04/20/16 - Mexico City - Foro Sol

[Iron MikeyJ]

Seems to be quite a lot of bitching about this show. 

[SerenityScorp]

4 hours ago, superloconoriega said:

I just got home from the show!! This is my third GNR show (2008 & 2012) and it was by far the most different and memorable of all. I felt that the combination of new and old school elements of the band really fails to generate something superior, and instead each side of that equation contradicts each other. It was still awesome to see Slash, Duff & Axl together. The weather was HORRIBLE and really made difficult to enjoy the show. Earlier in the day there was a hailstorm and for a lot of the show it was heavily raining. Slash, Duff & Richard also seemed to be very wet, which made me wonder if they would stop the show so they could dry or change clothes. Place was packed.

 

It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone

 

10 minutes before showtime they started showing in the big screen a classic GNR logo neon sign, which would start to light up each passing minute. This was kinda cool but overall I found the projections to be VERY LAME. Like really bad. I’m a video editor and it really feels like most of the videos are either cheap stock footage or put together just days before the shows. Sometimes they would be just 3D GNR logos that would scroll through the screen. So weird and distracting.   The band was playing good, but the mix was VERY loud (you could literally feel the bass inside of your body) and in a lot of parts it feels like there’s a lot going on. Axl’s vocals are not loud enough, very noticeable since I was really trying to hear in what kind of shape is his voice nowadays. Still, he sounded good for most of the show. It was nice that for the first 30 minutes of the show there was no rain.

 

Chinese Democracy
Welcome to the Jungle
Weird to see Slash playing the Chinese intro. This was the first moment of the show where I felt there was something wrong. Honestly, this song would be awesome if it was played just with new Slash parts, but the way its played now it’s a weird combination of Slash’s bluesy style plus Fortus shredding ala Buckethead, which just gives the song a very weird vibe. Kinda liked it just because it gave me insight into what it could have been if Slash had played on Chinese, but whatever Richard was playing ruined it for me.

 

Jungle was cool, the floor of the stadium was literally shaking. Really cool moment. I felt that the animations (a bunch of old tv sets just like in the jungle video) worked the best in this one, but they can still improve. I remember turning to my side and there was a guy with a “this is the best day of my life” type of face. Like he had his hands in his mouth. LOL.

 

Double Talkin' Jive
Estranged 
Live and Let Die
Axl sounded really cool in DTJ, without the rasp but with a very similar tone as in the 90’s. Really liked it. Estranged was cool. By this moment it had started to rain, but during Estranged it got really bad. It gave the song a very epic feel and I think there was thunder during this one, you can imagine how cool was that. Slash was awesome on this one. Live and Let Die (I guess along with Jungle) got the biggest ovation of the night so far, people went nuts for it (which surprised me).

 

Rocket Queen
You Could Be Mine
Nothing memorable about these 2, maybe except that the people right next to me sang YCBM with the “with your ass on the air” extra line which really creeped me out for some reason.

 

You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory / New Rose
Dissapointed that there was no “Attitude” tonight (and as the night would progress this would be a theme- no pun intended). Made me realize how much under used Duff really is and how much louder his vocals should be on the mix. This is also true for Melissa, which is impossible to hear in a lot of songs. Also (and I don’t remember if it happened on this one) but is Melissa leaving the stage for some songs??? I remember being unable to see her in some of the most rock sounding songs. Shame because in the ones that you could actually hear her, she and axl create a very cool duet. Female vocals are actually only one of the few improvements of this new band.

 

This I Love
This one felt very forced. Axl (at least facially) was struggling with the song and right before the end he had a really bad moment that hurt the otherwise awesome ending. Almost nobody recognized the song and because of the rain the show started to drag a little.

 

There Was a Time
I was excited for this one, but it had, in wrestling terms, a SILENT POP. Nobody reacted to this one, it was really something. I felt bad because with that kind of reaction I doubt they will care to play it that much. Also, I would have preferred they played Coma, and with the show running as late I figured it was one or the other and I was right. Felt it was OK.

 

The Godfather
The animation was Slash’s tattoo of himself in a loop. So fucking lame. Slash’s facials are so weird, he reminds me a lot of Chuck Berry’s later days appareances. Solo was cool.

 

Sweet Child O' Mine
Another cool moment, really cool slash solo. People went nuts and everybody was singing along. Axl seemed in really good spirits and I don’t remember if it was in this one or which but there was a moment where he came back from the back and said something like “lets take it easy with the green laser”. It made me laugh and think about how much Axl has changed now that slash is back in the band. He was so happy for most of the show, introducing each member in Spanish repeatedly, overall the band seemed to be in a very good mood (except slash). Did Frank fucked up the intro? Felt like it.

 

Better
Just like Chinese, I feel Slash’s arrangement + Richard playing Bucket don’t really mix that smoothly, but whatever. Show was seriously dragging by this point but I was trying to enjoy it.  People sometimes where throwing cups with urine or whatever at other people. Very uncomfortable. Slash’s last solo also felt like he was just playing the first thing that came to his head and has not really worked out the songs seriously.

 

My Michelle
Wish You Were Here / Layla

 

Nothing memorable about those. Where was Baz? MEXICO CITY ARE YOU READYYYYY?

 

November Rain

 

For me, the worst moment of the night were the animations during November Rain. Seriously. This was a moment of the show where there was no rain (ironically), but for some reason whoever was controlling these screens decided to add a RAINING screen effect to the shots of axl playing the piano and slash playing the solo. SERIOUSLY IT LOOKED SO CHEAP. Like the animations of the rain looked to have been made in a computer operating in Windows 2000. I was laughing the whole song, SO BAD. Place was light it up with the cellphone lights, that was awesome.

 

Knockin' On Heavens Doors
Nightrain

 

KOHD was really good, a really chill moment of the show which by this point was running past the second hour right??? It had stopped raining for a while so it was a good song to bring back the people.

 

Nightrain was alright, but this was the confirmation of what I had been thinking the whole show. Fortus really doesn’t fit in this lineup. Slash and Duff are really cool because there’s no exaggeration in their movements, there’s no Hulk Hogan type of playing up to the crowd that made us hate DJ Ashba so bad. But Fortus is really exaggerated with his strumming, he never stops to put a show, going in circles with his guitar, it feels really forced and fake, and totally against what slash and duff bring to the table vibe wise. He also wears this really weird stage costume (those pants with the red stripe and red shirt) that really remind me more of Ashba than Izzy. I feel bad saying this, because I always really liked Fortus but he just feels too weird in this. Frank and Melissa feel 10x more natural than this guy!

 

**ENCORE**
Don't Cry
Yesterdays
The Seeker 
PARADISE CITY

 

This was easily the best part of the show. Don’t Cry was the best song, maybe because it was the most clean sounding and stripped down of all the songs played. It was so weird to hear it because there was a bunch of people chanting for it and as soon as the chant stopped they started playing it. Really cool moment for me. Yesterdays was great too and really flows after Don’t Cry. The seeker sounded very good live and really seemed to be a fit for Axls voice. Paradise City was alright but im not sure if Axl’s has his parts right (at the beginning and at the end).

 

I had a great time and I love guns, but it was a very weird show that generates a lot of questions for me as a fan, specially whats up between slash and axl and what will the future hold for this band…. oh yeah, and WHERE'S IZZY? 

 

Same kind of move like Fortus

Fortus = Izzy's long lost twins

[moreblack]

8 minutes ago, SerenityScorp said:

Nobody reacted to this one, it was really something. I felt bad because with that kind of reaction I doubt they will care to play it that much.

I don't blame them, that song is kinda hollow.

[Ak1nney]

More rasp live on TWAT than the studio recording. Wow. I just hope the break in tour dates after this weekend and the AC/DC  venture have no effect on his vocals. Last night's performance was insanely good. 

[colonizedmind]

4 minutes ago, Ak1nney said:

More rasp live on TWAT than the studio recording. Wow. I just hope the break in tour dates after this weekend and the AC/DC  venture have no effect on his vocals. Last night's performance was insanely good. 

I now think if anything, the AC/DC thing will KEEP him in shape, this is great news! Although, it certainly doesn't leave much time to rehearse with the band for the stadium run, but guessing they'll keep it mostly the same but maybe add a few songs here and there...
Axl must be non stop right now, learning all the DC songs too!
Fans have always given him a hard time of being lazy, well not this year it would seem...

Edited April 21, 2016 by colonizedmind

[Slashmatt98]

14 hours ago, Slashmatt98 said:

I'm predicting they will play twat and possibly yesterday's or think about you.

i really want them to play twat and locomotive!!

My predictions were right!

i hope everyone at the show last night had a good time! 

[downzy]

First post of this thread has been updated with all youtube clips and images from the evening added and summarized.  

 

[Nick85]

Some of these pissy "critiques" are unreal and utterly nitpicky. I just watched the TWAT video and Slash absolutely crushed it. 

Having such a blast watching this all unfold.

[tsinindy]

4 hours ago, Homefuck said:

Please Axl, you don't have to play everything like it was recorded: but WHY do you insist on singing in the instrumental part of the PC-intro? It doesn't sound good and you come in too late with the whistle!

This....honestly this is my biggest complaint of anything.  Axl needs to STFU, after the chorus during the intro shut it the fuck down you are literally ruining the fucking song.

Edited April 21, 2016 by tsinindy

[dizzykeys]

Enjoying the shows, getting real tired of reading everyone's negative reviews. The band sounds great to me. 

[Free Bird]

Any numbers of attendances for the second show?

[jip]

if smn told me 6 months ago i would see the big 3 together on stage in front of 65.000 people playing Coma/TWAT/Estranged/NR/Don't Cry/DTJ/Yesterdays and all the classics i would shut the fuck up

[James Bond]

Just listened to TWAT now. Minor flub on the "Robin solo" but otherwise just awesome. Slash's take on the Bucket solo was really cool. I'm amazed and happy he stayed so true to the original solo. His wavering on the Wah pedal in place of the killswitch was brilliant, and the run he did in place of the tapping bit was pure Slash and pure Guns.

[Judezki]

Locomotive would be another amazing addition to the setlist, So Fine too. Now when they have played songs like Coma and Yesterdays I think almost anything can happen

Edited April 21, 2016 by Judezki

[Italian girl]

I feel so emotional watching Yesterdays video! 

[Apollo]

16 minutes ago, dizzykeys said:

Enjoying the shows, getting real tired of reading everyone's negative reviews. The band sounds great to me. 

People have different opinions than you do bro. It happens. Not everybody is a fanboy. 

Reviews are supposed to be people sharing an honest account of their opinion of what they are reviewing. Not just fanboy praise. 

But why does it bother you if a complete stranger doesn't like a show that you liked?

From the clips I heard, the band sounded great last night. Seems like a fun show. It's cool they rotated a couple different songs through the loop. 

[dizzykeys]

3 minutes ago, Apollo said:

People have different opinions than you do bro. It happens. Not everybody is a fanboy. 

Reviews are supposed to be people sharing an honest account of their opinion of what they are reviewing. Not just fanboy praise. 

But why does it bother you if a complete stranger doesn't like a show that you liked?

From the clips I heard, the band sounded great last night. Seems like a fun show. It's cool they rotated a couple different songs through the loop. 

I could care less about what people think of the show. I come on here to see/hear clips from the show and hear if anything cool happened that is all. And if you are not a "fan" why would you be on a forum dedicated to a particular band. lol.

[moreblack]

Doesn't exactly work that way.

[RussTCB]

3 minutes ago, dizzykeys said:

I could care less about what people think of the show. I come on here to see/hear clips from the show and hear if anything cool happened that is all. And if you are not a "fan" why would you be on a forum dedicated to a particular band. lol.

I get your point overall, but different opinions make the world go around. There's no way everyone is gonna be happy with everything to do with GNR. I honestly think the board is pretty well balanced these days. A lot of people on both sides of the fence regularly make points both positive and negative. 

[GNRfan2008]

1 hour ago, sofine11 said:

Some of these pissy "critiques" are unreal and utterly nitpicky. I just watched the TWAT video and Slash absolutely crushed it. 

Having such a blast watching this all unfold.

I'm not paying any money to see these shows and I'm enjoying the bootlegs we've seen so far. I can understand someone being more critical if they shelled out a lot of money to see a show.

[gt72]

50 minutes ago, tsinindy said:

This....honestly this is my biggest complaint of anything.  Axl needs to STFU, after the chorus during the intro shut it the fuck down you are literally ruining the fucking song.

Agree 100 percent.PC is a classic song,leave it alone.I didn't care for it live in Vegas either.Overall thought band sounded great though

[CAFC Nick]

Sitting at work, headphones in, ignoring everyone by watching questionable YouTube videos from the nosebleeds - and loving every minute of it! 

TWAT was just *incredible*

[Hellow]

Hi!

I've been lurking for some good time in these forums but could not resist to sign up anymore.

So far there is no enough likes that I could give reunited G'NR! That is how awesome they have been.

If I could have one wish for a song to the setlist that would definatly be the Shotgun Blues. 

[tsinindy]

2 minutes ago, gt72 said:

Agree 100 percent.PC is a classic song,leave it alone.I didn't care for it live in Vegas either.Overall thought band sounded great though

Oh I agree overall no complaints...but that is one thing that really bugs me.   Glad he's at least dropped the "ass in the air" line on YCBM

[emybdc]

Catching up on the videos now.
Man, was that crowd still during TWAT! And they NAILED it. Yesterday was also amazing.
Another creazy good show imo.