When Guns N' Roses announced that Duff and Slash would be joining Axl for a Summer tour, I was thrilled. However, I was not thrilled with the ticket prices. $285 for the best seats/general admission pit, plus nearly $20 in fees and $30 for parking (unless you took the train in) was out of my budget. But, as the great Eddie Trunk has said, fans vote with their wallets and they always have the choice not to go. After months of going back and forth, I ended up deciding on a price I was ok paying. Though the downside would be sitting a city block away from the stage, I knew it would be a great show regardless.
What finally swayed me was hearing "Civil War" on Hair Nation, then "The Garden" immediately afterwards on Ozzy's Boneyard a few days before they came to town. Not to mention all the promotion on Twitter and Instagram I was reading day after day from the band accounts. When you see one of your all time favorite bands posting photos and video as they near your area, you do start to feel the excitement mounting. I'm not made of stone. Some advertising DOES work on me.
So off I went to MetLife Stadium on Sunday night (Saturday didn't have any great seats available by the time I made my decision to go on that Thursday). A slightly lighter attendance than the night before allowed me to escape any traffic stress coming in, which I was grateful for. I didn't want to miss any of opening act Lenny Kravitz, who always impressed me whenever I saw him play on TV.
I'm not sure why, maybe lack of trust in the start time listed, but the stadium was fairly empty when Kravitz went on. On the bright side, those actually present for his great set were loud enough to make Kravitz feel welcome. Backed by a full band including a horn section and three ladies on backup vocals, Kravitz played for around an hour. I had never seen him before and don't have any albums, but it was still a captivating set. He's had plenty of hits like "American Woman", "Let Love Rule", "Fly Away", "Always on the Run", and of course "Are You Gonna Go My Way", all of which were played. So if you listened to the radio or watched MTV at all in the 90's/2000's, you had no trouble singing along most of the time.
Expecting a huge gap between the bands given GN'R's history of being tardy would be understandable. However, many people had confirmed in recent years that Axl seems to be over that type of behavior. They went on around 9:45, about a half hour after Kravitz had ended, proving that rumor to be true.
I saw GN'R three times during their reign in the 90's, before the band completely fell apart. But this didn't stop Axl from re-emerging with different lineups over the next several years, which prompted purists to dub the band "Axl N' Roses." During that time I saw them play Hammerstein Ballroom, the Meadowlands and Madison Square Garden. Prior to this past weekend's show, the last time I saw them play was in 2013 at Governors Ball.
When "nostalgic" acts come through town, many people are thought to go to these shows to relive their youth. But that's not the case for a lot of people. It's obviously impossible not to flash back to childhood experiences when songs are played. But that's not the draw. In my case at least, I never stopped listening to the music since it all came out. I also haven't stopped going to see the bands that kept touring since then. So for me, it's not an exercise in time travel because the music and live experiences never left my side.
The tricky thing with these bands though, is that members come and go (and sometimes even come back again). Why do we care who is playing the music so much? To reference another point I believe Eddie Trunk has made in the past, growing up on an MTV-era band was different, because you got to know the faces and the people moreso than ever before. My favorite member of Guns N' Roses was always Duff McKagan. I have no idea why. He just was (and still is). Not seeing him play with Axl was more upsetting than not seeing Slash by Axl's side.
Having said all that, I had a great time seeing GN'R all the other times when the only member of the original lineup was Axl (and Dizzy Reed if you want to count the Use Your Illusion era). This is because of the music and the fact the original voice was still singing the lyrics. And also because guitarists like Bumblefoot and DJ Ashba, as well as drummer Frank Ferrara, became accepted to some of the diehards because they had their own charismatic qualities.
Now having said all of THAT, I was psyched to have Duff and Slash back. And, I was super jealous of the crowds that saw Steven Adler guest on drums, as I never got to see him play with them in the first place. My first show was Gilby Clarke's debut and Matt Sorum had already joined up after Adler was forced out. I have seen Slash play with Myles Kennedy, and saw Duff play a few times when Velvet Revolver was still around, but it was so much fun seeing them play as GN'R again. It's just different seeing the people who created the music play it themselves. It feels more authentic.
Also, having watched these guys grow as I have grown up, I just want to say that it was so wonderful to see them in good shape. So many Rock casualties have occurred over the years because of the hedonistic lifestyle. These guys easily could have joined them, but they have all thankfully made it out alive. As a fan it was difficult watching Duff slurring and looking like a hot mess in an interview, wondering if Slash even knew where he was or seeing Axl get himself into trouble all the time with everyone from fans to Vince Neil and Kurt Cobain. So to see a healthy, ripped Duff, a joke-cracking Axl and a dancing Slash after all the dramatic ups and downs was wonderful.
I wrote about the bulk of the show's content on AXS already (official recap of the show for AXS.com is here), so I'll end this by saying if you're not sure about heading out to this tour, just go. Even if you can only afford a nosebleed seat. The screens are gigantic, the music's loud, the setlist is great and at the very least, you're watching a show from one of the greatest Rock bands to ever roam the Earth.
