Oh Axl how you play with our emotions. Rile us up by not taking over an hour and a half to come on stage and then just charm us and rock us in the hopes that we'll forget...and we fall for it every time.
That was the scene at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto last night as Axl Rose and his revamped Guns N' Roses played to a near capacity house.
After pulling the now expect trick of letting the fans hang, it was a shockingly happy and upbeat Rose that took the stage (at around 11:30). He bantered on several occasions, never once to complain, and often eliciting laughs from the throngs of ever loyal Gunner fans. It was clear Rose was having fun and it translated well for the audience.
The other big difference from previous shows was that
Chinese Democracy is now in people's hands. The live renditions of those songs improved vastly now that the audience is more familiar with them. In fact, "Street of Dreams" and the first big booming chords of the set opener "Chinese Democracy" could go down as highlights.
The new G N' R gets slagged for being Rose and a bunch of hired guns. But it would be wrong to sell them short. Rose hasn't hired a bunch of stiffs here. Guitarist Richard Fortus and former Replacements' bassist Tommy Stinson have impeccable rock pedigrees. New guitarist DJ Ashba didn't waste any time making his mark either as his spotlight guitar solo moment was nothing short of stunning.
Not everything was spot on. Some of songs, new and old alike, sounded a bit cluttered. It seems as though one guitarist needs to be removed from the mix and things would clean up quite a bit. It would also help the audience hear Rose more clearly. As it stood, more than a few times Rose's singing needed support from Tommy Stinson's backing vocals to be heard at all.
But with powerful renditions of favorites that included "You Could Be Mine", "Welcome To the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine", "November Rain", and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" any complaints really just seem like nitpicking.
Rock on Axl, you lovable sonofabitch!
7.5/10
Guns N' Roses' website
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Collider, BBM Ep
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Oh Axl how you play with our emotions. Rile us up by not taking over an hour and a half to come on stage and then just charm us and rock us in the hopes that we'll forget...and we fall for it every time.
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Justin Levinson
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