Guns N’ Roses
March 1, 2012
Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
Back in 1987, Guns N’ Roses pretty much changed the face of glam rock/metal with their debut album Appetite For Destruction. While bands like Poison and Warrant were singing their bubblegum hard rock about partying and getting laid, Guns N’ Roses took us to the seedy underbelly of Hollywood where the drugs were heavy, the fights were brutal, and the girls did things that would make Larry Flynt blush. As the years passed, Guns N’ Roses went on to be one of the biggest bands in the world putting on some amazing live performances. There were untouchable but with that success came inner turmoil. Axl Rose’s late arrivals and last-minute cancellations drove away members of the band eventually leaving Axl as the sole remaining member of the band.
Axl decided to pick up the pieces and carry on as Guns N’ Roses with himself being the only original standing member. After numerous line-up changes over the past 10 years, Guns N’ Roses’ sole original member and founder Axl Rose was joined by guitarists Ron “Bumblefoot Thal, Richard Fortus, and DJ Ashba, drummer Frank Ferrer, bassist (and former Replacement) Tommy Stinson and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman to round out this latest incarnation. I was given the opportunity to attend the show and in all honesty, I was curious and excited to see it for myself. Was this new incarnation of Guns N’ Roses going to blow me away? I could only hope so.
Guns N’ Roses’ performance here in Atlanta was the site of a riot of angry fans awaiting the forever late Axl Rose. Bottles were thrown, seats were ripped up and the stage was completely demolished and looted of all the equipment. Well maybe this would have happened if it was 1990 but instead, the ¾ full Tabernacle audience played with phones, read books and some even fell asleep as they waited for Guns N’ Roses to take the stage on this Thursday night. As I made my way up to the balcony, I had no problem finding a seat. The upper tier was nearly empty allowing me to pick a good seat that would give me a great birds-eye view of the stage and the audience. The crowd was a mix of drunk aging rockers, pretentious looking douchebags in their button-down shirts, and over the hill frat boys. Some of the women were amazing to see as they sported clothes that obviously quit fitting them 20 years ago including spandex that was working with all of it’s might to contain the mass of flesh beneath. All of them congregated together over $7.00 beers, $40.00 t-shirts, and tales of seeing Guns N’ Roses in 1987.
This current tour is called “Up Close and Personal” and has them doing a “scaled back tour of intimate venues.” “Scaled-down club tour” must mean “we’re doing small venues because we can’t fill arenas.” The Tabernacle holds roughly 3400 and the venue was 3/4 full if that! With tickets ranging from $75-$145 and notorious late start times, I can see just why this show was undersold. As the 11 pm start time approached, I was ready to have my face melted and my skull rocked. An hour and a half (and countless rounds of Words With Friends and Facebook updates) later Chinese Democracy began at 12:30 am. The house lights went down and the crowd erupted with a roar as guitarist DJ Ashba took the stage with the opening chords of “Chinese Democracy.” The thing that struck me right away was the lack of oomph or drive that they took the stage with. They were all barely moving except for guitarist DJ Ashba. I have to give the kid credit for trying but someone really needs to tell him that it’s not 1987 and he is not Slash. Axl Rose’s entrance practically went unnoticed by me as it was so underwhelming. He strolled out on stage and with his hands in the air like he was Elvis or something and inaudible vocals. By the 2nd song they had turned the vocals up and unfortunately what I heard was a singer unable to get every word out.
As a band Guns N’ Roses doesn’t suck. Axl has managed to pick a talented group of players with the exception of the “other” keyboard player (Chris Pitman) who just seemed to press a key here and there and rock back and forth with his keyboard. While they have the technical skills, there was absolutely no heart or soul to anything that they were playing. The guys just looked underwhelmed and underutilized. Drummer Frank Ferrer almost looked insulted at times to be playing these songs and bassist Tommy Stinson seemed to be happy just to have a steady gig. The only one that really seemed to be having a good time was DJ Ashba. At several points during the show guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal even appeared to be falling asleep standing up. I can’t really blame him because the actual selection of songs was enough to put Ambien to sleep. In all honesty, it looked like a bunch of guys up there getting paychecks to play their parts.
While the setlist opened with more of a slight pop as opposed to a bang, Guns N’ Roses followed the underwhelming opening song with three songs from Appetite For Destruction (Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone). You would think that hearing these classic songs would be a pretty awesome experience but it really wasn’t. There just seemed to be something missing. Maybe it was the fact that I’m used to seeing that classic line up playing these songs but for some reason, they just didn’t capture that magic. The set seemed to just steadily decline from that point on as it was littered with uninspired extended jams and over-indulgent solo spots from various band members. While the Chinese Democracy material seemed to fall completely flat, there were a couple of good points. Guns N’ Roses did a cool rendition of “You’re Crazy” and the classic “Rocket Queen” from Appetite For Destruction sounded pretty good but it was during the later that I finally discovered what the “W” in W. Axl Rose stands for. It stands for winded. He looked better than he has in years but the more he moved, the more winded he sounded which made that already screechy voice of his even more so.
As the night progressed, I found myself starting to drift off and began searching for a reason to leave early. Like a sign from a higher power, some jackass above me spills his beer down my back. I asked for a sign and was given one. Since the band plays an identical setlist every night, I looked to see what I’d be missing and nothing seemed to say, “Don, you’re gonna miss something amazing if you leave!” I made my exodus out of The Tabernacle at 1:45 am as DJ Ashba delivered the 4th indulgent solo of the evening.
Axl Rose was and still is a delusional egomaniac who really thinks that his shit doesn’t stink. The amount of disrespect he has for his fans is staggering. To leave people sitting in their seats for almost two hours until he was “ready” to take the stage is uncalled for and to make them think that they deserve it is even more unforgivable. It’s obvious that the fans are speaking in volumes of their distaste for Axl Rose and his crap. What was once one of the biggest selling arena and stadium bands has now been reduced to playing small scale venues and not even coming close to selling them out. Instead of seeing that this is what is really happening they managed to move forward calling it a “scaled back and intimate” tour. Denial is a powerful drug and Axl Rose seems to be mainlining it on a regular basis.
Guns N’ Roses is not going to give you the show you want to see and it sure as hell isn’t worth the over-inflated ticket prices. Save your money. If you really want to be nostalgic and live out the days of old, go see some other Guns N’ Roses tribute band. You’ll pay 1/4 of the ticket price and at least you’ll get a good, energetic performance. At this point, even free is too high a price to see Guns N’ Roses these days.
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