October 31 - Jacksonville, FL @ Veterans Memorial Arena

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Left my house at 4:30PM - got in at 4:30AM. In between ( not counting the 5 hrs of driving)- Priceless!

About the venue itself: Jacksonville Arena is a great place to see a show. Any seat you get has a pretty decent view of the stage. The stage was more forward in the arena than TM showed on the maps- most likely due to less of a crowd than originally anticipated. My wife & I were right by the left corner of the stage, 4 rows up from the floor. With the stage closer, it put me really close to the stage. IMO I had the best seats in the house.  They were club seats, so we had food and a bar available, which was convenient. No long lines for the restrooms! GA diddnt fill up.  A few emptys here & there at the lower level as well. Nobody was in the upper level. Being a weeknight & Halloween affected attendence I'm sure. But it certainly did not take away from the show whatsoever.

Ill try not to retread too much of what has already been posted:

Sebastian Bach took the stage a bit before 8:30 &  played for a little over an hour, he did a decent amount of new songs ( probrally about 4-5) mixed in with the Skid Row classics. Bach mentioned he was going to play a longer than normal set, but don't get your pantys in a bunch, Axl is in the building. Still has an amazing voice and his backing band was really good. Got the crowd warmed up.  There still was not a lot of people there when he was on. Set ended a little after 9:30.

It took a while for the stage to get set up for Papa Roach. There was a long peiod of time where I was wondering what they were waiting for.

Papa Roach came on about an hour after Bach left the stage. This is when people started really showing up. Say what you will about them, but the crowd was really into it. Jacoby Shaddix ( think I got the name right) was great working the crowd. Their set was pretty good and these guys are professionals, they nailed the songs really well. Set ended about 11:30.

Then an army of workers decended on the stage to get GNR set up.

GNR came on about 11:50. When Jungle came on, the crowd went NUTS! It was the usual setlist they've been doing minus some stuff. Better & The blues were the only 2 new songs played. I used to love her was not played. No Rocket Queen. Dizzy's solo was different than Ive heard on the bootlegs with Frank playing drums behind him, I did not recognize the song. I did notice the sweet smell of weed around me at one point. Axl made a comment about "something smells good in here. The "Robin & Richard did play beautiful. My Michelle was done with Bach, Axl mentioned this was becoming a routine that they do. BFoot played some halloween appropriate material in his solo ( Halloween theme, Munsters theme), then into Dont Cry. After Nightrain, it only took a minute or so for thenm to come out for the encore, which consisted only of Paradise City. All this talk about Tommy not enjoying these shows is bullshit, he seemed to have a ball last night. I was really looking forward to hearing Chinese Democracy or Madagascar, but it diddnt happen. They finished up about 1:45 or so, Im thinking perhaps the city may have had some type of ordinance on playing a concert after 2AM? It did not seem Axl was rushing thru anything, he gave the crowd 100% in his performance and seemed to enjoy himself.

Great concert, my 1st GNR show. For those who complain about the same set list, just go to a show and you wont care. The greatest concert of my life was last night.

[SLCPUNK]

Wonder why they went short last night?

I'll post some pics from the show later tonight. I have to return to the real world for a bit.

[Chandler]

My Review:

Just got home, long trip.  Anyway, all three bands sounded great.  I was really suprised by how well Papa Roach did,  I have never really been a big fan.  More of a fan now.

I wish they could have played more new songs other than Better and the Blues but it still was a great show.  The band seemed to be in a great mood.  I did not notice any TDs with GNr, I was suprised. 

Going to bed now.  Did not sleep much last night due to when the shoe ended and I had to drive a long way to get home.  I will add a few new tibits later.

[mike91]

I thought I would post a review since others are nice enough to do so.

First off I would like to give a big FUCK YOU to the arena and the shit security they had. I saw at least fifteen people thrown out, and only three deserved it. Anyone that dressed as Slash for Halloween was turned away at the door with a very friendly I Dont Give A Shit attitude. They quit selling beer an hour before GNR came on (I snuck into the Arena Club and managed to get four more beers!). And last but not least its a fucking rock show, people were being scolded like two year olds for having reasonable fun.

The Show:
Not much new here, The set list was the same as usuall minus IRS and CD. Axl wore small devil horns at the start, and Ron had a rams head/skull mask on and off throughout the show. Robin?, I cant tell if he was dressed up or just being Robin. The band was amazing and Axl's vocals were spot on. The only things I noticed were a few missed notes by Fink, (Dont get mad I think he has improved greatly), and the vocals durring the soft areas in Better kinda sucked. Axl seemed to get pissed at someone and said, "Cute, Real Cute", in a pissed off voice. Not real sure what that was about. I think the poor crowd turnout (only about half the arena by the end) was due too the rescheduling but whatever. Even after the fact of the crowd turnout Axl still thanked everyone sincerely and said, "Happy Hallowfuckingween!"

Overall I loved it. Ive been waiting ten years to get my GNR cherry popped and it was worth the 6 1/2 hour drive and the lame ass security. Wish I could have heard IRS and my personal favorite TWAT but at least I finally got to see Guns N Fuckin Roses.

[evergreen_layne]

Are you serious about those in Slash costumes getting turned away?  There's no way........

[HamsterDemocracy]

Are you serious about those in Slash costumes getting turned away?  There's no way........

That's pretty pathetic if you ask me. I can understand if they were wearing "Axl Sucks" type stuff or doing it to provoke Axl, but if you show up to a show on Halloween dressed as a very popular former bandmember who is known for his outlandish image, well... I don't agree with their actions, let's put it that way. 

[Funeral]

Doesn't even seem legal!  Did they let any Bucketheads in?

[mike91]

Sorry but no. Me (Slash) and my brother (Buckethead) were both told to lose our costumes. There was no disrespect meant, just fun Haloween costumes.

[the dirt]

Damn. Imagine for those who really happened to look a lot like Slash...

[HamsterDemocracy]

Sorry but no. Me (Slash) and my brother (Buckethead) were both told to lose our costumes. There was no disrespect meant, just fun Haloween costumes.

That's not right.

I'm going to get flamed for this but I disagree with some of the stuff going on in terms of security. I can totally understand kicking someone out for heckling Axl, but when you have fans who may have traveled hours and paid a lot of money to see a show and are dressing as Slash/Buckethead with no harm meant, and they're denied admittance because of this...that's low.

[mahimahi23]

Damn. Imagine for those who really happened to look a lot like Slash...

 ...thats really funny, made me crack up...

Thanks for the review, glad you had a great time.

[1badapple]

Glad you enjoyed the show. That's a bitch about the costumes! Axl must have some insecurities? A part of me can see how they might consider it disrespectful to current bandmembers or whatever, but still, it sucks that you had to ditch the costumes.

[the dirt]

Glad you enjoyed the show. That's a bitch about the costumes! Axl must have some insecurities? A part of me can see how they might consider it disrespectful to current bandmembers or whatever, but still, it sucks that you had to ditch the costumes.

On Halloween even, though, come on.

[jazjme]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/live_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003347238


I think its fair, cause it seems , so many people really are looking to see what happens next, and that couldonly be a good thing!

[GNRfan2008]

So apparently Slash created all of Izzy's riffs, eh? It's 3 guitarists doing the work of 2, and I'm pretty sure that Bumblefoot can play ANYTHING that Slash or Izzy ever did individually (and hell, he might be able to play the stuff at the same time LOL). I mean honestly, how stupid can you be to assume that Bumblefoot or Buckethead couldn't handle Slash's parts? That's utterly ridiculous. I love Slash and think he got jobbed on that Rolling Stone top 100 guitarists list, but he's NOT so good that you should forget about Izzy's contributions back in the day. "Out Ta Get Me" is a perfect example. They had dueling guitars in that one (sounds awesome with headphones cuz you've got both channels dueling back and forth).

[Continental Drift]

So apparently Slash created all of Izzy's riffs, eh? It's 3 guitarists doing the work of 2, and I'm pretty sure that Bumblefoot can play ANYTHING that Slash or Izzy ever did individually (and hell, he might be able to play the stuff at the same time LOL). I mean honestly, how stupid can you be to assume that Bumblefoot or Buckethead couldn't handle Slash's parts? That's utterly ridiculous. I love Slash and think he got jobbed on that Rolling Stone top 100 guitarists list, but he's NOT so good that you should forget about Izzy's contributions back in the day. "Out Ta Get Me" is a perfect example. They had dueling guitars in that one (sounds awesome with headphones cuz you've got both channels dueling back and forth).

It's all about "star power". Slash was the #2 guy in the world's BIGGEST band. Bumblefoot may be able to play circles around Slash... but he was never #2 in the world's BIGGEST band... so, therefore, in the media's eyes- he's an inferior player to Slash. Plus, don't forget, the media tends to feel that Slash got a raw deal... so Bumblefoot and Finck will have to rip off instant orgasm producing riffs for the next 5 years to get the media and casual fan off of Slash's nuts.

Meanwhile, I think Fortus throws critics off. If he was just a standard GN'R rhythm guitarist like Izzy, Gilby or Huge... he probably wouldn't confuse the media into thinking 3 guys were brought in to replace Slash... but he gets to rip his fair share of solos (and rightly so)...

[Agno]

It's all about "star power". Slash was the #2 guy in the world's BIGGEST band. Bumblefoot may be able to play circles around Slash... but he was never #2 in the world's BIGGEST band... so, therefore, in the media's eyes- he's an inferior player to Slash. Plus, don't forget, the media tends to feel that Slash got a raw deal... so Bumblefoot and Finck will have to rip off instant orgasm producing riffs for the next 5 years to get the media and casual fan off of Slash's nuts.

You forget one thing! Guitar isn't about circles, it is about music and sounding good. I don't say Bumblefoot is bad, because he is really good. But if you talk about the circles then I can talk about Slash's great sound, feel, playing etc. Guitar playing isn't about speed.

[Continental Drift]

It's all about "star power". Slash was the #2 guy in the world's BIGGEST band. Bumblefoot may be able to play circles around Slash... but he was never #2 in the world's BIGGEST band... so, therefore, in the media's eyes- he's an inferior player to Slash. Plus, don't forget, the media tends to feel that Slash got a raw deal... so Bumblefoot and Finck will have to rip off instant orgasm producing riffs for the next 5 years to get the media and casual fan off of Slash's nuts.

You forget one thing! Guitar isn't about circles, it is about music and sounding good. I don't say Bumblefoot is bad, because he is really good. But if you talk about the circles then I can talk about Slash's great sound, feel, playing etc. Guitar playing isn't about speed.

1,000% agree. Slash plays with tremendous feeling and emotion... of course he's usually always playing his OWN music... so I'm sure that helps... 

The frustrating thing is who knows when we'll get the chance, if ever, to hear Bumblefoot playing his own music that he's written specifically for Guns N' Roses and to go along with Axl's vision... could be a few years off still...

Robin Finck does play with great feeling and emotion on the new stuff at least...

[gandra]

yea,slash played his solos
but don't forget that his best solos are in axl's songs (sweet child,nighttrain,estranged and november rain)

[neon2002]

Billboard Review:

November 01, 2006,
Guns N' Roses Rocks, Infuriates In Jacksonville
Jeff Vrabel, Jacksonville, Fla.
Even on a sticky Halloween night in Florida, with much of the crowd in costume and spooky holiday decor swinging from the rafters, nothing could quite out-weird the main spectacle: watching 1/8th of Guns N' Roses perform a batch of 20-year-old smashes -- as well as a few from a record originally slated for release during the first Clinton administration -- in front of, among other things, a large and inflatable Homer Simpson balloon.

Welcome to the jungle, kids. We've got fun and games.

Or, more accurately, welcome to whatever this is. Well, what do you call this ragged Frankenstein's monster of a band these days: GNR of the 21st Century? Guns Minus Everyone But Axl? The GNR Experience Feat. Mr. Rose And His Band Of Merry Pranksters? Or, in a time when nostalgia rock is about the only safe bet, when Queen can tour without Freddie and half of the Who is one of the biggest games in town, is 2006 Guns N' Roses merely another case of Hardly Authentic But Good Enough?

Needless to say, one puts up with a lot in catching the remnants of GNR these days (to be fair, it's actually 1/4th of the classic lineup, if you count keyboardist Dizzy Reed). There's the wacky stage time (a classically Rose-ian midnight on a Tuesday), the wearying wait for an alleged new record and the small matter of all the Guns exiles who don't come around anymore.

But maybe the strangest thing is that for all its some-assembly-required vibe, Rose's band knows how to tear up an arena show. Sure, these are hired hands, and Slash would be pleased to know that Rose requires three guitarists to replace/recreate him: ex NIN-ster Robin Finck, now a dead ringer for Matisyahu; journeyman Richard Fortus; and, replacing Buckethead, Ron Thal, who goes by Bumblefoot. You can't make this stuff up. But these guys bring the noise.

Moreover, Rose, impossibly, frustratingly, remains as galvanizingly watchable a frontman as you're likely to find anywhere. The charisma? Enviably intact. The vocals? Strained, but often thrilling. The drive is back, too -- sometime between Guns' aborted 2002 run and today, Rose relocated his give-a-damn, and he prowls the stage with an intensity and ambition that sometimes outweighs his reach, but is crazy to witness. When he's on and his voice is doing age-defying triple salchows on "Welcome to the Jungle" and "It's So Easy," he's cornrowed lightning.

And for about half of the two-hour set, that's all you really need. Tracks like "Jungle," "Mr. Brownstone" and even "Live and Let Die" are meteor impacts -- so much so, in fact, that Rose adhered almost exclusively to songs from about 1987. This night, he was solely interested in the most glorious of the glory days, bringing out the big, boozy, misogynistic WMDs from "Appetite" ("Nightrain," "Out Ta Get Me," "My Michelle") -- and only invited songs from the "Use Your Illusion" discs that originated in the "Appetite" era, like "November Rain" and "You Could Be Mine." He's consciously blacking out a decent chunk of catalog here.

But all the grand setup leads into a weird payoff. Because after a massive opening salvo, reality begins to creep in with "Better," allegedly the first single from the new album (the expensive-looking Eastern backdrop indicated Rose remains apparently serious about this "Chinese Democracy" thing). Chunky riffs aside, "Better," charitably speaking, ain't no "Brownstone." And due to lots of things -- that inhospitable stage time (for which a smirking Rose denied credit), his penchant for vanishing from the stage for long stretches (though it added to his enigmatic legacy, one begins to wonder if he's really up to this) and pacing issues, the show begins to grow cold and distant, despite the valiant efforts of its frontman.

Oh, and this keeps coming up, too: Who the hell are these people?

Rose's minions are dressed like a ragtag pomo art outfit: keyboardist Chris Pittman's in an ivory-white suit, Tommy Stinson rocks plaid pants, and Bumblefoot has the name Bumblefoot. All have creative Tomorrowland haircuts (it was hard to tell what was a Halloween costume and what wasn't). But Rose has them faithfully recycle songs and solos as recorded by another guy 20 years ago. He takes great pains to project a vibe of forward-thinking, then consents to a jarring cameo by cornball Sebastian Bach, who in his opening set performs a song called "Love Is a Bitch Slap" to emphasize all you don't miss about buttless-chaps metal.

He adheres to a schedule of L.A. rock club ethics that doesn't so much apply in Jacksonville early in the week. And he grants all three guitarists interminable, momentum-killing solos; Fortus used his to jam on Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful," and you weren't sure what his intentions were, much like you're not sure what Rose's are.

Axl is capable of transcendent power: "Paradise City" seethed and roared, "You Could Be Mine" worked up a mighty head of steam and if there's a better way to open a rock show than with "Welcome to the Jungle," someone E-mail me about it. And Rose seemed to be alternately salivating at and resentful of the challenge of carrying this load on his shoulders.

But to what end? In the sense that anticipation is generally better than the experience (I'm looking at you, god-awful "Star Wars" prequels), the mystique of Rose's alleged "Democracy," if you're not bored of the entire episode in the first place, will spot-evaporate the day it's released. One wonders if Rose wouldn't be better served to leave it in the can until he's 60 and then bingo, it's "Smile."

In those glory days, Guns N' Roses was just about as good it got. But its hole card now is an album that might not exist, and once "Democracy" rises and falls, Guns N' Roses, which can now maintain a spooky sense of mystery, will be very likely trading the night train for the nostalgia train, whoever the hell's in it. But in the meantime, GNR still can rock your night, or early morning, with a primal power. Just bring a friend to help carry along the baggage.

Here is Guns N' Roses set list:

"Welcome To The Jungle"
"It's So Easy"
"Mr. Brownstone"
"Better"
Robin Finck solo
"Sweet Child O' Mine"
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
"You Could Be Mine"
Dizzy Reed solo
"The Blues"
Richard Fortus solo (includes "Beautiful")
"Out Ta Get Me"
"November Rain"
Bumblefoot solo (includes "Don't Cry")
"My Michelle" (with Sebastian Bach)
"Patience"
"Nightrain"
"Paradise City"

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/live_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003347238