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.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 22nd, 2006 at 2:52 am and is filed under diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.