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The best live performances of each GNR song


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I don't know if the interest is here for GNR, but this is a great thread on the Led Zeppelin forum-

The Best Live Performances of Each Led Zeppelin Song (Comprehensive Playlist) - Led Zeppelin Live - Led Zeppelin Official Forum

Basically, it is a look into determine what are the "best" live versions of each song. I remember years and years ago, some on here did something similar for NuGNR to make Live Era '01- '10, which was pretty cool! Obviously, this is all subjective, but it is a great way to get some live gems out there and known. I admit, I am familiar with most of the main boots and concerts, but I may be missing some killer versions from shows I have not heard, yet-

Here are some of my votes (so far), and I would be happy to update with the input of others-

 

Appetite for Destruction-

1. Welcome to the Jungle,

            -1988 MTV Music Video Awards
            -2006 Rock Am Ring (that intro scream is one of Axl's best ever screams, imo)

2. It's So Easy

            -2016 Houston (I've always kind of liked how later- era Axl does scream- rasps in the back half of this song)

3. Nightrain

           -1987 Pasadena
           -1992 Las Vegas 
           -2002 Boston
           -2006 Rock Am Ring
           -2009 Tokyo
           -2016 Detroit

4. Out Ta Get Me

          -1988 Philadelphia 

5. Mr. Brownstone

6. Paradise City

         -1991 Ritz (the part where they go slow fucking RULES!)
         -1992 Wembley

7. My Michelle

8. Think About You

9. Sweet Child O' Mine

       -1988 The Ritz

10. You're Crazy

11. Anything Goes

12. Rocket Queen

         -1988 Ritz
         -1988 Tokyo (Even though they don't do the slide solo, the Adler solo and Slash jam are awesome)
         -1992 Las Vegas
         -1992 Tokyo 

 

GN'R Lies-

1. Reckless Life

2. Nice Boys

3. Move to the City

       -1992 Tokyo

4. Mama Kin

5. Patience

        -1992 Tokyo

6. Used to Love Her

7. You're Crazy

       - 2012 House of Blues

8. One in a Million

       - 1987 CBGB

Use Your Illusion I-

1. Right Next Door to Hell

        -1991 The Ritz

2. Dust N' Bones

3. Live and Let Die

4. Don't Cry (Original)

         -1991 The Ritz
         -1992 Chicago
         -2007 Osaka

5. Perfect Crime

           -1991 Indiana

6. You Ain't the First

          -1991 Ritz (electric with Izzy is killer. I love how loose this version is. Feels like it could fall apart at any second, but they keep it together)

7. Bad Obsession

8. Back Off Bitch

9. Double Talkin' Jive

10. November Rain

           -1992 MTV VMAs
           -1992 Vegas      
           -1993 Argentina

11. The Garden

12. Garden of Eden

13. Don't Damn Me

14. Bad Apples

15. Dead Horse

      -1993 Argentina

16. Coma

      -1992 Chicago 

Use Your Illusion II-

1. Civil War

       -1992 Paris

2. 14 Years

3. Yesterdays

4. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

       -1992 Wembley
       -2002 Leeds
       -2002 Boston

5. Get in the Ring

6. Shotgun Blues

7. Breakdown

8. Pretty Tied Up (The Perils of Rock n' Roll Decadence)

      -1991 The Ritz

9. Locomotive (Complicity)

10. So Fine

11. Estranged

      -1991 Rock in Rio
      -1991 The Ritz
      -1991 Wembley
      -2011 Rock in Rio
      -2016 Vegas (night 1)

12. You Could Be Mine

      -1991 The Ritz

13. Don't Cry (Alternative Lyrics)

14. My World

 

"The Spaghetti Incident?"-

1. Since I Don't Have You

2. New Tose

3. Down on the Farm

4. Human Being

5. Raw Power

6. Ain't it Fun

7. Buick Makane (Big Dumb Sex)

8. Hair of the Dog

9. Attitude

10. Black Leather

11. You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory

12. I Don't Care About You

13. Look at Your Game, Girl

 

Chinese Democracy-

1. Chinese Democracy 

2. Shackler's Revenge

       -2010 Toronto

3. Better

4. Street of Dreams

       -2001 Rock in Rio
      - 2002 Boston

5. If the World

       -2009 Tokyo

6. There Was a Time

       -2006 Hammerstein Ballroom 

7. Catcher in the Rye

8. Scraped

       -2009 Osaka

9. Riad N' the Bedouins

10. Sorry

11. I.R.S.

12. Madagascar

13. This I Love

      -2016 Vegas (night 1)
      -2016 Chicago (night 2)

14. Prostitute

     -2014 Las Vegas
     -2017 Los Angeles

 

Singles-

1. Shadow of Your Love

2. Oh My God

    -2021 Las Vegas

3. Absurd

     -2001 Las Vegas

4. Hard Skool

5. Perhaps

6. The General 

     -2023 Los Angeles

 

Covers-

(I'll get to these later)

Edited by ZoSoRose
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Chinese Democracy - one of the 2001 ones

 

Street of Dreams - Boston 2002 (for Axl actually not using only clean vocals)

 

Better - Budapest 2006 was great vocally, but Robin didnt play his solo. Madrid 2006 was decent vocally as well. Download 2006, was solid since Axl was pissed and not moving, which meant a solid vocal performance with great breath control, but also lacked a bit of heart on the verses.

 

Prostitute - June 4th 2014

 

Its So Easy - Axl/Duff/Slash w the Foo Fighters

Edited by Mendez
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40 minutes ago, Mendez said:

Chinese Democracy - one of the 2001 ones

 

Street of Dreams - Boston 2002 (for Axl actually not using only clean vocals)

 

Better - Budapest 2006 was great vocally, but Robin didnt play his solo. Madrid 2006 was decent vocally as well. Download 2006, was solid since Axl was pissed and not moving, which meant a solid vocal performance with great breath control, but also lacked a bit of heart on the verses.

 

Prostitute - June 4th 2014

 

Its So Easy - Axl/Duff/Slash w the Foo Fighters

Thanks! I'll relisten to some of these; I love the 2002 Boston show (that is a strong Rocket Queen, too)

You know, the final version of CD is my favorite but I think you are right about the early performances being the best live renditions. There's something about them...

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Jungle - Paris 1992 (the atmosphere was everything)

            - Weert 2023 (Cause he didn't know where the f*** he was LOL well, he did but the audience didn't LOL)

 

Sail Away Sweet Sister/Sweet Child - Tokyo 1992

 

Patience - Ritz 1991 ("Break a leg")

               - Rock Am Ring (Axl's lyrics comedy)

 

So Fine - Tokyo 1992

 

Bad Obsession - Tokyo and Paris 1992 (Teddy's harmonica just made the song)

 

November Rain - Oklahoma 1992 (that haunting intro) 

                          - Tokyo 1992

                          - Bogota 1992 (epic as it was in November and the rain was coming down like crazy)

 

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Mama Kin

1992 Paris 

Whole Lotta Rosie

2012 London O2

Nice Boys

-1993 Saskatoon

My Michelle

- 2006 Download Festival

Nightrain

-2002 Pukkelpop

-2006 Download Festival

The Garden

-1993 Saskatoon

14 Years

-2012 London O2 Arena

Bad Obsession

-1992 Tokyo

Out Ta Get Me

-2002 Leeds

-2002 Pittsburgh

Down On The Farm

-2006 Hammerstein Ballroom

IRS

-2006 Rock Am Ring 

Madagascar

-2002 MTV VMA

Edited by ©GnrPersia
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I don't think we can include anything post 2010 (unless of course it was released or first played after that). There's no way any original GnR material would have been played better after that. For example 'this I love' you have vegas 2016. Reading 2010 was poor by 2010 standards yet it was 1000x better than 2016 and beyond. 2014 was generally very poor vocally. 2011/12 hit and miss. but 2006 and 2010 were two really incredible years vocally for axl, competing with 85-93 era. 

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This I Love - Taipei 2009 - fantastic performance played a couple steps down for no apparant reason by Dizzy, which caused Ashba to royally fuck the solo. 

 

Rocket Queen - 1987 Ritz (not 88)

 

 

Edited by Mendez
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9 minutes ago, JimiRose said:

I don't think we can include anything post 2010 (unless of course it was released or first played after that). There's no way any original GnR material would have been played better after that. For example 'this I love' you have vegas 2016. Reading 2010 was poor by 2010 standards yet it was 1000x better than 2016 and beyond. 2014 was generally very poor vocally. 2011/12 hit and miss. but 2006 and 2010 were two really incredible years vocally for axl, competing with 85-93 era. 

I agree for post 2016. I think 2016 is strong enough to include as contenders for some songs. I much prefer the Slash solos in the two 2016 TiLs I mentioned over Ashba and Axl sounded pretty great on them. Listen to that Chicago one, it is unreal

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1 hour ago, Jwalker19 said:

I can't believe nobody has said Nightrain from Argentina 1993. That might be my favorite single performance of all-time. It's like they were all playing their hardest knowing it might be the last time ever.

Fuck I just relistened. I’ll edit that in there. One of the best, for sure

 Chicago 92, too

Nightrain rocks live 

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3 hours ago, JimiRose said:

I don't think we can include anything post 2010 (unless of course it was released or first played after that). There's no way any original GnR material would have been played better after that. For example 'this I love' you have vegas 2016. Reading 2010 was poor by 2010 standards yet it was 1000x better than 2016 and beyond. 2014 was generally very poor vocally. 2011/12 hit and miss. but 2006 and 2010 were two really incredible years vocally for axl, competing with 85-93 era. 

For the most part I agree, but I think there’s a few exceptions. Prostitute is the obvious one to me - gotta be the 6/4/14 performance as opposed to Japan 2009. It’s not always about vocals, it’s about the whole package. Axl sounded great in 2009, but the band fucked it both nights. Musically it was fantastic in 2014, and the voice was very good by post-2010 standards. 

3 hours ago, Mendez said:

This I Love - Taipei 2009 - fantastic performance played a couple steps down for no apparant reason by Dizzy, which caused Ashba to royally fuck the solo. 

 

Rocket Queen - 1987 Ritz (not 88)

 

 

Good shout on TIL in Taipei, I love that version. Sounded so much heavier down a couple steps. 

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Posted (edited)
41 minutes ago, colonizedmind said:

YC House Of Blues 2012 is often overlooked. One of the best and proshot, especially the last 2 minutes!

@ZoSoRoseI see you're blank in this column at present. 

 

Thanks! That is a good one! I feel like it is hard to say a classic Guns song's definitive version is NuGNR since its only Axl, but some performances are just so hard to resist so I include them.  I don't know if it is the best You're Crazy, but I will put this up there for reference. Was this Chicago or LA?

Edited by ZoSoRose
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19 hours ago, Mendez said:

This I Love - Taipei 2009 - fantastic performance played a couple steps down for no apparant reason by Dizzy, which caused Ashba to royally fuck the solo. 

 

Rocket Queen - 1987 Ritz (not 88)

 

 

Too funny. I remember in those 2009 shows, Ashba tried to play the solos - particularly "Better" and "This I Love" closer to how Robin played them on the album. By 2010, you can see DJ had made little changes to all of his solos, but those two in particular were heavily reworked. To be fair to Ashba (and it's tough to admit this), I actually think even his reworked versions of the Chinese Democracy guitar solos were lightyears ahead of how Slash has played them in recent years. 

Edited by themadcaplaughs
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23 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

I don't know if the interest is here for GNR, but this is a great thread on the Led Zeppelin forum-

The Best Live Performances of Each Led Zeppelin Song (Comprehensive Playlist) - Led Zeppelin Live - Led Zeppelin Official Forum

Basically, it is a look into determine what are the "best" live versions of each song. I remember years and years ago, some on here did something similar for NuGNR to make Live Era '01- '10, which was pretty cool! Obviously, this is all subjective, but it is a great way to get some live gems out there and known. I admit, I am familiar with most of the main boots and concerts, but I may be missing some killer versions from shows I have not heard, yet-

Here are some of my votes (so far), and I would be happy to update with the input of others-

 

Appetite for Destruction-

1. Welcome to the Jungle,

            -1988 MTV Music Video Awards
            -2006 Rock Am Ring (that intro scream is one of Axl's best ever screams, imo)

2. It's So Easy

            -2016 Houston (I've always kind of liked how later- era Axl does scream- rasps in the back half of this song)

3. Nightrain

           -1987 Pasadena
           -1992 Las Vegas 
           -2002 Boston
           -2006 Rock Am Ring
           -2009 Tokyo
           -2016 Detroit

4. Out Ta Get Me

          -1988 Philadelphia 

5. Mr. Brownstone

6. Paradise City

         -1991 Ritz (the part where they go slow fucking RULES!)
         -1992 Wembley

7. My Michelle

8. Think About You

9. Sweet Child O' Mine

       -1988 The Ritz

10. You're Crazy

11. Anything Goes

12. Rocket Queen

         -1988 Ritz
         -1988 Tokyo (Even though they don't do the slide solo, the Adler solo and Slash jam are awesome)
         -1992 Las Vegas
         -1992 Tokyo 

 

GN'R Lies-

1. Reckless Life

2. Nice Boys

3. Move to the City

       -1992 Tokyo

4. Mama Kin

5. Patience

        -1992 Tokyo

6. Used to Love Her

7. You're Crazy

       - 2012 House of Blues

8. One in a Million

       - 1987 CBGB

Use Your Illusion I-

1. Right Next Door to Hell

        -1991 The Ritz

2. Dust N' Bones

3. Live and Let Die

4. Don't Cry (Original)

         -1991 The Ritz
         -1992 Chicago
         -2007 Osaka

5. Perfect Crime

           -1991 Indiana

6. You Ain't the First

          -1991 Ritz (electric with Izzy is killer. I love how loose this version is. Feels like it could fall apart at any second, but they keep it together)

7. Bad Obsession

8. Back Off Bitch

9. Double Talkin' Jive

10. November Rain

           -1992 MTV VMAs
           -1992 Vegas      
           -1993 Argentina

11. The Garden

12. Garden of Eden

13. Don't Damn Me

14. Bad Apples

15. Dead Horse

      -1993 Argentina

16. Coma

      -1992 Chicago 

Use Your Illusion II-

1. Civil War

       -1992 Paris

2. 14 Years

3. Yesterdays

4. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

       -1992 Wembley
       -2002 Leeds
       -2002 Boston

5. Get in the Ring

6. Shotgun Blues

7. Breakdown

8. Pretty Tied Up (The Perils of Rock n' Roll Decadence)

      -1991 The Ritz

9. Locomotive (Complicity)

10. So Fine

11. Estranged

      -1991 Rock in Rio
      -1991 The Ritz
      -1991 Wembley
      -2011 Rock in Rio
      -2016 Vegas (night 1)

12. You Could Be Mine

      -1991 The Ritz

13. Don't Cry (Alternative Lyrics)

14. My World

 

"The Spaghetti Incident?"-

1. Since I Don't Have You

2. New Tose

3. Down on the Farm

4. Human Being

5. Raw Power

6. Ain't it Fun

7. Buick Makane (Big Dumb Sex)

8. Hair of the Dog

9. Attitude

10. Black Leather

11. You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory

12. I Don't Care About You

13. Look at Your Game, Girl

 

Chinese Democracy-

1. Chinese Democracy 

2. Shackler's Revenge

       -2010 Toronto

3. Better

4. Street of Dreams

       -2001 Rock in Rio
      - 2002 Boston

5. If the World

       -2009 Tokyo

6. There Was a Time

       -2006 Hammerstein Ballroom 

7. Catcher in the Rye

8. Scraped

       -2009 Osaka

9. Riad N' the Bedouins

10. Sorry

11. I.R.S.

12. Madagascar

13. This I Love

      -2016 Vegas (night 1)
      -2016 Chicago (night 2)

14. Prostitute

     -2014 Las Vegas
     -2017 Los Angeles

 

Singles-

1. Shadow of Your Love

2. Oh My God

    -2021 Las Vegas

3. Absurd

     -2001 Las Vegas

4. Hard Skool

5. Perhaps

6. The General 

     -2023 Los Angeles

 

Covers-

(I'll get to these later)

Sorry. I don't have much to contribute to this thread at the moment, but I giggled at "New Tose" hah.

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1 hour ago, ZoSoRose said:

Thanks! That is a good one! I feel like it is hard to say a classic Guns song's definitive version is NuGNR since its only Axl, but some performances are just so hard to resist so I include them.  I don't know if it is the best You're Crazy, but I will put this up there for reference. Was this Chicago or LA?

NJ actually. Feb 24th 2012. They did a lot of "House Of Blues" on the up close and personal touring....

Also...yea, that was my hesitation too with picking NuGNR BUT...since Axl is massive part of whether a performance is good...as he's the hardest to replace and still sound like Guns...also some of the best material/proshot quality comes from that era, so I feel it deserves to be included, as officially, it was still GNR!

Also. Don't forget Dizzy! He's been there basically forever and would/will be included in all 90s songs...so...

Edited by colonizedmind
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22 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

Too funny. I remember in those 2009 shows, Ashba tried to play the solos - particularly "Better" and "This I Love" closer to how Robin played them on the album. By 2010, you can see DJ had made little changes to all of his solos, but those two in particular were heavily reworked. To be fair to Ashba (and it's tough to admit this), I actually think even his reworked versions of the Chinese Democracy guitar solos were lightyears ahead of how Slash has played them in recent years. 

Not sure I agree completely....but to be fair, he was new, he really really had to bring it, to prove a point and keep his place...

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