Just got back from seeing roughly two and a half hours of Guns ‘N Roses, playing a small theater date as a warm-up to their arena tour. This show has confirmed that I am all about the singer, because at the same venue, Alice in Chains will also be playing a show, and I’m not going. Now, given a choice, I would probably rank my love of Alice in Chains higher than Guns ‘N Roses, but without Layne Staley? What’s the point.

That said, Guns ‘N Roses these days is pretty much… well, Axl, as far as the classic lineup; but I bought a ticket for that show without hesitation. So, I’m definitely all about the singers when it comes to bands.

Knowing Axl’s reputation, I show up late for the show, trying to miss Sebastian Bach, since I was never into Skid Row. I turn up an hour and forty minutes after the show was to have started, and Bach was still onstage. I figure he’s about to wrap up, but I probably saw 8 or 9 songs. Definitely more than I needed… the differentiation being that Skid Row was metal, but I always considered Guns to be rock. Metal was never my thing.

Once Bach finishes, I get a good spot in the pit and pull my copy of Ode Magazine out of my cargo pants. I think it is safe to say I am the only person in the venue who chose to make use of his downtime waiting for Axl. But, it provided amusement for people around me, as every so often someone would loudly say, "Everyone shut the hell up, this guy’s trying to read."

More than an hour or so later, around 11:30 p.m., Guns finally come onstage, and they bang out the classic opening songs, "Welcome to the Jungle," "It’s So Easy," and "Mr. Brownstone." Axl is far more interactive with the crowd and engaged than I expected. He still takes any four measure break from singing to run offstage for some reason (oxygen? cocaine?), but when he is onstage, he bangs it out, hits all the notes, and interacts with the crowd.

Early on, during Sweet Child O’ Mine, he even stopped the song to have someone who was out of hand in the mosh pit evicted.

By the time they play the final song before the encore, the crowd is significantly thinned out. It’s just too late for most people. The venue ven posted the final times for people using the train service to catch their ride home, which would be almost 90 minutes before the end of the show.

As the band leaves the stage, the drummer tosses his sticks, and after many drunken bobbles, it lands on my foot. I pick it up, and jam it in my pocket, as I question what the two guys near me are both pulling on, since I already have the drumstick. They finally learn I am its owner, while I ponder why the hell I want a Guns N Roses drumstick. Some younger kid runs at me from the mosh pit, holds out a $20 bill, and buys himself a drumstick without any words being spoken.

Guns is a band I always wanted to see, so it was well worth the wait. That said, I can’t say I’d be running to go see them again anytime soon. It was really a checklist item, and now it’s checked.

Despite the late hours, a good time for sure.

So, Borat one day, Axl the next… and still seeing Emily Haines at Cafe du Nord tomorrow, and Snow Patrol on Sunday.

Went early last night to get in line for the MySpace BlackCarpet screening of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." I got there at around 6:30p, for an event with doors opening at 9, and the movie supposedly starting at 10p. But I’m a huge Borat fan, so it seemed a good way to see the movie more than a month before it hits theaters.

The catch of the screenings is that Borat himself would appear at one of the 25 global screenings held yesterday, and I just felt it would be San Francisco, as pictures of Borat in Los Angeles appeared on gossip sites the previous day, so he was on the west coast, and if he was on media tour, San Francisco is an obvious stop for him.

One clue was that every person in line had to sign away likeness rights, etc., which would seem a bit much if MySpace was going to take a few pictures for the site. Then, when we finally got in, a podium was set up at the front of the theater… then, the guy kept stalling for time, saying we were waiting to get a few more people in, although no new people seemed to be arriving at that point.

Finally, Borat enters the theater, and proceeds to run halfway up the stadium seating on the aisle, directly to the aisle seat at which I am sitting. So, a couple high fives, and my arm around him while he basks in the crowd, and it was just so surreal. I am thankful to report that he was not wearing the Borat suit that he uses for his field work, which he refuses to wash and has said in interviews reeks like all hell.

He slowly works his way up to the front, says "Hello San Francisco Prostitutes!" and stays in character the entire time. Then, after an audience sing-a-long in "Throw The Jew Down The Well," he leaves the theater, and the screening begins.

What a movie. It is so funny and politically incorrect, the audience couldn’t stop laughing and cheering the entire time. Although, given the wait time to get in, this would be a abnormally skewed sample of ravenous Borat fans.

I certainly intend to see it again in theaters in November. Any movie where Alan Keys is introduced as being a chocolate politician is certainly going to ruffle some feathers as its release date approaches.

Below: me and Borat. I’m in the green, he’s being swamped on the left.