Saturday, November 11, 2006

Yes... I Know Where I Am

So last night was the Guns 'n' Roses show at MSG. Now I've seen the new GNR before at a smaller venue. I have to be honest here... they sounded better although the sound system sucked. They once again opened with Welcome To The Jungle and closed with Paradise City. Of course when Axl asked, "Do you know where you are?" I answered, "Yeah, I know where I am. Carrying out a fucking drunk who's FATHER brought him to the show to relive HIS youth." Duh-huh.

So the show started with Sebastian Bach once again at 8:00. Sebastian's set was... well... there. It was 80's glam rockish as he jumped around onstage wearing his leather pants and vest. His vocal range is amazing though... but he needs to lose this fucking annoying 5 foot tall guitarist who ran around with no shirt both on and off stage. That guy was a fucking asshole... and he fucked up a few songs. For Sebastian's last song... he brought out his SuperGroup companion, Scott Ian from Anthrax. Now I love Anthrax. I've loved Anthrax for many moons, and Ian who is a founder of that awesome band is a somewhat legend in my own mind. I loved seeing them at Malibu in 1994, at Wetlands in 1995, and Roseland at some other time in the 90's. It was good to see Scotty Ian... and as always he performed like a fucking solid rock which I think garnered Sebastian more applause for his last song than he would have gotten from the 1/10 full Garden. There's more to this story though... so keep reading.

Next up was Papa Roach. As a big fan of The Offspring, I also am a fan of Papa Roach and their sound. To be honest... I'm not feeling the lead singer Coby's physical appearance. It's glammy to say the least. However... they sounded awesome. There is a lot of energy when they play... and you can definately feel it. They started their set with about 4/10 of the Garden full... and when they were done it was 9/10 packed and on their feet. Also of note is the reaction of the "Nuts" girl. See, where I stand in the arena you can walk from my gate straight across the floor through a secuirty barricade through another gate into the backstage area... IF you have a pass. Well the ice machine was broken in the dressing rooms so they had to send a girl, who was wearing a "Nuts" shirt, back and forth for ice. She made the trip at least 40 times. Everytime she did so while Papa Roach was playing... she was dancing down that aisle. She also stopped a few times and grooved to them. She obviously works for the tour... so anytime you catch a tour worker grooving to a band... well that's a sign that either a) They are obsessive compulsive maniacs who are uber-fans in disguise or b) The band playing is doing a REALLY good performance. I'll place my money on B. If you can catch Papa Roach in your area... do so.

So Axl came on literally at 11:11pm. This is actually 19 minutes early from when he was expected. The sound system sucked... but he sounded really good. I was actually impressed during November Rain and Nighttrain. One of the annoying things was he let these guys do these guitar solos. They fucking sucked okay? They are not Slash, Izzy and Duff no matter how much you want them to be Axl. Stop their shit. The one kudo goes to I believe guitarist Richard Fortus, who did a solo rendition of Don't Cry. Very very very very nice... specifically since the entire Garden did the vocal part for a recuperating backstage Axl.

So the show ended around 1:30am. We gladly received our dismissal at 2:00am. So Donkey and I are waiting at the elevator (which is now running slow since the elevator operators are already gone, and who comes behind us but Scott Ian with Sebastian Bach and his court. Now I would be the first person to say Sebastian Bach is a burnout. What is always interesting are these behind the scenes interactions these "superstars" have that we get to silently witness. So Sebastian is telling Scott how he's "all about rock and roll. I just love rock and roll and you do too," and Scott is agreeing with him. I tend to think that when Sebastian says that, he means it. I think he does love the music. I just don't think he's able to realize that rock is everchanging as much as it is everlasting, and he needs to change with it or be stuck as he currently is in the early 90's.

Then Sebastian says, "That's a really cool sweatshirt," to Ian who answers with, "Yeah we get these from a guy in Japan who has the most comprehensive collection of Anthrax Swag in the world. The first two shirts that I drew and don't even have, this guy has one of each. So he designs them and he's on MySpace." Sebastian of course nods his head seemingly to have a clue what Ian is talking about. Right. For some reason I doubt it.

So yeah... that was my night... and after getting home at 4:00am I only got up at 2:00pm. Go figure. This is also the reason I am not NaNoWriMoing today. I'm beat. I need to rest a little and read some of my new MechWarrior Novel. I've been doing pretty good on it though I think considering I started so late. So that's where I am... being a lazy fuck in the Jungle.

EDIT: According to Dan it was actually Bumblefoot who played the Don't Cry guitar solo. Thanks for clearing that up Dan.
Posted by New York City's Watchdog :: 11/11/2006 02:56:00 PM :: Permalink :: 8 Bones Added to the Pile

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