BYU-Tulsa Wrap Up, Happy New Year's Eve!

Hello,

Yesterday in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl BYU played Tulsa. This was a very ugly game, two mediocre teams battling it out. Both teams are led by mediocre quarterbacks. I can't remember a game where both quarterbacks missed so many wide open receivers. BYU ultimately won 24-21. Riley Nelson returns for his senior season, usually a BYU quarterback returning for their senior season would make me giddy. However Nelson is a solid but not a superstar quarterback. He doesn't fit in the mold of the so-called classic BYU quarterback. BYU has had many great quarterbacks in their history and BYU fans are spoiled. In fact, BYU is the only school who has produced two quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls. They are Jim McMahon and Steve Young.

That game was a microcosm of Nelson's whole season. He had flashes of brilliance wrapped in an overabundance of mediocrity. Looking at his statistics today, they were horrific. He only completed 17 of 40 passes for 250 yards. Nelson missed his receivers all day. Obviously incompletions are a killer to having a successful offense. He also threw those three horrid interceptions. BYU got a break on one of those interceptions when Tulsa was called for offsides. BYU's Justin Sorenson then was able to kick a 35 yard field goal. That field goal ended up being the difference in the game. Nelson will never be confused for one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of BYU. However in spite of all that, BYU still won today. He did show how gutty he was by leading the Cougars to that win. He made the plays when they needed to be made.

Also I know it's Brandon Doman's first season as the offensive coordinator. So I'm giving him a pass for some of the horrific play calls he made yesterday, but I hope he gets a lot better next year. I hated that he called a double reverse. Quite simply BYU doesn't have enough team speed to run that play. Every time they run it, it gets blown up. Stop already. I also hated all the long pass plays that Doman called, especially on a day when Nelson was so inaccurate. Finally I hate when Doman, or any offensive coordinator, falls in love with the pass. BYU looked so much better when they mixed the pass and run. Please next season, plan your play calls around Nelson's strengths. Those strengths seem to be that he's a real leader and is liked by his teammates. He's also a very mobile quarterback, which is the thing that made him a better quarterback than Jake Heaps.

Questions about BYU football. Nelson will be returning for his senior year next season. That will be a good stopgap measure. But please can someone tell me that BYU has their next great quarterback in the pipeline. Nelson gives the Cougars what he can, but at best he's a mediocre D1 quarterback. Thanks Riley for all your hard work and I wish you the best of luck once your career at BYU is over. Also I'm so grateful you were there for us this season and we didn't have to rely on the stiff and overrated Jake Heaps.

However can someone please tell me we have the next great BYU quarterback in the pipeline? Two years of Heaps and Nelson almost make me long for the days of Max Hall. Almost.

I know that BYU has many great receivers and tight ends, but what happened to McKay Jacobsen this season? He sort of disappeared, I thought he'd be a much more integral part of their offense. Thanks McKay for all the highlights you provided for BYU in your career. I still remember that big catch you made against Utah which led to one of the most famous plays in BYU history. That being the Beck to Harline pass.

Also whatever happened to Joshua "Juice" Quezada? I thought this year was going to be a break out year for him. He only rushed for 274 yards and never lived up to the glimpses of brilliance he showed in his freshman season. Obviously I don't go to the practices so I have a very small sample of plays to truly judge Quezada by. I just hope that in his junior and senior seasons he will live up to his potential.

Finally never once did I think to myself that I wish Jake Heaps was still on the sideline for the Cougars. Kansas fans, don't expect very much from Heaps. He will just let you down. Yes I stole that from the Gin Blossoms. For BYU that's addition by subtraction. Jake good luck in your future, I just hope your expectations and Kansas' expectations are much more realistic than when you joined BYU.

Jerry Jones said that Tony Romo will be "playing at full strength", is that suppose to comfort Cowboys fans Jerry? This announcement shows what's wrong with the Cowboys. First to think that some Dallas fans are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to find out what's going on with Romo's health. Does it matter? Too bad he isn't the answer for Dallas, whatever his health. Romo is a quarterback who always seems to be on the cusp of finally breaking through, but never does. The second thing is why is Jones giving medical updates? It drives me crazy that Jones has to be involved in every thing related to the Cowboys. I get that he's the owner, but Jerry shut the hell up for once! I'm sure his employees hate it more than I do. It's not like Jerry Jones is Steve Jobs and is leading his organization to greatness.

I'm so sick of Jerry Jones. He's done a lot of great things for the Cowboys. I love that he built the new stadium, was able to have Dallas host the Super Bowl and hired Jimmy Johnson. However he's done a lot more bad things than good things. Hiring Wade Phillips, a man who'd never won a playoff game, as a head coach was one of his worst decisions. Dallas is still recovering from that disastrous hiring now. Jones stuck with Phillips for way too long. Now Jones is sticking by Romo as Dallas gets less and less relevant each year. Again a quarterback that has nice stats, but can't win a big game to save his life.

Some people make the argument that who would the Cowboys get to replace Tony Romo? I don't know but Dallas really needs to address their quarterback situation this offseason. Romo has been in Dallas for 9 seasons. He started out as a backup to the extremely immobile Drew Bledsoe. Romo worked his way into the starting lineup and teased us with his mobility. To give you an idea of how long Romo has been in Dallas, Romo's first start was three head coaches ago. However he has never stepped up his game beyond where it is now. Although he has thrown for 18 touchdowns and two interceptions over the last 8 games. That's an impressive statistic, but why does it feel so shallow? Why does Romo still fade so much in the big situations?

Also that Romo is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. If that's true, how thin is the talent level in the NFL for quarterback? I saw one misguided Cowboys fan say that Romo is the 4th best quarterback in the NFL. Really? I can think of several quarterbacks right off the top of my head that I'd rather have than Romo. These are in no particular order: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Michael Vick, Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Ben R. in Pittsburgh and I could go on.

Why are there so few great NFL quarterbacks?

I'll be hanging out with a friend Saturday, so I won't see any of the Utah-Ga Tech game. Go Utes! Can you please get the Pac 12 at least one bowl win? The Big East did get their first win yesterday. Rutgers defeated Iowa St. 27-13. Although to show that there are too many bowls, how did a 6-6 Iowa St. team get into a bowl? The Big East is now 1-1 in bowl games.

Here are some great songs for you to enjoy on your New Year's Eve. Don't do anything too stupid. Thanks as always to the military who put their lives on the line so that we can celebrate such silly traditions.

I agree with U2 about New Year's Day:

This is the breakout band, or at least should be, of the year. This is needtobreathe:

A typical crazy 80's video, but a great exercise song:

BYU-Tulsa today, Baylor-Washington Pinball Machine

Hello,

Did you watch that Washington-Baylor game last night. That was amazing. It wasn't a game, it was a pinball machine. Here are some of the amazing stats from the game. There was a combined 59 first downs, 17 touchdowns, 123 points scored and 1,397 total yards. Heisman Award winner Robert Griffin "only" had 295 yards passing and 1 touchdown. He had 55 more yards rushing. Baylor had 3 100 yard rushers and RG3 wasn't one of them. That Terrance Ganaway is a man, 240 pounds of brute force. He rushed for 200 yards on only 21 carries, a rushing average of 9.5 yards per carry. And oh by the way he rushed for 5 touchdowns, including the one that gave Baylor the victory. Jarred Salubi and Tevin Reese were Baylor's other two 100 yard rushers.

Washington's Keith Price was the offensive juggernaut of the game though. He was 23 of 37 passing for 438 yards. He also threw for 4 touchdowns. On the ground he rushed 5 times for 39 yards on his way to 3 rushing touchdowns.

Obviously the theme of this game was great offense at the expense of two pathetic defenses. It was an exciting game but it continues another theme. This third loss in 3 bowl games continues to expose the Pac 12 for how pathetic of a football conference it is. I'll save how bad of a basketball conference it is for another blog. In their 3 bowl games the Pac 12 have lost all 3. It's obvious that defense isn't a forte in their conference. In the Pac 12's three bowl losses, they've given up 21, 56 and 67 points.

The next bowl game for the Pac 12 is when Utah plays the high powered Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Utah has a bruising, crushing defense so they'll be giving up a lot less points than either Washington or Arizona St. I guarantee that. However Utah has been operating without an effective quarterback all season so I have no idea how many points they will score. That should be a pretty good game, two evenly matched teams.

Another good game should be today's BYU-Tulsa game. BYU is easily the worst 9 game winners in the nation, I say that as an obsessive BYU fan. They've truly played some terrible teams this season, especially at the end of their schedule. Tulsa on the other hand has played some truly amazing teams this season. Tulsa has given up 47, 59, 41 and 48 points in games this season. Of course in those games they lost to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Boise State and Houston. All 4 teams were in the Top Ten at the time Tulsa played them. Those games where they gave up all those points were against amazing teams, way above the caliber of BYU. But Tulsa still has averaged giving up 4 TDs in points a game. Of course Tulsa scores 34 points a game. BYU has a better defense but a worse offense. They give up 2o.3 points per game and score 30.6 points per game.

I predict that both teams will score at least 21 points each, but wouldn't be surprised by a 38-37 final score. The game is about to start, Go Cougs!

themusicaddict

College Football Bowls!

Hello,

I'll be cheering for you Kansas City on Sunday as you take on the extremely lame Broncos and the over hyped Tim Tebow. It's more likely that I'll watch that game than the Dallas-New York game. I don't expect much from the Cowboys. Even if they made the playoffs, they would probably get blown out in the first round. When asked about Jerry Jones staying the Cowboys GM if they don't make the playoffs, he said he probably would. The arrogance of Jerry Jones continues unabated. Jones wants his teams to be Super Bowl contenders, but he won't give up the GM job. That means that the 15 years of mediocrity will continue. I would think that Jones would want the best chance of winning the Super Bowl, if he does he needs to quit as GM.

Auburn Tigers, the darling of NCAA Football last season, crashed back to reality. When the Tigers were forced to play by the rules, they crashed back to mediocrity. With Cheating Cam going to the pros, the Tigers finished the regular season 7-5. They'll play the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday night in the Corporate Sponsor Bowl. Go Cavaliers!

Speaking of boring SEC teams, I'm excitedly not looking towards the Alabama-LSU rematch. I'd love for that game to finish 3-0. Could this be the most boring national title game ever?

Now a game that will be anything but boring is tomorrow's early afternoon battle between BYU and Tulsa. These are two evenly matched teams with both having relatively weak defenses. BYU has played a bunch of cupcakes this season, who knows how good they'll look tomorrow. The Golden Hurricanes give up a lot of points but also score a lot of points. There will probably be more points scored in a quarter than in a whole game of LSU-Auburn.

While I'm sick of hearing about the SEC, they do deserve all the praise they get. This league truly has a lot of good teams, although it would be nice to see another conference win the national title next season. With Matt Barkley coming back to USC, it would be nice to see the Trojans win the national title again.

However two of the alleged Big 6 conferences are showing their true colors. First of all the Big East, they just need to change their name to the pansy conference. They are being exposed and will continue to be so in this bowl season. The Big East is 0-1 so far in bowl play and won't break .500 in the 5 bowls they play in. Other than the one BCS bowl they are contractually guaranteed to play in, they play in 4 mediocre bowls. Both the Big East teams and the opponents they play are barely worthy to be in any bowl.

Another conference that's much hyped is the Pac 12. They'll be lucky, not good, to get at least two bowl victories in their 7 bowl games. The Pac 12 is so far 0-2 in bowl games and Washington will probably lose to Baylor and Heisman winner Robert Griffin 3 tonight. The fact that the Pac 12 should only be favored in one of their bowls speaks volumes. Obviously the first thing it says is that their are too many bowl games. Seriously when a 6-7 UCLA team qualifies for a bowl game, that's terrible.

Here are a couple of songs for you:

New Found Glory's "Summer Fling, Don't Mean A Thing":

I love how this song builds slowly and then starts to kick butt. Depeche Mode's "A Pain I'm Use To":

themusicaddict

Tony Romo's Injured Hand: Does It Matter?

Hello,

All the talk about Tony Romo's injured hand has honestly cracked me up. Will he be able to play? Will the Cowboys go out and sign a veteran quarterback? In other words a quarterback that hasn't played in the NFL this year. I wracked my brain about which veteran quarterback they could sign. JaMarcus Russell? Or could you imagine seeing Brett Favre in Cowboys blue? Stay retired Brett. It cracks me up because all these things don't matter, the Cowboys are going to choke no matter what happens. There's a reason that the Cowboys have only won 1 playoff game in the last 15 years. There's a reason that Tony Romo has only won 1 playoff game in his time in Dallas.

That leads me to this, it's time to completely blow up the Cowboys. It's time to make significant changes instead of making a few minor, cosmetic changes. I'm tired of seeing the occasional flashes of brilliance in the midst of so much mediocrity. The Dallas Cowboys Top 5 needs: 1) A qualified general manager. 2) A head coach that can bring some life to this moribund franchise. 3) A defensive coordinator that can actually coach a defense. 4) A real quarterback that will actually take the Cowboys to the next level. It's time to give up on the Tony Romo experiment. 5) The Cowboys need to go out and get some players to be able to make the above 4 steps possible.

I'd love to see the Cowboys be relevant in the NFL discussion again. I'll believe that the Cowboys are serious about significant changes when they find a way to get Andrew Luck.

From one mission impossible to another mission impossible. I watched "Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol" on the IMAX screen yesterday. Originally I had no desire to see this movie, however after reading some positive reviews I really wanted to see it. It turned out to be okay. There are a lot of cool things about it. Seeing Tom Cruise running sideways on the tallest building in the world was cool. Hearing that amazing theme song amped up is cool. The stirring music of Russia is awesome.

This is one of the modern versions of the "Mission Impossible" theme:

Some of the music from Russia:

"Kremlin With Anticipation":

However overall it's a movie I could have lived without seeing. I'd give "MI4" a B-. I'm not real excited about any of the movies out this Christmas season. "War Horse" looks incredibly sappy and I'm afraid the movie is going to play with my emotions. "Tintin" and "Chipwrecked" are kids movies and with my kids I've seen so many boring movies. I'm sort of burned out of those. For instance, "Hugo" comes with great reviews. Too bad it's incredibly boring and way too long.

Other Christmas movies: "Sherlock Holmes": yawn. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo": I loved the books. I can handle all the gore and sex when reading about it, but I don't want to see that on the big screen. "New Years Eve": I haven't heard anything good about it. The only other movie I might want to see is "The Darkest Hour". Not that I think it will be good, but because it seems like it's one of those movies I can go and turn my brain off and enjoy some explosions.

themusicaddict

Merry Christmas, Cowboys: Get Ready for the NFL Draft

Merry Christmas,

Two years ago I worked 8 hours at Verizon Wireless. I was working customer service on the phones. It was a completely miserable job in every way and frankly a job that I wasn't very good at. Since Verizon is so greedy, they cut staff to ridiculously small amounts that day. That meant no breaks between calls for the customer service representatives. Those breaks between calls are what give sanity to people in call center jobs. Many callers waited up to 20 minutes to get to a rep. That was a crappy Christmas. (If you do call in a call center job, please be extremely nice to them. Unless you've worked a job like that you have no idea how crappy it is.)

Now two years later I'm working at a much better job and a much better job for me. Not only am I not working Christmas this year, I didn't work Christmas Eve or even December 23rd. I still have 8 more days off. I'm taking 11 straight days off and only using 3 vacation days. That's what happens when one works at a job that isn't open every day. How sweet is that? Oh and by the way when I started the job I'm currently working, I started making $5000 more a year. Also tonight my kids and I are hopefully going to be watching "It's A Wonderful Life", a movie that makes one realize how much worse one's life could be. This is the time of the year we should be the most grateful and I definitely am.

I also was able to go to church today and will be able to hang out with my kids the next few days. Thanks to all of those that have helped make my life so great.

One group of people not making my life so great is the wretched Dallas Cowboys. They are doing their annual December meltdown. With the Giants defeating the Jets yesterday that set up a winner takes all game between Dallas and New York on New Year's Day. The game has been flexed to Sunday Night Football. Great now a national audience can see my team destroyed in front of a nationwide audience. What is my prediction for this game? Well let's see an injured and choking Tony Romo will be starting for the Cowboys. Romo is a man that never seems to win the big game. Why would I expect him to be any better this year.

Dallas still has that pathetic looking defense, the Rob Ryan defense hasn't worked out like Cowboys fans would have liked. Philadelphia didn't have anything to play for yesterday either, but look how easily they run through the Cowboys. The Cowboys secondary is atrocious, I'm hoping this is Newman's last game with the Cowboys. How terrible has he been? I'm hoping they replace Newman with a bunch of new men.

My prediction the Giants will win quite easily. This reminds me a lot of the the 2008 game when Dallas went to Philadelphia and if Dallas won they would go to the playoffs. How did the Cowboys react to that clutch time situation? Just as they did in almost every other clutch like situation, a complete flop. They were humiliated and blown out by the Eagles 44-6. Will the Cowboys game be as bad a week from today? No, but I think that the Cowboys-Giants rematch will get ugly. Not only do the Cowboys choke in clutch situation but also New York completely owns Dallas. I wouldn't feel any more comfortable if the game was in Dallas.

Once the Cowboys lose and are eliminated from the playoffs it's time to make some changes. I realize this is something they seem to need to do every year. What Dallas needs the most is someone who knows what he's doing in the General Manager's chair. In other words Jerry Jones you got to go. Ever since Jones hired Jimmy Johnson, he's been atrocious at picking people to coach his team. Looking back now I wonder if Jones and Johnson weren't college teammates, would Jones have even known about him? With some of Jones more recent hires, the Johnson hiring looks a lot like luck now.

Because since then Jones track record has been hiring mediocre and terrible head coaches. Here are some names that send chills down the spines of all Cowboy fans. Barry Switzer, Wade Phillips, Dave Campo (twice), and Chan Gailey. I'm beginning to think Jason Garrett will end up as no better than a mediocre coach as well. Jones also did hire Bill Parcells which I thought was a great hire. Looking back now it even looks like a good choice, although it didn't produce as many victories as I thought it would.

Also Jerry could you please stop hogging the spotlight so much? There's no reason for you to ever go down on the field during a game. It's time for you to stop using the Cowboys as your personal vanity project.

Besides getting a high quality GM, it's time for the Cowboys to be looking for their next quarterback, Tony Romo isn't the answer. He never has been and he never will be. How many mediocre seasons will the Cowboys have before Dallas realizes they need to move on with their quarterback. This is where a good GM comes in handy. Sure Dallas could find a quarterback worse than Romo. If you don't improve as a team then what's the point? I'd rather have a steady progression of increasing wins every year and eventually winning a Super Bowl. That's so much better than 8-8 like this year or mediocre most years. Nobody builds their reputation on regular season wins anyway.

To my eyes Dallas rarely plays with heart. They also seem to be playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. I think the Cowboys have got use to and comfortable with being mediocre. After 15 years of the same thing, there must be some reason for their mediocrity.

Meanwhile Tampa Bay has completely thrown in the towel on the season. I didn't see any of their game with Carolina yesterday, but did they even try? How as a professional football team do you lose by 32 points? Especially to a lot less than mediocre Panthers team. A lot of it goes back to playing without heart.

Lastly I'm glad I jumped on the 49ers bandwagon a few years ago. I had no idea how good the 49ers would turn out to be. Jim Harbaugh has done a great job with the 49ers, this shows how much of an effect a great head coach can have on his team. While San Francisco has a great defense, they have a very mediocre offense. But still they somehow found a way to win yesterday, gutting out that big victory over Seattle yesterday. I wish I could have watched that game yesterday.

The intangibles of never giving up, fighting to the end and finding a way to win I think goes directly to the head coach and the kind of culture he installs in his team. Harbaugh has clearly installed those things in his first season. The 49ers only gave up their first rushing touchdown all season, again that's an amazing stat. The 49ers also continue to have the inside track on the NFC's #2 playoff seed. That's so crucial for the 49ers, that would give them a bye before their first playoff game.

With Kansas City giving the league the blueprints to how to beat Green Bay, I think San Francisco has a good shot of making the Super Bowl. How cool would that be? I suggest to both Dallas and Tampa Bay to watch and see how to be successful in the NFL. Green Bay plays tonight, they don't really have much to play for. They're about to clinch the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if they rest some players tonight. However with Green Bay a fantastic organization, playing at home and having a lot of pride I expect Green Bay to thoroughly dominate the Bears. The Packers aren't like another team that's playing a home game, with little on the line that will lose 20-7.

themusicaddict

Fearful of Philadelphia, Go Bills!, Carlos Boozer's Christmas present

Hello,

Just a quick blog today. Due to various family situations we are celebrating Christmas today.

With Christmas being tomorrow, most of the NFL games have been moved today. There are a lot of interesting games today:

1) The Battle of New York: Giants vs. Jets. Go Jets! Things I'd like to see from the Giants today. Manning throwing 4 picks, the Giants losing ugly and Tom Coughlin's head exploding arguing a call.

2) Dallas vs. Philadelphia: I'm cheering, sort of, for the Cowboys. But with their amazing ability to choke in big games, I don't have high hopes for their success. Don't be fooled that the Cowboys are playing at home or against a sub-.500 team, these Cowboys can still find a way to choke. As usual I won't be watching much, if any, of this game.

3) Denver vs. Buffalo. Tim Tebow is 7-2 as a starter, blah, blah, blah. Again I'm so sick of the Tim Tebow train. The cracks started showing last week when they were manhandled by the Patriots. With them going to Buffalo today, I hope the Tebow train is completely derailed. Although the only thing the Bills have to play for now is pride and a lesser draft pick. Obviously motivation will be a factor in

today's game. The Bills have little while the Broncos are fighting to make the playoffs. Strangely enough the team I'll be cheering for the most today is Buffalo. Go Bills!

Thanks Matt Barkley for coming back to the USC. I look forward for more good things for the Trojans next year.

Thanks Jake Heaps for transferring to Kansas. It does make me laugh that all of these Pac 12 teams he was rumored to possibly go to, he ends up with the traditionally bad Kansas. Yes I know the Jayhawks won a BCS Bowl just a few years ago and that their new head coach is Charlie Wies. However the Jayhawks are 55-67 over the last 10 years, including 2-10 last season. They ended the season on a 10 game losing streak. And as for Weis, he didn't win enough games to keep his job at Notre Dame! And he had the Notre Dame mystique working in his favor. What is he going to do when he has the Kansas football mystique, or lack thereof, not working in his favor?

Bulls fans, are you looking forward to Carlos Boozer's Christmas present tomorrow? He'll give you his annual lump of coal by disappearing in tomorrow's game. I don't know why people that know a lot about basketball, Bill Simmons, still think he's this great player. I watched him for many futile years in Utah. He could be a great player. However he doesn't have the heart or care enough to make himself so. He will continue to disappoint any team he's on until he's run out of the league in a few years. I guarantee he'll be cut or traded before his current Bulls contract runs out.

themusicaddict

TCU edges La. Tech, Boise St. Will Destroy ASU

Hello,

When making my prediction about TCU easily beating La. Tech yesterday, I didn't take one factor into account. That factor being motivation. TCU was playing in a bowl game that's a lot lesser than they should have played in. Thus they didn't have a lot of motivation for this game and it clearly showed. Maybe if they had played a team from one of the alleged Big 6 conferences they would have had more motivation. For instance, last season when they played Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, they looked so good. However TCU did just enough to win the game. TCU finished the season 11-2 and ended with an 8 game winning streak. Next season TCU joins the Big 12.

Boise State plays tonight, their only loss was to TCU. They are ranked #7 in the nation and for some reason they are playing in the Las Vegas Bowl? Not only that but they are playing the ridiculously bad Sun Devils. The same Sun Devils team who finished 6-6. They lost their last 4 games and 5 of their last 6 games. Even worse they quit on their coach. How do they deserve to even be in a bowl game? Again it proves the old adage it's who you know more than anything else. It's why the BCS is so maddening: a team is more rewarded for who they know rather than how good they are.

I was a little nervous in my prediction about TCU beating La. Tech last night. I didn't know anything about La. Tech. I'm much more confident in my prediction about Boise State. I saw them dominate Georgia and play some other games. They will destroy hapless Arizona State. Although BSU plays in one of the so-called mid-majors and ASU plays in an alleged BCS conference, in terms of talent and heart these teams aren't even in the same league. The game starts at 6:00, I get home at 7:30 from work. I expect the game to be over for all intents and purposes by that point. I predict BSU will win by at least 4 touchdowns.

I expect BSU to play with 100% motivation. The only team they lost to, TCU, won their bowl game last night. This is quarterback Kellen Moore's last game at BSU and he'll be going for his 50th victory. Also the BCS is so bogus even mild mannered Chris Peterson is calling it out. BSU plays great in these stick it to the BCS games.

Also the Jazz played their second and last preseason game last night, they were able to edge Portland. Currently the Jazz are a team that's definitely trying to find their identity. Are they a team that's a team of the future or a team meant to win now or a combination of each? Hopefully they'll find that identity sooner rather than later. I don't know if the Jazz will be a good team this year, but they will be a fun team to watch. They have so many young, explosive players.

As we head into the final two regular season games of the NFL season, what will end up happening in Dallas? The Cowboys control their destiny, which frightens me more than them relying on other teams. Dallas has choked in most big situations over the last several years. I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to Philadelphia at home on Saturday. Remember with Christmas being on Sunday, most games this week will be on Saturday.

As espn.com pointed out yesterday, Green Bay was 8-6 at this point in the season last year. Obviously they went on to win the Super Bowl. So Dallas can do the same thing right? Hardly Green Bay has a much better quarterback than Dallas. Also unlike Dallas they play their best in big games. Tony Romo has thrown 18 TDs and only 2 interceptions in the Cowboys last 7 games. Most fans would be happy if their team did that. As for me I'm afraid that means the Romocoaster has peaked and will now start going downhill. Knowing Dallas I'd still be very surprised if they even make the playoffs.

After reading the first 39 pages of Haruki Murakami's "1Q84", the thing I know the most is that Murakami loves writing about sex. I like the characters and am wondering how they'll all eventually cross paths, if they end up doing so.

A couple of quick music notes. I love Kelly Clarkson. But her new CD "Stronger" is just not very good. I hate to say that. It sounds like something someone in corporate America put together to sale the most copies possible. The key seems to be sales and not quality. Also as for Tori Amos' new CD, "Night Of The Hunters", it's just weird. Tori Amos exploded on the scene with the amazing "Little Earthquakes", but unfortunately that was her peak.

Do you think she made all of these videos at about the same time? Here's a few of the amazing songs from "Little Earthquakes":

"Silent All These Years":

"Winter":

"China":

themusicaddict

January Bookclub selection, "1Q84", Go TCU and Derrick Rose gets a raise

Hello,

I know your dying to have an update on whether I watched the two part season finale of "Terra Nova" yet. I haven't watched it yet. Initially I was going to watch it out of a sense of duty as I had watched the first 11 episodes. My excitement level has gone up a bit because I've read good reviews about the finale. Last night instead I watched the newest episode of "Rizzoli and Isles". I love this show as it features the gorgeous Angie Harmon and since it has such a great sense-of-humor. This past weeks episode, "Don't Stop Dancing Girl" wasn't as good as usual. I look for "Rizzoli and Isles" to return to top form for next week's season finale. I love that some of my favorite shows are still having new episodes this time of year.

Today I have a more time than I did last night so I may watch "Terra Nova" tonight. Although tonight is also the Corporate Sponsor Poinsettia Bowl. It's 10-2 TCU vs. 8-4 La. Tech and I'll be cheering on the Horned Frogs. I don't think it will be a very good game. TCU should be playing in a BCS bowl not some anonymous bowl. I expect TCU to have the game in hand by half-time. Next season TCU is going to a BCS conference, I actually expect them to do about as well as they are doing now. Also tonight the Jazz have their second and last preseason game as they'll be playing Portland in a rematch. I expect a better game from the Jazz tonight than that first game they played Monday night. I'm predicting the rise of Derrick Favors, the next Jazz superstar. He's fun to watch play. I hated the Jazz losing Deron Williams, but the trade seems to be working out very well for the Jazz.

Also sources, not mine but ESPNs, say that Derrick Rose is close to signing a 5 year-$95 million dollar contract with the Chicago Bulls. Since I'm not a Bulls fan, I normally wouldn't mention this. However in this case I'm glad that Chicago has finally made him the highest paid player on their team. The defending MVP is by far the best player on that team. There's no way Carlos Loozer should be making more than Rose. I was hoping that the Bulls would use their amnesty provision on Carlos Boozer. It's amazing he hasn't gone on the injury list yet though.

I didn't announce a December themusicaddict book club selection. However I'm announcing January's book club selection now. I'm making the announcement now as the book is so long, 925 pages. The book is Haruki Murakami's "1Q84". I've read the first 20 plus pages so far and it's very intriguing. I'm not sure that I'll finish it though. At the library I have Stephen King's "11/22/63" on hold and I'm going to be able to pick it up soon. I read it's excerpt that was in Entertainment Weekly and I'm already sucked into King's latest book. For me his writing is feeling like going home again. He's a great author and I love his books. I also love that his books as are so long. It's a different world I can get lost in for several hundred pages. So far that seems to be the same with the Murakami book.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one that is getting sick of the glut of reality show singing competitions. I hear that "X Factor" is ending this week and talk is already beginning about Season 2. I haven't seen any of the first season of "X Factor". From what I've read it seems I haven't missed much. There's also "The Voice" which seem like it just ended. Now it's starting up again right after this year's Super Bowl. Then in mid-January "American Idol" is starting it's 11th season. I've pretty steadily watched that show the last several years. But as of now I'm undecided about whether I'll watch this season. "AI" brings back those 3 lame judges again. It always amazes me when a new season of "AI" starts and Randy Jackson still has a job. Also "AI" is very manipulative, which makes this alleged reality show even more artificial. Let's hope this is the last season of "American Idol".

I went through amazon.com's Top 100 MP3 CDs today to see if there was anything worth adding to my collection. Of course I check out everything first on Spotify. (Did I tell you yet that I love Spotify?) The first CD I listened to is Young the Giant's self-titled CD. amazon.com is selling this CD for only $2.99. I enjoyed this CD and it has a few good songs on it. Here are a couple of good songs from that CD:

This is "My Body":

"Apartment":

I enjoyed Young The Giant, but Laura Marling bored me to tears. I could only listen to a couple of her songs. Also a CD that has received a lot of love over the years is Neutral Milk Hotel's "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea". I don't understand the hype, I think this CD sucks. While checking out Spotify, I did stumble across the soundtrack for "Hot Tub Time Machine". I'm enjoying that now as it's hard to go wrong when a CD full of 80's classics.

From "Hot Tub Time Machine", one of my all-time favorite 80's songs. Echo and the Bunnymen's "Bring On The Dancing Horses". This song has that 80's feel to it. This is also on excellent "Pretty In Pink" CD.

Other great songs, including the original J. Lo:

Jennifer Love Hewitt's "Rock The Roll". This is a funky song. Even if you don't like song, enjoy the pictures. Jennifer you are forgiven for that awful "The Ghost Whisperer".

I love this song:

My favorite Trans Siberian Orchestra song, "Wizards In Winter":

The almost my favorite but not quite favorite Trans Siberian Orchestra song: "Queen of The Winter Night":

This is a song I heard on iTunes the other day and I liked it. A very funky and fun song:

There are a lot of songs about opening up your eyes. Tonic and Daughtry have songs with a similar title, but this is the best song. The band is 12 Stones:

Last but definitely not least is Jet's intensely funky "Are You Gonna Be My Girl":

themusicaddict

I Chose 49ers-Steelers over "Terra Nova"

Hello,

Yesterday I wrote about how I couldn't decide which to watch: Monday Night Football or the two part season finale of "Terra Nova". With the game getting closer and this being such a big game I decided to watch the game. I haven't been able to see San Francisco play much this year. Also they are battling for the the #2 seed in the NFC and this was a good chance to see how good of a team they are.

With them winning 20-3 it's needless to say San Francisco performed very well. Alex Smith will never break any records, but he played well enough for the 49ers to win last night. Both teams are known for their tough defenses and both were on display last night. That brutally ugly 6-0 halftime score told you all you need to know. San Francisco's defense is so good that I think they could win the Super Bowl this year. After Kansas City exposed Green Bay's flaws, they look beatable.

San Francisco leads the NFL in takeaways with 35. Amazingly the 49ers haven't allowed a rushing touchdown all season. After playing 14 games, that's just amazing. It was funny watching Pittsburgh try to run on that tough defense. Pittsburgh, at 10-4, is a good team. They are tied for first place with Baltimore in the AFC North. This was a great, great victory for San Francisco. It should build their confidence if they play in Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game.

Although I wasn't overwhelmed with excitement for the NBA to return, I watched part of the Jazz-Trailblazers preseason game last night. I thought the Jazz didn't look very good, but in their first game of the season I didn't expect them too. They looked like a young, inexperienced team that hasn't played together long enough. That's exactly what they are. Honestly the only ones I recognized were Memo Okur, Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter and Gordon Hayward. The player I enjoyed watching the most was Derrick Favors. He scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds and looked very good in the part of the game I watched. The Jazz have a bright future if they can get all these various parts to jell.

As for "Terra Nova", when will I watch that? Well I won't watch it tonight as I only have a 2.5 hour window between getting home and needing to go to bed. Also there was a new "Rizzoli and Isles" last night. That's what I'll be watching tonight. I could watch "Terra Nova" Wednesday night. But that's the night of one of the Screwed by the BCS bowls.

In the corporate sponsor Poinsettia Bowl 10-2 TCU will play the powerhouse of the the South 8-4 Louisiana Tech. Even though this TCU team isn't as good as the team that won the Rose Bowl last year, they are still very good. They should beat La. Tech pretty easily.

On Thursday night in the corporate sponsor Las Vegas Bowl, Boise St. will play in the other Screwed by the BCS Bowl Game. BSU got the shaft not only in what bowl they play in but who their opponent is. BSU is playing a team from one of the alleged BCS conferences. They play the Pac 12 Arizona State, the same team that quit on their coach late in the season. The same coach that has already been replaced. Even if ASU was playing at their best, BSU should still win this game easily. However I'm guessing that ASU won't be giving 100% and I expect a BSU romp in this game.

While BSU and TCU got shafted and won't play in a BCS Bowl, instead we have the corporate sponsor Overrated Bowl. Due to how screwed up the BCS is there will be two 3 loss teams playing in that alleged BCS Bowl. People will say that TCU and BSU didn't play as tough as schedules. As whom? Both the Big Least and the ACC were very mediocre conferences this year. I don't think either conference deserve to be BCS conferences.

I love that the Rangers will spend $51.7 million for the opportunity just to talk to Yu Darvish. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. I remember when the Red Sox won the rights to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka. They signed him just a little over 5 years ago. Boston paid 51.1 million just for the right to talk with Matsuzaka. Then on December 14th, 2006 Matsuzaka signed with the Red Sox for $52 million more.

I was so excited when they actually signed him and added them to their rotation. I was seeing Red Sox World Series Championships in the future. They did win one World Series with him on the roster. He was 2-1 with a .503 ERA in that playoffs. However overall Daisuke has been a big bust. Matsuzaka has won a total of 51 games for the Red Sox in his 5 years with the Red Sox. That's right the Red Sox have paid $2million for each Matsuzaka win.

It's also highly unlikely he'll get any more wins for the Red Sox. Currently he's recovering from Tommy John surgery and likely won't be available to the Red Sox until the middle of the season at the earliest. I'd be surprised if the Red Sox will actually have him come back. He's just been a bust. He'll go down as one of the two worst signings in the Theo Epstein era. The other being the Jon Lackey signing, who strangely enough is also recovering from Tommy John surgery. It would be nice if MLB had partially non guaranteed contracts like the NFL does. Then the Red Sox could cut both players and save themselves money.

I have started reading a lot of books over the last several months. But last night I finished the first book that I can remember in the longest time. I finished reading "The Lost World", Michael Crichton's sequel to "Jurassic Park". I liked the book, although it's nowhere is in the same league as "Jurassic Park". The main lure of "Lost World" is the same as in "Terra Nova" the coolness of dinosaurs. That's especially the velociraptors. Or as they call them in "Terra Nova" slashers.

Anyway the ending of the book was predictable. Of course Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding and most of the others got off the island. Thankfully Crichton put a little twist in that. The helicopter scheduled to pick them up didn't wait. There was a boat house that they had to make their way too to escape the island. I wish that Crichton would have the ending where the survivors couldn't get off the island. And that they had to stay on the island, learn how to adapt and survive.

Wednesday and Thursday I'll be watching football, no "Terra Nova" those nights. On Friday my brother and his family will be coming into town. Then we'll be celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. So I won't be able to watch "Terra Nova" that morning or afternoon. Maybe after I take my kids home I can watch it. If it had been a better show, my urgency would be much higher to watch it. ew.com had 6 steps that could help to save the show. But I suggest this show isn't good enough to save.

Lastly and leastly David Archuleta has announced he's going on a LDS Mission. Grainy video shows him stuttering over his words and he's overcome with emotion as he announces his decision to a cheering crowd. While that's something he should do, why did he make such a big deal out of it? It will be a great experience for him and make him a much better person. Although it cracks me up that it seems he has his mission call already, but both the LDS Church and he are being mum about where he's going. This isn't like Justin Bieber or someone extremely famous going on a mission.

I know this is rude, but he's extremely over rated and it will be nice not to have to hear about him for two years. Although he'll be gone for two years this will be one way to keep himself in the news. He will probably interview with all the local papers wherever he goes. I hope he presents the mission as a good thing and not something he's doing because he hasn't become a big musical star.

And if many failed "American Idols" are going on missions this could double the numbers of missionaries in the world.

Bob Marley's "Positive Vibration":

This song comes from the October 27th, 2011 Rolling Stone's playlist issue. The playlists for the most part, but Merle Haggard's Playlist is "Songs I Wish I'd Written" and this was one of those songs. The following video only has 659 views.

Another song that Merle Haggard wished he had written:

Also the ultimate version of this song. I think the main reason Willie Nelson came to earth was to sing this song:

Merle mentioned 10 songs he'd wished he'd written, the song below is the last one I'll highlight.

Here's a couple of free songs you can get from iTunes today:

Billie Holiday's "Just One More Chance":

Unfortunately I can't find a youtube.com video for this song.

From "The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams" is this song by Jack White. From a shoebox full of lyrics written by Hank Williams Sr. some musicians were recruited to write music for those lyrics. You can see those musicians on the below video. This is my favorite song on the CD, "You Know That I Know":

I'm not sure why my music theme is old country music today, but here are a couple of more.

A heartbreakingly beautiful song by Skeeter Davis:

And since I mentioned Merle Haggard earlier, here are a few classics by him, "Mama Tried":

Unfortunately this is probably a very appropriate song for many people right now, "If We Make It Through December":

and finally a song that I relate to so well even though I'm not a drinker:

Also since I mentioned Hank Williams Sr. and since I love Johnny Cash, this will be my goodbye song.

themusicaddict

Monday Night Football or "Terra Nova", Enjoying the Tim Tebow train derailing

Hello,

I wasn't able to watch the Denver-New England game yesterday, but I followed it online. I admit I was glad that the Tim Tebow train crashed. I enjoyed watching the highlights this morning on ESPN, for the Broncos they were lowlights. The allegedly mobile Tebow was sacked 4 times. That includes a hilarious him running the wrong way to escape pressure which resulted in a 28 yard sack. Have you ever heard of a 28 yard sack before? Tim just throw the ball away. Is he believing all the hype about how great of a player he is? I'm guessing he was under the impression that he would escape and make a spectacular play. Welcome to the NFL Tim.

Again his stats were mediocre. Besides the 4 sacks he only completed half of his 22 passes. He threw for 194 yards with a 80.5 quarterback rating. Again those are mediocre stats that show how much he's a creature of hype. Sarcasm alert: the amazing Tim Tebow also had two fumbles, including losing one. The fumble that he lost he didn't even go after and try to recover. I know that Tim Tebow also runs for a lot of yards. And for a quarterback he's very good at that, he had 12 carries and 93 yards yesterday. But at the end of the day does he really have the tools to be a top flight NFL quarterback? I still say "no".

It looks quite likely that the Broncos will make the playoffs as they play in the underachieving AFC West. They definitely have their destiny in their own hands and at this point of the season that's all you can ask for. They play two sub .500 teams to close out their regular season. Most of the NFL games are on Saturday, Christmas Eve, this week. Buffalo that would be a nice Christmas present if you could beat Denver on Saturday.

Thank you again New England for beating Denver and temporarily derailing the Tebow train. Let's hope this is the beginning of the end for the Tebow train. I'm chuckling at that 28 yard sack still.

Tonight I have a tough decision. Should I watch the two part season finale of "Terra Nova" or Monday Night Football? "Terra Nova" for the most part has been a disappointment. Tonight's finale seems like it could be full of cliches and also very predictable. This show has cool characters and the dinosaurs are amazing. But the stories are lame. The Taylor Father-Son dynamic is very boring. The battle with the Sixers is also boring. It's obvious who's going to win that battle. Also people will come from 2149 and try to take over Terra Nova for their own purposes. I know we are suppose to be in agony wondering if Taylor et al. can fight off the intruders. Come on, is there any doubt who's going to win. I also wouldn't be surprised that some of the Sixers join the Terra Novans to repel the people from the future.

So although I'm not expecting too much from tonight's finale, I will probably watch it in the next day or two. All I ask is that it not be as stupid as the Season One finale for "The Killing". In spite of "Terra Nova" having some good things about it, I think that Fox it's time to pull the plug on this experiment. At the end of the day this isn't much better than an average show.

Also tonight is the Monday Night Football matchup between San Francisco and Pittsburgh. It should be quite a battle. With the Dallas Cowboys fighting to make the playoffs and Tampa Bay crashing, San Francisco is my lone team with a chance to do some damage in the NFL playoffs. I'd feel a lot more confident about their chances if they can beat the Steelers tonight. This is a very good Pittsburgh team.

Between "Terra Nova" and Monday Night Football, I'm not sure which one I'll be watching. I guess that it will work out that I'll probably watch some of both. I think the San Francisco-Pittsburgh matchup has the potential to be much more entertaining.

Thanks to my friends at Spotify, I've really been enjoying Pia Frampton's music lately. Her post- "The Voice" CD "Red" is fairly good. But when that finishes playing and Spotify continues on to her earlier music I suggest you continue listening. Her previous music is also quite good. I like a lot of music she made with Meg Frampton. Pia definitely has a lot of talent and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of her over the next several years.

Okay here are some songs that have caught my attention lately.

"Don't Shoot Shotgun":

"Bad Romance" live:

From the amazing "Evita" soundtrack this is "Rainbow Tour". I'm sorry to say this is the last relevant thing Madonna has done.

There's so much joy in this song:

themusicaddict

Dallas Wins, Giants Get Stomped At Home (Ha, Ha)

Hello,

The mediocre NFC East continues to show its true colors. Last night the Cowboys beat the Bucs pretty handily. Clearly Tampa Bay is just going through the motions now. I mean how good can they be? Not only did Tampa Bay lose 8 games in a row but they also lost to the Cowboys at home. Speaking of the Cowboys: I've been able to confirm that they aren't changing their name to the Dallas Chokeboys.

With a Giants win today they would have the inside track to the NFC East's only playoff spot. However at home they went out and laid an egg. They lost to the already eliminated from the playoffs, but still clearly motivated Washington Redskins 23-10. The over rated Eli Manning threw three interceptions as the Giants have now lost 5 of 6 games. Both the Giants and Cowboys are so awful that honestly neither belongs in the playoffs. If the Giants don't make the playoffs, this will be their third consecutive year of not making the playoffs. Also their third consecutive year of melting down. That makes me laugh. It would then be time to fire Tom Coughlin, one of the most annoying NFL head coaches ever.

With Dallas winning last night, that now gives the Cowboys the inside track to the NFC East playoff spot. But this is the NFC Least where only one thing is guaranteed. That is that a team from the NFC East will make the playoffs. That's because at least one team from each division is guaranteed a playoff spot.

Dallas closes out the season by playing Philadelphia at home. It will be interesting to see which Eagles team shows up. Will they be like the Bucs and have clearly given up on the season? Or will they be like the Redskins and come in highly motivated? Then Dallas goes to play the Giants on the last weekend of the season. Honestly I think the winner of that game will represent the NFC East in the playoffs.

New York meanwhile goes to play the Jets next weekend, I see the Jets winning that game. But with Dallas choking so much, I see the Giants winning their last game of the season.

Even if Dallas somehow crawls into the playoffs, it will only be one and done for them. Then it will be another offseason in Big D full of recriminations and minor changes while the Mavericks and the Texas Rangers continue to impress. And it will be another off season when the big change that needs to happen isn't made again. That change that won't happen is that Jerry Jones will remain the General Manager of the Cowboys. The cycle of mediocrity will continue on.

Also some congratulations to hand out. Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts for finally getting their first win of the season. With Peyton Manning hopefully back to full health next season, they should be back in the thick of the playoff picture. If they get the chance they should definitely draft Andrew Luck. I wish the Cowboys could, I would love to see a real quarterback in Dallas. That would be their first real quarterback since Troy Aikman.

Also congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for knocking off the Green Bay Packers. The Chiefs put Green Bay's 19 game winning streak to an end.

Now please New England please beat the hell out of the Broncos. Somebody needs to end the Tim Tebow train's run. It has been the most over hyped story of the year. Go Patriots!

themusicaddict

Merry Christmas, One week early!

Hello,

"The Hallelujah Chorus" in all it's glory. I've heard this song sung by many groups and many amazing performances. However I think the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does it the best. Enjoy.

A very quirky Christmasy song, this is Jeremy Fisher's "Snowflakes":

I'm not real happy with the versions of "Carol of the Bells" on youtube.com. I'm not a big fan of TSO's version. This is the best version I could find:

"You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch" This is my favorite version of this song on youtube.com:

The sexiest Christmas song ever:

I watched "Made of Honor" last night. I know watching a chick flick all by myself, how embarrassing. But it was a free movie on Comcast On Demand. The movie was decent, a great video movie. But the thing I liked most about the movie was the great songs in it. The songs were used perfectly to set the mood as well. Here's a selection of those songs:

"You Give Me Something":

Snap's "The Power":

Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue":

The very amazing Sara Bareilles "Love Song":

Those four songs and a few other good songs are all in "Made Of Honor", now here's a couple of other great songs that caught my attention this past week.

Sons of Sylvia's "Love Left To Lose":

And yet another classic from the 80's by Mr. Terence Trent D'arby:

themusicaddict

Guns N' Roses Salt Lake City 12/13/2011 (Final draft)

Hello,

A little over a month ago when I found out that Guns N' Roses was going to be playing in Salt Lake I was very excited. Like Rosebud was for Charles Foster Kane, this band was one of my favorite things about growing up. It was both a chance to hear some of the greatest songs ever again but to take a time machine briefly back to the 80's. I miss how amazing the music of the 80's was. On one radio station you could hear "When Doves Cry", change the station and hear "People Are People", change the station again and hear "Welcome To The Jungle".

Guns N' Roses kicked butt in Salt Lake Tuesday night. While the band has lost their element of danger and never knowing what's going to happen, they still know how to kick butt. Axl Rose didn't have one meltdown the whole night. And he had the opportunity, like when the band messed up on the start of "Better" in the encore. The newly reconstituted Guns N' Roses represented their legacy very well. Guns N' Roses performed 26 songs on the night over three hours. For the record I know that the so called "instrumental jams" are considered songs by many, I don't count them as such.

I went with someone that's very cool and is a good friend. Thanks to her for her being my time keeper. Our seats were amazing. We sat about 30 feet from the stage. Axl and the other band members came and played to us all night.

I was very worried that this concert would be a disaster and was afraid of all the things that could go wrong. I don't know how much going into the concert with lower expectations helped, but many more things went right than wrong. I had been worried for nothing, Axl and the boys put on an amazing show. Axl Rose is nearly 50 and he still sings great. He and his bandmates had plenty of energy the entire night.

I work with a person who works security at many of the concerts that come to Salt Lake. He told me that Axl showed up to the Maverick Center at 10:45. Guns N' Roses took the stage at 11:00. The the person told me that Axl stayed there until about 6:00am. GN'R played most of their classics and a few songs from "Chinese Democracy". I actually broke down songs played by CD. Guns N' Roses performed 7 songs each from "Appetite For Destruction", "Chinese Democracy" and the two "Use Your Illusion" CDs. They also performed one song from "GN'R Lies" and did 4 covers. Sorry fans of "The Spaghetti Incident", they didn't perform any songs from that.

The show kicked off about 9:00ish with Black Label Society playing for about a hour until 10:20. The cutie I went with noticed I was keeping notes of the concert. When Black Label Society was done playing, she asked me how I could tell what songs they had played. I told her I couldn't and she asked me what I had been writing down. I showed her my notes for their set, I'd written "unintelligible" for most of their songs. I've seen Black Label Society in concert before and they were a lot better then. But on this night they were horrible, every one of their songs sounded exactly alike. It's just punishing rock riffs without any nuance. Zakk Wylde was screaming and not singing and for me that gets old real fast. Also someone needs to take Zakk aside and tell him how boring a 10-15 minute solo is.

After Black Label Society left the stage I was worried that we were going to be in for an interminable wait. But a little after 11:00 the house lights went off and Guns N' Roses came on. Although Guns N' Roses is skipping some of their classic songs, Axl insists on playing many songs off of "Chinese Democracy". The CD does have a few good songs, but I could have lived without "Madagascar" just fine. Especially when they perform that in the encore.

Following the self-titled song off their latest CD, Guns N' Roses played three songs that gives the band their reputation as one of the greatest bands of all-time. They played "Welcome To The Jungle", "It's So Easy" and then "Mr. Brownstone". Three of the classic songs that define the greatness of "Appetite For Destruction". During those songs I was playing some fantastic air guitar and the air drums.

Following that blast from there was a screen that said Guns N' Roses in a rhythmic pattern and we chanted that briefly. But apparently the band got bored of that quickly. Only a few seconds of that and then they ripped into their next song. It's another "Chinese Democracy" song "Sorry". Then for the first time all night Axl spoke to the crowd. He commented "how ya doin'" and said that we were a "great audience". Then Guns N' Roses powered through three more hard charging songs. One of those three songs was "Estranged". I don't know why Axl loves that song so much. That's a song that works so much better on record than live. And how much better would this song be at 7 minutes?

"Estranged":

Following "Estranged" it was time for the "Rocket Queen". Again the boys in the band kick some butt, but I can only handle so many instrumental jams/solos. It's such a cliche to have these solos at a rock concert. If you really must have the solo, can you please work the solo into the song? Richard Fortus played the night's first solo. According to setlist.fm his solo incorporated the James Bond theme, although I didn't recognize it. In one of the most bizarre moments that I've ever seen at a rock show, Axl and the boys were given the key to West Valley City. That's what I mean about losing that sense of danger? How dangerous can a band be if they are getting the key to the city? Both the person that I was with and I wondered if that was real or not. Apparently it was. Bizarre.

Next the band tore through "Live and Let Die", another song that works so much better on record than live.

They followed that up with another "Chinese Democracy" song "This I Love". Next it was time for Tommy Stinson to step up with a brief solo and sing "Sonic Reducer". That happened about 12:05, just 1/3rd of the way through the concert. And in spite the concert only being 1/3rd over a steady steam of people started leaving the Maverick Center.

It seemed every time Axl wasn't singing he ran into a specially built room on the side of the stage. He introduced the rest of the band and then left the stage. A piano was brought out from under the second tier of the stage and it was time for Dizzy Reed's solo. He played the Who classic "Baba O'Riley". That lead into another "Chinese Democracy" song followed by the "Terminator 2" song "You Could Be Mine".

Next up was DJ Ashba's solo. Again according to setlist.fm the song he built his solo around was for "Mi Amor". Ashba is an electrifying guitarist as he played to the audience all night long. I'd suggest that he's a guitarist equal to Mr. Saul Hudson. After Ashba's solo the rest of his band joined him and they played a fairly entertaining instrumental jam. This was the fourth instrumental jam of the night and by this time it was getting boring. There's a reason people don't release CDs of jams, they wouldn't sell.

Then a few seconds later one of the most iconic songs opening ever, it was time for "Sweet Child O' Mine". This was one of the many highlights of the night. That was followed by Axl's solo, he played a bit of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2". That included Axl singing the classic chorus about teachers leaving those kids alone. Axl continued his solo with some instrumental covers of Elton John songs. I heard "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" as one of those songs.

The 16th song that Guns N' Roses performed was "November Rain". Again a song that seems longer than it needs to be, especially when they play it with a 3 minute intro. That was followed by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal playing his solo built around the "Pink Panther" theme. Now that was cool and he and the rest of the band really rocked it out. I have video on my blog for yesterday if you are interested. That was followed by "Don't Cry" and then AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" with Zakk Wylde joining the band on the stage. He and Axl exchanged a bro hug after that song.

A couple of minutes later they played "Civil War", a song they've just recently added to this tour's set list. It was another great song as the time passed 1:05. The audience continued to stream out, with only the true diehards staying.

Leading up to the encore GN'R played "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and then "Nightrain". Again I do appreciate a 3 hour concert but "Knockin'" was stretched out too long. This was my favorite encore break ever, GN'R was off the stage for only about 30 seconds. The encore, which started about 1:25, was made up of 4 jams and 5 songs, with some of the songs featuring solos. I understand Axl wanting to highlight some of the other band members. But maybe during the encore they can just play 5 great songs in row?

The encore started out with yet another solo- I'd stopped keeping track who this one was by. That led into "Madagascar" which is lot better live than on record. Although I argue that song doesn't really belong in the encore. How about a couple of "Appetite" classics like "Think About You" or "Anything Goes". Or they also could play one of their catchiest songs of all-time, "Pretty Tied Up". And if they really have to play a "Chinese Democracy" song here, why can't it be "I.R.S."?

Next up they played the best song off of "Chinese Democracy", that song being "Better". That song belongs in the encore, it's such a great song. Then another instrumental and another throw away song, a cover of AC/DC's "Riff Raff":

Again a throw away song in my opinion that shouldn't be anywhere near GN'R's encore. It was the second AC/DC song they played on the night. I've listened to a lot of AC/DC over the years and had never heard that song before. So after that throw away song then yet another throw away instrumental jam. The jams had reached the point where they were now getting ridiculous. After that it was time for "Patience", then at least the 10th jam of the night and then they closed with "Paradise City". And again "Paradise City" was stretched out longer than it should have been.

According to the time on the above youtube.com video, the song they played is the same length as the version on the record. However it still feels a bit long. At about the 3:45 mark it feels this song should be wrapping up, but it just has passed the halfway point. I read a review that suggested what Axl needs is someone that can help him edit the songs. I agree, especially on a song such as "Estranged". That could be a great song, but is stretched out too long.

Also the above video shows that for some reason after having a good mix between the music and the vocals. About two thirds of the way through the show the mix started to favor the music. And when I say favor I mean the music overpowered the vocals. Axl's lyrics were drowned out most of the time for the last 1/3rd of the concert.

The show ended after 2:00am and the few thousand remaining diehards left satisfied. So all in all a great night for rock and roll. I loved how many songs they played, singing nearly everyone of their great songs. The only thing I would have changed was to take about 15 minutes of the solo/jams. They are such great musicians it didn't completely stop the show, but the show did slow down.

Overall I'd give the concert an A-.

themusicaddict

Highlights of GN'R in SLC December 13th, 2011

Hello,

Last night I saw Guns N' Roses in Salt Lake. Quite simply it was 3 hours of some of the best songs ever written. Do you realize how many great songs Guns N' Roses have? My full review will be coming tomorrow. At least the beginning of it.

For now I'm posting videos for some of the songs that were some of last night's and this morning's highlights. None of these songs were filmed at last night's concert. If Axl really must have a "Chinese Democracy" song in the encore, it should be this song. This is such a great song, the best song on that CD.

Also one final thing the hottie I went with asked me if I thought that Axl had plastic surgery. I had two thoughts about. That's a question that a girl definitely would ask. And yes I think that he has had plastic surgery. How unrock and roll of him.

"Better":

This song is always a highlight for me as it's my favorite G N' R song:

This song wasn't really a highlight and I'm not really sure why Axl loves it so much, "Estranged":

Now this "Welcome to the Jungle" was filmed in Salt Lake City:

Another video performed in Salt Lake, this is "November Rain". Obviously cell phones aren't meant to be recording devices. The sound at the concert was 100% better than this.

This "November Rain" sounds a lot better:

A couple of other songs that were highlights last night:

I quite like this solo on the "Pink Panther" theme by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal:

This isn't my favorite song by Guns N' Roses, but it really kicked butt last night. Also this video shows very well what the stage looks like that GN'R is using on their current tour. We had great seats, when the band members ran up on those ramps on the sides of the stage, we were only about 20 or 30 feet away.

"Civil War" with the so called classic lineup:

"Nightrain". "I love that stuff".

From about a month ago, "Paradise City":

This is an interesting version of "Paradise City" featuring Cypress Hill, Fergie (the girl can sing) and Slash.

themusicaddict

The Annual Dallas Cowboys Debacle, Dwight Howard Shut The Hell Up!

Hello,

You can tell the NBA season is about to start Dwight Howard is whining about where he wants to play. I've never seen a man whine so much. Howard reminds me of a teenage girl that doesn't get enough attention. Both are having drama to get more attention. Neither care if it's bad attention as long as they are getting any attention. Dwight stop being so pathetic. No matter where he ends up this season he'll be whining where he wants to play next season.

Also like a teenager nothing is good enough for him. Howard represents the entitled, spoiled NBA star. Instead of making the best of a situation, he whines until the situation is improved. Howard represents many things wrong with the modern athlete. I don't know how someone can complain about making millions of dollars a year and living in tax free Florida. Damn, I wish I had those problems.

I love that Howard was praising the Magic as being "willing to change". Hey Dwight why don't you work harder on your playing and maybe go out and recruit some players to the team? It's a two way street, you also need to do what you can to get the Magic a title. I don't think either Tony Romo or Dwight Howard will ever get a title. Dwight shut the hell up!

I'm also sick of hearing where Chris Paul is going to play, just get the trade done. Other than Karl Malone, the Jazz haven't had many drama queens over the years. Thank goodness. Of course when Jerry Sloan was the head coach, he didn't put up with that much. One great thing about Sloan was that he was always realistic with his players how lucky they were.

Now on to the pathetic Cowboys. On Sunday afternoon ESPN had their Streak for the Cash choices. I could have either gone with the Giants or Cowboys. My heart said to pick Dallas, but my head said to pick the Giants. I've just seen the Cowboys choke so many times. In fact I've come to expect it. With Daniel Snyder a owner in the NFL, Jerry Jones will never be the worst owner in the NFL. I loved the look of disgust on his face when Dallas's kicker, Dan Bailey, had his field goal attempt blocked at the end of Sunday night's game.

Jerry you don't have the right to be angry with anyone but yourself. You are over matched in being a general manager, you clearly have no idea what you are doing. Other than getting lucky with Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells is the only other good head coaching move you have made. Wade Phillips was an unmitigated disaster and Jason Garrett looks like he may be heading that way. Dave Campo, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey there's a reason these men will never be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

I swear if I hear one more NFL expert say how much talent Dallas has, I'm going to go crazy. If Dallas has so much talent, why are they so damn mediocre? You can only blame the horrid general manager and bad coaching for so much. At the end of the day it comes down to the players on the field to make the plays. But increasingly those same players find new and creative ways to choke. The offense has been okay. After that terrible Wade Phillips defense last year and the weak looking Rob Ryan defense this year, what else can go wrong? The Cowboys just can't stop anyone in clutch time. No Cowboys lead is ever safe with their suspect defense. The Cowboys weakest defensive link seems to be their pass coverage. Everyone knows that the Cowboys cornerbacks suck, that's why Eli Manning kept on going at Terrance Newman. Newman was burned several times and Mike Jenkins missed most of the game due to injury. As for Dallas's defense it's been a systemic failure.

Obviously you can't blame Tony Romo for this loss, he played a great game. Other than being spun down in his own end zone in the first quarter for a safety, again he had a great game. Although that safety seemed to hang over the Cowboys the whole night. Romo completed 21 of 31 passes for 321 yards. He also passed for 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 141.3. I don't think I've ever seen a quarterback rating that high. Some people are giving Romo crap for missing Miles Austin on a late game pass. Although I'm not a big Romo fan we need to give him a pass on that play.

Two things I would say about Romo, I still hope that he's not on the Cowboys next season. Yes he had a great game, but he's just not a winner. It's obvious after 9 years with the Cowboys he's not going to step up and win the big game. And I wouldn't be surprised to find the Cowboys to find a way to lose to the already given up on the season Tampa Bay this weekend. Also it's time to stop wearing your hat backwards, you aren't 15 anymore Tony.

Ultimately though what needs to be done is for Jones to fire himself. He needs to get one person to come in and be in charge of everything. Then Jones needs to stay the hell out of the way. What can Jones do? Well for one it's time to bring Sean Payton back home. Payton's family has already moved to Dallas. It's time for Payton to join his family and be the next head coach/GM of the Dallas Cowboys. It's time for Dallas to return to NFL prominence. I'm sick of these last 15 years of mediocrity when Dallas has only won one playoff game.

Dallas obviously this season's team hasn't got it. It's time to begin getting ready for next season. The Cowboys desperately need to go to free agency and the draft and get some quality cornerbacks. It would be nice if their wide receivers could be a little more durable too.

Another season, another meltdown. How many years Jerry is this going to go on before you realize you are the problem?

themusicaddict

"Welcome To The Jungle, You're Going To Die"

Hello,

One of the true pleasures of life is live music, especially when it's a great band:

Overall I'm looking forward to tonight's Guns N' Roses concert in Salt Lake, although I do have a little trepidation. I'm not real excited about the 9:00pm start, that GN'R won't take the stage until 11:00ish and then that the concert won't end until 2:00amish. I know that's not very rock and roll of me, but I am 44 and I just don't bounce the way I use to.

Although listening to "Nightrain" and "Mr. Brownstone" driving to work I remembered the potential greatness of live rock music. Now will Axl and friends deliver on that tonight?

Also I have concerns how Axl's voice is at age 49, a lot of the live videos from this tour that I've seen don't inspire a lot of confidence. Also "Madagascar" in the encore? That makes no sense to me. That's not even one of GN'R 30 best songs. The last place they played was in Colorado which is next door to Utah, so Axl's voice should have had enough rest. So while I do have concerns I'm cautiously optimistic about tonight's concert.

I would love for GN'R to start their concert like they did in Colorado. They started off with the title track of "Chinese Democracy" and then followed up that with three classics from "Appetite For Destruction". (Of course nearly every song from "Destruction" is a classic.) Can it get much better than "Welcome to the Jungle", "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" back to back to back?

They then played a couple of "Chinese Democracy" best tracks, a long time GN'R staple "Estranged" and then go into the amazing "Rocket Queen". Rose then turned the singing over to Tommy Stinson on "Sonic Reducer"- a song that Pearl Jam also likes to perform live in concert. They followed that with the butt kicking "Better", then a solo that led into one of the best covers of all-time. That's GN'R's take on the classic Wings tune "Live and Let Die".

I wouldn't complain much about a stretch of songs like that as long as the solos were kept short and there wasn't a lot of talking. Many modern rock bands (um, Nickelback) don't know how to build momentum and produce an amazing concert. I would expect that Guns N' Roses knows how to kick ass live after all these years.

Below is what I'm really concerned about in a worse case scenario situation. The sound is very loud, drowning out Axl Rose singing. I know this was probably filmed on a cell phone, but still....

I'm hoping that my a full review will be coming tomorrow.

The following is allegedly a concert review, but it really isn't. It's a Jon Dekel's slam fest on Axl Rose. What I'm worried about is I may be agreeing with the National Post's Dekel following tonight's concert. Dekel wrote this:

"In rock, few things are as certain as the uncertainty of Guns N’ Roses. However, as lead singer and only remaining original member Axl Rose ventures further and further away from the comfort zone of his own cranium (a magical place where spending 15 years and more than $10-million on an album is an acceptable form of commercial artistic expression), certain realizations and patterns come to light which may have the rock’s most fickle front man questioning his role in modern rock.

Now in ostensibly the tenth year of touring behind his band’s sixth studio album,Chinese Democracy, Rose is pushing 50. And, though his voice is still impressive as ever and he can still bust a swagger every once in a while, it’s hard to take the man seriously. Not that it’s ever been easy to take him seriously, but, until now, the man who named himself after an anagram for oral sex didn’t seem to give a crap what you thought because his legion of fans and millions-upon-millions in sales made him critically and artistically unassailable.

But, as Monday night’s nearly half empty show at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum attested, Rose’s days of getting away with thinly-veiled racist remarks, chauvinistic actions and dolphin-themed videos are far behind him.

Never mind that he’s taken his obsession with the month of November to its logical, endless-Movember conclusion, if Guns had bailed on their show there would hardly have a furrowed brow, never mind a full blown riot (as happened in Vancouver at the start of the tour in 2002).

Could it be that, after ten years and virtually no original output (Chinese Democracybeing more-or-less widely available online by the early part of last decade), the public at large is simply fed up with Axl? Is it time for the man that once incited so much curiosity that Spin magazine devoted a whole cover story to an oral history of what the hell he’d been upto, to finally hang up his gloves or resign himself to the Mötley Crüe-esque dredges of endless touring while being more-or-less artistically impotent?

Perhaps I’m being overly harsh (me: ya think?), because Axl still shows potential. He can hit the highs of Welcome To The Jungle’s declarative breakdown; he can shatter eardrums with the thunder of set closer Night Train and he can still captivate and exhilarate like the best Michael Bay explosion-fest. But backed by a slew of capable yet ultimately unimaginative Slash fill-ins (seriously, three dudes to rock the epic November Rainsolo?) and a video show that was equal parts creepy (models posing during Rocket Queen), cheesy (Winamp visualizations) and just plain sad (the vignettes of depressed women that accompanied several of the Chinese Democracy cuts), the three-hour long greatest hits/covers set felt, at times, more like a Guns-themed Rock of Ages than the most dangerous band in rock ‘n’ roll.

The saddest part of all is that the answer is so plain to see. Between rehab, journalism and, er, playing with Fergie, it’s not like the other members of golden era Guns N’ Roses are too busy or too rich to reunite — It’s simply Axl being Axl that’s holding this back.

So here’s hoping that, with half-empty stadiums and slower returns , Rose realizes what we all knew all along: Guns N’ Roses is not Guns N’ Roses unless the men who recorded Appetite for Destruction are standing onstage together. Now more than ever, with the weight of his own impending irrelevance nipping at Rose’s half-century old feet, this can happen. Maybe he just needs a little push:

Make no mistake, the next sentence is meant to antagonize you, Mr. Rose:

It’s time to stop playing dress up, rebuild your integrity, regain your bloody anarchy and get in the ring! For your sake as much as ours."

This is the most recent review for Guns N' Roses that I've been able to find. This is the Cleveland Leader's Eugene McCormick's review of the Youngstown, Ohio show on December 7th. If tonight's concert is as good as the concert McCormick reviewed, all the crap that goes with Axl Rose will be worth it. I'm glad McCormick says Axl's voice is as strong as ever. This review gives me a lot more hope about tonight's show. McCormick wrote, I've fixed some of the spelling.

"To put this concert review into some perspective, I will give you a little background about myself. I think I have been blessed with seeing some of the best tours that rock n roll has ever seen.

In the summer of 1988, when I was just starting middle school, I saw Elton John for the first of 3 times. At 13, in 1990, I saw Paul McCartney's excellent show when he played Municipal Stadium and two more times when he played arenas stateside in the 2000s. I saw Guns N Roses for the first time on the second last school day of middle school and was the envy of all the burnouts who were shocked that a straight laced kid such as myself was allowed to see what was then dubbed as "The Most Dangerous Band on the Planet". I've seen legends such as Neil Young and Bob Dylan multiple times and have taken in shows by Oasis' Gallagher brothers at a rate that may have surpassed twenty times. I've seen shows by The Who, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and U2. I was privileged to see the inaugural Rock N Roll Hall of Fame show on the shores of Lake Erie that brought about numerous legendary acts that the genre spawned. I say this to notify you straight-off that I know a thing or two about a great rock concert, and what I witnessed at the Covelli Center on Wednesday night that turned into Thursday morning topped them all. Axl Rose and his hired guns delivered a performance of epic proportions.

People love to bask in nostalgia and miss Axl's top wearing hat partner but, truth be told, I've seen all three legs of the Chinese Democracy Tour (which started in 2002 even though the album didn't get officially released till 2008) and each show surpassed that of the Use Your Illusion Tour that hit the Richfield Coliseum in 1991. While Axl didn't have his childhood buddy playing rhythm guitar, a drunk on bass, a heroin junkie on drums (who was axed by the time I saw them), and the famous guitar virtuoso, things seemed more refined in the 2000s-era GNR show in a good way. The Chinese Democracy bands from 2002-2008, made up of seemingly anyone who Axl wanted to play with at the time who was a highly skilled musician, never was sloppy and was well rehearsed (maybe to a fault) and didn't play at a decibel level that made your ears ring for days on end. What was disappointing was the element of surprise that the shows brought and their heavy leaning on GNR's debut album Appetite for Destruction when they had many more songs at their disposal that would have added a better mix to an hour and forty five minute gig. What seemed to unnerve many concert goers during these gigs was the fact that Rose would saunter on stage at just about any time he pleased and deliver a stellar gig, like in the golden era of GNR, but their lives had changed with family and work obligations and they didn't enjoy getting home after the bars had already closed down for the night.

The original GNR shows seemed to have a club feel in an arena setting and, while at times electrifying, seemed to be out of place in the surroundings. When the Illusion shows moved to stadiums, which I unfortunately missed, it probably opened things up a bit but by that time Izzy Stradlin had left the band which was a devastating blow as he was a key songwriting partner, backing vocalist, and decades long friend to enigmatic Rose. Key members of the band remained and they played many legendary shows, but after 1994 the fire was gone and Axl went his separate ways with the rest of the old crew.

With all that being said, let's take our to attention to proceedings at Youngstown's Covelli Center. Axl is still a late arriver to his party but seems to make his regular appearance at about 11 pm nowadays. Every party needs something to celebrate and what is better than being inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame earlier in the day on his first try. Rose was clearly in a good mood and the crowd was truly electric in the modern arena that was at near capacity. The band, some of which has played with Axl for a decade now, is tight as ever and doesn't play as close to the vest as they had in the past. Couple that with a setlist that has added in stellar songs from the Illusion era, including Civil War which had been absent for 18 years, along with the songs you expect from Appetite and a great selection of covers that show the wide ranging influence on Rose and any moderate GNR fan would be more than pleased witness the proceedings. Also included in the set are sublime choices from the highly underrated Chinese Democracy which would could have been called Use Your Illusion III as it is in the same vein as those two classics that spawned hits such as November Rain, Don't Cry, You Could Be Mine, and the McCartney cover Live and Let Die which all made their way on the setlist that lasted 3 hours with some guitar solos thrown in so the crowd could catch its breath after being barraged with hit after hit in the Axl Rose canon. This time around it seems that the band is playing at a little louder level than in the past which was welcoming as added something extra to the show but is not nearly as loud as the 1991 version which was over the top.

For a man nearing 50, the Indiana native hasn't lost a step. Rose still zooms across the stage at a roaring pace throughout shows like he did in his 20's and still has the vocal prowess of an Opera singer. It is noteworthy to point out that the tour manager seemed to know how to plan these gigs as the Youngstown gig, which is a short trip from Cleveland, was the same day the GNR induction announcement and I highly doubt that was a coincidence. The band followed it up with a trip to Indianapolis yesterday which is an hour drive from his hometown of Layfette. Axl acknowledged being being anointed Rock royalty by concluding the night by saying "Thank you to the Rock Hall and our fans" and later tweeted a nearly identical message to his legion of fans on the world wide web.

Seeing McCartney at age 48 and Rose at age 49 really helped me put things in perspective as I compared the two performances in my head. The former Beatle put on a show that I will never forget, and is still in my top 3 all-time, but even with all those classic songs that spawned stadium sing-alongs the energy at the 3 hour Guns N Roses show was more explosive. That is why Axl Rose is a first ballot member of the Rock Hall.

It will be interesting to see if he shows up to Cleveland's Public Hall to accept his award with the bandmates that he has been estranged from for so long but as the night concluded with Frank Sinatra's My Way nobody knows what is up his sleeve. Maybe if they invite the cast from America's favorite serial killer Dexter, who's theme song he came out to with roaring applause, perhaps Rose can be coaxed to reunite with the original Guns and make it the happy ending that many music fans are dying to see. If he keeps putting on shows like this I really don't care who it is with as it was a truly sensational performance that shows that Axl is still performing at the highest levels of rock n roll royalty.

Setlist
Dexter Intro
Chinese Democracy
Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Sorry
Shackler's Revenge
Estranged
Rocket Queen
Richard Fortus Guitar Solo
(James Bond Theme)
Live and Let Die
(Paul McCartney & Wings cover)
This I Love
Civil War
Sonic Reducer
(Dead Boys cover) (Tommy Stinson on lead vocals, with Band Introductions)
Dizzy Reed Piano Solo
(Baba O'Riley)
Street Of Dreams
You Could Be Mine
DJ Ashba Guitar Solo
(Ballad Of Death)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Instrumental Jam
(The Lemon Song/Another Brick … more)
Axl Rose Piano Solo
(Gran Torino/Goodbye Yellow … more)
November Rain
Bumblefoot Guitar Solo
(Pink Panther Theme)
Don't Cry
Whole Lotta Rosie
(AC/DC cover)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
(Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
Encore:
Instrumental Jam
Madagascar
Better
Instrumental Jam
Patience
Instrumental Jam
Paradise City
My Way
(Frank Sinatra song)

themusicaddict