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Review
Guns
N' Roses Use Classics, Commentary To Impress At Rock In Rio
The
amassed crowd of 200,000 at the Rock in Rio on Sunday (Jan.
14), which waited until the late hour of 2 a.m. for confirmation
that reclusive Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose is indeed among
the living, got more than it bargained for.
Not
only did Rose appear, but throughout the two-hour and fifteen-minute,
22-song set, he quite possibly reclaimed the rock and roll
crown he abandoned eight years ago as well as used the time
to make several speech. "Welcome to the Jungle"
commenced the band's triumphant return to Rock in Rio, a festival
they also played in 1991, sparking a crowd eruption rarely
rivaled in rock and roll today. Clad in trainer pants and
an open shirt, Rose didn't skip a beat from his control-freak
Use Your Illusion days.
Midway through the song, Rose demanded of security, "Get
that guy out of here. Are you listening to me Mr. Security
guard? That guy. Out." It wasn't clear what sparked the
outburst, but clearly one man's Guns N' Roses dream ended
after a mere two minutes. For the rest of us, it went on until
nearly sunrise. Rose's revolving-door band -- currently consisting
of Buckethead, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson, Paul Tobias, Dizzy
Reed, Chris Pittman, and Brain -- was spot-on musically, proving
that the band's triumphant Las Vegas show was not a fluke.
After
"Mr. Brownstone", Rose enlisted the use of a translator
for first of many speeches on the evening in which he addressed
his former bandmates, the Internet, his new band, and his
life in general for most of the '90s. "I know that many
of you are disappointed that some of the people that you came
to know and love could not be here with us here today,"
said Rose. "Regardless of what you have heard or read,"
he continued, "people worked very hard -- meaning my
former friends -- to do everything they could so I could not
be here today. I say **** that. I am as hurt and disappointed
as you that unlike Oasis, we could not find a way to all just
get along... so much for the past. This is "Live and
Let Die."
Guns
played five new tracks on the night, one of which was not
included in their New Year's Eve warm-up show in Vegas ("Madagascar").
The first, "Oh My God", appeared five songs into
the set. The live version scaled back the industrial feel
of the recorded version and featured a heavy, crunching guitar
line courtesy of Buckethead. After "Think About You"
and "You Could Be Mine", Finck took center stage,
addressing the crowd in Portuguese, and grinding through a
take on Brazilian funk-soul legend Tim Maia's "Sossego".
As Finck wreaked funky havoc on the guitar, his vocals on
the song were overshadowed by the crowd's own singing. It
was a gesture much appreciated by the band's Brazilian fans.
The
highlight of the set came next, as "Sweet Child O' Mine"
sounded as fantastic as it did the day it was recorded. "Madagascar"
followed, the best of the new tracks. A subtle electronic
backbeat and keyboard-produced horn section propelled the
mid-tempo ballad, which featured Rose lamenting, "I can't
find my way back anymore..." before succumbing to a flood
of movie and speech samples. If the new tracks maintain this
level of aptitude, he won't need to go back anywhere.
Before
another new track, "Chinese Democracy", Rose explained
the band's stance on the old material. "We've done one
show before this and already we have been criticized for playing
old songs," he said. "But I have no intention and
I never did of denying you all something you enjoyed. And
I thought it was only fair for you to see that this new band
can play the **** out of these songs. It's very hard to ask
a musician to learn to play the part or parts played by other
musicians before that. These guys here have worked very hard."
As
the set winded down, "The Blues", another new track
(the closest of the new efforts to the Use Your Illusion era),
saw Rose hop on top of the piano where he sang the respectable
rock ballad. Before "Nightrain", Rose lashed out
at the Internet. "I used to go on the Internet but the
Internet seems to be the big garbage can so I don't read the
things that they say on the Internet anymore," he said.
Rose's vocals faded in and out of the mix during the song,
which ended the main set.
The
band returned for "My Michelle" and another new
track, "Silkworms". An unworthy electro-funk jam
featuring a near-rap by Rose, the song fell flat and is probably
a good example of the kind of electronic rock Rose has been
working on for the past eight years. Altered from the version
played in Vegas on New Year's, the song did not work in the
context of an encore for a show of this magnitude.
As the band departed once more, fans were oddly treated with
a Brazilian dance interlude courtesy of several traditionally
dressed rump shakers. Now pushing past the 4 a.m. mark, Rose
and Co. appeared for one last song, "Paradise City",
which began with onstage pyrotechnic explosions and fireworks
and followed suit sonically.
When
it was over, Rose introduced his Brazilian assistant, who
he credited with holding down the Axl Rose fort for the last
seven years. In tears as his assistant translated the speech
into Portuguese, the moment was a truly genuine streak of
humbleness for the singer, as the weight on his shoulders
throughout the '90s had surely, after his reception in Rio,
been lifted.
"Peace,"
said Rose in closing. "I love you. I will be back here
next summer with a whole bunch of new songs. Be good to each
other and we'll see you later."
Kevin
Raub -
Source:
Allstar.com
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