FAN REVIEWS

HOUSE OF BLUES:VEGAS 01/01/01

1/2/2001 Axl Democracy VEGAS 0101

Source : GNR Bar.com

hi everyone here at the forum, i just get back from las vegas a few hours ago and quickly came on the internet to check out all the reviews from music sites, and from the people who were actually there. from what i have read so far, almost every review is accurate and well done, especially the los angeles times one.

my review won't be as detailed or professional as that, because i am very very tired, and still very very shocked. i was able to get all the way to the front/center of the stage, and had my chest up against the baracade (which my body is still feeling the effects of today, very sore and bruised, but oh so worth it).

i was able to make eye contact with axl the whole night and if that wasnt enough, axl saw and acknowledged my guns n' roses use your illusion 1 tattoo on my left arm. it was during "rocket queen" and as throughout the night, axl and i made eye contact, and this time i motioned to him to look at my arm. he did and he saw my tat and he gave the famous axl grin/laugh, nodded and gave me the thumbs up sign. he kept the smile at me and he walked backwards still smiling -talked into tommy stinson's ear, and then they both walked up to the front of the stage together where axl pointed me out to tommy, and i showed tommy the tat and he grinned and nodded his head. i then screamed a thank you to axl -which im sure he didnt hear, but i know he knew how much that meant to me.

ok personal stuff aside, i have to say that the vegas show was the most amazing concert i have ever been to , not to mention have ever seen -both live or on video tape. not just because i was front and center and less than 10 feet away from axl the entire night, but because the energy that was coming off axl and the rest of the band was so intense and so real, i just had chills the whole night.

the show started with a cartoon of axl -which was sort of poking fun of his old image, or of what critics and so called fans have come to describe him or want to think of him. then a video started of a bunch of dark creepy images, with a creepy man's voice saying a bunch of cool creepy things/chants, and then the lights went out, and then it began!

robin finck came on stage first -or was the first person i saw anyway. he began to play the intro notes to "welcome to the jungle", in a slow, dark and almost gothed out way. he was then joined by tommy, paul tobias, brain, and then buckethead. each musician slowly began to join in, adn then the song started and then axl came walking on stage, looking amazing!!!! walking confidently and intensely across the stage, holding the mic on the mic stand. i'll never forget the look on his face, especially since i was about less than 10 feet away from him. though he was wearing sunglasses i could see the confidence on his face, and it was as if he was saying "let's get this motherfucker started" and so he did by screaming "you know where the fuck you are????!!!!!!" and the crowd responded intensely. and that's what started off an amazing night.

every song that was played was amazing in my opinion -i cant even put it into words. im gonna use teh word amazing a lot and i know it's annoying but i know of no other way to describe it in words. the band was so tight and so in synch with one another, you would have thought they were playing together for years. robin finck did an incredible job on guitar, as well as buckethead. it was my first time seeing buckethead perform live, and the man was freaky, but so kick ass! and when i say he was freaky, that says a lot -cause im a huge marilyn manson fan -and buckethead freaked me out! i know i dont make sense to a lot of people by saying that -especially when in appearance it probably look as if robin is 100x more freaky than buckethead, but buckethead just looks like a serial killer! i think it's the mask that does it, (michael meyers halloween mask) and also his gestures. for the first few songs he just stood stiff as a board, almost like a robot, with only his fingers movi!

ng. he actually looked like a statue on stage,-i seriously found myself staring at him in amazement, wondering if it was a real person playing the guitar. and he meant to do all this, this is his stage antics/presence -which were great in my opinion. robin was fucking great as always -in my opinion one of the best live guitar plaYers out there today, not just musically but the way he performs in front of a crowd. he truely plays guitar like it is an extension of himself -it's as if the guitar is his third arm. he just gets so into it and is so intense, that it really is beautiful to watch.

i was really impressed with tommy stinson -not that i expected any less than a great preformace by him -the guy is a legendary bassist to many people. but he was kick ass -and dont get me wrong -i love duff -but watching tommy that night - i almost wished that he had been in the band in the early 90's for the illusion tours. like i said, i love duff and duff is a great bassist and is just brilliant, but tommy really won me over.

paul tobias was kick ass on rhythm -though i thought he got lost in the shuffle with the two lead guitarists, but he did a great job on every song, especially on november rain -where him and robin finck were really feeding off each other. brain was very impressive as the new drummer. he was truely a mixture between adler and sorum -able to play the really fast songs and give them that punk/hard rock sound that the appetite songs had, but also make the quick change to the heavy drum fills and beats that are needed on the songs from the illusion albums, but at the same time putting his own spin on it. especially at the end of november rain -he kept the same style of drumming as in the original song, but added a new sound and type of version to it. im sorry if that doesnt make sense-it's hard to explain in words -but as every musician did that night -they all interpetted the songs in their own way -and that made every song sound fresh and new and so kick ass -without taking away from the way it originally sounded. axl even made a comment after november rain saying "now that was some kick ass brain drumming" or something to that regard.

as for the new songs, they sound AWESOME. "chinese democracy" sounds great, and axl gave an emotional 5 minute speech before they played the song, where he commented on what is going on in china, and the movie kundun, and how lucky we are to live in a free country. a lot of it i couldnt hear cause there were a lot of assholes in the crowd who were yelling retarded things at him during this. another new song that i loved was "the blues" -which leads me to dizzy reed.

dizzy was fuckin kick ass. he got very very skinny -i mean the guy was never fat, but just a little chunky, but now is very skinny and has a goatee, but enough about his physical apperance -his piano and keyboarding playing was awesome the whole night -especially on "the blues". it starts off very november rainish and then gets heavy, then slows down again then back to hard again. very very kick ass song. also on a side note, before the band kicked into this song, axl told the crowd they were gonna play something new and i saw the piano come out, so i screamed out "this i love!??!!?" and axl turned and laughed, and then said "nah this is called 'the blues'"

there were two other new songs which were not introduced so i dont know the titles, but so far all the reviews i have read have called one of them "silkworm(s)?" -it was very hard and very electronic influenced, as was the other new song that was played during the encore.

all i can say about this show is that i was truely blown away by it. it was everything i had hoped for and it was a very emotional night for me, being such a die hard fan and having been through everything with this band and with axl. seeing axl take the stage that night was something i'll never forget. i was so happy for him -he was so triumphant. i am so proud of him and what he has done with his career and all the hard work he has done to keep guns n' roses alive. and i am so glad he got such a great reception from the crowd-especially when we started chanting "welcome back" -i was right there and i could literally see in the man's throat when he sang -no shit-that's how close i was -so when everyone started chanting "welcome back" -i could see the reaction in his eyes-and it was one of great emotion -and that meant a lot to him. he has changed also -and i think for the better. i dont mean he was a bad person years ago -in fact i thought he was and still is a great person! - even during the early 90's when everyone wanted to hate him for what he was doing on and off the stage. what i mean is that i think he has changed both physically and mentally. he has matured -if that is the right word. he seems to have a new attitude and a new way of carrying himself. i wouldnt say he is completely happy with everything in his life -professional and/or personal -but i just got a feeling seeing him live that night, that he has reached a certain point emotionally that he talked about in interviews -especially the rolling stone interview from 1992. he seems to have his life in order, and has really reached a point where he is in control of things and situations that have hurt him in the past.

ok i amm going to end my little "review" now -sorry if i just repeated what everyone has said already, or if it makes no sense, it really is hard to explain into words- cause you just had to be there to truely understand what a magical night it was. and i need some sleep -5 hour flight from vegas to new york took a lot out of me-especially since i havent slept more than an hour for 3 days!

oh also on a side note, i was talking to a lot of people before the band hit the stage -including robert john, gene kirkland, and one of the cameramen filming the show. the show was filmed professionally by about 5 cameramen throughout the club -and according to one of the cameramen -tracy- who was really cool- told me it was going to be broadcast in japan and overseas. when i asked him if it would be released here in the states he said he doubted it. so the good news is the show was taped professionally, the bad news is it will only be shown probably overseas, but hey that's what ebay is for right? hopefully in a few weeks it will air there, and then we can all get a copy of the show. i especially want it not only because it was the best concert ever in my fuckin life -but because it was so personal and emotional for me. after axl gave me the smile and nod at my tat- and then brought tommy over to show it to him, the cameraman tracy got a shot of it -a real close up of it -and then slapped me five! then after the show he said "yo man axl dug your tattoo man -congratulations". also gene kirkland got me one of brain's drum sticks that he was! throwing into the crowd. it was just an amazing night for me-everything was just perfect, and i am not ashamed to say this -i was so emotional that i cried during the concert -i believe it was after rocket queen -after axl pointed me out in the crowd to tommy and showed him my tat- i just couldnt believe i was there experiencing this magical performance. i am so happy for axl and for guns n' roses and for all the fans who have stuck with him through all the shit over the years -you know who you are. his return was a triumph, and i know it is just the beginning of what is to come in 2001. ah i cant wait for rock in rio! only 11 more days!

sorry this post is so long! oh and i met a lot of cool people at the concert, but i forgot a lot of names, but remember faces, and im not sure if i met anyone who posts on here but i could be wrong.

peace,

axldemocracy

1/2/2001 Zuzu AT THE BUCKETHEAD MESSAGE BOARD

one guy said Buckethead wasn't there yet, but I wasn't just handing it over to him until I knew who he was and I guess he saw that in my eyes. he told me he was the road manager and that he would make sure he got it and I believed him so gave it up. they ooo'ed and aah'ed and said he'd LOVE it so I went on my merry way. and he did, by God. towards the end of the show he brought the thing out on stage and shared with the audience. it started out a KFC bucket filled with one dozen white chocolate roses, one dozen red chocolate roses, and one dozen little dark chocolate revolvers. naturally I had to serve it up in a bucket, but when I fixed it up it didn't look like much just thrown in there, and the only thing I could find to make it work was an old styrofoam head I use as a form for the maskmaking I do. it seemed appropriate, so I just put the head in the bucket (if fit quite nicely) and stuck the roses in there with the guns all around and it was perfect. the guns were gone! before it came on stage, as were most of the roses, but he threw some bucket. no one knew what the hell that was about but me, but I am deeply honored. after the gig when we were leaving I even passed the guy who'd gotten the bucket, and he was so thrilled. the show itself was just Intense, and Buckethead got to feature, do solo stuff, and the nunchuks as well. he threw those out in the audience too, but the security guys dove after those things so fast the huge guy jumped directly on my foot and actually broke my toe, and I don't even care.