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Full Halifax Review

jonah

By jonah
in 2006

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jonah Senior

jonah

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Halifax Nova Scotia, November 20th 2006 is a day I will remember for along time, I got in line at around 1pm, there were three other people there at that time, not many people showed up before 5pm so I could of waited till then to get good seats, but standing in line is part of the whole experience, this isn't my first time seeing GNR but it was my first time in 4 years and my first time on the floor so I had to get front row. From the door you could see part of the stage being set up, you could see the drums and Dizzy's keyboards they came on around 5ish and started soundcheck, they started with Madagascar, then Nice Boys, and Perfect crime, someone was singing during the Nice Boys but it definetly wasn't Axl, then they played two other tunes that weren't from the old catalog, so they were either new tunes or covers, and since there was no vocals I couldn't make out any lyrics. At 7pm when the doors were suppose to open the opening acts were still soundchecking so they didn't let us in until almost 7:30pm which sucks for the half dozen of us who had been standing there for hours. Then the Security guard opened the door and told everyone the rules on food, chains, bags, etc... but one thing I found very amusing is he said "No Slash look alikes" That's when everyone turned to me cause I have Slash style curly hair, so I just had to tie it back.

We finally got in and I had to get hand patted down twice, Which I realy believe was a discrimination of the way I look because I have the long hair and a beard, I admit I do look like a pothead even though I'm not, so I can kinda understand the double pat down. I got down onto the floor and went over to the right side of the stage where Robin would be standing, because out of all the guitarists he is the one I wanted to see rip the shit out of the GNR tunes. The security asked everyone to sit on the floor until about 8:30 when the opening band came on, Die Manequin started. I didn't expect much from them but they actually put on a half assed show, I wasn't into the music all that much, but the singer gave it 100% and was pretty entertaining coming down on the floor and interacting with the fans, the person whole stole the show for them was the drummer, he was fenominal, he was going ape-shit on the drums, he was realy impressive. Die Manequin played for about a half hour then left, there was about a 20 minute wait for Suicide Girls to come on. If I wanted to see strippers I would of gone to a strip club but they actually put on a half decent show, especially when the made fun of Reservoir Dogs, which is one of my favorite movies so I enjoyed that alot, but it is definetly a show I wouldn't want to see night after night, guess that's why I skipped it the next night in Saint John. The Suicide Girls finished up with covering themselves in Chocolate, I don't know how long it took for the Trews to come on but it wasn't overly long only like 25 minutes.

I have to admit I'm not a big Trews fan even though they are pretty huge down here. But I was impressed by there performance and will definetly watch them again if they come near. The Trews played till 11:05 then came the thought of how long we would have to wait. The first thing I want to point out to people who complain about waiting for GNR to hit the stage, there is actually a good reason besides the normal complaint of Axl takeing his time. The crew takes about 30-40 minutes to change the stage so GNR can hit the stage, that's a bulk of the time between the opening acts and GNR, The Trews finished at 11:05pm and the crew finished the stage at 11:40 and GNR came out at 11:55 so technically there was only a 15 minute wait between the stage being done and when they decided to come out. That isn't all that bad. Cause no band is going to come out as soon as they get the word the stage is ready, there going to do final warm ups and stretches first, or sit there and have another drink. When the lights went out everyone went ape shit like usual, I was lucky I had a good view of where Robin changes his guitar and as the Intro played I could see the band come backstage one bye one and when I saw Robin put on his guitar I was pumped then I saw Axl and went nuts. Then Robin hit the opening notes to Jungle and the crowd went nuts, he walked over towards where I was standing about 5 feet to my right and started teasing us with Jungle, then came the scream which was kinda muffled. Jungle hit and everyone went apeshit, they opened with the usual 1-2-3 combo of Jungle, Easy, and Brownstone, then came LALD, KOHD.

A thing to note about KOHD when we were doing the sing along Axl had no problem with his voice on the long scream, the band had gone quiet and it was just him screaming and you could realy tell his pipes were working to the full extent tonight. Also on KOHD Bumblefoot's solo was kicking in and out so his guitar tech ran another guitar all the way across the stage for him. Then the band Jamed on Robin's solo which made it alot more entertaining then just him playing a solo by himself cause I don't think he can carry a solo on his own, no offense to his playing, his solo's just aren't as entertaining when he's not jamming with the band, When he finished his solo came Sweet Child which the crowd went nuts for. Then they played Better which got a good reception along with YCBM which rocked, Dizzy then came out and played his solo along with The Blues which was performed great but alot of people didn't know what was going on. Then Richard and Robin played Beautiful and rocked Out Ta Get Me, Then the piano came out again and a kick ass performance of November Rain was played. After that I thought they would go into Bumblefoots solo cause I saw him put on the guitar which he uses for his solo's but then the band kicked into Rocket Queen and I saw Bumblefoot say fuck and switch guitars. RQ was killer, then out came the Trailer Park Boys who I had seen standing by the stage for the first half of the show, they came out and played Liqour and Whores which was a great treat even when Bubbles knocked over the mic stand.

I though it was funny when a tech came out to pick the mic up but Axl beat him to the punch. It was great to see Axl bring out local heroes, could of been a get a cheap applause scheme but it was realy great. They then played My Michelle which rocked the roof, I would of liked to see Bach sing but it was great without him as well. Bumblefoot then again put his guitar on to do his solo. Bumblefoot looked at Axl to see what was going on and Axl pointed to Richard who was holding an acoustic guitar and the band kicked into Patience and Ron changed his guitar again. Patience was killer then after Patience Axl apologized for leaving out Bumblefoot and he came out and played Oh Canada and Don't Cry, I think alot of people were mad that the band didn't play Don't Cry. The fans were psyched when he played the opening chords but were a little mad when he just kept playing by himself. They then kicked into Nightrain and that was a killer performance of it with Axl screaming Nightrain at the top of his lungs.

He was realy into it, During the outro solos Robin came and played right above a security guards head and he couldn't understand why everyone was stairing right at him. They went of stage and came back and played Madagascar which was great and then played Paradise City with everyone going nuts. They finished and came back on to bow and say good night which I haven't seen Axl do much on the bootlegs, and haven't heard of him doing very often. All in all the show was a complete success, the arena wasn't 100% sold out, there were a few scattered seats here and there but I assume it was just seats of people who couldn't make it at the last second or scalpers who couldn't sell there tickets for 200 bucks each. Axl I would say had a great time alway smiling and full of energy. Notes from the show and there are a few. I watched during Jungle as Robin's beer overflowed from the vibrations of his amps, I thought it was amusing. Also above Tommy's amp there is a mic taped just above it, I would say it is for talking to the crew and band threw there ear pieces as I saw Tommy talk into a couple times and Axl talked once that I saw, so I assume its for fixing sound problems or changes in the setlist. Robin threw out numerous water bottles threwout the evening into the crowd, I happened to catch two in a row, wonder if I will be able to sell them on ebay.

Axl at one point I can't remember if it was during Nightrain or Paradise City was running so fast and almost forgot to stop and cleared the stage and landed on the speakers on the ground which are only 3 inches shorter then the stage but when he stopped on them he almost knocked them over and almost wiped out into the front row, but they stabled out and he didn't miss a word. Also Frank is one hell of a drummer and he also seemed to be more happy to be at a GNR show then the crowd did, he was more pumped up then anyone especially when he kept getting the crowd to clap and chant Guns N' Roses with his bass drum, he is full of energy. Tommy is a realy great bassist but he always looks like he is sucking on a candy or something, he always has his lips like he is sucking on something, or trieing to kiss someone, doesn't bother me but thats his whole expresion if he isn't singing. All in all it was a fantastic night, and hope that they come back on there next tour threw America which hopefully isn't going to be 4 years from now......or longer. Anyways sorry for the lateness of my review I went to Saint John the next night and then had to drive to PEI to get home, then had to do all the go to work stuff. GNR rule go and see them

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smokingarthur GOD

smokingarthur

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Nice review but don't be a candy ass and pull that discrimination crap. Let the security do what they have to do. You don't like being targeted for your appearance? Then alter it. If you do not want to, live with it. Please act like a man. Many Americans have trouble with this too. Learn now that life is not fair and you have to put up with BS here and there. So what? You obviously have no idea how the rest of the world lives. Again, learn now and your life will be easier....

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jonah Senior

jonah

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Nice review but don't be a candy ass and pull that discrimination crap. Let the security do what they have to do. You don't like being targeted for your appearance? Then alter it. If you do not want to, live with it. Please act like a man. Many Americans have trouble with this too. Learn now that life is not fair and you have to put up with BS here and there. So what? You obviously have no idea how the rest of the world lives. Again, learn now and your life will be easier....

Obviously you have never been discriminated against or your a security guard, I personaly didn't mind it as I stated I was just pointing out that I was double patted because of the way I look and not because I actually may have something. I know many people who are of muslim belief and wear turbins, and even though they may look like a terrorist there not.

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Guest Matt13

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Nice review but don't be a candy ass and pull that discrimination crap. Let the security do what they have to do. You don't like being targeted for your appearance? Then alter it. If you do not want to, live with it. Please act like a man. Many Americans have trouble with this too. Learn now that life is not fair and you have to put up with BS here and there. So what? You obviously have no idea how the rest of the world lives. Again, learn now and your life will be easier....

I know many people who are of muslim belief and wear turbins, and even though they may look like a terrorist there not.

No shit, but the people who carried out the 9/11 attacks and the vast majority of terrorism around the world is spearheaded by a Muslim faction carrying out a holy war. In Britan they make it a point to pull Muslim's aside before boarding planes for extra security precautions, but here in the states we pat down and give Aunt Jamima or Santa Clause anal cavity searches while others that fit the profile of a terrorist can easily avoid the same treatment as to not offend them with 'racial profiling'.

I call it liberal Bull Shit that will once again backfire. I'm glad the Brits have it figured out.

So I agree... if you think you were discriminated against because of your appearance, oh well. I hardly think you were... because I got the same treatment in Baltmore and I look like a 'normal' bloke.

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