Holy shit guys! Did you know Slash and Duff are back in Guns N' Roses? For real! You remember Guns N' Roses? They were huge in the early nineties. Like, Michael Jackson huge! Remember their singer? Well, he still wears a bandana. He keeps his shirt on nowadays, thankfully. But they still sing all those cool songs we liked as kids, as well as a bunch of other classic rock songs. Plus a bunch of stuff no one knows, but they sound cool! Anyway, I just saw them last night and it was good. A little long, because all the musicians like to play a lot of notes that don't amount to a song (not that I've heard on the radio at least) but still, it was just like 1992.
This is what I imagine casuals would say. I'm not a casual. I'm a fan and this was my third show since the core triumvirate reunited for the Not In This Lifetime Tour. Remember how hard it was to be a GN'R fan for about a quarter of a century? Very little music, an unrecognisable band made up of (sometimes literally) faceless members, crappy performances, shit-slinging between ex-members, the Hall of Fame debacle, and generally Axl just being a major dick. So I was pretty stoked when they reunited two years ago. I even went to see them in California because I was convinced the whole thing would implode within a year.
Well Axl has proved me wrong, and everyone else too. His transformation from whiny little bitch, endangering crowds, shitting on his fans and bandmates to the professional we have today is staggering. He even seems... pleasant. Always joking, interacting with the crowd and his bandmates and being genuinely affable and nice... He seems at peace. Did they find the right balance of meds? It seems that ever since he saved AC/DC, the guy can do no wrong and he has at least partially restored the public's good will that he spent three decades pissing away.
This is their second Paris show in a year since the "reunion". Last year was at the Stade de France and they tore up the place.
This year they came back as part of the Download Festival, which is owned by Live Nation. Rumor is they got paid 5 million for each Download appearance (Donington, Madrid and Paris). That would go a long way to help bury old grudges.
Whatever the motivations, the fact is they don't fuck around: they play for three and a half hours. I've heard people complain that it's too much, it loses momentum, too many covers, blah blah... I whole-heartedly disagree. The setlist is a fan's dream and the show is very well-paced. They could lose the cover of "Wichita Lineman" which sounds pretty goofy, but apart from that everything just works.
That said, Axl's voice can be problematic. He was coughing up phlegm all night and struggled on some screams. However his commitment never wavered. He always goes deep into those songs and delivers them like he means them because he does. Even Velvet Revolver's "Slither" which I guess he plays as a quid-pro-quo for making Slash play "Sorry" and its venomous lyrics obviously geared towards him...
I guess we could bitch and moan that save for a couple of rotating songs, the show doesn't change much. Yes, GN'R are no longer the dangerous, unpredictable junkies they were 30 years ago. Axl is pushing sixty. Their music has evolved, and they are now a classic rock band in the same league as the Stones or U2. And they are all the better for it. Honestly, for a fan like me, hearing Slash's leads around Axl's vocals is just a treat that I never thought possible until a few years ago.
I supported the band and all of its offshoots during that time. I bought and loved Chinese Democracy. Still do. I saw Scab N' Poses three times and had a great time. I saw Slash with Myles Kennedy three times, and even Duff's Loaded. All were great in they own way. But having them back together is just awesome. Sure, it's nostalgia. And most likely a cash grab. And it's been while since a rock band has been truly important in my life. I'm not fourteen anymore and I no longer obsess over things like that. I recently stopped buying records, I don't read the magazines, I don't really follow much of who does what. I haven't seen the last Star Wars movie, which before I found my first gray hair would've been unthinkable.
But last night for almost four hours I sang along with every word, played air guitar during every solo and headbanged like I was a teenager again. And I looked around at the crowd and fifty thousand people did the same. Old guys in denim jackets from their high school days, complete with band logos. Young kids who were experiencing their first concert. To them, GN'R is like what the Stones were to us as kids: the old guard. Legends. And last night they lived up to their title.
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