The mighty Guns n’ Roses brought their arena-dominating show to Roseland Ballroom on Friday night, laying out some 25 classic Gn’R favorites for one of the band’s most intimate concerts in years.
“You know where you are?” shrieked W. Axl Rose at 11:30pm, a surprisingly reasonable hour for ‘Axl time.’ The echoing notes of Welcome to the Jungle instantly energized the thousand or so fans on the floor of Roseland Ballroom, and thus began an epic, almost 3 hour performance that would run through virtually every classic Gn’R hit and then some.
Rose and his hired Guns are playing a 3 show residency in Gotham as part of Fashion Week, and while all three shows ostensibly sold out, tickets were still available at the box office on Friday night while scalpers desperately tried to dump their stock on the street. Inside, though, was the usual bubbling excitement that Axl generates everywhere he goes. “Will he be on time?” “Will he sound okay?” “Will he show up at all?”
The answer was a resounding "Hell yes!” Jungle was followed by It’s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone, and the singing powerhouse that is Axl Rose effortlessly proved that no matter what his detractors might say, the 50 year old can still hit the high notes with a head-spinning ferocity, and the opening Appetite for Destruction songs sounded as good as ever.
Axl & friends just came around this way in November on a raging stadium tour (read my review of their Izod Center performance by clicking here), and Friday night’s show turned out to be a stripped down but just as spectacular performance. Gone were the towering blasts of pyro and elaborate risers, though a video screen showed blazing fireballs on Live and Let Die, and with a much smaller stage than usual, not only couldn’t Axl run amok like he usually does, guitarists D.J. Ashba, Richard Fortus, and Bumblefoot (read my interview with Bumblefoot here) were almost tripping over each other as the 8 man band adjusted to the cramped club stage.
But nothing could stop the group from delivering an incomparable performance that still has this Examiner’s ears ringing the next day. Moving at a faster pace than on the arena tour, Axl plowed through favorites like You Could Be Mine and Rocket Queen with his trademark fervor, and unleashed howling, almost 10 second long screams on Live and Let Die while the guitarists and powerhouse drummer Frank Ferrer laid down crushing rhythms, riffs, and solos. Newer songs from 2008’s Chinese Democracy album were mostly crammed together; This I Love, Sorry, and Better would be joined by an encore of Madagascar later in the night, but the record’s title track never appeared.
On the floor of the ballroom, fans marvelled at being so close to the notoriously private frontman, and Axl seemed to love every second of it. At least two lucky fans up against the barricades went home last night with hands that shook Axl’s, and the smile on the singer’s face was obvious from virtually every point in the venue. Mid-way through the night, Axl’s manager came out on stage to have everyone sing Happy Birthday to the just-turned 50 vocalist, and that seemed to be the only point in the performance that Axl was unsure of himself. After bashfully trying to sneak off the stage, he wryly told the crowd “I’ve been in Guns n’ Roses for half of my life.”
One of the joys of a Guns n’ Roses concert is that you’re not stuck waiting half the night for your favorite song, because every song is a favorite. That said, screams of delight rang out as D.J. Ashba played the iconic opening notes of Sweet Child O’ Mine, and a group jam on Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall theme led into a stunning November Rain, arguably the best performance of the show. By the time Bumblefoot began teasing the crowd with the chords from Don’t Cry, one might have forgotten just how many Gn’R songs there are to love.
With less personal solos and cover songs than the arena tour, the night moved along at a brisk pace and as the 1am hour breezed by, the hits just kept on coming. Civil War was a pleasant surprise after being omitted at the November Izod show, and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door turned into a long, almost 10 minute jam on the classic Dylan tune.
All four of the night’s encores - the aforementioned Madagascar and Don’t Cry, followed by an acoustic Patience and party anthem closer Paradise City - were started by the guitarists improvising on the tracks’ chords with arpeggioed notes that sounded aggravatingly familiar until they morphed into the melodies stamped into rock radio’s top playlists. It goes to show that the 21st century Guns n’ Roses isn’t just Axl reliving his glory days, but a monstrously talented group of musicians who take treasured material and somehow make it even better. Paradise City ended in a blizzard of red confetti and shrieking, doubletapped guitar solos that overpowered both eyes and ears in a sensory overdose, a posterchild for sheer rock n’ roll exuberance that’s as timeless as it is exhilarating.
Make no mistake: Guns n’ Roses is an arena rock band, one that seems incapable of delivering anything less than a full blast stadium performance and spectacle. So what happens when you cram all that talent and energy into a 3,000 capacity club? You get last night’s show, one that will surely go down as one of the most stunning in recent NYC history. Hit after hit was delivered not only to perfection, but with the top notch showmanship and bravado one has come to expect from Axl Rose and his band. There are only a handful of artists who can bring a show on this level, and they’re sure as hell not playing Roseland Ballroom.
If for whatever reason you have yet to see Guns n’ Roses in its modern incarnation, there are two more chances to right that wrong when the band plays Terminal 5 on Sunday night, and then Webster Hall (renamed back to The Ritz for one night only) on Wednesday.
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