PRESS REVIEWS
HOUSE OF BLUES:VEGAS 01/01/01
rollingstone.com
Axl Rose and Co. return to the stage after seven-year layoff
Patience pays off
"Good morning," Axl Rose told a packed House of Blues upon taking the stage Monday morning. "I've just woke up. I've been taking a nap for about eight years."
A rejuvenated Guns n' Roses partied like it was 1994 on New Year's Eve, returning to the stage for the first time in seven years at the Las Vegas' House of Blues. Originally scheduled to go on at 1 a.m., the band finally hit the boards and sounded the first notes of "Welcome to the Jungle" at 3:35 a.m., and closed the proceedings at 5:35 a.m., after mixing many of their hits with a handful of tunes from their forthcoming album, Chinese Democracy, due out this June.
According to a source at House of Blues, the Goo Goo Dolls' set ran longer than expected, and the venue had to be totally cleared before the organizers began taking the tickets of the 1,800 strong crowd who paid out between $150 and $250 for a ticket to the sold-out show.
In addition to Rose, the new Guns n' Roses featured a sole Guns vet Dizzy Reed on keyboards. The two were joined by ex-Replacement Tommy Stinson on bass, Primus' Brian "Brain" Manita on drums, the Replicants' Chris Pitman on keyboards, Paul Tobias and Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck on guitars along with a white-faced, Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket-wearing Buckethead. The new Gn'R skillfully gamboled through a set of tried and true songs, before unleashing a flurry of songs from the band's forthcoming album, including the title track, an untitled track, "The Blues" and "Silk Worms."
"To tell you the truth, I don't think Axl Rose has ever sounded better, and I feel confident in saying this is the best show we've ever had at the House of Blues Las Vegas," enthused Dana Olliges of House of Blues. Promoter Bill Silva concurred, explaining that the refurbished band had rehearsed in Los Angeles on Thursday, and then starting loading in their instruments and stage set up late Friday night, following Chris Isaak's set. "Axl showed up at the club the next morning at 8 a.m., and they sound-checked for three hours. It sounded just as fantastic then as it did the next night onstage."
In addition to Guns' tunes old and new, Rose frequently referenced the band's hiatus. "I have traversed a treacherous sea of horrors to be with you here tonight," he told the crowd.
MTV.com
Sorelle Saidman and Kara Manning report
It was over seven years in the making, but the general consensus is that it was well worth waiting for.
Axl Rose debuted his new Guns N' Roses lineup at Las Vegas' House of Blues in the wee small hours of New Year's Day, belting out an array of old favorites and introducing a handful of new tunes to a capacity crowd of 1,800 ecstatic patrons.
GN'R kicked off the show with "Welcome to the Jungle" (RealAudio excerpt) and finished with an equally rousing "Paradise City," delivering other GN'R classics such as "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child o' Mine," "November Rain," "Patience" (RealAudio excerpt), "My Michelle" and "Think About You" in between.
The band also rolled out a handful of previously unheard songs, including "Chinese Democracy" — the title track off the band's long-long-long-awaited album — and "The Blues," "Silk Worms" and one untitled track, GN'R management confirmed.
GN'R also offered up a version of 1999's "Oh My God" (RealAudi o excerpt), their contribution to the "End of Days" soundtrack.
Rose was "a little emotional" at the event, according to his longtime manager, Doug Goldstein, who added that the singer hugged his close friends in attendance and thanked them for their support.
The concert featured the expected lineup: guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck and Paul Tobias (a.k.a. Paul Huge); keyboardist Dizzy Reed; former Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia; and former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, who inspired Rose to joke, "'The Replacements' would be a good name for this band."
Keyboardist Chris Pittman, perhaps best known as a member of the Replicants and for his work on Tool's Aenima, also joined the group onstage.
"Axl really looked happy to be playing with those guys," said LeAnne Eden, a GN'R fan who flew in from Los Angeles for the show. "That's something that didn't seem to be happening with the old band — during their last tour, anyway."
Onstage, Rose alluded to how he had begun rehearsals with his new bandmates a few days prior to the show, another situation that rarely happened in days gone by. (The band usually rehearsed without Rose in attendance.)
"[Rose] looked young and healthy. He was slimmer than when I saw him sit in with Gilby last summer," Eden said, referring to Rose's only other outing in seven years: an impromptu performance with former guitarist Gilby Clarke in June.
The two-hour show got underway at 3:30 a.m., after the club cleared the house following a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls. GN'R started an hour later than expected, although the club's publicist said the group never intended to go on much earlier than 3:30 and that Rose's fabled tardiness was not a factor.
Rose was "awesome" and totally at ease with the HOB staff as well as with the audience, the publicist said.
Concertgoer Jeff Sheldon, who flew from Chicago for the show, said that Rose made a point of crediting guitarist Tobias with getting him through the past seven years, conveying that the two had played together since they were 12 years old.
Tobias — described alternately as a Kurt Cobain lookalike and as a paler, nondescript version of Rose himself — stuck to rhythm duties, concertgoers said, while ex-Nine Inch Nails member Finck, sporting eyeliner and black lipstick, faithfully revisited ex-GN'R member Slash's guitar parts. New twists and turns were added to the sonic texture by Buckethead, who wore his customary white facemask and Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket atop his head.
Even though the audience was positioned directly before the stage, the band's backdrop was a JumboTron-style, 25-foot, floor-to-ceiling video screen augmented by a number of smaller monitors.
"It looked like they fit an arena-sized show into this club," Eden observed.
Security was incredibly tight, so fans may be hard-pressed to find live MP3s or photos on the Web. "Not only were they confiscating cameras," Eden said, "they were even going after cell phones."
The band's performance was preceded by an animated feature that poked fun at Rose's media-perpetuated persona. The mercurial frontman was depicted in bed — presumably having spent the last seven years in Brian Wilson-like seclusion — carrying on conversations with Buddha and the odd alien, with a music magazine used in lieu of toilet paper following a bedpan sequence. Footage depicting a journey through a birth canal was also presented, among other esoteric endeavors.
Next up, the band heads to South America, where it will play the gigantic Rock in Rio festival on January 14.
Knack.com
Contributor,Denise Korycki,
"Everyone needs some time on their own, everyone needs some time all alone." He sang with such passion, it was as if he was explaining his absence from our lives for so long. And the audience sang with him with such an intensity as if they understood...
"Good morning! I just woke up. I took a nap for about 8 years!" That's what Axl Rose told the crowd of onlookers still in awe at the fact that this rock n' roll icon was actually standing right before their very eyes. What a way to bring in the New Year!
Axl Rose and the new Guns N'Roses line-up burst onto the unbelievably intimate stage at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV, like a force not to be reckoned with. 3:30 AM, January 1st, 2001 will go down in the history books (screw the new millennium) and mark Axl?s return to the fans that have loved and missed him for too many years. "Do you know where you are? You're in the jungle baby," he screeched during the opening song and carried on with such an impeccable perfection it made you feel like he was welcoming you into his jungle for the first time ever!
During the powerhouse two hour set, GN'R cranked through practically the entire Appetite For Destruction album with confidence. They snuck in a few songs from Use Your Illusion I - "Live & Let Die," "Don't Cry" and the epic "November Rain" featuring Axl's return behind the piano. Mixed in were hits from Use Your Illusion II - "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "You Could Be Mine," as well as one track from GN?R Lies - "Patience." They broke out a few new tunes including the previously released track "Oh My God," the new title track to the long awaited album, Chinese Democracy and a song entitled, "The Blues," which kicked some serious ass and was well received by the audience.
Axl's back with a vengeance; and he's taking no prisoners. After an incredibly long break that, he sarcastically yet sincerely said, was necessary to deal with some emotions he had in reference to singing the old band's music. And thank the heaven?s above that he finally got over it, 'cause the world's been missing out on and foaming at the mouth just to hear him again.
He may be with all new players, but trust me, there were times if you just closed your eyes, you felt the same way that you did over a decade ago. Yeah, everyone misses the old line-up and it's gonna be hard to get used to the new, but change isn't always a bad thing. The "new guys" held their own. After all, those are some fuckin' tough shoes to fill! Fans loved every single member of the old GN'R. True. And every single one of them will be missed, but kudos to the new guys for stepping in. And kudos to Axl for finally bringing it back to us. Like the old members, the new all have their own individual identity on the stage. And they're all amazing musicians. You can't condemn them just because they weren't part of the band since the beginning. It's not their fault and they're in the band now. So you either accept it or not. It's your call, but they sounded pretty damn good to me.
The introductions of his new lineup went smoother than expected. The audience greeted them rather warmly (with the occasional cry for Slash), but by the end of the night, the crowd seemed to grow more accepting of the band. It'll take some time getting used to, especially since Guns N' Roses was always known as a "true band," but as Axl said onstage when he introduced bassist Tommy Stinson, he comes from a band whose name is synonymous with what this industry is known for. . .The Replacements. GN'R proved they can still make it work with the "new guys:" Stinson, Brian (Brain) Mantia (former Primus) on drums, Chris Pitman and Dizzy Reed (old gunner) on keyboards, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck (ex-NIN) and Buckethead on guitars. (It would be different if the old band was trying to replace Axl, that would be impossible! No one can be Slash, no one is Slash, or Izzy or Duff or Steven or Matt, but they came pretty damn close. Let's face it, no one can be Axl or even come close.
Axl's a rock star. Plain and simple. He's a frontman like no other with a set of pipes that can easily blow anyone off the stage. He wailed, he inhaled, that "yowser" sweet inhale that only he can do, and he sang with such a passion and force that it sent chills down your spine, to the point where you had to pinch yourself just to make sure you weren't dreaming.
Not only did he sound amazing, he looked amazing. All of those rumors of a balding, bloated Axl can be put to rest (although most of them were dismissed after he surfaced back in June to jam onstage with Gilby Clarke at the Cat Club in Los Angeles). His hair's a bit shorter, but still full flowing and shiny enough to be in a Pantene commercial. He looked comfortable onstage with a pair of black Adidas - like jogging pants with red stripes down either side and a black (and later white) button down shirt with a dragon painted on it. He swayed the "Axl sway" and spun the mic stand around ferociously. His energy level was different though. There was a new found maturity and stealth to his undeniable presence and movements. Not as erratic or as hyped up as he was before, but hell, this was his first show back! (And he still had the audience by the balls the entire time!)
He's still got the attitude and edge we've all grown to love. But that's also different. There were no rants, no raves, no smashing, no bashing, no real threat of not knowing when he was going to fly off the handle. There was a sense of lightheartedness on the stage that made you feel comfortable and at ease. When the piano didn?t work at the beginning of a new song they were about to expose to the crowd, there was moment of tension in the audience. For a minute, you almost expected him to explode and thought that heads would be rolling, but to everyone's surprise (including Axl's), he chose to move onto a different song while the problem was fixed and decided to practice a little "Patience" (the song he picked to play). With a great sense of humor, he mocked his notorious past onstage outbursts and opted against throwing a "tantrum." At one point, Axl even prided himself on the fact that this time around was unusual. He confessed that he actually attended practice, rehearsal, and soundcheck and claimed that was a first in 15 years!
At times, he joked around with the other members, laughing and smiling. He treated his crew with an unprecedented amount of respect that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Axl and the new GN'R seemed to have a genuinely great time and so did the audience. He connected to each and every one of them gazing at them with the same awe in which we were gazing at him, seeming to enjoy playing the music we've longed for, as much as we enjoyed listening to and watchin' it. It was hard to take your eyes off him.
As he sat on the piano gathering up his "Patience," the room burst into a chant, "Welcome Back...Welcome Back..." It was a time for goosebumps
and welled up eyes. The room exploded with love and an invitation for Axl back into our hearts. The smile on his face was absolutely indescribable. He thanked the audience with a genuine amount of pride to be right back where he belongs. He admitted that he was beginning to blush and said, with a shyness that rarely comes out on a stage that he's always in complete control of, "now you're embarrassing me." And then he sang the words to that song that we've all whistled to a thousand times before, "just a little patience...yeah, yeah, some more patience..." It was as if Axl was thanking us for waiting for him to come back. Deep inside, it felt like he was connecting and telling a bit of an autobiography some how, some way. And when he roared his final line to that song, "oooohhhh I need you, ooohh, I need you, this time," you almost felt like screaming back, "we need you too!" The show was an emotionally draining experience that was flabbergasting, breathtaking and exhilarating all at the same time. "It's a feeling that I know, I know I'll never forget."
Allstar.com
Jan 2, 2001, 12:30 pm PT
After making fans wait seven years and amidst much speculation over how Axl Rose has aged and how this new band would sound, Axl Rose made a triumphant return to the stage with a brand spankin' new Guns N' Roses that shocked, pleased, and at times perplexed fans.
But, unlike what many expected -- maybe even secretly hoped for -- the source of the shock and amazement didn't come in the form of a bloated, overweight, washed-up rock star whose infamous bad attitude was the cause of many an aborted show. Rather, it came in the form of an unmistakably new W. Axl Rose. This was a physically fit, youthful-looking Rose who sounded exactly like he did 12 years ago, but who has seemed to shed the prima donna rock star persona that so many have loved to hate him for.
And the show? After hearing that the band wouldn't go on until 3 a.m. (doors opened at 1 a.m., and they actually took the stage at 3:38 a.m.) and were planning on playing every song they know, the preconceived perception was that this would be one self-indulgent show. Instead, the sold-out 1,800-person House of Blues club in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was treated to a perfect two hours of classic GNR songs and just four new tracks.
After a funny, short animated video (see Miss Truth for details), the set, obviously mapped out with the fan in mind, kicked off with a rapid-fire assault of such GNR staples as "Welcome to the Jungle," "It's So Easy," "Mr. Brownstone," and "Live and Let Die" before even venturing into new material, which included the warmly-received "Oh My God." The debut of four other new songs -- "The Blues," the title track to the upcoming album "Chinese Democracy," "Silkworms," and "Rhiad & the Bedouins" -- were met with less excitement and upon first listen lacked the direction and hook-laden style of the old stuff.
Rose played it understandably safe -- the songs sounded exactly as they do on record and one could literally close their eyes and believe it was the original lineup playing the Troubadour in L.A. in 1989. The only risk Rose has taken was in choosing his band members -- each of which has his own distinctive style almost like the Village People. Instead of the cop, the cowboy, the Indian, and so on, the new GNR has the few lone rockers, the alien, the new waver, and the freak. So, without further ado, meet the new version of GNR:
1. W. Axl Rose: Looked great, sounded great, returned as a humbled man with a brand new attitude of self-deprecating humor (see Miss Truth for the story on that) and generosity to his fellow bandmates. Sporting a healthy glow, long lighter red (or even light brown) hair, Adidas pants, and a button-down Chinese dragon shirt, Rose was back and better than ever.
2. Robin Finck: The guitarist's alien look with his black and white space-age suit and hair and makeup straight from the planet Romulac might make sense for his former band, Nine Inch Nails, but it seems out of place for GNR. Finck and Buckethead were clearly in competition for who could freak GNR fans out the most.
3. Buckethead: The avant-garde Bay Area guitar prodigy wore his trademark Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on top of his long, wavy hair and a white mask with black eyes, while doing robotic moves and freaking the crowd out along the way. He's sort of the Wes Borland of the band.
4. Paul Tobias: (a.k.a. Paul Huge, PHT, Rose's old friend from Indiana) Rose gave his old friend the most generous introduction, calling him "the original guitar player" who "worked hard to get here." He certainly held his own up against the more experienced players in the band. Solos and lead guitar parts were spread-out fairly evenly amongst the three guitarists.
5. Tommy Stinson: Replacements bassist at age 13. More recently, he sang and played bass in the ill-fated L.A. band Perfect. While his usual duds of a retro plaid suit and new-wave suspenders looked way out of place onstage, he possessed eerily similar mannerisms (and same spiky blonde haircut) to original GNR bassist Duff McKagan. Regardless, Stinson, who sang the bulk of backing vocals, was a crowd fave and was one of the few band members Rose interacted with onstage, albeit briefly.
6. Brain: (real name: Brian Mantia) The former drummer of Primus was low-key in an outfit and cap straight out of Fred Durst's closet and held down the fort just as well as Steven Adler or Matt Sorum.
7. Dizzy Reed: Unchanged since joining GNR as the keyboardist in 1991, the only blast from the past played keyboard, bongos, piano, and sang some backing vocals.
8. Chris Pittman: He's played with Tool, Lusk, Replicants, and Blinker the Star. Dressed in a biker hat and jacket, the second keyboardist also played some percussion and sang backing vocals. He's just a touring member, and a seemingly unnecessary one at that in a band already consisting of seven players.
Regardless of the weirdness of it all, the audience -- which was comprised of a younger, hipper crowd (ranging from drag queens to club kids, with just the occasional mullet-head or old school rocker mixed in) -- welcomed back Rose and his new boys with unbridled joy. On songs such as "Live and Let Die," "You Could Be Mine," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Patience," the audience's vocals drowned out the visibly elated, smiling Rose. Chants of "Welcome Back" kept that smile on Rose's face throughout the evening.
The only real dip in this joyous occasion came toward the end of the set when Rose was gracious enough to allow Buckethead to entertain, er, confuse the crowd with a performance art piece in which he twirled what appeared to be a baton or Chinese nunchuckas to a percussive beat. He followed that with a bit of robot and an unwelcome guitar solo. Aside from a few muffled boos, and a lone shout-out for Slash, the audience was actually pretty tolerant of Buckethead's eccentricities. At the end of his shtick, he handed out what looked like chocolate roses out of a KFC bucket to those up front.
Given the fact that the Thursday prior to the show (Dec. 29) was the first time Rose performed a set with this band (he never really sang at rehearsals over these past several years), the show was amazingly perfect. Rose and his new gaggle of freaks delivered the goods beyond most people's expectations.
--Carrie Borzillo - Vrenna
CDNOW.COM
Miss Truth
Jan 2, 2001, 12:50 pm PT
So much to say, so little space. For those who didn't get enough minute detail of the first Guns N' Roses show in seven years on Monday (Jan. 1) at the House of Blues in Las Vegas in our review in news, here are a few more tidbits to satiate your appetites:
Opening Video: At about 3:35 a.m. the huge video screen behind the small stage at the House of Blues showed a two- to three-minute animated video (similar to the animation seen in the Heavy Metal movie) showing Axl Rose looking very '80s and poking fun at himself. The video opened with Axl saying "Hi kids. It's Uncle Axl." The sound of the clip wasn't great and it was hard to see, so here's a few bits we were able to make out: he wished everyone a Happy New Year. Images in the video included a bedpan, a Diet Coke, and a sexy nurse. He said something about being "asleep for seven years" and about "cleanliness is next to, well, you get the picture." Actually, we didn't really get the picture, but whatever.
He seemed to have been poking fun at himself, which he did later in the show as well in a little spiel about how he figured the crowd expected a tantrum out of him and then we'd have something to write about the next day. But, there were no tantrums. Axl was happy, funny, endearing, and just downright perfect.
Paul Tobias: What's this guy's name? Tobias? Huge? Well, it's both. Axl first introduced his old buddy -- and one of the three guitarists in the band -- as Paul Tobias. Then he later referred to him as Paul Huge, and then finally as PHT. So, there you have it.
The Stage: Simple setup, various TV screens and lights. Stage right sported a small, white tombstone that said, "R.I.P. Here lies the bones of Henry Jones." The only Henry Jones we've heard of is a jazz saxophone player, who's played with Louis Armstrong.
Celeb Spotting: From our vantage point, there was Taime Down (Faster Pussycat, the Newlydeads), Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls, which played a separate set at the club earlier in the evening), and Chris Vrenna (ex-Nine Inch Nails)
1/3/2001 GUNS N' ROSES MAKE TRIUMPHANT RETURN
1/1/2001 AXL ROSE'S NEW GUNS UNVEILED IN VEGAS
1/2/2001 AXL MAKES TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO CONCERT STAGE FOR THE FIRST PERFORMANCE IN EIGHT YEARS
1/2/2001 AXL ROSE IMPRESSES VEGAS WITH HIS NEW GUNS N' ROSES
1/2/2001 GOSSIP ON GUNS N' ROSES VEGAS SHOW