Concert Reviews - Guns N' Roses

This concert was not for any release tour, but more likely that Axl Rose has run out of money for Chinese Democracy and needed some cash.

The main thrill of this concert was to see if anyone showed up. The strippers while the stadium was filling was interesting, and the band after unremarkable.

Sebastian Bach (you'd know him from Skid Row) was the real opening band and for him doing his thing, he can belt out a song. I had never listened to Skid Row (except for Youth Gone Wild) and he played it and a few others that I picked up and enjoy to this day. I Remember You and 18 and Life were very well done and I was, the entire time, blown away by his beautiful golden hair.

The next came the excitement of seeing if Axl Rose would actually show up. He did, to our immense relief and excitement. The next part was to see if he could still sing or if he was just a washed up drunkard as he is so well known to be.

Well, he may look more like a barrel than a 12-year-old girl and those corn rows look ridiculous, but I could not deny that he sounded better than I have EVER heard him sound on a studio album, DVD, or live album. He was sober, and sang everything I wanted to hear. Bach even came out and sang My Michelle, which was an interesting take and very good.

He had three guitarists with him: his original replacement for Slash (who has always been great) and a second, and then a third, younger guy. They all dressed somewhat like red and black leprechauns and could play GNR songs just as well as any other. One of them played a guitar-solo version of Don't Cry that was fantastic, and the young one proved to the crowd that he was not just there to look emo.

My only real beef with this concert was that none of Axl's mics seemed to work, and for his best-ever singing, I was disappointed that I couldn't hear him half the time.

We're all still wondering if Chinese Democracy will ever come out, but he gave us some samplers and, while perhaps not worth the entire wait, I'm convinced that the CD will be worth checking out. If you've liked GNR when they were in their prime, I'd check them out if you see them around... they're still better than Velvet Revolver ever was.

Year: 2006
Who I went with: Ronnie Pendleton
Opening bands: Skid Row, another one I can't recall, and strippers
Location: Saddledome, Calgary