2/27 - Philadelphia official discussion

[RocketQueen1985]

Just met Axl Rose. Had him sign my laminate.

So jealous. Did you talk to him?

[The Glow Inc.]

-Axl talked about the Philadelphia's riot in 02: "The true story is we tried to cancel the show that morning. My manager told me he cancelled it, but he lied. Then, we tried to cancel it again but Clear Channel wanted the tour to fail so they didn't let me cancel it. They wanted me to just not show and cause a riot. But the truth is, I was sick. It didn't have anything to do with fur coats, or basketball games".

But somehow, nobody in the band/crew got the memo and they all showed up...

[bionic56]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYR4Ayj-v9s

[Benfolds4980]

Real quick, not sure why people are saying the show got cut short. They went onstage at 11:32 and finished at 2:34 - 3 hours and 2 minutes. As far as i know, they didnt cut out any songs from the usual set list.

I'll post a review later. Trying to function at work and failing.

[Duda]

Just met Axl Rose. Had him sign my laminate.

Awesome

Details, please!?

[Coma16]

Real quick, not sure why people are saying the show got cut short. They went onstage at 11:32 and finished at 2:34 - 3 hours and 2 minutes. As far as i know, they didnt cut out any songs from the usual set list.

I'll post a review later. Trying to function at work and failing.

Facebook page has the show starting from 23:35 up to 02:00. Looks like SR was left out and WLR/RR.

[Benfolds4980]

Real quick, not sure why people are saying the show got cut short. They went onstage at 11:32 and finished at 2:34 - 3 hours and 2 minutes. As far as i know, they didnt cut out any songs from the usual set list.

I'll post a review later. Trying to function at work and failing.

Facebook page has the show starting from 23:35 up to 02:00. Looks like SR was left out and WLR/RR.

You are right about Whole Lotta Rosie / Riff Raff - that was not played. But Shacklers Revenge WAS played towards the end of the pre-encore set, which I was happy about because i love that song live. The 2:00 AM time stamp is definitely wrong. I looked at my watch immediately when they went off stage and it was 2:35 AM.

Edited February 28, 2012 by Benfolds4980

[wreckless]

Civil War (with RASP )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=balYqsfnGWI

Edited February 28, 2012 by wreckless

[Benfolds4980]

Setlist:

01-Chinese Democracy

02-Welcome to the Jungle

03-It's so Easy

04-Mr. Brownstone

05-Sorry

06-You're Crazy

07-Estranged

08-Rocket Queen

19-Richard Fortus Guitar Solo [James Bond Theme]

10-Live and Let Die

11-This I Love

12-Used To Love Her

13-Motivation [Tommy on vocals]

14-Dizzy Reed Piano Solo [baba O'Riley]

15-Street of Dreams

16-You Could Be Mine

17-DJ Ashba Guitar Solo [The Ballad of Death]

18-Sweet Child O' Mine

19-November Rain

20-Bumblefoot Guitar Solo [Pink Panther Theme]

21-Don't Cry

22-Civil War

23-Knockin' On Heaven's Door

24-Nightrain

ENCORE

25-Madagascar

26-Better

27-Patience

28-Paradise City

Important Events:

-Bumblefoot was hurting his back during the show.

-Axl talked about the Philadelphia's riot in 02: "The true story is we tried to cancel the show that morning. My manager told me he cancelled it, but he lied. Then, we tried to cancel it again but Clear Channel wanted the tour to fail so they didn't let me cancel it. They wanted me to just not show and cause a riot. But the truth is, I was sick. It didn't have anything to do with fur coats, or basketball games".

They played six songs from Chinese Democracy, seven from Appetite For Destruction, three from Use Your Illusion I, four from Use Your Illusion II, three from Lies & one cover.

________________

Show was only about 2.5 hours long. Likely cut out a few songs for Ron's sake.

FYI, they played Shacklers Revenge, i believe after Dont Cry. I also thought Civil War was earlier in the set. No biggie on Civil War, but wanted to call our Shacklers so no one flips out.

[ZodiacManzo]

his voice is starting to sound truly awesome again

[wreckless]

his voice is starting to sound truly awesome again

Yes, it's getting better!

[Benfolds4980]

Ok, so obviously I dont post much but I'm a constant reader and wanted to give my review / experience. Been a huge fan since roughly 1993 ( i was 14 ), but had never seen them live until attempting to see them in Philly in 2002, then finally seeing them at MSG in 2006. Went to Scranton and Camden shows in 2011, both of which were pretty good with Camden being significantly better. Had always read on HTGTH but the light clicked for me when watching RIR 2011 when all the honest posts kept getting deleted, and that was when I started reading this board. Anyway...

Myself and 4 other friends got to the EF around 9:35, and the place was not extremely crowded. We went straight up to the balcony on the side and were in the 2nd row. Had we wanted to stay down on the floor, we probably would have been in the 10th row at worst at that point. We did talk to the guys at the box office and they said that they had sold out, but we assumed many went to scalpers. Our seats were great, 2nd row balcony on the right side, very close to Philly Guns ( who i met but up to that point had never posted so giving him my username was pointless haha ). By the time the opening act finished, the floor had completely filled up and the balcony was multiple rows deep. The opening act was not terrible but not great. They were entertaining - the lead singer had a lot of charisma and the music was decent. Tough for them to win over the crowd when no one really was there to see them, but i did see a couple people singing a lot, etc. They went off stage literally almost exactly at 11. I was telling all my friends that it'll be midnight or later, most likely, especially since 1) they always seem to take 1 hour or so after the opener is done, and 2) the last couple shows i believe were closer to midnight. Around 11:25, the change over was completely done, and i figured we had a 30 minute wait. We all took Over / Under bets.... and.... i lost haha.... becuase at 11:35 the lights went down and the place gave a "surprised erruption". Maybe he was trying to make up for 2002, but a 35 minute change over for GNR was amazing to me. They intro was not Dexter, it was the other new one ( i forget what its from ).

The crowd was into it from the get go. Hard to compare to the Camden crowd because this was much more intimate, but it definitely seemed like a more intense crowd than the previous show in this area. I wasnt at Atlantic City so cant compare to that, which i heard was a good crowd. CD rocked as usual, and immediately i said to my friend that Axl sounded perfect in the audio mix. My previous live experiences, and from some youtube clips, it seemed like the combo of the crowd noise and the mix being not perfect for the first song resulted in his vocals being hard to hear on CD, but he sounded great and very clear. Jungle / ISE / Brownstone were fantastic as usual. Axl's scream to kick off Jungle seemed more intense than usual. During these songs it became apparent that he was having a good night vocally. My one buddy was there in 2002, and isnt a hard core fan, so he sometimes like to bust on my obsession, etc etc, but he just turned to me and said " dude he sounds really, really good. I cant believe he's 50 and sounds like that". And thats not coming from a biased fan. I think we should all keep that in perspective. Sorry got the typical response - no thunderous applause but a decent amount of people singing and responding positively. You're Crazy, Estranged & Rocket Queen were crowd favorites, as usual. You're Crazy particularly went over better than I thought it would, since it wasnt a mainstsay. His vocals on Rocket Queen were far better than Camden, and much better than how he normally sounds on Youtube ( i know, it never does justice anyway ). Live and Let Die was very good - his scream was more intense than the 2 previous shows i saw. This I Love was great - one comment is that i think it takes him some time to recover from the LALD screaming and the first verse of TIL seemed tough for him. He was fine by the 2nd verse.

It was about this time, somewhere towards the end of TIL or the beginning of Used To Love Her that people started realizing that Bumble was not on stage. Being on the right side, we could see to the far side / back of the stage, and all of a sudden we noticed this pair of legs sticking out from between two amps, with a guitar resting on them and the guy's head learning up against the amp. Obviously, took two seconds to realize it was Ron, and that he was having serious issues. For a few minutes he flat out didnt move and if we didnt know any better about his injury, you would have thought maybe he was passed out. At some point they took his guitar from him, i think during Motivation. He would alternate between depressingly leaning / laying back against the amp and then sitting forward with his head in his hands. I started wondering if other players could play his parts, etc etc. Right before Street of Dreams, they handed him his guitar back but he didnt get up, or even look like he was comfortable moving. As SOD started, he strummed the opening power chord and I honestly didnt expect him to last past that one song. He basically stayed there, playing with his guitar on his lap, all the way through SOD, YCBM, DJ's Solo, and the first half of SCOM. As DJ started the first half of the SCOM solo, Ron slowly stood up ( looked very tough for him to do ) and walked slowly over to his spot and took over the 2nd half of the solo. The crows on the left hand side of the stage, who obviously noticed his absence and could probably only see his legs sticking out from the amps and nothing else ( which must have looked ominous ), gave him a huge ovation as he walked out to play the solo. I could not believe he was out there plalying, especially when he had to wear the double necked guitar. He went back to sit down for November Rain, only coming back out to the front of the stage for the outro lead. By the way, all of the songs i mentioned in this section were fantastic. I'm not a big SOD guy, so honestly during that whole song i was concentrating on Ron anyway. November Rain was epic - no forgotten lyrics or cut off endings. I did miss the pyro though.

So, after November Rain, Axl looked over at Ron and basically said " How you feeling, Bumble? " ( oh, and previously i think during Sweet Child, Axl was walking across stage and sort of put his hand on Bumble's shoulders and held it there for a while, looking at him, seemingly saying " you ok man?". Bumble appeared to appreciate it ) He went on to say to the crowd " Bumble's vertebrate is not feeling as good as Bumble is tonight. I know that HE's feeling good, but his vertrebrate is saying " fuck you, Bumble! ". It was at least a nice gesture to address the issue, and to let the crowd know why he was off to the side. Still no idea if the idea of him not playing the rest of the show was talked about between the band, im sure it was obviously. So Ron did his solo, and Dont Cry, and i saw him joke around with the other guys a few times, like hitting them on the back and smiling, etc. Multiple times Richard had gone over to him to check on him to see if he was ok.

This is a long review, sorry. Civil War was an absolute highlight of the night. My buddy ( same guy i referenced above ) said it was his favorite moment of the night. The crowd was really into it. Shacklers Revenge, while still not received as well as an old song, is killer live in my opinion. KOHD was what it always is - if you ask me, its a fun song and Axl seems to really enjoy singing it, but.... i could do without it i think. I still cant get "Tracy and Roberta" out of my head when that song is played..... Nightrain was ridiculously good, and it sort of gave the crowd a 2nd wind. Nightrain was played around 2 AM, so some of the crowd was just getting tired. Still loving the show and responding well, but just losing some energy. So, Nightrain brought them back. Unfortunately, Madagascar didnt do anything to keep that energy going. It's one of my favorite songs on CD, but my personal opinion is it would fit better earlier in the set. I know Axl really likes the song, so, i get it why he's featuring it. But at 2:10 AM, the crowd doesnt respond much at all. Still sounded great. Better got a "better" response, and i still am looking forward to the song being well known enough where the crowd joins in with Axl when he does his jump-stomp during the guitar bridge. I was going nuts up on the balcony and almost took a guy out doing it. Patience was good, and of course Paradise was fantastic. I'd never been that close to the confetti, it was blinding and awesome.

All in all, probably my best GNR show i've personally been to ( i know, small sample size ). Oh, i forgot about the huge topic of him mentioning 2002. I posted the transcript earlier last night during the show, so, go read that haha. My impressions are 1) The crowd thought it was awesome that he was bringing it up, 2) I dont think the crowd bought his explanation at all, as it sort of sounded like BS, even though i do believe him that he probably tried to cancel it at 6 AM the day of because i remember hearing rumors that almost immediately after the NYC show the night before, he wasnt up to / in the mood / healthy enough to play Philly that night. But 3) They literally didnt care if his explanation sounded like BS, because as soon as he said " but I love Philly " they errupted and it sort of seemed like, at that moment, all was forgiven. At the very end of the night, after the bow when he was saying " drive home safe", etc, he also said " and again... my apologies for yester years ".

And, im done

[Bertie Higgins]

Sounded like a great show, I hope Ron gets better!

Yea he looked really bad, hopefully its just a pulled muscle or something. He chilled at the side of the stage for a while, and since the stage is so small, he could be seen by mostly everyone so I kept hearing people talk about it.

DJ gave a shout out to you on fb!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/ashbaland

[DaneisKing1389]

Setlist:

01-Chinese Democracy

02-Welcome to the Jungle

03-It's so Easy

04-Mr. Brownstone

05-Sorry

06-You're Crazy

07-Estranged

08-Rocket Queen

19-Richard Fortus Guitar Solo [James Bond Theme]

10-Live and Let Die

11-This I Love

12-Used To Love Her

13-Motivation [Tommy on vocals]

14-Dizzy Reed Piano Solo [baba O'Riley]

15-Street of Dreams

16-You Could Be Mine

17-DJ Ashba Guitar Solo [The Ballad of Death]

18-Sweet Child O' Mine

19-November Rain

20-Bumblefoot Guitar Solo [Pink Panther Theme]

21-Don't Cry

22-Civil War

23-Knockin' On Heaven's Door

24-Nightrain

ENCORE

25-Madagascar

26-Better

27-Patience

28-Paradise City

Important Events:

-Bumblefoot was hurting his back during the show.

-Axl talked about the Philadelphia's riot in 02: "The true story is we tried to cancel the show that morning. My manager told me he cancelled it, but he lied. Then, we tried to cancel it again but Clear Channel wanted the tour to fail so they didn't let me cancel it. They wanted me to just not show and cause a riot. But the truth is, I was sick. It didn't have anything to do with fur coats, or basketball games".

They played six songs from Chinese Democracy, seven from Appetite For Destruction, three from Use Your Illusion I, four from Use Your Illusion II, three from Lies & one cover.

________________

Show was only about 2.5 hours long. Likely cut out a few songs for Ron's sake.

Gotta get this on the front page.

Axl sounds significantly better in the videos I've seen so far. I can't believe how fast he can turn it around sometimes.

[Axl Rose aka God]

Axl sounds absolutely brilliant, his voice is similar to that of 2010. Perhaps that cold helped make the Bronchitis subside. I dunno how that works, i've never had it.

[Philly Guns]

Sounded like a great show, I hope Ron gets better!

Yea he looked really bad, hopefully its just a pulled muscle or something. He chilled at the side of the stage for a while, and since the stage is so small, he could be seen by mostly everyone so I kept hearing people talk about it.

DJ gave a shout out to you on fb!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/ashbaland

yea I posted on his page after the show, and saw he put it on his wall, totally awesome. Lots of love for the shirts, and I have like 20 friend requests in like the last few hours

[batman007]

I am glad everyone had a blast! Thanks for the updates and reviews. Fn awesome that some of you guys met the band.

[JAxlMorrison]

People at the WMMR Facebook are still trashing Axl and the band....sigh.

[Bertie Higgins]

yea I posted on his page after the show, and saw he put it on his wall, totally awesome. Lots of love for the shirts, and I have like 20 friend requests in like the last few hours

Very awesome!! Especially since he gets weirdos posting on his fb all the time, that's very cool that he recognized you!!

[JAxlMorrison]

People at the WMMR Facebook are still trashing Axl and the band....sigh.

Don't let it bother you...98% of those clowns didn't even go to the show.

Yeah I know, that's the problem...fuckin parrots.

[Powerage5]

24 bit audio on Dime:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=395739&viewcomm=5253448#comm5253448

[Nicc]

Would you be named..... Steve, PG? lol

No not stalking, lovely pic though :xmasssanta:

Edited February 28, 2012 by Nicc

[bumblecool]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6-4rY15KRA&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX21nbVJbE0&feature=channel

Great videos!!!

[axlslash]

My review (and it will be a little long, but I finally got to see and meat one of my favorite bands, you fuck off with your TLDRs)

I got the the Electric Factory at 11am. Security wouldn't even let me line up yet, so I waited outside the parking lot. I went in and sat on the steps outside the club starting around 1. A really nice group got in line behind be a little later - 2 hardcore Ashba fans and a family bringing their two kids. GNRSkidRow1 got there a bit after them. It was a reasonably pleasant afternoon chilling in the parking lot, got some reading done for school, and what not. Real McCoy and some other forum types showed up throughout the day. Got to spend more time with them after the show - but more on that later. WMMR set up speakers so we could listen to their broadcast from inside, which included an interview with Bumble right before the doors opened.

GNRSkidRow1 went in with the VIPs, and I was first in line after them. Security were over-vigilant in frisking me and confiscated my sharpies, but I finally got in. GNRSkidRow1 managed to hold me a spot front and center, as all 12 other VIPs were Ashba fanatics. He then points over my right shoulder, and who's hanging out in crowd but...

The Last Vegas went on around 10:15. They were really solid musically. The schtick was a little over the top, but they were fun as hell as performers and musicians. The singer is kind of a mix of Mick Jagger, Alice Cooper, and Dio as far as his stage manner. Really cool performance, and I'll probably start listening to them a bit more. Evil Eyes was probably my favorite of their set, even if the "Can you fucking see my eyes?" intro is stupid as hell.

About 40 minutes after Last Vegas finished, the lights go down and the intro starts. From there, it's really all a blur. The opening section was pretty standard. So cool to finally hear songs like CD, Jungle, and RQ live after so many youtube videos through the years. Dj played his Sorry solo on the block right in front of me and tossed his pick right to me, which was pretty damn cool.

Estranged was easily the early highlight. That song is a fucking BEAST live. Axl was spot on, and the band absolutely killed.

Richard's solo was a surprising highlight. He's my favorite member of the band, no question, but I wasn't expecting a song with Axl hanginin' offstage to be so fucking stellar.

LALD was where things really kicked into high gear. The early bits had the occasional mickey voice, but LALD was perfect. Those screams locked him in, and he never looked back. And let me say - those screams are fucking astounding. Just mindblowing.

This I Love was the point that Ron disappeared. It was noticeable at some points more than others, but was definitely worrisome Axl's voice was fucking pristine. The power of this song was overwhelming. Axl then said "let's do another sweet, romantic song." Used To Love Her was really fun, lots of energy, and 4tus is fucking boss. That silver tele is gorgeous. Motivation was great too, but REALLY empty-sounding without Ron.

Dizzy's solo was a ton of fun. GNRSkidRow1 and I started yelling requests for other Who songs before he started Baba, and he gave us a joking glare. SoD was gorgeous as always. Axl then stopped to give us the story of the 2002 cancellation as has been posted already, followed by You Could Be Mine. Axl fucking killed it. Unbelievable.

Ballad of Death and SCOM were great - it was amazing to finally hear those SCOM solos live, and I love the take Dj puts on them. Bumble came back out about halfway through, but was clearly in a really bad way. November Rain and the various associated jams were as good as I've heard Axl sing them in the 2011-12 era.

"Bumblefoot's vertebrae aren't feeling good right now. Bumblefoot feels great, but his vertebrae are like 'fuck you!'" Bumble's solo was amazing. As he was stepping up to start, I held up a sign that said 'Bumble-Beard in Training' with an arrow pointing to my goatee. He gave me a good-natured cock-eyed look and stroked his beard. At a quiet point of his solo, he threw his head back and screamed "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" You could see the pain with every movement. Don't Cry clearly had some extra feeling and intensity for him. One of the most powerful performances I have ever seen.

Shacklers was the highlight of the night. Just destructively powerful. Everyone was firing on all cylinders, and Axl was a man possessed. There are simply no words for how unreal this song was. Fucking perfect in every way.

Civil War came after Shackler, and kept the passion and perfection going. This was the best I have ever heard Axl sound. Stunning performance. Probably second only to Shacklers for best song of the night. KOHD and Nightrain were magnificent, and just like that, the show was over.

The encore was the standard four songs. Absolutely magnificent, a whirlwind of energy and fun. Amazing amazing amazing. Just incredible.

And then, the fun started.

GNRSkidRow1 and I headed out the side door as soon as the show ended and headed for the stage entrance area, along with McCoy and crew. There were probably 30 people out there totally, about 2/3 fans and 1/3 dealers ( ). We were told it would be at least an hour, and we all settled in. Dj came out about 20 minutes later. He signed and took pics with almost everyone who wanted, but Del shuttled him out pretty briskly. Got my picture signed (props to Powerage5 for the photo!) and took a pic with him. Had a very entertaining convo with him, too.

Me: Dj, can't wait for the AM performance at the Revolver Awards.

Dj: Thanks, man, we're excited.

Me: You guys have any idea what you'll be playing.

Dj: Yup.

Ron is a fucking boss. After disappearing for chunks of the show in visible pain, Bumble chatted and signed for EVERYONE. Posed for pictures, the whole shebang. All on top of chillin in the pit for a few minutes right when the doors opened. Just the coolest. I already had my pic with him, but got him to sign my band picture outside afterwards.

Dizzy, Tommy, Frank, and Richard all left with minimal interaction, and Chris snuck out at some point. We all knew there was only one guy left. After about half an hour or 45 minutes, Fernando came out. He said something like "We're not gonna do individual pictures, but we'll do one group shot, and we won't be able to get everyone, but we'll do as many as possible" and went back inside. About 5 minutes later, Beta and Vanessa came out, followed by Fernando and, finally, the man himself. Axl was gracious as all hell. Talked the whole time he was signing stuff. Definitely was rushing to get everyone in before he had to leave, but it was in an effort to be accommodating, not his alleged hatred of fans. He and I exchanged words briefly as he signed my photo. Just an unbelievable experience. Fernando's gonna put the group photo on gnr.com at a point, but I don't have it yet. Still, just in shock that I actually got all my goals for the evening: front row, a guitar pick, and met Axl motherfucking Rose.

I'm out of picture space, so they'll be in a second post.

My signed photo - again, thank you Powerage5!

Axl making his way down the line

Me and Dj

[James Bond]

Awesome axlslash! Sounds like a hell of a night. Great review and pictures! You are one lucky bastard.