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Slash's Demeanor Last Night At The Troubadour


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I've been reading a lot of comments regarding Slash's demeanor and body language last night at the Troubadour. From what I've seen on Youtube it seems like people are thinking that Slash might have been upset or was perhaps more focused rather than loose.

Obviously, last night was a really emotional night for us fans, but I also think it was very emotionally charged for the band as well, particularly between Axl and Slash. 

The thing that I kept thinking about is Axl tried for nearly a quarter of a century to replace Slash in GnR, but simply couldn't, yet here we were with both of them on stage once again.  Clearly, Slash hasn't forgotten that which is why, by all accounts, he played his fucking ass off.

In watching the videos Slash had a laser-like focus that I haven't seen before (I just saw him at the Palladium last October and he was very loose). It's like he had a chip on his shoulder, that he wanted reassert himself after such a long absence. I read a review of last night's show where the reviewer said that when the band looked at each other to continue the song, Slash continued to solo a little longer. I couldn't help but remember when GnR recorded Sympathy For The Devil that in the final version of the song Axl wanted Paul Huge's lead parts included which Slash took as the ultimate sign of disrespect. I also remember reading in an interview a long time ago that 'Shotgun Blues' was the only solo Slash ever recorded with Axl in the room and that that was a very different vibe when he was recording it. There's always been a combustible element between them that has been both a blessing and a curse.       

I think as the tour rolls on the chemistry and dynamic between the two of the will get better onstage. Even though they have made up and agreed to do this tour (which is incredible) I think old emotions die hard which is what I think we witnessed a little last night.

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1 minute ago, Ace Spade said:

We still don't even know what's happened between them, and we won't until one of them decides to actually tell us.

Slash probably signed the same gag order that all the other NewGNR guys signed

"There will be no interviews"

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1 hour ago, Russel Nash said:

Pardon me, but all i see in those clips (especially on WTTJ) is FUCKING SLASH rocking out to GNR tunes and an awesome performance overall. 

Absolutely, it was an exceptional performance.  I've just read a lot of people who were there last night commenting about his demeanor, which I found very interesting, that's all.  

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my first thought last night before they hit the stage was that Slash appeared depressed in the backstage photos that leaked online. his face, posture, everything was sluggish and kinda hard a dark undertone IMO.

IF he's indeed currently depressed, there's two big factors that could be at work - first, his ongoing divorce process and second, his ongoing grief process about Lemmy's death (Slash has stated how deeply this is affecting him).

when you consider the above plus add in his likely apprehension/anxiety/fear (whatever you want to call it) about rejoining Axl, it wouldn't be a surprise to me that he's carrying a very heavy heart mixed with a lot of conflicting feelings about what he's decided to do (at least for now anyway).

i believe Slash will take things with this current incarnation of 'GNR' on a day-to-day basis where he won't be afraid to pull out if he feels it's in his best interest. 

 

Edited by paranoyd androyd
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Its all nerves it got nothing to do with past. Just imagen being in his situation hes been hassled over the last 20 years over this reunion and he is. Have you watch his latest bluray he similar in that tense thats why this warm up shows good you wait till the next few shows 

Far out am in a band and we played our first show in 5 years and i was telling my sell to relax this is in front of about 100 people. id be fucked doing what slash done 

Edited by Gibbo 27
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I just really really really hope these shows sell well. I wish they would do a news conference or something in the coming weeks to promote it. These guys are going to be ecstatic to be playing sold out or nearly sold out STADIUMS on their tour back together. I bet it feels like a total badass to walk into the venue the day of knowing you're going to be playing that thing to a sold out crowd.

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12 minutes ago, paranoyd androyd said:

my first thought last night before they hit the stage was that Slash appeared depressed in the backstage photos that leaked online. his face, posture, everything was sluggish and kinda hard a dark undertone IMO.

IF he's indeed currently depressed, there's two big factors that could be at work - first, his ongoing divorce process and second, his ongoing grief process about Lemmy's death (Slash has stated how deeply this is affecting him).

when you consider the above plus add in his likely apprehension/anxiety/fear (whatever you want to call it) about rejoining Axl, it wouldn't be a surprise to me that he's carrying a very heavy heart mixed with a lot of conflicting feelings about what he's decided to do (at least for now anyway).

i believe Slash will take things with this current incarnation of 'GNR' on a day-to-day basis where he won't be afraid to pull out if he feels it's in his best interest. 

 

Plus he never really did the GNR thing sober, right?

I mean freshly divorced, GNR is starting up again, the pressure to relapse must be huge. Way bigger than when VR got going.

Edited by Ant
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He'll look more alive in Vegas. He just performed with Axl for the first time in 23 years and performed with Frank and Fortus who he hadn't played a live show with prior to last night. Plus it was a small crowd. Bigger crowd = more energy and more energy = a more active and badass Slash 

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Just to be clear, I'm not trying to throw shade on this at all. The night was awesome. I just kept hearing comments about his demeanor, so I wondered why that might be. 

On a side note: I LOVED that he was using Marshall Jubilee's again. I didn't particularly care for his AFD100 tone. 

1 hour ago, Gibson_Guy87 said:

He'll look more alive in Vegas. He just performed with Axl for the first time in 23 years and performed with Frank and Fortus who he hadn't played a live show with prior to last night. Plus it was a small crowd. Bigger crowd = more energy and more energy = a more active and badass Slash 

Totally agree.

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4 minutes ago, Ant said:

Plus he never really did the GNR thing sober, right?

I mean freshly divorced, GNR is starting up again, the pressure to relapse must be huge. Way bigger than when VR got going.

yeah, that's certainly another potential factor that could affect him on an ongoing basis. the human mind is a lot more fragile than once thought and sobriety is always tenuous, so no doubt he's juggling a lot of things all at once here. who knows, it may feel like a bit of an outer body experience for him right now so we'll just have to see how it goes.

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This Slash behavior you are describing I've noticed a loooong time ago.

I was not an Slash follower of his solo career but I've seen some stuff here and there and yes, I have noticed that he's become more introverted than ever. 

Maybe I get this perception because I stopped following him when he left GNR so my latest memories of him performing with GNR are of a young crazy drug addict and alcoholic who always acted careless on stage. He had that "too cool for you" attitude but not in a bad, arrogant way.

I remember Slash as a guy who spoke little but laughed a lot, his speech was like a mumble, hiding behind his hair.. Despite this, he offered a good show of runs, jumps, guitar games and being the counterpart of Axl.

Lately, he's not like that anymore. I didn't see him interacting with Myles that much either. So, IMO, he's changed a lot. It could be due to being clean now, older, more responsible, much more professional and one important thing: he may feel he doesn't belong to GNR anymore.

This is like returning to your parents home after decades of living alone. You have all the good and bad memories of it, but it doesn't feel the same. Now you have your own home, your own system, your own rules.

Axl's been running GNR for decades. I'm sure a lot of what Slash used to do for the band is a Team Brazil task now, so he basically must feel like a guest, for the time being.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions yet, specially based on the first and only show by now. Let's see how Vegas and Coachella go, with a bigger stage, a different setup and longer playtime.

If none of that fixes it, then let's hand him a couple Clonazepam pills :lol:

 

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