Guns N' Roses- Camden, NJ 11/26/11- Review & Setlist (YES, Axl showed up.)

[DemonOfTheWoods]

Before I even write anything about the show, I know there are a bunch of people who are going to want to chime in with some kind of anti-GnR or anti-Axl comments, comments about how "its not really GnR"(even though the 'New GnR' has been GnR longer than the 'Old GnR'), etc. If you are one of the anti-GnR people who doesn't approve of the new line-up or album, then please move along. This review & thread is for people who enjoy GnR approve of the new band. I don't want this to turn into another thread of Axl-Bashing and defecating upon the current band. Thanks. Now for those still interested, on to the review...

I've been anxiously awaiting for my time to see Guns N' Roses again since Chinese Democracy came out 3 years ago. I got to see them in 2006, and while it was a good show, it wasn't really an enjoyable experience. We had GA Floor tickets and were about 10 feet from the stage when the show started, and couldn't see a goddamn thing because of being crushed by 10,000 assholes who are 6 times bigger than me. So we moved to the back of the floor. This time we had seats (excellent ones at that) so I could actually see & enjoy the show. They played 5 songs from Chinese Democracy (Better, Madagascar, Chinese Democracy, The Blues)& I was one of about 3 people who already knew those songs as I had been following the GnR bootleg circuit since 2000 when the new songs started to appear. There were also WAY too many solos/jams at this show & that just detracted from the enjoyment of the GnR material. Currently, it seems that they have worked that out as all the solos are actually something as opposed to just wanking & noodling off on the guitar. The "instrumental jams" have also currently turned into extended instrumental intros to songs, which is much more enjoyable than just fuckin' around to kill time.

So now onto the 2011 show...on Saturday, 11/26, BlackRoseMetalHeart & I drove 2 hours to the Susquehanna Bank Center (formerly the Tweeter Center, I think. Saw Iron Maiden there in 2006 or 2007.) in Camden for the show. It wasn't sold out, but it had to have been close as it was packed! Our tickets were in Sec 101 Row G; we were probably about 15 ft from the stage! The stage setup was absolutely amazing, with numerous video screens set up and outstanding lighting! The video/lighting really set the most perfect atmosphere on stage for each song! Axl sounded amazing and the band was incredibly solid and clearly enjoying themselves. They started at exactly 11pm and played until almost 2am! The show started with the theme music from Dexter as their stage intro, after that played the intro to "Chinese Democracy" started and half of the crowd cheered. New guitarist DJ Ashba (Sixx AM, ex-Beautiful Creatures) appeared above the drum set (on the 3rd/top level of the stage set up) to start the opening riff to "Chinese Democracy" as the rest of the band flooded out to the stage. Immediately following, the band kicked into "Welcome to the Jungle", to which, this time, the entire crowd went apeshit. After ripping through 2 more Appetite classics, they threw some more Democracy out for the loyal diehards. After ending "Shackler's Revenge", an all-too-familiar (and not played in a hell of a long time) piano note rang out and Axl began singing "when your talkin' to yourself/ and nobody's home...", going into a song they had not played since the Illusion tour & the one song that I have been dying to see live, a song that I & many others are so thankful they put back in the set: the epic from Use Your Illusion II; Estranged. All 9 and a half minutes of its epic glory! Following that was "Rocket Queen". Some other major highlights of the show were "This I Love", a song from Chinese Democracy that Axl had previously stated would probably never be performed live, Dizzy Reed's piano solo which was an amazing instrumental version of The Who's "Baba O'Riley", and bassist Tommy Stinson (ex-Replacements) taking over vocal duties for a slick cover of the Dead Boys' classic "Sonic Reducer".

This was by far one of the best concerts I've EVER seen, and definitely one of the top 2 shows of this year. This is one of those shows that I'll be raving about for years to come!

Setlist:
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
This I Love
Sonic Reducer (Dead Boys cover; Tommy Stinson on vocals)
Dizzy Reed Piano Solo (Baba O'Riley)
Street Of Dreams
You Could Be Mine
DJ Ashba Guitar Solo (Mi Amor)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II
Axl Piano Solo (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Someone Saved My Life Tonight)
November Rain
Bumblefoot Guitar Solo (Pink Panther Theme)
Don't Cry
Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC cover)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Nightrain
--------------------
Madagascar
Patience
Better
Paradise City

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Ha! I like how they played Mr. Brownstone! I used to listen to Appetite for Destruction on my Sony Walkman on the school bus in the 3rd grade.

Glad to see Gn'R isn't living up to all the bad rumors.

 

[nailz]

Guns and Roses are coming to phoenix on december 27th. It was announced today. This means that if I choose not to listen to Christmas Music, every other radio station I would ever bother will will be playing nothing but "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City" for the rest of the month. I've already heard them 4 times just driving into work.

 

[usaprogmusic]

Thanks for posting your review Nick! I saw this tour on 11/17 in East Rutherford, NJ and it was my first time seeing any line-up of GnR and it was an AMAZING show! I've been a huge fan of their music since I was a wee little kid (I was about 6 when Appetite came out and remember my older cousins playing the cassette over and over and over) so this was a dream come true to see Axl live. I am currently reading Slash's autobiography too. The concert was everything that Nick said, and I must say that his current guitarists are really good so it made up for the fact that I did not get to see Slash. At my show they also started 11 pm on the dot. Axl was spot on and everyone was very professional on stage. My friend & I were even shocked when Axl said at the end of the night after their bows, "Everyone please be safe leaving here and traveling home!"

 

[OdinsCourt]

Wow! Long setlist. And a good setlist too! Estranged has always been my favorite song by GNR.

Great band. Love all their material. I should pay more attention to when they are touring, as I'd love to see them...

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Oh hey, did you guys manage to catch goth-Miley Cyrus? The chick who fronts The Pretty Reckless? How did that go? I just saw she was opening for Guns n' Roses, and whenever I see press for her, it's because she's flashing her boobs on stage.

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Sounds like you had an awesome time there Nick.

For me, I was just never a fan of GnR, so it is very unlikely that I'll ever go out to see them. I honestly wonder if I was the only one on that entire campus that did not own a copy of any of GnR's albums when I was in college (and for that matter, I STILL don't own any of their albums). But then again, I never really needed to, as damn near every party I went to, GnR was being played, not to mention constantly on the radio as well as I could've borrowed any of my friends copies if I wanted to listen to them.

And yes, I've never heard a single track off of the Chinese Democracy album. But then again, I was beginning to wonder if actual Chinese Democracy was going to happen before that album actually came out (plus I never did bother to get my free Dr. Pepper when that album did come out).

But hey, glad you enjoyed it and sounds like they can still put on one hell of a show.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Bumblefoot is one of my Holy Trio of guitar players.

The other 2 are Eklundh & Godin.....

SO wanted to go to the Chicago show, but couldn't get off of work.

 

[DemonOfTheWoods]

Oh hey, did you guys manage to catch goth-Miley Cyrus? The chick who fronts The Pretty Reckless? How did that go? I just saw she was opening for Guns n' Roses, and whenever I see press for her, it's because she's flashing her boobs on stage.

We actually didn't see it, but what we heard didn't sound too bad, through the muffled walls of being outside when she played. She did not flash her electrical tape or pastie covered boobs at this show, nor do that lesbian thing she did in Europe (which I found out about by clicking the article you linked).

I don't mind women mixing sexuality in their music (Hence my love & respect for Rockbitch, Butcher Babies, & Cassandra Syndrome to name a few), but when the girl is underage (I believe she was 16 when the NY Flash incident occurred), thats just....wrong.

Sorry to derail the thread. Back to the topic at hand: Guns n' fuckin' Roses!

 

[DemonOfTheWoods]

oh and that article you linked....Fuck whoever wrote that for calling Axl "homeless" and that he "gets a sandwich" for performing.

Axl has more money than they guy who wrote that article could ever imagine. Someone with a huge home in the Malibu Hills is far from homeless!