Anonymous
05-27-2006, 11:12 PM
First of all, lemme tell you I am NOT crazy about their music, even though I do enjoy Hollywood Rock alot. However, unlike most peeps, I do not consider them the best of the bunch, not by a long shot. But those are personal opinions that have absolutely NO place in this review. That cleared out, let's start:
They kicked things off with Welcome to the Jungle, and Axl took no time in showing how shot is voice is nowadays. The band was pretty solid, however, and they did justice to most of the classics, even if sometimes Slash's presence was sorely missed, particularly during the solo bit of Sweet Child O' Mine, where there was NO solo whatsoever... just the rythm section. Seems the kids CAN play, but not that good.
Axl, despite the fact his voice was shot - it's never too much to mention this fact, he was really terrible at times - his lack of endurance, and his obvious concern of being too fat - he was wearing a jacket AND a shirt in this terrible heat in a vain effort to hide his increased body weight - did manage to entertain the crowds, and shown he can still front a band better than most people.
Now, I wouldn't normally bother to mention his weight increase, but his concern about his figure was downright ridiculous. After playing three songs, the man was sweating profusely, went backstage, took his shirt off and kept his jacket on... Jaysus! Here's a clue, mate: if you don't want people to notice how fat you are, stop drawing attention to it. Either you run around the stage half-naked, or you wear winter clothes in the middle of the fuckin' summer... neither option's too pleasant to look at.
Okay, back to what it really matters, the fuckin' music: the entire band has shown they were perfectly trained monkeys - except those moments when Slash's solos were downright brilliants, of course - but as far as improvisation goes, they were a bit... boring. The guitar solo bits were not as bad as Mike's bass solos, but weren't much better either. The band itself still has a loooong way to go. The good news is, they DO have potential. I believe any of them can improve enough to become good musicians in their own right, ESPECIALLY the drummer. That guy had bits of genius at times. Has my respect, for what it's worth.
Back to Axl, the man was uncharacteristically good humored. He even made a joke about himself which made me laugh my arse off, because I had been betting about that all afternoon - and lost. Turning to the crowds, he asked "How many of you people didn't think we would be here tonight? Raise your hands." The public promptly responded, and the number of raised hands was astounding, even for me, and I was expecting quite a few hands in the air... Axl just laughed and went on "I see a lot of hands in the air... I see how you motherfuckers are. But being here you've shown great virtue... you've shown quite a bit of Patience." Cue Patience intro, and you have one of the highlights of the night.
However, things weren't so pleasant all the time. It seems that those who stayed at home didn't get to watch his "new" songs. Even though all the concerts were being transmitted live via cable, Axl specifically demanded that the broadcast be cut off whenever the Chinese Democracy tunes were being played. What an arsehole. But then again, he wouldn't be Axl if he wasn't a bitch about something.
Axl did manage to find his voice somewhat during in the latter part of the concert, and had warmed up enough to make a few short runs from here to there, although nothing to be compared to his good ol' times.
The ending of the concert was nothing short of spectacular, as they played Paradise City with a Portuguese flag waving in the wind against a clear blue sky in the Titantron, which is always a nice touch, as nice as Angus Young wearing boxer shorts with the flag of the country he's on stamped on his arse. I'm no patriot, but that does get most people going. The confetti rain during that same song was so thick that it was hard to see two feet in front of you, and it had a great effect as well.
To sum it up, it was a good concert, and if Axl doesn't go into hiding another 12 years, he can still recover his old voice and he can probably get back in shape as well, so we won't hear him panting and gasping for air every time he makes a bit of effort. I've seen this exact thing happen when Bruce Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden. He was old, fat and tired, and every time he sang his old Maiden songs, his voice could barely hold those high notes. Fast forward two years, and Bruce was back in top shape, outrunning the devil and wailing 'till he made your ears bleed. As for the band, my opinion has been stated - a lot of potential, but not much to show yet. Let us hope, that's all we have.
And for all you fucks who are too lazy to read that whole shit above, lemme sum it up even more:
Compared to a Guns n' Roses concert back in the old days, this was mildly weak.
Compared to your average concert, it was pretty good and entertaining.
There's hope for this band. As for my personal, highly biased opinion... the Darkness can easily blow Axl and his support band off the stage any day of the week. :D
Cheers! :bottle:
They kicked things off with Welcome to the Jungle, and Axl took no time in showing how shot is voice is nowadays. The band was pretty solid, however, and they did justice to most of the classics, even if sometimes Slash's presence was sorely missed, particularly during the solo bit of Sweet Child O' Mine, where there was NO solo whatsoever... just the rythm section. Seems the kids CAN play, but not that good.
Axl, despite the fact his voice was shot - it's never too much to mention this fact, he was really terrible at times - his lack of endurance, and his obvious concern of being too fat - he was wearing a jacket AND a shirt in this terrible heat in a vain effort to hide his increased body weight - did manage to entertain the crowds, and shown he can still front a band better than most people.
Now, I wouldn't normally bother to mention his weight increase, but his concern about his figure was downright ridiculous. After playing three songs, the man was sweating profusely, went backstage, took his shirt off and kept his jacket on... Jaysus! Here's a clue, mate: if you don't want people to notice how fat you are, stop drawing attention to it. Either you run around the stage half-naked, or you wear winter clothes in the middle of the fuckin' summer... neither option's too pleasant to look at.
Okay, back to what it really matters, the fuckin' music: the entire band has shown they were perfectly trained monkeys - except those moments when Slash's solos were downright brilliants, of course - but as far as improvisation goes, they were a bit... boring. The guitar solo bits were not as bad as Mike's bass solos, but weren't much better either. The band itself still has a loooong way to go. The good news is, they DO have potential. I believe any of them can improve enough to become good musicians in their own right, ESPECIALLY the drummer. That guy had bits of genius at times. Has my respect, for what it's worth.
Back to Axl, the man was uncharacteristically good humored. He even made a joke about himself which made me laugh my arse off, because I had been betting about that all afternoon - and lost. Turning to the crowds, he asked "How many of you people didn't think we would be here tonight? Raise your hands." The public promptly responded, and the number of raised hands was astounding, even for me, and I was expecting quite a few hands in the air... Axl just laughed and went on "I see a lot of hands in the air... I see how you motherfuckers are. But being here you've shown great virtue... you've shown quite a bit of Patience." Cue Patience intro, and you have one of the highlights of the night.
However, things weren't so pleasant all the time. It seems that those who stayed at home didn't get to watch his "new" songs. Even though all the concerts were being transmitted live via cable, Axl specifically demanded that the broadcast be cut off whenever the Chinese Democracy tunes were being played. What an arsehole. But then again, he wouldn't be Axl if he wasn't a bitch about something.
Axl did manage to find his voice somewhat during in the latter part of the concert, and had warmed up enough to make a few short runs from here to there, although nothing to be compared to his good ol' times.
The ending of the concert was nothing short of spectacular, as they played Paradise City with a Portuguese flag waving in the wind against a clear blue sky in the Titantron, which is always a nice touch, as nice as Angus Young wearing boxer shorts with the flag of the country he's on stamped on his arse. I'm no patriot, but that does get most people going. The confetti rain during that same song was so thick that it was hard to see two feet in front of you, and it had a great effect as well.
To sum it up, it was a good concert, and if Axl doesn't go into hiding another 12 years, he can still recover his old voice and he can probably get back in shape as well, so we won't hear him panting and gasping for air every time he makes a bit of effort. I've seen this exact thing happen when Bruce Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden. He was old, fat and tired, and every time he sang his old Maiden songs, his voice could barely hold those high notes. Fast forward two years, and Bruce was back in top shape, outrunning the devil and wailing 'till he made your ears bleed. As for the band, my opinion has been stated - a lot of potential, but not much to show yet. Let us hope, that's all we have.
And for all you fucks who are too lazy to read that whole shit above, lemme sum it up even more:
Compared to a Guns n' Roses concert back in the old days, this was mildly weak.
Compared to your average concert, it was pretty good and entertaining.
There's hope for this band. As for my personal, highly biased opinion... the Darkness can easily blow Axl and his support band off the stage any day of the week. :D
Cheers! :bottle: