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Boston herald review of Worcester show


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This is from Fridays Boston Herald

G N’R lineup a thorn in Axl’s side

By Jed Gottlieb

Friday, November 10, 2006 - Updated: 02:38 PM EST

Axl Rose has made Guns N’ Roses rock’s New York Yankees. He has pulled out his checkbook and spent his royalties recruiting the best talent in the world (yes, his hired guns can really play). But as the Yankees know, you can’t buy chemistry. Guns N’ Roses’ Wednesday show at the DCU Center reconfirmed that.

Rarely is a show so good and so disappointing. In the first moments, as the spotlights swarmed the crowd and the opening chords of ‘‘Welcome to the Jungle” echoed around the arena, a fighting-weight Rose screamed, ‘‘Do you know where you are?” and it looked like he was going to pull it off. The years and hours of waiting (G N’R didn’t go on until 11:45) suddenly seemed worth it. But the moment faded fast.

Click Me!

As the band wailed through favorites from ‘‘Appetite for Destruction” - ‘‘Jungle” was quickly followed by ‘‘It’s So Easy” and ‘‘Mr. Brownstone” - cracks started to show. Rose was unhappy with the sound and complained he couldn’t hear his vocals. At this point in G N’R’s career, sound problems are inexcusable, but perhaps not surprising.

Rose’s thin yet still unique voice barely made the list of problems. When you’ve got a band with no charisma and no personality, mediocre vocals aren’t what hold you back. With only Rose left from the original G N’R lineup, the band is a bloated octet of soulless virtuosos.

Three guitarists - Ron ‘‘Bumblefoot” Thal, Robin Finck and Richard Fortus - meant three separate five-minute solo spots for each player. Maybe Rose wants fans to get to know these guys. Or maybe he’s just padding the set while his vocal cords get a rest. Whatever the case, the solo noodling only reminds fans that Slash is long gone. Rose’s first smart move in a decade would be firing one of these guys (hopefully the tie-dyed-sundress-wearing Finck, who has as much stage presence as a kumquat).

Of course, Rose isn’t about smart moves. He picked an ultraboring Papa Roach to open. He played several great new songs - ‘‘The Blues,” ‘‘Better” and ‘‘Madagascar” are at least as good as anything on ‘‘Use Your Illusion” - from the long-overdue ‘‘Chinese Democracy,” which fans still can’t buy (Rose has promised it will be released this year, but time is running out). And after booking a venue he could only three-quarters fill, he started his show so late that fans began filing out long before its 2 a.m. finish.

There were bright spots. Show opener Sebastian Bach’s duet vocal on ‘‘My Michelle” forced Rose to up his game, and the new G N’R songs didn’t send fans charging for the beer lines. But if this is the best G N’R money can buy, well, we all know where that approach got the Yankees this season.

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maybe this idiot should worry about the Boston Red Sox instead . They Just got done outbiding every team by biding 40 million bucks for a Japanese pitcher that has never pitched in the MLB. They have the 2nd highest payroll in baseball and finished 3rd last season. Atleast the Yankees won the AL east and made the playoffs . These Bostonian losers are so obsessed with the Yankees that they have to mention them in every article no matter the subject. . By the way , I would not consider Robin Finck , Fortus, and Frank superstars, they are not the Yankees of rock . What a douchebag this guy is.

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Of course, Rose isn’t about smart moves. He picked an ultraboring Papa Roach to open. He played several great new songs - ‘‘The Blues,” ‘‘Better” and ‘‘Madagascar” are at least as good as anything on ‘‘Use Your Illusion”

Well that's a positive thing at least

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Guest RonMexico82

He used the yankees as a comparison to highlight some very valid points. Stop crying about the yankess when you should instead be addressing the issues raised. VALID ISSUES!

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Yeah, any Red Sox fan who criticizes the Yankees for spending a lot of money and having no team chemistry should take a look in the mirror. The Sox, even though their payroll isn't quite as high, are still at number two and were an embarrassment to the sport of baseball last year with their collapse in the final few months of the year. That being said, this guy is also too negative of the new Guns, although there are some valid points that people have been repeating for some time and Axl should respond to, since we as fans are paying the tickets to the show. All I know is that I won't be paying any attention to the Yanks or Sox in two weeks when I'm at the show.

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Ok for all you guys saying thats a fair review. I'll give you a fair review.

I took 4 of my friends who had never seen GN'R before. They've only heard Better out of all the new songs, and ask me questions like "Who's the new guitarist again?" on a regular basis. We went to the show in Greensboro on nov 2nd. Every single one of them loved the show and say it's among the best $50 they've ever spent in their life.

But basically everyone on this forum will say that point is irrelevant so here's something that will impress.

I also took along my 50 year old dad. He came in with a set of ear plugs and said he wasn't moving the entire show. He hates Axl Rose, he thinks the opening riff to Better is obnoxious, and said he was leaving if it sucked.

About a quarter of the way through ISE, by the grace of god, my dad took his ear plugs out. He yelled into my ear "This isn't so bad." Now this is not normal behavior for a 50 year old man to go against almost that many years of musical preference and pre-biased attitude against the bad he's seeing. Fast Foward a couple songs and we're now at the break in NR where Axl is going to start playing fast. My dad STANDS UP. Apparently he had an epiphany or something and now suddenly Axl Rose is tolerable and he found the tune to be enjoyable. Fast Foward again to the end of the show, PC. My dad, still standing, is clapping and yelling for another encore. After the show he immediatly went to the T-Shirt booth thing and bought the $45 long sleeve shirt that he had deemed "A waste of money" before the show. On the way home he said he liked the show and was still smiling.

Take this for what it's worth. I think this shows that if you come into a GN'R show with even the slightest openess of mind. You will come out happy.

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