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mr.drummin

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That writer is going in circles, cant he just say if it was good or not? Is it that hard? He seems to be afraid to come out and say it, perhaps incase every other review goes a different direction?...

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I posted the full article in the Newswire section.

Here it is again:

'Warm-Up Show' for Guns N' Roses

By BEN RATLIFF

Published: May 13, 2006

Rock and roll audiences want to identify with the guy singing the song; they need to, in fact. But you’d be hard-pressed to prove that the crowd at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday night was identifying with W. Axl Rose. What does he represent, at this stage of the game? Survival? Re-invention? Creative control? The tortured artist? The persistence of the yowl? If the spirit of his age resides in him, his long postponement of an infamous album has diluted that spirit somewhat.

But if the physical reality of Mr. Rose - dressed L.A. style in a leather shirt and jeans and wearing a large silver cross, his hair corn-rowed and pulled back - wasn’t an easy figure to identify with, his voice and body language did the job instead. When he sang “Paradise City,” the crowd adopted a yowl in kind; when he danced in his undulating movements, like the letter S turning itself inside out, the men and women in the audience involuntarily moved that way too.

Friday night’s concert was the first of four Guns N’ Roses shows at Hammerstein Ballroom. On stage, Mr. Rose called them “warm-up shows” for the band’s European tour, which begins May 25 in Madrid. It’s fair to assume that the large-theater shows will have clearer sound and more effective stagecraft; Mr. Rose’s voice sounded strong, even in his highest nasal shrieks, but the band wasn’t using the warm-up time to experiment. The set list of the two-hours-plus show, complete with flash pots and confetti, came pretty close to what an only slightly different version of the band was playing four years ago, on its last tour.

Mr. Rose is the only original member left in the quintessential ‘80s hard-rock band, and this has been the case since 1997. The newest of the seven musicians backing up Mr. Rose on Friday, one of its three guitarists, is Ron Thal, also known as Bumblefoot. (One of his guitars has been designed to look like the bottom of a foot, with bumblebee stripes.) He takes up the role of the pyrotechnic shredder, vacated in 2004 by the guitarist Buckethead. At certain points in the show, including a few discontinuous unaccompanied solos, he accelerated to impressively fast chromatic runs; he also played some lavish, Hendrix-influenced blues language. Why this band’s gut-level songs now require the ornamentation of a wizardly guitarist at all remains unclear. It makes the band more atemporal, more Vegas-y, than necessary.

It was the group’s principal guitarist, Robin Finck, who made the sweetest and most grounded music of the night, and seemed most comfortable at work. An off-and-on member of the band for nine years now, Mr. Finck assumed most of the lines in the old songs formerly played by the guitarist Slash. But when he improvised, he spun out simple patterns, shaking the guitar’s neck and getting warmth and resonance out of each note or chord; his own unaccompanied solo, just before the concert’s final number, was a beautifully coherent, non-shredding couple of minutes, the best of the less-familiar music played in the show. He gave himself to the crowd, even literally, diving in to the audience three times.

The less-familiar songs were, actually, kind of familiar. That infamous, postponed Guns N’ Roses album, of course, is “Chinese Democracy,” which has been in the making for much of the last decade, and still has not been scheduled for release. Some of its songs included in the concert—“The Blues,” “Better,” “Madagascar,” “Chinese Democracy,” “There Was a Time,” and “IRS”—are easy enough to find on the internet, in leaked demos and bootlegged live performances. And in the concert, the new songs distinguished themselves visually as well as sonically, with serious-looking video backdrops: stained-glass details, religious portraiture, Martin Luther King speeches.

The crowd didn’t go nuts for them. Most of the new songs are dystopian, tense, portentous, finally a bit inconclusive; they dabble in electronic rhythms, big keyboard sounds and droning repetition. They didn’t produce much catharsis, on stage or in the audience. “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Patience,” on the other hand, were among the set’s old songs that motored along on earthy, meaty riffs, and provoked the fully expected but still astonishing spectacle of a full house roaring along with every word.

Guns N’ Roses continue at Hammerstein Ballroom on May 14, 15, and 17.

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Not a negative review all around. A bit positive at times.

He gave a lot of praise to Robin Finck. Not so much to Ron Thal. He also said good things about Axl and his voice.

I'm not sure if I agree with him about the reaction to the new songs. I mean, I wasn't there, but after reading the reviews from those who were there, and listening to some crappy bootlegs, it seems that there was a good reaction to the new songs. If there wasn't, Axl wouldn't say ''"I see you people singing the new songs. You downloaded them fuckers!"

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Not a negative review all around. A bit positive at times.

He gave a lot of praise to Robin Finck...

And rightfully so.

When it comes to guitarists, I thought Robin totally stole the show. He dominated from start to finish. His energy, talent, charisma, and colorful stage presence were awesome. And the fact that Axl revealed that "Better" - which is probably the most innovative and best track of the new songs - was a "Robin song" just reinforces this further.

.. I'm not sure if I agree with him about the reaction to the new songs. I mean, I wasn't there, but after reading the reviews from those who were there, and listening to some crappy bootlegs, it seems that there was a good reaction to the new songs. If there wasn't, Axl wouldn't say ''"I see you people singing the new songs. You downloaded them fuckers!"

Actually, I agree with the writer again. The venue was considerably more quiet and subdued when Axl played the new songs than when he played the old GNR material. But I think that's mostly because many fans weren't familiar with the new songs. Most of the people in my section in mezz1 didn't know the new songs at all - and were asking me what song it was when Axl would play it. I think the diehards on the floor knew the songs though.

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Guest Ohdistortedsmile1789
Why this band’s gut-level songs now require the ornamentation of a wizardly guitarist at all remains unclear. It makes the band more atemporal, more Vegas-y, than necessary.

I agree, why?

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I thought this was a good point, can anyone tell me why GNR needs a guitar virtuoso?

it just puts the band on a level they weren't at before. Yes Robin Finck is great, hes the best. He's the greatest guitar player in rock right now. But its always cool to have a few different styles there, your band can do more that way. I wouldn't have minded if it was just Robin and Richard, that would have been fine.. but this Bumblefoot character seems a great fit.

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Guest Ohdistortedsmile1789

But, having a player capable of what Bumblefoot (or Buckethead) can do is unnecessary for this band.

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Guest Ohdistortedsmile1789

But, having a player capable of what Bumblefoot (or Buckethead) can do is unnecessary for this band.

nightrain

No, Slash made "Nightrain" with his playing, and he wasn't the type of guitarist they are. It's not needed, it's almost as if Axl is just enhancing the band in any way he can, without considering if he needs to or if it will work out.

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