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