I've seen a lot of bitching about the show

[abw1987]

I've seen a lot of you guys bitch about this show (too long between acts, too long between songs, drawn-out solo, lifeless crowd) and the newspapers are saying the same thing. But I beg to differ! I had an incredible time and so did the four people I brought with me, who are not nearly as huge Guns N' Roses fans as I am. My roommate said to me after the show that beforehand, he was kind of skeptical because he didn't really like GNR that much on record, but after the show he was totally blown away and now he's been playing GNR songs nonstop. And not just the hit singles -- he likes it all.

We sat halfway up the top back left section, so we were close to the farthest you can get from the stage, but everything still felt surprisingly close. I wasn't about to pay $80 for seats closer -- the way I see it, you're either in the pit, or you're not. I would've gotten hosed with that whole VIP section thing anyway. But even being so far away, my friends and I thought the show rocked. No complaints about the seats whatsoever (except for the sound delay. It takes about a half a second for the sound to reach us, so everything is a bit offset from what we see. Haha).

Sebastian Bach

I thought Sebastian Bach's set was pretty solid. I never really liked Skid Row, and I don't like screaming music (the human voice is much too beautiful to be wasted). However, I enjoyed the music, and his band contains a lot of quite talented musicians. I recognized more songs than I thought I would, which is always good. I especially liked his new song "By My Side" and that old slower Skid Row song "I'll Remember You".

Aside from the music, his performance was pretty hilarious. First, his overuse of the f-word got old pretty fast. I'm no opponent of cursing; I'll use "fuck" liberally when I feel it's necessary. But it was just ridiculous. "Fuck" this and "fucking" that... most of the people around me (including my friends and myself) usually ended up laughing. His little speech about the Continental Airlines Arena being called the Meadowlands, while true, was really not funny and just kind of sad. Also before he played "By My Side" he mentioned how it was unreleased, but a live video had found its way onto YouTube. Then he started bragging about how "it has like fucking 30,000 plays or some shit. Whatever. I don't really get the whole internet thing. Fuck that. This is OUR tube." Everyone was just kind of confused and like "ummm, wow 30,000 plays, we're proud of you." Granted I've never seen Sebastian Bach live before, but methinks that by churning out these senseless speeches, he's trying a bit too hard (and failing) to be more like Axl Rose? Only Axl can rant!!

Good set, though, good set.

Papa Roach

Honestly, coming into the show, I was thinking "ehhhh... Papa Roach? Opening for GnR? Come on now." They blew me away. They played with energy and enthusiasm. Their sound was good, their band was tight, and they got the crowd involved and excited for GNR. I knew a bunch of their songs from the radio, and others I did not. Either way, I found myself humming a few of their songs during the three hour drive home. I sang along with every song, and they definitely gave me a few tunes to get stuck in my head during the exhausting wait for GNR to come on stage.

Two funny parts of their set I thought were -

1. When out of nowhere, the singer rapped some lyrics from Eminem's "Lose Yourself" in the middle of a song. People cheered because they recognized it, but at the same time everyone was looking around with "wtf" expressions on their faces.

2. During second verse of "Last Resort", the band almost lost each other for a second. Did anyone else hear that? It was pretty funny, and also kind of nerve-wracking. The song finished strong though, and everyone was singing.

Also I loved the song "Time is Running Out". I'd never heard it before, but the part where he sings "waoo-aooo!" and the crowd sings along... oh man, that was awesome. It was stuck in my head for days until I finally figured out what the song was called and watched it 3453243 times on YouTube. I may just run out and buy their album.

Guns N' Roses

Not much to say really. They rocked so hard, I was in awe for the next couple days. From the moment the Jungle intro began to resonate, the crowd went nuts, and I felt like I was in a dream. I'd never seen GNR before, so to finally hear them play all my favorite songs live was incredible. Just unbelievable. The pyro was awesome, the sound was spot on, and the band obviously knew what they were doing. I thought the drummer did a fantastic job as well; he's obviously practiced extensively with the band, as Brain has.

One of the most awesome parts was that I had my fairly new girlfriend with me. Guns N' Roses were a crucial part of our coming together, so to hear those songs that are special to us live with her next to me was out of this world. "Don't Cry" is probably our most special song, so I was kind of disappointed knowing they wouldn't play it. However, she and I agree that Bumblefoot's solo and the entire crowd singing along was more than adequate, and maybe even more special since more is left up to the imagination.

I actually cried during KOHD when Axl had the crowd sing along (the good old "I'll sing one, you sing one" bit). I also cried during Sweet Child O' Mine, since that is my favorite song ever. I had to sit down for a minute or two after that song finished, just to get myself together. Call me a hooray for tolerance! for crying, but that's how awesome it was. I didn't like stand there bawling with tears streaming down my face, but the grin I had was so big that my eyes couldn't help but shed a few tears.

November Rain and Patience were better than I could have ever imagined.

The crowd was more responsive than I thought they would be to the new songs. Although I was the only one I could see singing along to Better, the Blues, IRS, and CD, the crowd was moving with the beat and they cheered almost as much afterwards as they did for the other songs.

So just like, wow, what an awesome show.

Out.

[Diesel-Power]

its been a few months but ill reply now lol..the show was great...Papa Roach was awesome too

[Chris Axl]

I also cried during Sweet Child O' Mine, since that is my favorite song ever. I had to sit down for a minute or two after that song finished, just to get myself together. Call me a hooray for tolerance! for crying, but that's how awesome it was. I didn't like stand there bawling with tears streaming down my face, but the grin I had was so big that my eyes couldn't help but shed a few tears.

I know the feeling man!

God, I wanna se GN'R aigen...