July 2, 2006 Goffertpark, Netherlands GNR show

[Athena]

Great pictures, Thanks. Any reviews yet? Haven't seen any in the Volkskrant, maybe in other newspapers?

[Apple7]

thanks mygnr

[LittleFly]

Wow, is that a big ol bandage on his arm there?

[Ines_rocks!]

god great pics and reviews! lol izzy is looking good! Lol this is not fair I wanted to see him as well! Great to see u enjoyed the show 

[give_it_a_rest]

First of all it was indeed an amazing show, I don't post a complete review because I agree totally. I saw them also in nijmegen in 1993, and I must say the new band is much better. Soundquality was also very good. And I think most people liked the solos as well, a nice way to be introduced to all the 'new' bandmembers for the public. The first press review I just read is also pretty good, maybe I or somebody else  could translate it later in English I'm to tired right now. Worked all day and had only for about 2 hours sleep.

review telegraaf at:  http://www.telegraaf.nl/prive/45716641/Axl_Rose_houdt_Guns_N__Roses_op_de_been.html

[Jarl]

I got an e-mail saying Izzy was there.

Axl joked about Swedish police and sang "so you can bite me" in Out Ta Get Me.

Thanks to elnombre!

/jarmo

Ask Kiki how that came.
She and Tino were responsible for that "so you can bit me" part.
They made a big sheet with the text: "O my god Bite me" on it.
That's why that song ended like that.

Johan

[conny]

OK, here's a little review...

The venue was an open field in a park in Nijmegen. I don't know how many people were there, but I guess it was around 15.000 or more. We arrived early enough to make it into the seperated 'front of stage' area. Living Color did NOT play, Bloodsimple began and then came Stone Sour, and they both sucked. Alice In Chains were great, but they had technical problems and the band was poorly received by the audience. I guess everyone was just too exhausted and running out of patience because of the heat.

GN'R took the stage right after sundown and played into the night. The sound was a good mix but a bit too silent - just like the audience. The setlist was rather short, with too many songs from AFD, too few from UYI, only 2 (!) new songs ("The Blues" and "Better") and way too many pointless intro/interlude-solos. Izzy was introduced right after the band as "an old friend of mine". He joined the band for the last four songs (incl. "Paradise City"). Frank Ferrer was introduced by Axl as "filling in on drums for Brain". "Better" was introduced by Axl as "...a song put together by Mr. Robin Finck". No bigger rants, but a little joke about his experience with the swedish police before "Outta Get Me" - the song ended with "...so you can BITE me." During the introduction of the band, Axl requested a spotlight for Chris Pitman and then mixed up right and left, commenting the scene with "Well, I guess it's just one of those nights..."

Except for a nervous glance into the direction of the pogo section and a "You're a stupid idiot" comment towards a fan who held up a Slash t-shirt during "Patience", Axl seemed to be in a rather light mood, and he sounded fantastic. Seing him on DVD is one thing, but looking into his eyes in real life...well, that was something else. He looks like a Hell's Angels biker pimp, very cool. And all the good stuff say about him as a performer is true. He really owns the stage and he connects like no one else.

Robin Finck was a huge letdown for me. What he played was fantastic, but how he played was just absolutely horrible. Hats off to Richard Fortus, who had an amazing stage presence and more balls and tone in his playing than Robin and Ron together. As for Ron...well, I think he has yet do find and define his place in the band, so I'd like to give him some more time. So far, he did not impress me much. Izzy...well, he stole the show by just being there. Tommy didn't move much and never came to my side of the stage (to Axl's right), I only saw him like twice or so. He, Chris and the drummer were the only ones who did not have solos. Dizzy on the piano playing Bowie...that was beautiful! But the instrumental rendition of "Don't Cry", that Christina Aguilera thing, the intros, the interludes - all that pointless solo stuff takes too much precious concert time, when they could play actual SONGS instead of that. Sorry, but 20 to 30 minutes of interludes during a 2 hour show with THIS setlist is too much. That's the only real negative thing I can say about a show wich was well worth the 600 km road trip from Germany.

My voice is gone, I'm sunburned and I'm tired as fuck. And I have seen Guns N' Roses. What more can you ask for??

Great show - both thumbs up!?

SETLIST

Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Live And Let Die
Better
Guitar Solo (Robin)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Knockin' On Heaven's Door / Ziggy Stardust - Piano Solo (Dizzy)
The Blues
You Could Be Mine
Guitar Solo (Richard)
Beautiful - Guitar Duet (Richard & Robin)
Outta Get Me
November Rain
Guitar Solo (Ron)
Don't Cry - Guitar Solo (Ron)
My Michelle
Band Introduction
Think About You*
Patience*
Nightrain*
Guitar Solo (Robin)
Paradise City*

* = with Izzy

[W. AXL ROSE]

Great pictures, Thanks. Any reviews yet? Haven't seen any in the Volkskrant, maybe in other newspapers?

Yeah the Volkskrant really sucks, today (monday) it says "Guns n' Roses are going to perform in Holland on sunday for the first time in 13 years" that was yesterday fuckers!

But it really was great Axl's voice was better than ever and when Izzy came on the crowd just went nuts, but the positive things have already been mentioned so here's a couple of negative things:

- Stoned/drunk/stupid people in the crowd, not many but enough to be annoying
- I really missed Rocket Queen, I love that song and seeing how it was performed in NY made me really want to hear it
- Solo's, the solo's between the songs were too boring and especially the solo's in November Rain were fucked up by Ron Thal, I now these solo's very well but when he played them I had really no idea at what part he was.

other than that it was absolutely fucking amazing.

[mick]

Izzy was standing next to Axl a lot, especailly at the end of the song. Two old friends playing their asses of. You got to love it!

Thanks for the review, very cool. And yes, Izzy taking the time to play with the new guys is indeed monumental in many ways!! I do love that!

[Tino.]

Ask Kiki how that came.
She and Tino were responsible for that "so you can bit me" part.
They made a big sheet with the text: "O my god Bite me" on it.
That's why that song ended like that.

Johan

At first I was worried that Axl didn't like the banner Kiki and I made. He walked by and obviously read our banner. Then he didn't go to the left of the stage anymore. Luckaly the guitarplayers saw the humor of it, as did the securityguards. Axl finally seemed to understand we were only joking...

[Gaymo, the Hobbit]

[WARose]

hey people, i just got back from holland

the show was great, but i was really exhausted after some songs (until izzy came onstage...)

i arrived at goffertpark shortly after 2pm and the sun was burning like shit.... 36?C... the doors were opened at 4pm and i moved to the front section right in front of the stage. fortunately the securitys were giving out plastic cups of water between the bands. otherwise i would`ve dehydrated or even died i think anyways.... bloodsimple took the stage around 5 pm if i remember correctly. i didn`t think they were that great at rock am ring, but i really liked them this time, except for the shitty sound. the singer`s voice was really hurting my ears....whatever... they played a cool show. the bassist broke two strings during one of the last songs.

after bloodsimple stone sour took the stage. i love that band and corey taylor is simply awesome imo. they played very well, but it was obvious most people in the audience weren`t there to see them.... and didn`t even know them that much... 

then alice in chains came on. i thought they were even more boring than at rock am ring. many people liked them, but i think i wouldn`t even attend an aic concert if it was for free
they were joined by the bassist and singer of bloodsimple for one song what i really enjoyed. at some point i noticed robin sitting backstage at the side of the stage watching the concert, eating a banana and i spent 15 minutes just watching him, because i thought it was more interesting than watching the concert...

i had a sign saying "twat" with me by the way... i showed it to the singers of bloodsimple and stone sour and both seemed to like it   but before alice in chains played, a security came to me and asked if i had a sign with me. i said yes and he took it away from me. i don`t know if they had orders from management or just wanted to make sure everything was running smoothely.... he said that axl/the band doesn`t like that kind of stuff and asked me if i knew the meaning/irony... i said that it`s a song title and axl`s going to like it since he`s a funny guy, to which he replied that he`s sometimes too funny......i talked 5 minutes to the guy, but i can`t remember everything he said.... however, it was a really, really strange experience and i didn`t expect shit like that to be honest.......

anyways.... after aic, the stage was set up for guns n roses and the wait began.... they started exactely at 9:30pm with the usual jungle/easy/brownstone. the crowd was going wild and singing along very, very loud, so that you couldn`t hear axl`s voice often. then they directly played live and let die and better. axl mentioned that robin wrote better before the song. i was a little dissapointed that they started the show at daylight, but the energy made up for it... at this point, i started to get a little exhausted, which really spoiled a part of the concert for me...

then robin played his usual solo , followed by sweet child o`mine. the crowd was great, but as W.AXL ROSE mentioned, there were some drunk idiots. 4 guys wearing bandanas and shades were standing (jumping and moshing to be more exact ) right behind me, causing me to move a little more to the right side of the stage.... then they moved the piano on the stage and the band played a little jam. it was like 30 seconds and people on this board really need to stop bitching about that...in general, i was really surprised on how few/short solos they played. it seemed like axl read the board or some reviews and tried to avoid the negative aspects of the prior shows.... he also stayed on the stage A LOT MORE than at rock am ring.

then they played the blues followed by you could be mine, out ta get me, knockin`on heaven`s door, a short ron solo and the richard/robin solo( i can`t remember the order...)

axl`s voice wasn`t perfect on the blues and out ta get me, but still ok. kohd and ycbm were simply awesome. ycbm really grew on me after hearing it live (at RAR allready though...) i wasn`t impressed by ron`s shredding solo, but his rendition of don`t cry was awesome. during richard and robin`s version of beautiful, the guys with the bandanas were screaming for slash and screaming fuck you. i got really upset about those idiots... i`ve never seen douches like that before.... fuckin?annoying!!! ( even without their behaviour during the solo...)

i wasn`t really into the show at that point, because i was so fuckin exhausted and could barely stand.... but novemver rain changed that. awesome version of the song, but not as good as RAR. i don`t agree with whoever said that ron fucked up the solo. he completely nailed it!! then they played my michelle and i was fit again. that song is so fuckin`great to hear live!! and i was really happy , that sebastian bach was not there by the way... after my michelle axl said that he wants to introduce an old friend of him. my michelle was over, so i knew it wasn`t going to be bach, but hoping for izzy was a little far fetched i thought.... but it was izzy!!!!! the crowd went WILD when he came on stage and i had the time of my life.  think about you was my favourite song of the concert with nightrain and paradise city. i didn`t really like it before, but it was unbelievabely great!!! izzy played the solo by the way. before patience axl told the crowd to calm down..... "that`s what the swedish police said to me: "calm down"...... and then they said: "you`re gonna be arrested"...........and i said: "you`re fuckin assholes!..........or something like that"

then they played patience and nightrain.... i was dissapointed when robin came on stage after nightrain, as IRS, madagascar, chinese democracy and rocket queen would`ve been some really nice encores, but what the hell.... izzy was there and the show was great. and i got the last train to venlo.... where i had to wait for 5 hours for the next train do d?sseldorf

merck, beta and del james were on stage for some songs by the way. merck stood there head banging to the songs and sang along really heavily to the blues...and only to the blues if i remember correctly...... i guess he liked it

so it was a great show... the first songs until my michelle weren`t as good as at rock am ring, because of the daylight and axl`s voice (you could barely hear it because people were that loud and it wasn`t on top form during out ta get me and the blues...), but starting with my michelle the show was just mind blowing... IZZY STRADLIN ON STAGE!!!  awesome... he was very happy and entertaining and the crowd liked him    as i was standing in the 2nd row this time i had the chance to look at the band members a lot more than at RAR. robin was fantastic. he played very well and his performance was simply awesome. he looked really good, too. tommy seemed to be pretty happy and smiled a lot. richard and ron were good as well. i didn`t notice any fuck ups. dizzy`s  piano solo was great.  pittman was there....... and he`s a cool guy i didn`t really like frank that much... he didn`t play bad or anything, but brain is better. the intro of brownstone just didn`t have the right groove and frank`s drumming in general was a little boring imo. but whatever.... he`s "filling in for brain" as axl said so i have no problem with that. at least there was a drummer at all he was on stage before gnr actually started the set and noone noticed him by the way... but noone noticed the singer of alice in chains either, who watched a little of stone sour and even waved to the crowd

[padje]

Totally agree with you. Except for the show starting in daylight, it was one hell of a trip!

[ppbebe]

Thanks for the pics and the reviews.

Warose you should have wrote the song title in full so that it wouldn't have attracted that security guy?s attention.

At first I was worried that Axl didn't like the banner Kiki and I made. He walked by and obviously read our banner. Then he didn't go to the left of the stage anymore.

I bet he did and was just pondering how to give a nice comeback.

[Fransman_nl]

Totally agree with you. Except for the show starting in daylight, it was one hell of a trip!

Have read your review on newgnr.com, I recognized something, I just want to say:

You said that people got misty eyed during November Rain, that's totally true, me and my girl also got misty eyed

[padje]

Don't know if this is the right place for these, but I got my picture's to share... Some are nice, some are shitty, just as live is...?


All cocked and ready, waiting in anticipation...

Allways nice to see whats going on behind you from time to time...

A big thank you is well deserverd...

[Zon]

The "fucking idiot"scene:

video.tinypic.com/player.php?v=1z23vnq

[Athena]

Thank you Zon. Nice video, looks like Axl was laughing himself over the whole thing.

[WARose]

Thanks for the pics and the reviews.

Warose you should have wrote the song title in full so that it wouldn't have attracted that security guy?s attention.

At first I was worried that Axl didn't like the banner Kiki and I made. He walked by and obviously read our banner. Then he didn't go to the left of the stage anymore.

I bet he did and was just pondering how to give a nice comeback.

why do dutch securitys speak english??    AND know the meaning of the word twat??

i never heard of it before.....

[ppbebe]

thanks for the link zon.

why do dutch securitys speak english??    AND know the meaning of the word twat??

i never heard of it before.....

It's like asking why I know the word "puta" and do not speak spanish or portuguese    for which the answer is perhaps I have some friends from the south of spain.