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http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll...02001/1001/NEWS

Guns N’ Roses misfires with meandering marathon

KYLE MUNSON

REGISTER MUSIC CRITIC

“Rock ’n’ roll all night” was just a cliché until Friday and Saturday with Guns N’ Roses at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

Hard rock singer Axl Rose more than lived up to his eccentric reputation by not taking the stage with his band until 12:30 a.m. Then he ground out a two-hour, 18-song set in a shaky voice. Chose ponderous new songs from his forever-delayed “Chinese Democracy” album. Skittered off stage during the many extended solos doled out by his crack seven-piece band loaded with three ace guitarists.

All told the five-act concert lasted more than seven hours and tested the patience of the 5,363 fans to the point that fights nearly erupted on the general-admission arena floor prior to GNR’s appearance.

For fans it wasn’t so much a rock show as a work shift or endurance test.

On stage the atmosphere might have been best described as an Axlpalooza hodgepodge that featured: unknown, nondescript St. Louis rock band Modern Day Zero; the pile-driving riffs and jazz-influenced solos of Helmet from New York, loudly booed by most of the audience; and five Goth strippers from the Suicide Girls burlesque troupe who twirled a flaming hula hoop and slathered each other’s bare chests in chocolate syrup.

And don’t forget former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach. The eager-to-please hair-metal ham and “Gilmore Girls” cast member doled out sing-along ballads such as “18 and Life.”

This surreal marathon arrived after Rose, 44, spent most of the week on hiatus (including a scrapped concert in Milwaukee) to heal from strep throat and an ear infection.

After four GNR songs — three from its landmark 1987 “Appetite for Destruction” debut album plus a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” — Rose apologized for his tardiness, then joked about it.

“In the words of David Lee Roth, I don’t feel tardy,” he smirked.

Cute. And so GNR’s first concert at Hilton in 18 years and its first in Iowa since 1993 didn’t lack for drama. (It did of course lack for original band members; Rose has continually retooled the lineup that now includes familiar keyboardist Dizzy Reed and Tommy Stinson of the Replacements on bass.)

Rose not only sang but shook maracas and slid behind a grand piano. He whistled his way into “Patience.” His waistband has widened since the ’80s, but still the pony-tailed singer sprinted back and forth across the stage. And despite his ailing voice he out-crooned Bach on their duet of “My Michelle.”

Instead of repaying fans for their loyalty in the wee hours Rose demanded even more patience during the encore. He trotted out the politically charged “Chinese Democracy” title track, followed by a trippy guitar solo from Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. The dated electronic rhythms of the worst of the new tunes, “Madagascar,” completed the concert’s transition from oddity to status as the lost chapter of a Lewis Carroll novel.

Maybe call Rose the Orson Welles of hard rock — not for the genius tag, but for struggling to live up to the massive success of his debut project through endless tinkering and often serving as his own worst enemy.

The last words Rose sang Friday night — I mean Saturday morning — were “Take me home.”

Exactly what I (and likely a few thousand other hardy souls) were thinking by 2:45 a.m.

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GNR is getting RIPPED into by Iowa fans at the Des Moines register. I posted it at HTGTH but of course Jarmo deleted it... I'm just about done with that board.

Anyways let this be a lesson to GNR, you can't go on that late. I have no problem with 11:30 or 11:45 but past midnight is too much. Bach and the Suicide Girls and Helmet all managed to be on time, so the snow storm is no excuse.

I mean seriously, from the looks of that review and the reader comments, GNR are not gonna be welcomed back to Iowa. Which is too bad cuz it seems like it was a decent show. And I saw a GREAT show in Ottawa, but there they went onstage an hour earlier than in Iowa.

GNR cannot afford to lose casual fans over something stupid like this. People were just starting to come around to the new band, shows were getting great reviews, then this happens. This tour needs good word of mouth. Hopefully this doesn't happen again.

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Not taking the stage until 12:30am is just stupid, I don't care if it's Axl and a Friday night. That goes way beyond being a little late and rock 'n roll.

Surprised there was only 5,300 people. Can any one shed light on the capacity of that arena?

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm starting to get the feeling this thing could end badly(again)... :(

Edited by Turn_It_Up
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No all reviews were positive like this one in Chicago.

ROCK REVIEW

Axl and his new Guns N' Roses lineup go from band to brand

Advertisement

By Greg Kot

Tribune music critic

November 30, 2006

When last seen at the Allstate Arena, in 2002, Guns N' Roses had retooled its lineup and was previewing tracks from its years-in-the-making album "Chinese Democracy." Pyro and fireworks exploded, guys not named Slash played fancy guitar solos, and the songs from "Appetite for Destruction" still sounded unbeatable.

On Monday at the same venue, it was 2002 all over again. The Gunners lineup had once again been shuffled around singer Axl Rose, and "Chinese Democracy" had still not been released. Several songs from that endlessly forthcoming album were once again trotted out to little notice, but "Sweet Child O' Mine" and the rest of the "Appetite" tracks still rolled through the joint like a freight train on fire. There were more long guitar solos by Slash stand-ins, and the pyro was still hot enough to flush cheeks in the lower balcony.

If Rose and his revolving door of bandmates sound like they're spinning their wheels, that didn't bother an audience that filled the arena to three-quarters capacity and lingered through three opening acts and a two-hour-plus Gunners set that didn't end till nearly 2 a.m. They came to relive the era when Rose, Slash, Duff McKagen, Izzy Stradlin and Stephen Adler put the sleaze back in Sunset Strip rock 'n' roll and sold millions upon millions of records. Since his 1987-92 heyday, Rose has managed to alienate all his sidekicks and many of his fans. Now he stands alone atop GNR, but there's the inescapable notion that it is now more of a brand than a band.

Monday's show was a polished procession of oldies and a smattering of new tracks. Rose's recent material sounded more labored than the swaggering older material. The "Chinese Democracy" songs were outfitted in once-trendy touches, such as trip-hop beats, but they already sound dated. The fans were unmoved. They came to hear "Appetite" played in its entirety, and Rose played most of it. Night-prowling anthems "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City" framed the concert, and "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "It's So Easy," "Nightrain" and "My Michelle" (which Rose sang with opener Sebastian Bach) still packed a wallop.

Rose's snake-dancing charisma isn't what it once was. With his beefier frame, sunglasses and braids pulled back in a ponytail, he looked like one of those oily '80s talent scouts who once might've signed Guns N' Roses. But when his yowl wasn't badly undermixed, as it was in the early portion of the show, it still cut like a rusty blade. He was at his best on "Patience," first whistling the melody, then crooning it with grizzled authority against a subdued acoustic backdrop.

The singer was unfailingly gracious, and the set rolled along without a hint of trouble. The musicians around him, including bassist Tommy Stinson and guitarists Robin Finck, Richard Fortus and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, sounded well-rehearsed. They were pros doing what pros do when on six-figure retainers.

And so the night was a journey along the back road of mega-stardom, where professionalism rules. Like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, the Gallagher brothers and countless others, Rose is just the latest rock 'n' roll rogue to take final refuge in its comforts.

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unknown, nondescript St. Louis rock band Modern Day Zero

hey, just wanted to mention that when i saw velvet revolver back early last year on long island, modern day zero was a last addition opening band followed by hoobastank. i know this doesn't really mean anything but i just found it interesting that this basically noname band opened for both vr and gnr as did hoobastank during the vegas shows.

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So i'll start with standing in line. We get there at about 400 and there's less than a dozen people in front of us. The line for the GA was very small, I'd say about 30 people until about 630. Then the line started to get longer. The crowd was very diverse as far as age goes, there was a couple there that look like they were in their 60's. Then there was a family there with a kid that looked like he was 7 or 8. But lot of kids in high school n stuff like that. IT WAS COLD AS FUCK. I was wearing Chuck Taylor's so my toes were frozen like nobody's business. At 7 o'clock the doors finally opened. As we were running to get our front row spot, the old couple that I was telling you about, the lady fell on her face. NO BULLSHIT!!!! :laugh:

But anyways, at 7:30, a band from St Louis played, forgot their names. I guess they won a spot from a radio contest or something to open. They were alright. Next were the Suicide Girls, HOT HOT HOT SEXY HOT. Nuff said. Then Baz, comes on with his corny ass. I was not a fan of him and still am not. However, I did enjoy his performance, better than what I expected. Blah blah blah.

Then shitty ass Helmet. I just did not get this. They SUCKED, THEY SUCKED, THEY FUCKING SUCKED. Their music was bland and boring, kinda killed the enthusiasm. The crowd booed them and a couple of things got thrown at them. I don't understand why Axl thought that EODM sucked and don't think Helmet sucks. But then came the wait.

12:30 am...................are you fucking kidding me???? When 12:00 o'clock rolled around, I thought that the show was gonna get cancelled and that we would have a Philly on our hands but this time with pitch forks. But when Axl finally came on stage, all was forgiven. I would say that that Axl was in great form. Voice was good and energy was good. He did blow his nose just a couple of times and coughed a few. The highlight of the show to me was Tommy freakin Stinson. I asked him for a pick, and he threw one to me but I did not catch it. DAMN!!! But dude is hilarous. During November Rain, Tommy was looking down at us, and he was mocking Axl's lyrics. On the part that goes, " Don't you know you need sometime, all alone" Tommy mockingly rubs tears out of his eyes. Funny as hell. I will now say that Tommy won me over.

Overall, the show was good as expected, Axl looked great, but pretty short. And speaking of short, Baz's bass player looks like a midget. Either that or he could be a stunt double for an Asian in a kung fu movie. But anyways, seeing the concert front row and absorbing in the show did not change my opinion about this band. It was a great show, but the 1993 show was better. I still think that there is a lack of chemistry between the bandmates. Security was very cool. They were passing out cups of water to the people on the floor and they were very personable. We waited by the buses hoping to meet members but it got too cold, so we gave up.

I met a couple of people from this board and HTGTH. I met Whatisitman, who by the way, is a season ticket holder to GnR shows. ;)

Another cool thing was, our hotel was right next to this Mexican bar/restaurant who had $.99 Margaritas. rock3

That's how I get down.

Edited by da_illest_in_402
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Sebastian Bach had the crowd completely energized and had them ready for GNR--then Helmet came on and it all went south! Helmet killed the anticipation for GNR. They were booed and things were thrown at them. In the long wait for GNR-- people were leaving, booing, getting in fights and passing out (or plain falling asleep). I was all ready to go after Bach played, but couldn't regain my energy for GNR. They did a great job, but being stuck in a half full Hilton Colliseum for 5 hours, didn't help. Shame on you, AXL! Your fans deserve better! :angry:

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Sebastian Bach had the crowd completely energized and had them ready for GNR--then Helmet came on and it all went south! Helmet killed the anticipation for GNR. They were booed and things were thrown at them. In the long wait for GNR-- people were leaving, booing, getting in fights and passing out (or plain falling asleep). I was all ready to go after Bach played, but couldn't regain my energy for GNR. They did a great job, but being stuck in a half full Hilton Colliseum for 5 hours, didn't help. Shame on you, AXL! Your fans deserve better! :angry:

Here's the deal with this. The late start was blamed on the weather. But after the show, I was talking to security, and he showed me Axl's bus. That bus was in the parking lot a 4pm, so that excuse was a lie. Maybe he was playing ping pong. <_<

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unknown, nondescript St. Louis rock band Modern Day Zero

hey, just wanted to mention that when i saw velvet revolver back early last year on long island, modern day zero was a last addition opening band followed by hoobastank. i know this doesn't really mean anything but i just found it interesting that this basically noname band opened for both vr and gnr as did hoobastank during the vegas shows.

Holy shit, you're exactly right. I saw them open for VR in Cleveland, and they did a pretty good job despite having kind of a lame overall sound. Very interesting.

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