|
Page 4 of 5 As the hour approached midnight, our rambunctious friends in the nosebleeds began climbing down the outside walls of the balconies like spider monkeys to the next tier, and then the next, until they finally reached the floor. The security (merely ushers, really) at the Vicente Fernández Gómez Arena was lax at best, not at all prepared for a full on rock show. (If Axl were actually present in the stadium—or even the city, or maybe the country—at that point, he would not have been pleased.) People began bum-rushing the stairwell closest to the front of the building in an attempt to reach our choice seats. The ushers made a sad and vain attempt at preventing the mob from breaching the stairwell, but they busted on through like a cattle stampede, causing several people to fall on their asses as they slid down the stairs. Crowds of people began to gather in front of the stage, the idiots in the row behind us broke up the connected folding chairs in some misplaced Cro-Magnon rage of 21st century frustration and tensions were mounting as I began to have flashbacks of the now infamous St. Louis, Montreal and Vancouver riot shows. Finally, around 12:40am, the spotlight operators hastily hoisted themselves up onto their robotic harnesses and the house lights dimmed as the crowd roared in anticipation. They must have sensed the crowd’s restlessness, and had they waited just ten minutes more, there would have been trouble. In the darkness and on the video screens appeared a shadowy figure holding a familiar Gibson Les Paul. The video cameras zoomed in on the guitarist’s hands as they stroked a few well-known notes, which everyone immediately recognized as the opening licks to “Welcome to the Jungle”. The official set list continued:
“It's So Easy” (smoking!)
“Mr. Brownstone” (great! but lacking more Hendrix style funky-junk)
“Live And Let Die” (never was my favorite cover, but well done)
And then a horrible Spinal Tap-esque guitar solo performed by Robin Finck (I actually thought he was he was going to start playing with his feet) and a Jam with Keyboardist Dizzy Reed & Drummer Frank Ferrer.
“Sweet Child O’ Mine” (I was surprised they got this one out of the way so early, it was well performed, but it made us yearn for Slash even more)
“Better” (the first of their new songs and perhaps the best one I’ve heard)
“Knockin' On Heaven's Door” (not quite what it used to be. Again, Slash is missed and Axl just didn’t carry the audience with the vocals like before)
“You Could Be Mine” (Frank Ferrer is no Matt Sorum)
“Angie” piano solo performed by Dizzy Reed (I was hoping for some Stones and they delivered!)
“The Blues” (the new “Lick My Love Pump” for Chinese Democracy)
Then more guitar noodling by Richard Fortus & Robin Finck which meandered into something that resembled Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”
“Out To Get Me” (not my favorite song, but pretty good)
“November Rain” (probably Mexico’s #1 radio requested GN’R song, which they performed to an ovation)
“I.R.S.” (pretty damn good)
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal then exploded with guitar solos of “La Cucaracha” and “Don't Cry” (both very good. Bumblefoot is probably the best new musician out there)
“My Michelle” (classic)
“Patience” (not as beautiful or acoustic as I recall in the Hartford Civic Center)
“Nightrain” (Loaded like a freight train, Flyin' like an aeroplane, Feelin' like a space brain, One more time tonight!)
Encore:
“Madagascar” (probably my least favorite new song that I heard live, I just wasn’t into the vague political message, Martin Luther King, Jr. samples or weak video projections. Gimmee “Civil War” any day.)
“Paradise City” (a barn burner)
|
Overall, it was a good ratio of classics to new stuff, which despite the internet leaks, it didn’t appear that much of the crowd yet knew or could sing along to the new material. There was only one minor fight during the show between an overzealous fan and an usher (and I think the fan won). But the truly remarkable thing was that after the encore, the entire band came back out to take a bow with arms interlocked! As if it were a night at the freakin’ opera! Something I had never witnessed in a rockshow and would much less expect at a GN’R show. Perhaps the times they are a-changin’. But I can’t ridicule, the musicians laid it all out as best they could and the crowd adored every minute of it and were eager to express their gratitude.
While Axl’s voice doesn’t seem to have the same endurance, range and strength (and whose would after shrieking like that for twenty-plus years?), he chooses his best songs carefully, he knows his own limits and he is a master at working the crowd into a frenzy and giving them exactly what they want.
|
|
 |
Last update : 04-11-2007 12:07
|
|
|
(0 vote)
