passes and meeting Bumblefoot, Beta, and Del James really solidified this gig as my favorite!

Hamilton '10

First GN'R gig, and it was a hell of a first gig! With There Was A Time, Scraped, and If The World in the setlist, I'd like to say this is my favorite setlist I've seen to date...but that just wouldn't be true after having seen any show with Estranged! On the barrier on the center ego ramp at this one, facing across the stage towards Bumble/Fortus. This stood as my favorite concert of all time for a while...at least until some of my Maiden gigs in 2010.

Wilkes-Barre '11

Still an awesome gig, but just my least favorite so far. It was really awesome to finally see Estranged, Don't Cry, Riff Raff, Patience, and Whole Lotta Rosie live. As far as I'm concerned, Riff Raff is the best cover GN'R have ever done! The crowd was kinda lame at this one, Baz had to stop his set due to a fight on the floor, and the crowd was booing into the early parts of GN'R's set. I really missed Better and Shackler's at this gig, so that brought it down a bit for me. On the barrier in front of Tommy's mic at this one. At this show, got Baz's setlist, and picks from DJ and Bumblefoot.

Even the "worst" Guns show I've been to is better than any show I've seen from any other band, except Maiden and Anthrax.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Powerage5

[James Bond]

Hamilton 2011 - Amazing set list. Axl was in a terrific mood and sounded great. Hardly any breaks between the songs which kept the energy up. It was amazing to see Estranged live and overall, aside from one drunken idiot in front of me, my buddy and I had an absolute blast. It seemed like the band was going to play all night! One of the best shows I've ever seen.

Hamilton 2010 - Also an amazing set list and Axl was in a good mood. It's a pretty close ranking considering we got There Was A Time, If The World, and Scraped, but I think 2011 tops it in overall energy.

Toronto 2006 - it was awesome seeing Axl live for the first time, but in retrospect, he didn't seem like he was in that great of a mood. He didn't cut the show short by any means, we had quite a long set list and I got to hear Used To Love Her, Out Ta Get Me, as well as IRS and Better for the first time live. Great concert, but easily the "worst" compared to the latter two. Hard to remember much else since it was five years ago.

[jellyzero]

01-01-01 Las Vegas, NV

Flew there from KY and because of the New Years traffic I had to walk from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay and when I got there at 12:30 it was a three hour wait BUT I can say I was one of the first 2000 people to see Axl's first live show in 8 years. It was a pretty good performance and I remember after seeing the RIR III show that they played a lot better in Vegas than in Rio (seems to be an ongoing problem for them).

Nov. 2002 Columbus, OH

Great show but it seemed like Axl didn't want to be there. That was in the jersey/gym pants days and when "Jungle" started he just walked on stage like he was walking into a McDonalds 5 minutes after having a nice steak dinner somewhere. The band was really good, especially Brain who I didn't think knew the songs all that well at the two 2001 shows. I remember that "Madagascar" was so good at that show that I dubbed the audio from a VCR bootleg and put it on a CD for the car.

Nov. 2006 Cleveland, OH

Great show. My friend and I had seats in the back but as we were walking into the venue a car pulls up and this guy says "hey, you want some tickets? They're right up front." We asked him why he was giving them away and he said "Axl won't hit the stage until midnight and I have work in the morning." We took them off of his hands and asked the security which seats were better ours or his and they said definitely HIS. They were late on stage as usual and it was the infamous "Pigeons of Shit Metal" show (I did not boo them nor would I boo ANY band-plus I thought they were good they just were on the wrong tour). The band was killer and Axl sounded great although he was not loud enough in the mix.

12-2-11 Cincinnati, OH

I originally was going to go to the Nashville show but some friends who live in Lexington wanted us to go the the Ohio show with them. We got there after the opening band played we sat down and some idiot behind us was drunk as fuck yelling "where's Axl?" and I just had to ignore him especially since Axl was on stage pretty quick compared to usual. They were decent seats on the lower left side of the venue but I thought they were good until, again, Axl wasn't loud enough through the PA. I was right across from the soundguy(s) and I kept giving them the evil eye but it didn't help. Apparently his idea of running sound is turning all the guitars up to 11 while the vocals and drums set somewhere around 5, not to mention one of them was eating bananas half the time while the other slept in a chair with his feet propped up on the soundboard. It was annoying but I still believe it is the best of the four GNR shows that I have seen in the last 10 years.

As far as ranking goes I would say Cincinnati, OH is #1, followed by Vegas (just the excitement and the club atmosphere), the Cleveland 06 show at #3, and the 02 show at the bottom (basically because it was too obvious Axl didn't want to be there and didn't give a fuck).

Edited December 16, 2011 by jellyzero

[Georgy Zhukov]

C'mon! List them!

Yeah,I'm really tempted to "list and rank" every GNR GIG I have been present at since The late 80's.

Sounds too much like work,and my e-peen doesnt need viagra

At least pick 5 of them.

[BKinNYC]

1. CNE in Toronto, 1991 - Like a previous poster said, this was a few days before the Illusions came out, and they played everything. In fact, at one point Axl asked the crowd "what are some song titles you heard - we'll play 'em," and someone yelled out Back Off Bitch, which they played. Then at around 1AM, Axl sat down at the piano to play November Rain - the first time I ever heard the song. Awesome.

2. Hamilton, 1993, Skin N' Bones tour - It pisses me off to this day that some asshole threw something at Axl and the show was cut short. They brought out couches and did a full acoustic set. Then, right after that, Axl said "we're going to be here for awhile," and they went into Paradise City, like halfway through the show. But then someone ruined everything.

3. Buffalo, NY, 1992 - this was great because there were like 80,000 people there, and I was second row. Still the closest I've ever been at a Gn'R show. It was a whole experience though, because I met the band the day before at their hotel, and caught one of the roses that Axl threw out at the end of the show.

4. Hammerstein, 2006, First Show - the anticipation was amazing. What would Axl look like? How would he sound? That performance blew me away.

I'd say the worst show was probably Toronto in '92, mainly because I was so far away, and they didn't seem to have their heart in it that night.

Good topic - I love reading everyone's memories!

[James Bond]

For those who saw shows in 1991 before the records came out, how was the general crowd response to the new songs at the time? I'd be interested in knowing if the crowd was receptive to hearing songs like November Rain or Estranged for the very first time.

[GiveNuseR]

Only show I've seen them at was Nashville a couple weeks ago. Decent sized crowd. Not a huge number left early like at some shows. Axl sounded great on probably 4 out of every 5 songs. The mix was great with no drowning out of his vocals with the music. First civil war eprformance since the 90s so it was a cool shock. really nothing could have been done to make it any better. Everything was justa wesome. If somhow Axl's voice hadn't been so high on a few songs it would have been eprfect... but like i said that was probably 1 of every 5 or less.

I sure wish I had seen the show in Memphis in 1992. I think I had just started liking them not long before and thatw as my one chance to see them in the prime years. Prime as in age-wise.