|
Review
Axl Rose Impresses Vegas With His New Guns N' Roses
Jan
2, 2001, 12:30 pm
After
making fans wait seven years and amidst much speculation over
how Axl Rose has aged and how this new band would sound, Axl
Rose made a triumphant return to the stage with a brand spankin'
new Guns N' Roses that shocked, pleased, and at times perplexed
fans.
But,
unlike what many expected -- maybe even secretly hoped for
-- the source of the shock and amazement didn't come in the
form of a bloated, overweight, washed-up rock star whose infamous
bad attitude was the cause of many an aborted show. Rather,
it came in the form of an unmistakably new W. Axl Rose. This
was a physically fit, youthful-looking Rose who sounded exactly
like he did 12 years ago, but who has seemed to shed the prima
donna rock star persona that so many have loved to hate him
for.
And
the show? After hearing that the band wouldn't go on until
3 a.m. (doors opened at 1 a.m., and they actually took the
stage at 3:38 a.m.) and were planning on playing every song
they know, the preconceived perception was that this would
be one self-indulgent show.
Instead,
the sold-out 1,800-person House of Blues club in the Mandalay
Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was treated to a perfect
two hours of classic GNR songs and just four new tracks.
After
a funny, short animated video, the set, obviously mapped out
with the fan in mind, kicked off with a rapid-fire assault
of such GNR staples as "Welcome to the Jungle",
"It's So Easy", "Mr. Brownstone" and "Live
and Let Die" before even venturing into new material,
which included the warmly-received "Oh My God" .The
debut of four other new songs -- "Blues", the title
track to the upcoming album "Chinese Democracy",
"Silk Worms" and "Oklahoma" -- were met
with less excitement and upon first listen lacked the direction
and hook-laden style of the old stuff.
Rose
played it understandably safe -- the songs sounded exactly
as they do on record and one could literally close their eyes
and believe it was the original lineup playing the Troubadour
in L.A. in 1989. The only risk Rose has taken was in choosing
his band members -- each of which has his own distinctive
style almost like the Village People. Instead of the cop,
the cowboy, the Indian, and so on, the new GNR has the few
lone rockers, the alien, the new waver, and the freak. So,
without further ado, meet the new version of GNR:
1.
W. Axl Rose: Looked great, sounded great, returned
as a humbled man with a brand new attitude of self-deprecating
humor and generosity to his fellow bandmates. Sporting a healthy
glow, long lighter red (or even light brown) hair, Adidas
pants, and a button-down Chinese dragon shirt, Rose was back
and better than ever.
2.
Robin Finck: The guitarist's alien look with his black
and white space-age suit and hair and makeup straight from
the planet Romulac might make sense for his former band, Nine
Inch Nails, but it seems out of place for GNR. Finck and Buckethead
were clearly in competition for who could freak GNR fans out
the most.
3.
Buckethead: The avant-garde Bay Area guitar prodigy
wore his trademark Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on top of
his long, wavy hair and a white mask with black eyes, while
doing robotic moves and freaking the crowd out along the way.
He's sort of the Wes Borland of the band.
4.
Paul Tobias: (a.k.a. Paul Huge, PHT, Rose's old friend
from Indiana) Rose gave his old friend the most generous introduction,
calling him "the original guitar player" who "worked
hard to get here." He certainly held his own up against
the more experienced players in the band. Solos and lead guitar
parts were spread-out fairly evenly amongst the three guitarists.
5.
Tommy Stinson: Replacements bassist at age 13. More
recently, he sang and played bass in the ill-fated L.A. band
Perfect. While his usual duds of a retro plaid suit and new-wave
suspenders looked way out of place onstage, he possessed eerily
similar mannerisms (and same spiky blonde haircut) to original
GNR bassist Duff McKagan. Regardless, Stinson, who sang the
bulk of backing vocals, was a crowd fave and was one of the
few band members Rose interacted with onstage, albeit briefly.
6.
Brain: (real name: Brian Mantia) The former drummer
of Primus was low-key in an outfit and cap straight out of
Fred Durst's closet and held down the fort just as well as
Steven Adler or Matt Sorum.
7.
Dizzy Reed: Unchanged since joining GNR as the keyboardist
in 1991, the only blast from the past played keyboard, bongos,
piano, and sang some backing vocals.
8.
Chris Pittman: He's played with Tool, Lusk, Replicants,
and Blinker the Star. Dressed in a biker hat and jacket, the
second keyboardist also played some percussion and sang backing
vocals. He's just a touring member, and a seemingly unnecessary
one at that in a band already consisting of seven players.
Regardless
of the weirdness of it all, the audience -- which was comprised
of a younger, hipper crowd (ranging from drag queens to club
kids, with just the occasional mullet-head or old school rocker
mixed in) -- welcomed back Rose and his new boys with unbridled
joy. On songs such as "Live and Let Die", "You
Could Be Mine", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Patience",
the audience's vocals drowned out the visibly elated, smiling
Rose. Chants of "Welcome Back" kept that smile on
Rose's face throughout the evening.
The
only real dip in this joyous occasion came toward the end
of the set when Rose was gracious enough to allow Buckethead
to entertain, er, confuse the crowed with a performance art
piece in which he twirled what appeared to be a baton or Chinese
nunchuckas to a percussive beat. He followed that with a bit
of robot and an unwelcome guitar solo. Aside from a few muffled
boos, and a lone shout-out for Slash, the audience was actually
pretty tolerant of Buckethead's eccentricities. At the end
of his shtick, he handed out what looked like chocolate roses
out of a KFC bucket to those up front.
Given
the fact that the Thursday prior to the show (Dec. 29) was
the first time Rose performed a set with this band (he never
really sang at rehearsals over these past several years),
the show was amazingly perfect. Rose and his new gaggle of
freaks delivered the goods beyond most people's expectations.
Carrie
Borzillo-Vrenna -
Source:
nme.com
|
