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Review
By MetaSoul
Ok, just got back from the Boise show. Here's a summary. Pardon
the grammar, I'm very tired and forcing myself to write this.
Anything I got wrong is not intentional, its the best from
my memory:
Axl Rose - Initially dressed in a black 81 T. Brown
Raider's jersey. Black bandana. Black Adidas sweat pants,
with white Adidas (I think) shoes, later changed into red
27 Idaho Steelheads hockey jersey with "Rose" on
the back, wore a red bandana. Ended the concert with a white
Jerry Rice Raiders jersey, number 80, no bandana. His hair
was weaved with bright red and blond streaks. Braided. Looked
very cool.
Robin Finck - White silk jumpsuit, WWII army issue
helmet (during Nightrain I think), sunburst Les Paul, black
Les Paul.
Buckethead - Baggy khaki pants, navy blue peacoat,
black cape, funeral KFC bucket, no mask...haha, just kidding,
Flying V KFC guitar, white Les Paul, hollow-body acoustic.
Tommy Stinson - Plaid pants with a white tee and a
plaid long sleeved jacket.
Richard Fortus - Solid green camo style khakis. White
Tee. Faded Les Paul.
Brain - White hat worn backwards. I couldnt make out
a lot of his outfit, but man this guy gets better and better
every time I see him. He is phenomenal.
Dizzy Reed - Star-logo tank (couldn't see the rest,
was on other side of the stage). Did a great job on The Blues
especially.
Chris Pitman - White tee beneath what appeared to be
a work suit (like mechanics wear), but as I looked at it more
I thought it might be more like a sweat suit. Sleeves pushed
up to his elbows. 5 Keybords (1 tri-tiered, 2 independant)
on spring stands which allowed the keys to be yanked horizontally
(sweet setup). He moved around a lot.
Stage/Lighting/Video/Pyro - Black with tiered wings on
both right and left side of the stage, Giant gold banners
with Chinese characters covered as the backdrop, lighting
was in a half moon arch, peaking about 20-30 feet off the
ground. A nice wall of sound speaker setup with display screens
above the crowds on the right and left sides of the stage,
vertical-rectangular big screens in the center-rear and on
both sides of the stage. The rectangle displays pieced together
to make a big screen for showing a giant image or separately
to show "slivers" of images. They showed a lot of
funk 70's images, a lot of title pages to old 70's movies,
Foxy Brown, etc. During Madagascar they showed a lot of pyrotechnics,
especially during Live And Let Die and Paradise City. There
was four or five pyro "wheels" dropping sparks and
shooting them up into the rafters (surprised something didn't
burn...flesh, wires, hair, etc. They also had a pyro line
above the front of the stage that stretched from one side
of the stage to the other, dropping a curtain of fire showers.
There were giant flame and sound-cannons on both sides of
the stage toward the rear, and another two on the ceiling
of the stage...heated up the crowd quite a bit. They used
the flames a lot during Chinese Democracy.
Highlights:
Band hit the stage about 10:30. Most people in the crowd were
mumbling that he didn't show, some people just didn't "get"
it and left, rumors abound.
Band stormed on with Welcome To The Jungle and instantly the
crowd went wild. Axl shocked a lot of the doubters because
he was on the money, into it, he looked lean and fuckin' mean
decked in black with an aura of confidence to match. He was
vibrant and ran a lot. He took any doubts anyone had at that
moment and squashed them beneath his feet. The band was so
tight and everyone had such a look of confidence that it almost
teasingly made a mockery out of the ex-musicians (Im sure
it wasn't intentional).
After It's So Easy, Axl speaks to the crowd. He smiles. He
says something like, "Despite the rumors, it looks like
you still showed up". Smiles again. Classic. The crowd
was thinking the same thing about Axl as he said this. It
was ironic.
Madagascar - Incredible. Crowd dug it. The Martin Luther King
clips were still very moving to watch as the music carried
King's voice.
Prior to Brain's intro into You Could Be Mine Axl introduces
the band. Midway through, someone in crowd yells something
about Sl*sh . Axl says, "Uh uh uh uh...now that wasn't
very nice was it?" His voice mimics as if he were talking
to a little child (perfect for the situation) and he says,
"If you are not having fun, you can go the fuck home"
(crowd is a bit shocked, why I have no idea) "and if
you want to see the OLD band you can go the fuck home and
watch your OLD video tapes and DVD's and listen to your OLD
CD's...if it's the OLD band that you want"... (he pauses
as if thinking).... (impeccable timing)...."And it would
be a shame if these nice people all around you kicked your
fucking ass." It was the best. The crowd laughed their
asses off and screamed to the top of their lungs. Axl regained
his cheerful mood and moved on. It was the epitome of class.
Don't recall in what song this occurred, but Finck pulled
Fortus out of Finck's spot by his guitar cord (jokingly of
course), dragging him back to Fortus' side fo the stage (psuedo-center).
They laughed and then jammed together. The whole band seemed
closer to each other than in the past. This is a good thing.
I am so attached to this new line-up.
Sweet Child O' Mine - Axl was really into it, screaming hard.
Fortus played the first solo, followed by Finck, Buckethead
may have jumped in soloing at the end. I just remember it
struck me when Fortus soloed it.
Axl asked for a piano. He said something like give me a piano,
kabato, etc., using about 10 different terms for piano I guess,
I'm not quatralingual. The Intro to November Rain was very
cool. It was very dark and slow, using minor keys. Classical
influenced. Axl pounded the keys heavy but painfully slow.
It was moving in eerie-soulish type of way. I loved it.
Axl requests some funk saying, "Give me that funk intro
thing" and they break into Rocket Queen. The groove was
very funky and tight. They moved and sounded very natural,
grooving to this. They showed a lot of old 70's funk clips
with 70's movie add scenes, "Swinging Wives", some
brief porn-ish scenes, a girl swimming underwater through
the end climax. Fortus kicked this song's ass, literally.
His slide was impressive.
Buckethead stole the crowd before he ever picked up the guitar.
His nun chuka kata drew a big applause. His robot dance is
so intriguing, seemed to draw the younger crowd in. He set
the mood with Giant Robot Theme and moved into Big Sur Moon.
The crowd went will on Star Wars and jaws dropped on Hog Bitch
Stomp. All the pro- Sl*sh fans either bowed their heads or
became converted at that moment. Afterwards, he threw toys
into the crowd, as well as his guitar strap. He had the toys
in bags passing them out like fucking Santa Claus. It was
cool.
Axl introduces Chinese Democracy. Lots of video and flames.
The vibe was untouchable comparative to the older tunes. This
song owned the concert imo.
During My Michelle, Axl came out in an Idaho Steelheads jersey,
number 27, with "Rose" on the back. Thought that
was interesting.
The Blues was great. The crowd, who had never heard this song,
fell in love with it.
On Patience, Buckethead played acoustic with Fortus, Finck
handled the electric. It sounded smooth.
Nightrain blew my mind out of the older tunes, Buckethead's
solo cannot be touched. In fact, it sounded like a chromatic
train under great momentum.
Finck
poured his fucking heart out on his last solo. He moves with
his music. This guy has some of the best stage presence in
my opinion. I've been on his side of the stage at both Vegas
and here. I sync more and more with him every time. God this
guy impresses me more and more every time I see or hear him.
I held my Vegas shirt out at him a lot, as well as at Axl,
who spent a great deal of time on our side of the stage (if
he wasn't running).
The band played an extended version of Paradise City. The
solo part was longer than normal and Buckethead and Finck
when out on the forward-center stage and had a jam session
to beat all jam sessions. They shredded like never before.
Great encore it was, ending with confetti and showers of fire.
Axl did a lot of animations during the songs, he moved a great
deal, running and spinning. He was extremely active. He dancingly
chased Tommy in a circle around the mike stand. He tried bending
Chris' keyboard over to the ground and it springed back up.
He was in a good mood.
Overall the crowd was positive the whole show. Axl was giving
100%, there was no question about it. I half-expected him
not to give an all-out performance because the show wasn't
filled, but by the time they came on it was 3/4 filled and
the crowd was drawn in at first signs of Welcome To The Jungle.
There was a mixture of ages. They drew some younger crowds
who were either curious or wanted to see Mix Master Mike or
CKY. Once the younger kids saw this band they were drawn in.
They really need to reach the younger kids in other ways as
well. I think there could have been a lot more younger kids
if they would have advertised the new band members and talked
about them on the radio, but they only mentioned "Guns
N' Roses" and "Axl" for the most part. They
don't really know what an all-star line-up this really is,
but once they are informed their whole attitude towards GNR
changes. They went nuts for Bucket and there were others who
realized it was Finck from NIN, on and on and on. Also, I
think when the album is released you will see more and more
young kids getting into them. Axl said he would like to come
back to Boise, and with an album to support it they will sell
out easily.
One more thing to say: This band is only getting better and
better. Their attitude, their vibe, their aura. They are a
caliber above the competition in every respect and I see nothing
but potential for when they really break loose into the songs
off of Chinese Democracy. We are all in for a big fucking
awakening, regardless of if you are a hard-core fan. Watch
out!
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