Oakland Concert review

[Gunzen]

Okay, so I am not gonna go step by step through it, I wil just say a few things.

-Bumblefoot has officially arrived. When I saw them in SF he was virtually non existant. He did the first solo, WTTJ, and was by far the most prolific guatarist of the night. Finck had his moments, and Fortus was his energetic self, but Axl has officially incorporated shredding into the set, and bumblefoot was on fire.

-Back to the show, Axl did not arrive until 12:04 am. By then there were three fights in the previous 15 minutes, and people were resltless, but by the time the lights went out, all was forgiven. Axl was in great form, the band was energetic, and he just did not lose it the whole show.

-Obviously they fired the sound guy or he is sober now, because there were NO sound problems, every song was clear and Axl could be heard in every song. In SF on 9/20 it was off and on. Big improvement.

-Axl seems to be having more fun singing the new songs than the old standards. His voice was epic, and he did not go "helium" once that can recall, he just dropped the high notes a few octaves and shorterned the noted and just executed them perfectly.

He seems to have elarned his limits.

-Best songs, Better, the Blues, WTTJ (due to Bumbles Solo), Nighttrain (energy), and Live and let Die.

-It was cool to see Lars play Out to Get Me. This really did show how much better the band can and will be when Brain comes back. Frank is okay, but is just not there im my opinion.

-The Solos were great, but if you are gonna start at midnight, you gotta cut em short, he ran over 2/1/2 hours and that is late due to the energy.

-Axl had definitly changed his attitude. During the set up, the roadies must have retaped the front corners of the stage two-three times, and sure enough, in the middle of Its So Easy, Axl went down ass over tea kettle flat on his back. Instead of getting up, cussing out the roadies or getting pissed, he cracked a smile, kept on singing and moved on. I was scared for like 10 seconds, but all was okay, thank god. It pumped up the crowd, we knew we were in for a helluva night.

-Pyro was great, and not overdone.

-I was a but dissapointed duing intros that pitman got no love *crickets chirping* but I like his flexible keyboard stand, wierd but cool.

-I am sure I am missing something, but I dont want to go on forever. I am tired. I now can kind of sympathize with some of the frustrated fans without the album because after seeing such a tremendous show, it does seem like this could have been something huge, and it is frustrating to see Axl play in front of 10-12k instead of a packed house. And the way the show was, he could have been HUGE with proper promotion and an album. So I get that.

-I apologize to all helmet fans for previous negative comments, they were really tight, and much better live. I rally enjoyed them.

-SG are okay, but I would rather have Axl out 45 min earlier.

Negatives

-Baz sucks, that is all there is to it, he just screams and if I just dont want to see Ron Jeremy playing lead guitar, and Frodo on bass.

-KoHD is a bit lame. I have to be honest, that song with that little bit of a reggae touch is just wrong somehow.

-Finck solo a but messy, and superfluous.

Overall this show was better than SF, and I can see in just a few shows since SF that Axl is spreading the wealth, all three guitar players had a solos in November Rain, Again Bumble was the best. This is really a complete band now, and not once did I wonder where the other guys were. It is just another kind of band. The identity is there. They are no longer a cover band like in 2002. They are serious, and I am so glad bucket is gone.

The best way I can describe it is a rock n roll orchestra doing a rock opera, and they have arrived. I never held out much hope for them to be much more popular than they are now , but with the right promotion, this could be fucking huge, I sincerely believe that. though I dont know if they will ever do it right?

For the record, the new songs were my favorite part, because the band seemed to embrace them more.

Sorry for the typos, I am tired.

p.s. My son had a great time, and that made the evening perfect. rock1

One more time, AXl is still the best, and with the right promotion..........

-

Edited December 16, 2006 by Gunzen

[droezle]

Nice to read that you and your son had a great time. Thanx for the review.

B)

[AnEskimo]

Sounds like the show turned out good after all. Good to hear.

[gnfnr2006]

Gunzen, sounds like the "flying bullets" missed ya! Good to hear. Thanks for the review

[Gunzen]

It sounds like Axl was having some fun last night. Like a burden's been lifted in a way. Hearing he played with Lars is very encouraging. Maybe it means Axl's making an effort to heal some old relationships. Good for him.

The complaints you've had are similar to mine. At least they're improving the sound mix and handing fewer songs over to Finck. Now if we could just do something about the solos...

Sucks to hear that the crowd was silent for Pitman. You should have screamed elsewhere!

I'm glad to hear you got to see an awesome concert. And getting to take your son to a GnR show... well that's downright heartwariming.

Just so you know I did scream silkworms on more than one occasion, and yes, less Finck and more Bumble is the way.

[Gunzen]

did I mention Axl mentioned the "Raider Nation" "Commitment to excrement...uh I mean excellence"

[FunkyMonk]

Glad to hear you had fun

[GNR 1991]

I was there also. I didn't see Axl trip, but I was right smack in the front of the front.

I had a special moment with Bumblefoot. That guy is the fucking man. the fucking MAN. Axl looked at me singing The Blues and smiled. Fortus kept waving at me at the end, dunno why.

bottom line, this was the greatest night of my life, oh yeah and lars ulrich was there.

Edited December 17, 2006 by GNR 1991

[jaypayton]

hate to break it to you but none of those guys have half the ability or vocal range Mike Patton has

Edited December 17, 2006 by jaypayton

[Gunzen]

I was going to say, I told you so about Helmet , but now I have to disagree with you about Baz. I did not see this show, but all of the shows I have seen with Baz, were great. I could give a fuck what his band members look like (in case you didn't know, Gn'R has/does feature members with a Bucket on his head and a guy with damn near glued on corn rows) but they were tight musically and got the crowd pumped. The only singers IMO, close to Bach are Axl,Cornell,Weiland,Dickinson,Geoff Tate and Halford.

I was joking, but the bands look is really bad. And baz does suck, he just screams everything. He sucked, and lost the crowd after the third song. Sorry dude, he sucks. But that is just my opinion. Notr worth much to anyone but me. Thanks god for the club seating rock1

[FunkyMonk]

I was going to say, I told you so about Helmet , but now I have to disagree with you about Baz. I did not see this show, but all of the shows I have seen with Baz, were great. I could give a fuck what his band members look like (in case you didn't know, Gn'R has/does feature members with a Bucket on his head and a guy with damn near glued on corn rows) but they were tight musically and got the crowd pumped. The only singers IMO, close to Bach are Axl,Cornell,Weiland,Dickinson,Geoff Tate and Halford.

I was joking, but the bands look is really bad. And baz does suck, he just screams everything. He sucked, and lost the crowd after the third song. Sorry dude, he sucks. But that is just my opinion. Notr worth much to anyone but me. Thanks god for the club seating rock1

Bach rocks! Listen to Slave to The Grind and then try and say otherwise

[Kill_YourIdols]

I was going to say, I told you so about Helmet , but now I have to disagree with you about Baz. I did not see this show, but all of the shows I have seen with Baz, were great. I could give a fuck what his band members look like (in case you didn't know, Gn'R has/does feature members with a Bucket on his head and a guy with damn near glued on corn rows) but they were tight musically and got the crowd pumped. The only singers IMO, close to Bach are Axl,Cornell,Weiland,Dickinson,Geoff Tate and Halford.

all of the singers you mentioned are better than bach except cornell and weiland

[Gunzen]

I was going to say, I told you so about Helmet , but now I have to disagree with you about Baz. I did not see this show, but all of the shows I have seen with Baz, were great. I could give a fuck what his band members look like (in case you didn't know, Gn'R has/does feature members with a Bucket on his head and a guy with damn near glued on corn rows) but they were tight musically and got the crowd pumped. The only singers IMO, close to Bach are Axl,Cornell,Weiland,Dickinson,Geoff Tate and Halford.

I was joking, but the bands look is really bad. And baz does suck, he just screams everything. He sucked, and lost the crowd after the third song. Sorry dude, he sucks. But that is just my opinion. Notr worth much to anyone but me. Thanks god for the club seating rock1

Bach rocks! Listen to Slave to The Grind and then try and say otherwise

I did, and that song WAS great, but like I said, he just screams now. He doesnt sing anymore, he is over the top and says fuck every third word, it is embarrasing. A well used f-bomb every one in a while is kewl, but he sounds like a crack whore. Hey Baz, less is more.

Hemet Rocked though.