DUFF MCKAGAN Defends GUNS N' ROSES' Three-And-A-Half-Hour Live Performances: 'What Songs Do You Take Out?'

[colonizedmind]

1 hour ago, Bitchisback said:

Yeah j saw RHCP twice in 2022. 

 

The second time they headlined a festival and were scheduled to play til 10:50 and they cut the set at 1030 and didn't play Under the Bridge, Otherside, Scar Tissue or some others. Everyone in the pit seemed super confused when the lights came on

Great live band but their short sets annoy me...they are a band with a much bigger hit pool than GNR but mostly play sets that are under half the length of a GNR show. When I saw them 6 years ago, we got 100 minutes and that was consider long for them....I'll need to check setlist.fm to see if they used To play long and it's an age thing to preserve themselves....but there'll all in great shape and could definately play a bit longer if wanted....usually singers dictate, so it must be Anothony's preference. They do vary their sets quite well and issue each show on proshot which is cool too...

People who call for Guns to shorten their sets should be shot.....OK! Yes if it actually improved Axl's vocal performance I'd be for it....but it won't and doesn't, check festival sets VS tour sets....exactly the same! The longer sets if anything used to improve him, get him more "match fit"...so if you're not going to any shows (the usual complainers) and moaning about the length of streams you're having to watch, remember you didn't pay to watch the band and if you did...you'd be quite happy to get more bang for your buck! 3 and half hours with a few piss break songs for you is better than 2 and half hours with the same piss breaks, don't ya think? 

I'd say they should vary set a bit more but they took a lot of steps towards doing what they've been saying in interviews for years and I believe the first 30 shows or so had lots of changes and adds! Hopefully that continues onto the next tour....someone by the end of this needs to make a mammoth live playlist of the best version of every song played in NITL and beyond! It would make a cool 50 song set or so 👍

Edited December 17, 2023 by colonizedmind

[lost un the jungle]

I like long shows. When you are there and you really like the band, you want them to play forever!

[Gordon Comstock]

20 minutes ago, colonizedmind said:

Great live band but their short sets annoy me...they are a band with a much bigger hit pool than GNR but mostly play sets that are under half the length of a GNR show. When I saw them 6 years ago, we got 100 minutes and that was consider long for them....I'll need to check setlist.fm to see if they used To play long and it's an age thing to preserve themselves....but there'll all in great shape and could definately play a bit longer if wanted....usually singers dictate, so it must be Anothony's preference. They do vary their sets quite well and issue each show on proshot which is cool too...

People who call for Guns to shorten their sets should be shot.....OK! Yes if it actually improved Axl's vocal performance I'd be for it....but it won't and doesn't, check festival sets VS tour sets....exactly the same! The longer sets if anything used to improve him, get him more "match fit"...so if you're not going to any shows (the usual complainers) and moaning about the length of streams you're having to watch, remember you didn't pay to watch the band and if you did...you'd be quite happy to get more bang for your buck! 3 and half hours with a few piss break songs for you is better than 2 and half hours with the same piss breaks, don't ya think? 

I'd say they should vary set a bit more but they took a lot of steps towards doing what they've been saying in interviews for years and I believe the first 30 shows or so had lots of changes and adds! Hopefully that continues onto the next tour....someone by the end of this needs to make a mammoth live playlist of the best version of every song played in NITL and beyond! It would make a cool 50 song set or so 👍

 

The longest RHCP shows were like 2 hours, on the Stadium Arcadium tour, and those were ended with a 10~ minute jam. I wish they'd play longer, but when I saw them earlier this year I thought the set was pretty much perfect, 1hr 45m of all killer no filler. I wish it was longer but I can't say they didn't bring it. It was a bit disappointing they 'only' played 5 new songs though, since they were playing 6-7 on the previous leg. They played I Could Have Lied instead of Under The Bridge, and at the end Anthony said "that's always the right call". I'd rather see a band play a song they enjoy playing, rather than go through the motions on their big hits.

Even if GNR don't shorten their sets, it'd be cool if they alternated songs more often. Would anyone really complain if they alternated Anything Goes with The Garden or Breakdown? Wichita Lineman with You Ain't The First? Don't Cry with the alt lyrics version? Down On The Farm with Black Leather or Marseilles?

Of course they deserve credit for finally shaking up the set this year though. I'm not trying to be too hard on them, but if they can play Anything Goes, Reckless Life, etc then basically anything is on the table. But more importantly, Axl is going to need longer breaks between shows going forward. Something like the Metallica method of 2 shows per city with no repeats, and longer breaks between cities, would be good for Axl.

[Georgina Arriaga]

I really hope they increase the shows to 4 or better yet, 5 hours, I love KOHD  Live. It gets boring when you hear every show, like some of you do. I stay away from that. It sound fresh and nice in my ears. And hope the solos Will be longer, they aré great!

[Uncle Bob]

2 hours ago, DoMw94 said:

But NITL ended four years ago, so it's not relevant.

As for the songs you mentioned, only Wichita Lineman and Live and Let Die are regulars – the latter being a popular official release.

Black Hole Sun was played once in 2022 and once in '21. It hasn't been a regular since 2019.

The Seeker was also last played in 2022, and was only played three times in '22 as well.

Walk All Over You and Back In Black only got played eight times, the latter only in 2022.

The point being, you can't cut stuff that isn't really there.

 

When I say NITL, and when most of people do, is the whole reunion cycle.

I have already mentioned my experience in 2022.

I checked each show from that tour and I can say the one I attended to was one of the worst ones.

Wichita, Slither, Back in Black + neverending solo spots and neverending KOHD and RQ ruined the experience for me.

[megaguns1982]

Did they drop this I love?

that’s when I’d go for a drink/piss break

[vloors]

I prefer quality over quanity. Alot of those tracks Axl cannot sing live anymore and sounds terrible/embarrassing.

Cut the covers, the long instrumentals and the songs he cant sing anymore and have a tight 2 hr set. Rest his voice abit and maybe do just 1 performance per week and relearn how to sing the songs with a vocal coach.

Axls killing his voice if his the one insisting on 3.5 hr shows every couple nights. His already struggling vocally and wont be performing much longer the way his going.

Edited December 17, 2023 by vloors

[Rayno]

and the doctor will be, like, 'You could ruin your voice forever.'

Already happened.

[vloors]

5 hours ago, Georgina Arriaga said:

I really hope they increase the shows to 4 or better yet, 5 hours, I love KOHD  Live. It gets boring when you hear every show, like some of you do. I stay away from that. It sound fresh and nice in my ears. And hope the solos Will be longer, they aré great!

You can have a 5 hour performance of KOHD. Enjoy haha

[JimiRose]

9 hours ago, Bitchisback said:

Yeah j saw RHCP twice in 2022. 

 

The second time they headlined a festival and were scheduled to play til 10:50 and they cut the set at 1030 and didn't play Under the Bridge, Otherside, Scar Tissue or some others. Everyone in the pit seemed super confused when the lights came on

RHCP are a joke. 90/95 minute sets. 3x in 10 years ive seen them and they've been the same length always cut out half the hits. they usually learn two sets and alternate each show so it's different which is good, but it shows they know a 3 hour set and just choose to play half. 

[allwaystired]

Long shows are good by me. No complaints on that front. I know plenty of music fans though that hate it when bands play for hours and prefer shorter, 'less is more' shows. 

I see both sides, but I think GNR's music suits the long sets. 

It's actually one of the few things they seem to give a shit about - they could do a lot less and get away with it. Seeing as the usual GNR way of operating is 'do less than the bare minimum' it's quite surprising. In a good way. 

[DoMw94]

Of the five covers they played at the last show I went to, two were on the Illusions albums and were hits (and they'll never cut Live and Let Die or Knockin' on Heaven's Door), and one was a Velvet Revolver song (and I think that has its place – if they're playing CD stuff, then one VR song is reasonable). So that's only really two songs you'd cut from a 27 song set – Down on The Farm and T.V. Eye. 

T.V. Eye you could replace with So Fine for Duff's spot, and Down on The Farm? Well... okay, so you've cut a 27 song show down to 26, big deal.

As is the case with most things with this fanbase, the "too many covers" thing is blown way out of proportion. In order to shorten a show (which I don't think they need to at all), it's the 10 minute Rocket Queen and Knockin' on Heaven's Door jams that need slimming down, not the setlist.

[MJRoses23]

Some day I will be watching GNR for the very last time and I never know when that will be. So if they wanna play a 3.5hr set with boring ass Wichita Lineman then I’m here for it. I will never want less of them. 

[allwaystired]

23 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

Of the five covers they played at the last show I went to, two were on the Illusions albums and were hits (and they'll never cut Live and Let Die or Knockin' on Heaven's Door), and one was a Velvet Revolver song (and I think that has its place – if they're playing CD stuff, then one VR song is reasonable). So that's only really two songs you'd cut from a 27 song set – Down on The Farm and T.V. Eye. 

T.V. Eye you could replace with So Fine for Duff's spot, and Down on The Farm? Well... okay, so you've cut a 27 song show down to 26, big deal.

As is the case with most things with this fanbase, the "too many covers" thing is blown way out of proportion. In order to shorten a show (which I don't think they need to at all), it's the 10 minute Rocket Queen and Knockin' on Heaven's Door jams that need slimming down, not the setlist.

The versions of KOTD and RQ at Glastonbury were perfect lengths. Edited down really nicely. 

I still had friends messaging me though who were watching it on TV saying "these songs go on forever". They couldn't believe it when I said they were normally way longer! 

[F*ck Fear]

Who actually complains about a longer set? 

 

[Tom2112]

1 hour ago, F*ck Fear said:

Who actually complains about a longer set? 

 

Plenty obviously. 

And there's plenty of people not on fan forums who complain about the long gnr set. 

Some people are just fine watching 3 1/2 hour shows, with quality that dips up and down significantly... Others want the show to be strong throughout, not want to have so far in the set that are good piss breaks. Heavens door, rocket queen, the slash solo and Coma are all breaks for me.

There are definitely songs in the main set that are played every night or very regularly that could be less regular. Absolutely no reason for the sprawling solo sections in heavens door, RQ. If Axl wants a break, give Duff another song in the set or Maybe Melissa could do a lead?

[Free Bird]

24 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Plenty obviously. 

And there's plenty of people not on fan forums who complain about the long gnr set. 

Some people are just fine watching 3 1/2 hour shows, with quality that dips up and down significantly... Others want the show to be strong throughout, not want to have so far in the set that are good piss breaks. Heavens door, rocket queen, the slash solo and Coma are all breaks for me.

There are definitely songs in the main set that are played every night or very regularly that could be less regular. Absolutely no reason for the sprawling solo sections in heavens door, RQ. If Axl wants a break, give Duff another song in the set or Maybe Melissa could do a lead?

The shows are fine. Just because you don’t like the solo sections they should get rid of them? I know people who think these are the highlights. Guns' shows were always full of jams since the nineties. It's like telling the Chili Peppers they should stop jamming at their shows.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Free Bird

[BangoSkank]

They could drop a few things here and there, but idgaf, they're one of my favorites, play as long as you want.

[GNROSAS]

I would prefer a solid show of 2.5 to 3hr.

Cutting down KOHD and RQ, and removing 1 or 2 cover songs.

[Gordon Comstock]

For a stadium show, I thought the 2016 shows were pretty much perfect. 2 hours, 45 minutes. Take that setlist and replace WYWH, Layla and The Seeker with PTU or BO, and some of the new songs.

If they did a run of theatre shows, hell yea a 3.5 hour show with tons of deep cuts (and deep vocals!) would be great. But there was definitely some lulls in the stadium shows I've seen.

[Tom2112]

2 hours ago, Free Bird said:

The shows are fine. Just because you don’t like the solo sections they should get rid of them? I know people who think these are the highlights. Guns' shows were always full of jams since the nineties. It's like telling the Chili Peppers they should stop jamming at their shows.

The Chili's SHOULD stop jamming at their shows, it's like kids in a garage🤣

And no. Just because I don't care for it isn't reason for it to stop. But you're kidding yourself of you think I'm in the minority not enjoying super long guitar solos. I also think super long guitar solos from a guitar player I love, being a guitar player should be something I like... I just don't think it's entertaining musically... Visually some definitely get off watching Slash noodle, and I fully appreciate that he's improvising and it can't always hit the target. I just think when the show length is hitting 3.5hrs they should be mindful for fatigue.

Duff saying "nobody leaves" that's just false. Plenty to home before the end, and plenty definitely leave for breaks during the jams. When Rush had solos people stayed because it was entertaining whether you played drums or not. In nugnr Richard had a great solo spot, as did Bumble with Pink panther, worked spots excellently delivered that were crowd interactive. 

[Free Bird]

35 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

The Chili's SHOULD stop jamming at their shows, it's like kids in a garage🤣

And no. Just because I don't care for it isn't reason for it to stop. But you're kidding yourself of you think I'm in the minority not enjoying super long guitar solos. I also think super long guitar solos from a guitar player I love, being a guitar player should be something I like... I just don't think it's entertaining musically... Visually some definitely get off watching Slash noodle, and I fully appreciate that he's improvising and it can't always hit the target. I just think when the show length is hitting 3.5hrs they should be mindful for fatigue.

Duff saying "nobody leaves" that's just false. Plenty to home before the end, and plenty definitely leave for breaks during the jams. When Rush had solos people stayed because it was entertaining whether you played drums or not. In nugnr Richard had a great solo spot, as did Bumble with Pink panther, worked spots excellently delivered that were crowd interactive. 

Ashba's Hogan ears come to mind. 

Of course I disagree and I don't care if you are in a minority or not. The solo spots were always there and I rather watch Slash soloing over any of GNR replacement guitarists. 

[Skamos66]

I hope Richard gets a solo spot next tour, also dying for an I.R.S or Shackler's Revenge comeback.
Hopefully we get Breakdown too considering it showed up on that guitar tech sheet photo.

[Tom2112]

2 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Ashba's Hogan ears come to mind. 

Of course I disagree and I don't care if you are in a minority or not. The solo spots were always there and I rather watch Slash soloing over any of GNR replacement guitarists. 

I purposefully didn't mention Ashba, because I like a lot of others was not a fan🤣

Like I said, there are people that just love seeing Slash play I get that. The quality can be from meh to great and it makes almost no difference, as long he's there the box is ticked. Beyond that there's also personal taste, just enjoying his style (I love his style too) over the other guys, which is fair I certainly don't enjoy every guitar  player I hear and I also didn't enjoy every single note Bumble, Bucket, Richard, Robin etc. played 1999-2014. I just haven't ever been entertained by a Slash solo spot (besides the move to the city live era band solo). Slash in the context of a song is usually good though. 

To me Slash is not as good as he used to be both live and on record, naturally not everyone will agree with that.

[Sweersa]

3 hours ago, Skamos66 said:

I hope Richard gets a solo spot next tour, also dying for an I.R.S or Shackler's Revenge comeback.

Oh, I would love to hear Shackler's Revenge live again. One of my favorite songs they played live. I heard them play it in 2011 or 2012. (Maybe both?)

I wish they would feature Richard more on new material. Have him record some solos, instead of Slash, especially the Bucket ones if they are not going to keep Bucket.