Saw Guns n’ Roses live at MSG on Friday with Cat and Tallman. Or should I say, saw Axl Rose? He was the only member of the old band there, and this was definitely not the GNR of old. With four(!) guitarists, two keyboard players and some guy on base, this was something new and different. Songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” “It’s So Easy” and “November Rain” sounded very good indeed. But “You Could Be Mine” just kinda fell flat. The band has traded raw energy for musical precision. There was none of the dueling riffs with Slash that made the old GNR so electric.
And as I heard someone say on the way out: this isn’t 1985. No one’s going to be impressed by a guitar solo anymore, no matter how good it is.
Still overall I think our impression was that this was a good concert. Good but not great. Cat and I (and eventually Tallman) found this auxilary press box and we climbed up on the reporters’ workspace to dance on the tables high in the rafters of MSG. (I got us the cheap seats). Fun!
Leave a Reply