The show

[jacque|ine]

Ok, pls don't be harsh on me because i've just returned from the show and i'm almost falling asleep here.

Well, what should I begin with? Maybe i'm not the biggest/craziest GnR fan but I came from Romania to see the concert. I've never seen GnR before - neither the old nore the new band. So even now i feel that it wasn't true, that it was a dream. I know it's kinda naiv but I can't really express how I feel - hopefully you'll understand me.

I'll go straight to the point now not to bore you any longer. I was in front of the Wembley Arena at about 4 and there were already queues formed by people with standing tickets. We got in at 5.30 and Sebastian Bach was on stage at about 7. He was cool although not everybody was into him. Bullet for my Valentine came on stage at about 8 and after the first songs they've got already hit by the bottles thrown from the audience. Many weren't even watching, it was clearly not the best opening act for GnR. Anyway, the singer seemed pissed off; he later said something that "All these things I hate" reached the top 20 in the charts. Though i'm not very into BFMV, i think that nothing should be thrown at a band, no matter how bad it is.

After BFMV i went outside to eat sth as I knew that Axl would show up late. He should've been on stage at 9.30 (a security guy told me) but would appear at 9.45. Some were boohing, others were worried how to get home if the gig wouldn't end at 12.00. At 9.50 we could hear the helicopter and the crowd went crazy. However, he showed up at 10.40, just before the crowd began boohing really badly. Funny thing cos right when the lights went off and WTTJ started, all was forgotten and the crowd went crazy again. It's Axl, of course.

I won't go through each song now but i'd like to mention that the audience received the "new" band really well - at least from were i sat. Axl had a great voice, he seemed to be in a good mood. he didn't speak a lot - which I regret- maybe because he wanted to finish the setlist quickly as he was already 1h late. At some point he presented Tommy Stinson and said "Let's cheer up Tommy" and asked the fans to shout "Cheer up, Tommy!" and then "Cheer up, motherfucker!".

I enjoyed Dizzy's solo and also "Beautiful", I don't care what people say. Now I know that Finck is a great guitarist, and the fact that he doesn't play the songs the way Slash does means that he reinterprets them - i've seen people who can play SCOM on guitar without any mistakes - that doesn't make you a great guitarist.

I've also enjoyed the new version of "Knocking on heaven's door", to be frank, I wasn't disappointed by anything, not even by Axl being late. The lights were magnificent, Axl is a genuis

Izzy seemed cool and relaxed as always.

AT the end (after Nightrain) the fans woulnd't leave and recall the band. They came back on stage with "IRS" and "Paradise City" which drew the crowd crazy again.

For those who don't know, there were some lucky fans who got the chance to attend GnR at an accoustic performance.

To sum up, it was a great show and Axl did a lot to give the fans a good time. There is A LOT more to tell but I'm out of my strengths now.

I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, I will edit this tomorrow after I get some rest, I just thought it'd be good to give some information to those who couldn't see GnR today.

Edited August 31, 2006 by jacque|ine

[rlucky73721]

great review, looking forward to the next 1 on sunday from you

[EverythingWasRoses]

nice review, thanks for posting

[.Seal]

So even now i feel that it wasn't true, that it was a dream. I know it's kinda naiv but I can't really express how I feel - hopefully you'll understand me.

I know that feeling I had it after both gigs and I still can't describe how I felt.

Anyways nice review, thanks.

[CaughtInAComa]

Here's my review, apologies for the poor writting style, I'm too knackered to sit here and make it read properly!

Christ, they played for 2 1/2 hours last night! Didn't finish until gone 1am again! And getting back here from Wembley is NOT easy at that time. 4 1/2 hours it took me!!!!

Seb Bach opened and was amazing! Despite opening he still got a longer (a whole hour I think) set than Bullet For My Valentine (who were terrible), and played 90% Skid Row songs as well! 3 new tracks of his were in there too, and they sounded really good. He should have just said it was Skid Row really though, afterall, if Axl can do it...... I could have happily watched Bach all night though, he was brilliant! He came back later on for My Michelle with Guns as well (bringing GNR to a 10 man line up at that point!). It was a shame that while most people in there really seemed to like him, not many new the songs, but he went down really well on the whole. And I've never seen so much energy coming from one person in my life!

Guns played mostly the same set as usual, but threw in Rocket Queen, Anything Goes, and Back in the USSR (renamed to Back in the fuckin' UK) as well, there was also another cover I didn't know that they played when Izzy came out. I think they played all of Appetite except for Your Crazy, which I still think is a bit much considerng the strength of the material ommitted by doing that. So as ever not so much from the Illusions albums was played, but You Could Be Mine, November Rain, Live and Let Die, and Knockin' On Heavens Door, all made it in. Patience made it's obliglatory appearance as well, but unlike some of the other show Used To Love Her with Izzy was missing, I think it was replaced by the random cover. I wish they'd play more Illusions era material though, especially the stuff like Estranged and Coma that were written mainly by Axl, it seems strange to ignore so much from those albums. New song wise they just played The Blues, Better, and IRS. No Madagascar or Chinese Democracy this time which seemed odd. Bumblefoot did a instrumental version of Don't Cry for his solo, while Fink played God Save The Queen (the anthem, not the Sex Pistols tune) as the intro to Sweet Child which worked really well to keep the pace going. Fink and Fortus did Beautiful togeather again as a solo as well, while Dizzy's piano solo going into The Blues went down amazingly well. Izzy was with them for about a third of the show, but apparently got lost coming on stage initially! Good show, but lost it's momentum half way through with lost guitarists random covers, and some random competition winners who got to see them at a club in town last night at 3am performing an acoustic set as well. Cool thing to do, but kind of damaged the momentum a bit. The first half of the show was brilliant and blew the other times I'd seen them out of the water, but then it all got quite disjointed with random things going wrong with people not getting to the stage (Bach and Izzy did that) quickly. Axl kept his toys in his pram though which was a bonus! They finished, as ever, with Paradise City, but bizzarely the venue brought the lights up for the whole song, I guess they must have decided that they'd had enough and they'd played long enough, but the band didn't bat an eyelid and played the whole thing, with pyro confettie and everything else as well.

Sure as hell got value for money for the ticket price, but I was bloody sore by the end of the night!

[jacque|ine]

great review, looking forward to the next 1 on sunday from you

Thanks ppl! I woke up 1h ago and i miss GnR so bad... I'm not sure I can go to see the show today. For those who are going today, I'm sure you will have more than just a great time

[mofo]

i am really disappointed about last night, i had to leave halfway through the set to catch the tube. of course i expected them to be late, but i was hoping they might be on a little bit earlier. i didn't see one song with izzy (i think i just missed the first one) which i would have loved. apart from that though they were great, i was about 3 rows from the barrier on the left side and had a good view.

i'm glad i saw the whole set at download, it sucked leaving around 12. i hope my name wasn't on the list for the acoustic gig or i'll be kicking myself! lol its unlikely but i can't help wondering.

[The shu]

i am really disappointed about last night, i had to leave halfway through the set to catch the tube. of course i expected them to be late, but i was hoping they might be on a little bit earlier. i didn't see one song with izzy (i think i just missed the first one) which i would have loved. apart from that though they were great, i was about 3 rows from the barrier on the left side and had a good view.

i'm glad i saw the whole set at download, it sucked leaving around 12. i hope my name wasn't on the list for the acoustic gig or i'll be kicking myself! lol its unlikely but i can't help wondering.

gutted leaving to get the tube what a wolly!

[off_the_track]

Hi All,

We were in seated at Wembley, next to some tosser who was really into BFMV and kept showering me with beer and fagash - might as well have been in the pit! A couple of guys behind us were asking why it was taking so long for GNR to come on by about 9.45 - we said it would be about another hour and they were like 'oh mygodhowarewegonnagethome' - I know not everyone reads the boards, but do they not even read the papers? A bloke from HTGTH was sitting just by us with a cool t-shirt - 'we know about patience' B)

Anyway, I'm not gonna post a blow-by-blow account, it's been done before, but just wanted to say how much more coherent the band were than at Hammersmith. I thought Hammersmith was the better gig - smaller venue, more of a GNR crowd, atmosphere etc, and on the night were impressed with the band, but at Wembley the band blew me away. It was more 'a kickass band with a cool frontman' than 'a cool lead singer with a kickass band' IYKWIM. Ron was so much better at Wembley as well, in terms of the way he fitted into the band and interacted with the crowd - he didn't much come out of his corner at Hammersmith. Finck was a bit less 'out there' at Wembley, and appeared to be less the 'lead guitar' and more like part of a guitar section - although he's a good player, this was not a negative, all the guitarists added their own touch to form an amzing band. The guitar parts on Nighttrain were amazingly done - I was just standing there with my mouth open.

The only downside I felt were Finck and Fortus' solos on NR - they were quite well played but a long way from the originals... if GNR are trying to get mass fans back, I think that to 'tamper' with Slash's solos at such an early stage is probably not the best way to go - bearing in mind I overheard people in the lobby who still thought Slash would be there . Ron's NR outtro was amazing - close enough to the original to not piss off the Slash fans, but with his own mark stamped firmly on as well.

We had a room at the travelinn by Wembley Park - a great location for the gig, and a big queue of people looking for rooms when we got back - hope they managed to fit everyone in and didn't charge over the odds

[.Seal]

Seb Bach opened and was amazing! Despite opening he still got a longer (a whole hour I think) set than Bullet For My Valentine (who were terrible), and played 90% Skid Row songs as well! 3 new tracks of his were in there too, and they sounded really good. He should have just said it was Skid Row really though, afterall, if Axl can do it......

Except Skid Row is still 'intact' they just kicked Bach out of it..

[mofo]

gutted leaving to get the tube what a wolly!

i know haha. should have planned ahead, i'm just bad at doing that