2006-12-17 - Universal City, CA Gibson Amphitheatre reviews/pics

[@pestaartje]

setlist:

01. Welcome To The Jungle
02. It's So Easy
03. Mr. Brownstone
04. Live and Let Die
05. Better
06. Robin Solo
07. Sweet Child O' Mine
08. You Could Be Mine
09. Band Jam/Dizzy Solo
10. The Blues
11. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
12. Band Intro/Richard Solo
13. Richard & Robin
14. Out Ta Get Me
15. November Rain
16. Piano Moving Jam
17. IRS
18. My Michelle (w/Bach)
19. Think About You (WITH IZZY!!)
20. Used To Love Her (WITH IZZY!!)
21. IZZY SOLO!!!
22. Patience (WITH IZZY!!)
23. Nightrain

-ENCORE-

24. Chinese Democracy
25. Madagascar
26. Paradise City

[@pestaartje]

weaver1497:

Wow!!!

Thats all i can say right now. ive seen this version of gnr 5 times this year  but this show was amazing! Seeing izzy play 5 songs, axl being back in la!

Anyway we caught axls mic at the end of the show, and thanks to the posters here a htgth i heard that security tries to take the mic back. So i shoved it in my jacket and went to valet and got the hell outta there!

Axl was doing his rant about the bloggers and people saying how they couldnt make it at the end of the show, and we were running out the vip exit! its 4:03am as i write this and im beat, ill write a much more detailed synopsis tomorrow! Below are pics of the mic to prove!

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2327671840048645613lfdIYm

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2405984720048645613wfoeWQ

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2184056700048645613OlDTAm

p.s. they played the best live version of "better" ive heard this year, axl nailed it vocally

p.p.s thanks to the guy who posted awhile back who tipped me off that security would try to take the mic back!

[@pestaartje]

kaleigh:

Just got back - what an amazing show!!!  yes First, me and my brother met up with Garry, Edward Rose, w. axl rose and his girlfriend, and saw all the cool GNR stuff at the Hard Rock. (I want that cross!)

Then... as we were walking in the general direction of the ampitheatre, we saw Frank standing around! We all got some pictures with him, and THEN we saw Dizzy.  Got some pics with him too, and we also saw Del James. (Garry and w. axl rose have the pictures, so hopefully they'll post them soon)

I'll fast-foward to GNR's portion of the show - INCREDIBLE!  Right before My Michelle, Axl said "I'm having a shitacular time, a shirrific time, a shitatstic time." Right after that song, Axl said "To continue all the holiday and friendship crap... here's Izzy Straddlin'." (I'm obviously paraphrasing, since there was a longer amount of silence to build up the suspense.  Me and Garry called it out before Axl did, though.  hihi It was great finally hearing Think About You, plus the unexpected Izzy solo.  It was also my first time hearing Chinese Democracy live!   Cool

After the show, Axl said something to the extent of how people get so negative, and that even though he knows he doesn't have to prove anything to them, he's doing it in spite of them anyway. (That's what I remember right now, I know there was a little more.) All in all, one AMAZING EXPERIENCE!

Garry - I don't know if you got my voicemail, but I still have your poster.

[@pestaartje]

[@pestaartje]

thnx to sswalk55:

mr brownstone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6i5lo-7CY8

the blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt5Q9O-UHxA

[@pestaartje]

leatherebel:

Izzy was also on nightrain and paradise and at the final bow......Met him at the parking lot after the show,,,he was in a hurry though,,,,,
Yes, he did a 10-15 sec intro to Patience which reminded me of Sailing..

SilkWorms is not burried,,,,,,,You;ll hear it one day,,,,,,completely remastered

Something was wrong with Ron  ....  I hope I am wrong.....

what a night overall,,,,what a show....wow.....  just wow


live and let die was played

[@pestaartje]

foto's gemaakt door W. Axl. Rose op HTGTH

[@pestaartje]

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/reviews/cl-et-guns19dec19,1,1186580.story

 The rockin' Axl Rose experience legally known as Guns N' Roses is like the megabucks movie version of some gritty off-Broadway play. It won't make you forget the original, but its gloss and sprawl are not to be despised.

Looking like an alien mantis, jaws parted as if to bite the head off a giant fly, Rose disdained credibility at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Sunday night while injecting further histrionic fizz into the vocal melodies of turn-of-the-'90s GNR ballads such as the buoyant "Sweet Child O' Mine" and the tenderly overfragranced "November Rain"; if he had ever drawn genuine emotion from his weeper repertoire (doubtful), those days were dust. Still, a creepy artificial buzz always rewards the absorption of Rose's headlong muggery, and when he had nothing in mind but rocking his butt off ("It's So Easy," "You Could Be Mine") and polluting his liver ("Mr. Brownstone," "Nightrain"), he took everybody along on his ambulance joyride.

Pyrotechnic heat you could actually smell fired up a two-plus-hour Rose set calibrated like a Rolls engine. The pistons were a seven-piece backup band, cranked by bearded ax mechanic Robin Finck and calculated to appear even slicker by contrast with a weary and spectacularly out-of-tune Izzy Stradlin, former rhythm guitarist of the "classic" GNR, who was dragged onstage for several songs. Ingenious instrumental breaks served to pace the proceedings and revive demand for additional Axl shriekery. And a number of impressive unreleased selections — including the ramped-up "IRS," the drifting "Madagascar" and the chop-riffing "Chinese Democracy" — augured well for Guns N' Roses' upcoming album, whose endless postponement recently cracked a rift with the band's management. (The group canceled its remaining tour dates after the three Gibson shows to focus on finishing "Chinese Democracy," now targeted for release March 6, according to GNR's official website.)

At the 2 a.m. curtain call, Rose said he'd soldier onward for the fans despite the dirt bag write-ups he always gets. And so he should.

Sebastian Bach, the finest microphone twirler of his generation, warmed up the stage with reckless rockers ("Piece of Me") and prom ballads ("I Remember You") from his Skid Row heyday circa 1990, plus some homicidal new numbers. More than an MTV clown, the lanky Bach is a radiant entertainer; his animalistic screams and party attitude spawned grins while muscly guitarist Metal Mike Chlasciak (formerly of Halford) shredded manfully.

The night's darkest moods were the gift of Helmet, whose "Monochrome" CD this year announced a return to the artistic spikes of its platinum early '90s. Gaunt, buzz-cut Page Hamilton's grating yet melodic singing, contemptuous lyrics, gut-gouging riffs and twisted guitar solos rocked metal-hard and punk-furious.

The L.A. chapter of the nationwide art-sleaze phenomenon Suicide Girls opened, gyrating and undressing to Zep and Prince soundtracks within cinematic conceptual frameworks. The longtime link between metal and strippers: not broken yet.

Guns N' Roses

Where: 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City

When: 8:15 p.m. today and Wednesday

Price: $39.50-$75

Contact: (818) 777-3931

[@pestaartje]

Live Review: Guns N' Roses in Universal City, CA
December 19, 2006 03:45 PM
by Paul Gargano
LiveDaily Contributor

If there are any questions regarding the return of Guns N' Roses, any cynics who still want to doubt frontman Axl Rose, or any suggestions that the current band is but a shell of the former lineup, they can all be laid to rest after Sunday night's (12/17) performance at the sold-out Gibson Amphitheater, in Universal City, CA.

Lay them to rest alongside grunge, rap-rock and emo, and in the vicinity of every other fad that has come and gone since Guns N' Roses last ruled the planet rock more than a decade ago. From top to bottom, the band's first of three nights in Los Angeles offered a two-hour-and-20-minute primer in rock-and-roll retribution, cementing the return of Axl Rose and showcasing a lineup poised to vault Guns N' Roses back atop the hard rock pantheon.

From the moment Robin Finck's truncated guitar riffs shot through the amphitheater like shards of shrapnel introducing "Welcome to the Jungle," a standing room-only crowd of more than 5,000 hinged on every note. Notes that Rose nailed with increasing--and remarkable--proficiency as the late-night set progressed into early morning.

While the iconic frontman has never been known for his range, his performance Sunday demonstrated a vocal maturity that surpassed even the most optimistic of expectations, running the gamut from the seductive color of "Sweet Child 'O Mine," through the pissed-off vehemence of "Out ta Get Me." While he hasn't transformed into a crystal-esque crooner, there was barely a sour note throughout the 20-song set. Clearly, Rose has markedly increased his command over his voicesince the band's L.A.-area show in September (at the KROQ Inland Invasion, their first So-Cal appearance in more than a decade).

"You Could Be Mine" offered an early highlight, the normally sedate L.A. crowd ripping through every word like it was 1992 and Nirvana never existed. Rose offered ample reason to revel, as he cut through a repertoire of now-classic hits like he'd been rebuilt and recharged in his time out of the spotlight, with his comeback, until now, serving as little more than fine-tuning.

It seemed as if nothing would rival the mid-set, epic build of "November Rain," but the fine showings kept mounting, Rose whistling the intro to "Patience" before putting in one of his more memorable performances of the night, then ripping through set closer "Nightrain" as if he had crossed the Hollywood Hills and returned to the Sunset Strip circa the late-'80s. All but the final three songs on Guns' "Appetite for Destruction" debut were performed.

It can be presumed that the five previously-unreleased songs will be heard on the upcoming and long-awaited "Chinese Democracy," which Rose announced last week will be hitting stores March 6. The encore-opening title track was a turbo-charged adrenaline rush befitting of the heaviest "Use Your Illusion" moments, while the Asian-tinged intro to "Better" and the mid-tempo flow of "Madagascar" demonstrated an understanding that while the punk rock madness of the band's early appetites may have been tempered by time, the residual grit is still resounding.

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" proved a fitting segue into new ballad "The Blues," while "I.R.S." did the same leading into "My Michelle." Opener Sebastian Bach has become a tour fixture on the latter, but the manic, metallic onslaught of the duo sharing lead vocals was quickly overshadowed by the introduction of original GN'R guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who joined the band for "Think About You," "Patience," "I Used to Love Her" and "Nightrain," then returned for the encore-closing "Paradise City."

Of the current band--which features "Illusion"-era keyboardist Dizzy Reed, ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, guitarists Finck, Richard Fortus and Bumblefoot, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardist Chris Pitman--Finck, Fortus and Reed each received time in the solo spotlight.

Reed manned a center stage piano as he bled a solo run through The Rolling Stones' "Angie" into the new ballad, Finck did a commendable job of making people forget about founding member Slash with a blues-hued solo that led into "Sweet Child," and Fortus merged an arena-rock shredfest into a blues duet with Finck, and finally into "Out ta Get Me." As could be said of the entire band, each paid dutiful respect to the GN'R legacy without sacrificing their individual flair and unique personalities.

In an era where nostalgia would be just fine, Guns N' Roses circa 2006 deliver much more. Sebastian Bach, meanwhile, knows the power of nostalgia and played it to his advantage in an hour-long opening set that was heavy on Skid Row hits.

Opener "Slave to the Grind" was delivered in double-time, and followed by "Big Guns" and "Here I Am," proved more than capable in engaging the packed house. A handful of new tracks fit nicely with the more recognizable material; "Stuck Inside" and "American Metalhead" (think Judas Priest crashing head-on with Accept) embraced his band's heavy metal mindset, while new ballad "By Your Side" fit better alongside "I Remember You," which proved his strongest vocal showing.

Has it been mentioned that Guns N' Roses went onstage on time, to the minute? Don't bet on that becoming an everyday occurrence, but take this much to the bank: Judging from Los Angeles' response to "Chinese Democracy," another era of Guns N' Roses domination is imminent.

All hail, the triumphant return of Axl Rose.

SETLIST
1. "Welcome to the Jungle"
2. "It's So Easy"
3. "Mr. Brownstone"
4. "Live and Let Die"
5. "Better"
6. Guitar Solo (Robin Finck)
7. "Sweet Child of Mine"
8. "You Could Be Mine"
9. Piano Solo (Dizzy Reed)
10. "The Blues"
11. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
12. Guitar Solo (Richard Fortis)
13. "Outta Get Me"
14. "November Rain"
15. "IRS"
16. "My Michelle" (with Sebastian Bach)
17. "Think About You" (with Izzy Stradlin)
18. "I Used to Love Her" (with Izzy Stradlin)
19. "Patience" (with Izzy Stradlin)
20. "Nightrain" (with Izzy Stradlin)
ENCORE
21. "Chinese Democracy"
22. "Madagascar"
23. "Paradise City" (with Izzy Stradlin)

[@pestaartje]

Izzy jams with GN'R in Los Angeles
By Doug Miller / GunsNRoses.com

The surprises keep coming for Guns N’ Roses, and the crowd at the Gibson Amphitheatre in the band’s hometown of Los Angeles was in for a big one Sunday night.

For the first time on the North American portion of the latest tour, original Guns member Izzy Stradlin joined the reformed band on stage for five songs.

Stradlin played guitar and sang harmonies with lead singer W. Axl Rose on classics “Think About You,” “Used to Love Her,” “Patience” and “Nightrain,” and he came back for the last song, “Paradise City.”

Stradlin hasn’t exactly been a stranger to GN’R.

He appeared on stage with the band in May in New York shortly after Rose brought GN’R out of the woodwork with a new eight-piece lineup that features three guitarists –- Robin Finck, Richard Fortus and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.

Stradlin also played with GN’R on a European swing shortly before they began gigging in the United States.

Sunday’s show at the Gibson was the penultimate performance of the two-month North American tour featuring some of the material from the upcoming album Chinese Democracy, which Rose has slated for a tentative March 6 release.   

http://web.gunsnroses.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061218&content_id=a1&vkey=news&fext=.jsp