St. Louis Review

[DizzyReed63]

Here's my story:
Got to venue at 5:15, waited in line to get in until 7:10.
Got in... got a spot infront of Slash's area... turns out to be the perfect spot...

Few styles of shirts for sale, black with a siloutte thing of a naked chick, holding a gun, cities of tour on back.

Opening band was pretty good. Played quick 30 min set... rockin, sounded like Black Crowes.

Then the wait was on...
Took about an hour before VR went on... people were getting restless... visions of Philly were going thru my head.

Then it was time... around 9:30, "what's up fuckers.... from hollywood, Velvet Revolver..."

They just kinda walk out on stage, and bust into the new tunes...
Weiland crowd surfs... he comes out wearing black leather pants, black shirt w/ vest, sunglasses, and black leather cop hat.
Slash has on some black shirt, black leather pants. Duff has orangish shirt on. Matt was mostly shirtless i think.
By the end, they all were shirtless, and Slash wore his hat for the final song.

While surfing, Weiland loses his ear monitor, and when they can't find the little pieces he needs, "I guess that comes w/ the territory" so he was coo about it..

They suddenly busted into It's So Easy, and f'n rocked it.
Then they played Set Me Free, and rocked the hell outofit. Then Slither, and Slash played the entire song/solo right infront of me... literally about 2-3 feet away, teasing us with the neck of his guitar.
He also threw a cig. butt and it hit a sec. guard.. good stuff.

During a solo for a new song, Slash started playing Rocket Queen, but then went back to the song.
All the new songs had great solos.. one sounded like the intro to Attitude... another similar to You're Crazy.
Fallin' To Pieces was slow, intro like Patience...

Duff and Slash would roam around... infront of me, and the other side. I had the f'n perfect place. My friend behind me dancing, a very hot chick, probably helped the fact that they always were right there in front of me.

Duff said something like, "we haven't been in St. Louis in a long time, great to be back.." somethin like that.
The vocals were very low in the mix i thought. Hard to hear.

Weiland described Fallin to Pieces as a song about putting his life back together.
Some speech about American Rock n Roll.
He crowd surfed during a song, and still sung while in the hands of the crowd.. that rocked.

During So Easy... he jumped in at "Fuck Off" and it was nuts!
He also said somethin like, "get a good look at this... this may be the last time you see us like this"

They ended the first set w/ Slither. Seemed quick.
Then they came back and Slash alone said, "you may know this one"
Used to Love Her... and the rest of the band finally joined in. Everyone sung along.
Then they played STP Sex Type Thing.. ROCKED. F'n Highlight of the night i thought... VR plays it 10 times better than STP... amazing performance. Again Slash extended soloing 2 feet from my face. Mesmerizing.

Then they went off stage again. Then they came back, and Matt came alone. He started bustin' out the Brownstone Drums... then the band came out.
People were reaching for Duff's bass guitar while he was infront of us... and beggin for a hand shake... then one time, Duff shouted... "I can't, I gotta play" or something like.. it was funny.

Then Weiland said if someone could give him his monitor piece, he'd give them free tix and a backstage pass to the show in KC tomorrow...  they found one piece of it.. not the other.. the whole band was helping to look.. was funny.

Then they busted into the Nirvana cover, and played the fuck out of it...
Slash ended by laying his guitar during feedback infront of his Marshalls.
Chucked some stuff out... I couldn't catch any.
And that was it.
Cool t-shirts for sale outside. Old guns logo kinda... without the roses.. the circle kind.

Well worth the 20 bucks admission.
Great opening night...
few miscues...
Weiland's megaphone wouldnt work once, so he slammed it down, got the other one.
Weiland fucked up the lyrics in Brownstone, and started singing verse 1 during the final verse, and got himself confused... shaky for just a second.
Matt's gong wouldn't work, so he just started banging it over and over and laughing.

Weiland looked like Iggy Pop on dope. But he rocks, and slithers around like a snake.. had convulsions during the STP cover... flailing on the ground.
The rest of the band looks fucking ripped. Seeing Duff/Slash together in that stage light was amazing.

Some offical photographers and film people were also there.

Played about 2hrs flat. 2 encores... same setlist as Roxy, but diff. order I think.

No words about Axl or GnR at all. Hardly any talk. Just rockin.
Slash played great on the talk box once.

Great great great show. Great seats that I fought for.
Never thought I'd get that close to the slash/duff action.

It's late. I'm out. Thought I'd write this up b4 I turned out.
And for those w/ out tix.. lots were tryin to sell their extra tix, for face value. So give it a shot if u missed out on the sale.

[eNgIeS]

Sounds awesome thanks for the quick review & glad you enjoyed it

[jarmo]

Thanks for the review!




/jarmo

[starchild_666]

why everyone is only mentioning SLither and Fall To Pieces from all the new songs?  

[Booker Floyd]

Thanks a lot for the review...sounds great as expected.

why everyone is only mentioning SLither and Fall To Pieces from all the new songs?  

Hopefully Falcon will have a detailed report tomorrow night...  

[Mikkamakka]

why everyone is only mentioning SLither and Fall To Pieces from all the new songs?  

Because they don't know the song titles?

[tomass74]

Can I say wow...... 15 days till my show...... Cannot fucking wait... That sounded insane. I really hope they are working up to play Rocket Queen...

[killingvector]

i hope they don't play any more old gnr songs. ISO, Brownstone, and Used to Love Her are enough.

[Evil Ash]

C'mon people, the MUST be a bootleg of this show ?!?!

[Walapino]

i hope they don't play any more old gnr songs. ISO, Brownstone, and Used to Love Her are enough.

I agree that 3 is a good number for GNR covers in the shows but a bit of rotation would be nice. They should play diff GNR covers from time to time. I think it would be more exiting, specially to get the boots  

[starchild_666]

i hope they don't play any more old gnr songs. ISO, Brownstone, and Used to Love Her are enough.

I agree that 3 is a good number for GNR covers in the shows but a bit of rotation would be nice. They should play diff GNR covers from time to time. I think it would be more exiting, specially to get the boots  

I agree  

[DizzyReed63]

Forgot to post...
For one new song, Slash said it was one we'd never heard, cuz they just made it or something...

I thought the cover rotation was good. The meat of the show was the new album. Then the encores were the covers.

Security was pretty tight up front. And they wouldn't allow cameras and felt people up.
but every venue will be different.

With the new songs, they were all rockers, so it was hard to figure out what was what. Fallin' to Pieces is the only one that sounds different, cuz it's slow.

My fav new song was the opening one...
The songs felt like straight up rockers, with killer solos.
Set me Free was also an extended jam.

[Funeral]

Thanks for the review Dizzy

-F

[W. Botaxl Rose]

Great report Dizzy!

It's now going to be an even longer two days before i get to see my Minny show.  

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Forgot to post...
With the new songs, they were all rockers, so it was hard to figure out what was what. Fallin' to Pieces is the only one that sounds different, cuz it's slow.

Thanks DizzyReed!

um.. so they didnt play You Got No Right?     I guess they dont want to overdose on the slow songs or something.

[DizzyReed63]

Hey random,

Yeah, the only slow new song I remember was Fallin' to Pieces.
But I may be wrong... all the new ones kinda blended together for me, cuz w/ out hearing the album, i had no frame of reference.

That's the only negative thing, no telling what the new stuff is. But it's all just in your face, straight-up rock. Classic Slash riffs.

[axls#2]

here is a review from one of the local papers.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/Concert/DA5BF26C0D79F70586256E9400596B79?OpenDocument&Headline=Stone+Temple+Axl+who%3F+Velvet+Revolver+hits+target

[Top-Hatted One]

maybe they are not going to play the other 2 new songs until the album is out. Like they did with Nov Rain. it's was only debuted in May of 91 in Indiana

[Ignatius]

The tickets were just 20 bucks??

I wonder what Scott meant when he said " this is the last time you'll see us like  this"

Anyway, cool. Thx for the reviews...you guys keep them coming. It might be a while until they come to Europe.

[jarmo]

maybe they are not going to play the other 2 new songs until the album is out. Like they did with Nov Rain. it's was only debuted in May of 91 in Indiana

Huh?  

The UYI albums were released in September 1991 so when they debuted November Rain in May, the albums were not out yet.


/jarmo

[Will]

I wonder what Scott meant when he said " this is the last time you'll see us like  this"

From the article:

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow substantially from here, and there's no reason to doubt him.

[Ignatius]

I wonder what Scott meant when he said " this is the last time you'll see us like  this"

From the article:

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow substantially from here, and there's no reason to doubt him.

Thanx.

Yeah, I hadn't read the article. Now I have.

[SLCPUNK]

If there was any question about Weiland's performance, it was, "Axl who?"


There has already been a line drawn in the sand. You know who is going to get the good reviews and who isn't.

I don't care really.

I'm buying my ticket to the LV show tomorrow. He is right, it will be the last time we will be able to see them in such a small venue. And I'm going to be there alright!

[kockstar99]

This Review kind of makes me want to go see them...  

[Booker Floyd]

From the newspaper review posted by axls #2...

Velvet Revolver
By KEVIN C. JOHNSON
Post-Dispatch Pop Music Critic
05/14/2004


The buzz at the Pageant on Thursday night felt unprecedented - and probably was.

The evening marked the first date of the virgin tour of Velvet Revolver, a new supergroup bringing together Stone Temple Pilots' beleaguered lead singer Scott Weiland and an Axl Rose-less Guns N' Roses.

Anticipation over this old-but-new outfit was such that the band's kickoff show here was a rapid sellout, and for good reason.

A fully loaded Velvet Revolver fired off a set of explosive songs from its upcoming CD "Contraband" while treating the enthusiastic crowd to tunes from the Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses vaults.

"Let's hear it for rock 'n' roll. I'm talking about (expletive) American rock 'n' roll," an impossibly lithe Weiland (has he ever been this skinny?) said at one point before he attacked several strains of new rock. "This is good old blues-based rock 'n' roll."

It was just rock, no other label needed, and that was part of its joy. Weiland, guitarist Dave Kushner and the former Guns N' Roses members - guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum - and came prepared and ready to rock out during the nonstop 80-minute set. They seamlessly blended the best of both of their former, faded bands despite some overbearing fuzziness in the sound mix early on.

Not to take anything away from the players, who excelled, but the magnetic Weiland was the star of the show. He was entirely watchable throughout, from the moment he took the stage wearing something that looked as if it were borrowed from the closet of the Village People's police officer character, though it didn't take him long to ditch the hat and jacket and go bare-chested. Weiland, still a true showman, featured a number of slippery, exaggerated moves. He had a way of allowing his shoulders to lead the way as he darted around the stage as though he were bouncing off the bumpers in a pinball machine.

Among his stunts were singing into a megaphone, performing atop a drink rail, nearly seducing Slash during one of the guitarist's solos and diving into the crowd, resulting in the loss of a pair of ear monitors (he tried to bribe whoever was holding out on the equipment). If there was any question about Weiland's performance, it was, "Axl who?"

Songs such as Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing" and "Crackerman" and Guns N' Roses' "Used to Love Her" - introduced by Slash as "a little number you might or might not remember" - "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" were easy and obvious crowd-pleasers, and fitting for the evening. But what was even more impressive was how the band managed to engage the crowd with material it had never heard before, such as "Do It for the Kids," "Big Machine" and "Fall to Pieces," which Weiland said he wrote after nearly losing his wife.

Fans were familiar with "Slither," the first single from "Contraband," and "Set Me Free," which came from "The Hulk" soundtrack.

Something special transpired onstage, and Velvet Revolver knew it.

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow substantially from here, and there's no reason to doubt him.

Philadelphia rock band Silvertide opened the evening with a set of old-school rock from its "Show and Tell" CD.

Critic Kevin C. Johnson
E-mail: kjohnson@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8191

[Naupis]

 :crying:You wouldn't be unloyal to Axl by going you know. Embrace VR, since GNR refuses to release anything, this is the closest thing to rock&roll you're going to get. Also, it seems like it would be pretty cool to see them in such a small intimate atmosphere. I wish Axl would have done a tour like this to re-introduce the band in 2002. It would be awesome to get up close and personal like that. I mean lets be honest, STP were known for being a great live act, and God knows Slash/Duff know how to get it done live....put the two together and you have an electric concert to goto in a small place. Opportunities like this don't come around often. Go if you have a chance to go. I wish I could but they aren't coming anywhere close to Cleveland

[sandman]

you just got me soooooo fired up for this show. awesome fuckin review, man. thanks!!!

by the way, the opening band was called Silvertide. they're from philly and they are gonna be huge.

[kockstar99]

They just announced a Denver Show so i think ill go check em out.... the reviews sound good.. I just didnt like the songs i have heard.. Slither and Set Me Free just didnt do it for me but im going to go see them...

[Jizzo]

The megaphone did the same thing at the roxy, but I could of swore he threw that one off the ground really hard, oh well maybe not

[tomass74]

i hope they don't play any more old gnr songs. ISO, Brownstone, and Used to Love Her are enough.

I'm not saying to play Rocket Queen in addition to the other 3. Three GnR tunes are fine. I just think it would be cool if they learned Rocket Queen and a couple others so they could switch it up instead of playing the same 3 every show.  I also don't understand why you even give a fuck. You have made it quite clear that you don't like teh band even though you are constantly posting here. So it's pretty safe to assume you are not going to the show.

[Dizzy]

So, no mention of Axl and the St. Louis riots?

Who was that bozo around here who was ready to bet his very life that the band would go onstage and mention Axl and the St. Louis riot 0f 1991?  Step forward and admit your wrong assumption please.  

The tickets were just 20 bucks??

Before scalpers got ahold of them, yes.  They were $22 on ticketmaster.

by the way, the opening band was called Silvertide. they're from philly and they are gonna be huge.

Cool, I've seen them once before, opening for Warrant and Slaughter.

[DizzyReed63]

So, no mention of Axl and the St. Louis riots?

Who was that bozo around here who was ready to bet his very life that the band would go onstage and mention Axl and the St. Louis riot 0f 1991?  Step forward and admit your wrong assumption please.  

Duff did say something like, "this is our first time back to St. Louis, thanks for having us back. And then a fan who met him after show said that Duff said, "it wasn't your guys fault for that riot, we're glad to be back:

[Dizzy]

Duff did say something like, "this is our first time back to St. Louis, thanks for having us back. And then a fan who met him after show said that Duff said, "it wasn't you guys fault for that riot, we're glad to be back:

But this dude swore that the band would mention it onstage during the show, and they obviously didn't.  

[workerbee]

Dizzy's review pretty much covers it.  I for one was amazed at how great Duff & Slash looked.  The opening band, Silver Tide was really pretty decent - there were girls back by the bar giving away free sampler CD's of their upcoming CD.  

I was back right behind the soundboard and could look over most of the crowd (not that there was a "bad" place to be in The Pageant).  They did have some audio trouble early on - and IMO they never had the mix quite right - not to mention it seemed like they were driving some of equipment a little too hard.  I'm all for loud music but it was pushed up so far that everything had a little bit of a "razz" to it.  The vocals did seem to get lost in that.

Duff didn't mention the riot specifically, but everyone knew what he was talking about when he brought it up.  It was something like "St. Louis fucking rocks - you guys are great to have us back here, we're gonna take care of you tonight".

The whole scenario with Weiland losing his monitors was funny, he handled it well.  It was funny, Slash & Duff, guitars in hand were right up there at the front of the state helping Scott & security look for whatever audio stuff he lost.

To be honest, I initially wasn't thrilled with the selection of Weiland, but he does put on a good show.  Most everybody there seemed to be pretty familiar with his problems and I wasn't the only one who made a 7+ hour drive to catch the show (even though they'll be swiging closer by me later this summer).  Quite a few people mentioned that they really wanted to make this show because they didn't know how long Weiland could hold it together on the road.  

That being said, the guy really is a good frontman.   The freaky dance moves don't do anything for me, but he's got a really adaptable voice - he does the GNR stuff really well - keeps the music true to it's form, but doesn't try to sound like Axl.

I thought it was kinda funny when he came out initially - did anyone else notice that he almost was done up like pre-Appetite promo photos of Axl - you know, the ones where he's in the leather pants, police-type had and mirrored aviator glasses - that's exactly how Weiland came out, with the addition of a necktie.

Weiland's comment about the venue was dead on.  I'm glad I caught VR just getting things started - seeing the old GN'R lineup in a 2,300 capacity club was ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' INCREDIBLE.   You can tell they're doing it because they love it.  Did anyone else notice that Matt had a HUGE smile on his face throught the whole set?  The guy looked like he was just havin' a blast.  

Two encore sets was pretty cool.  The crowd was so IN to the whole show.   I really couldn't understand any of the vocals on the new VR stuff, but the crowd was really enjoying it.  The crowd went wild as soon as the first few notes of any GN'R song were played.   My favorite tunes of the evening were Slither, Sex Type Thing and It's So Easy.   Slither was played hard and fast - more so than the released version.  I'm really looking forward to the CD now.

I've been a lurker for a while (used to do Boerio's Dust N' Bones list) but I know it seems there's a lot of people that think you're either Pro-Axl or Anti-Axl, well, I'll just say "Dont' miss out on VR because of your feelings about Axl".  The new guys didn't do any Axl bashing, just played a great set of music, and as I mentioned, you can tell they're doing it because it's what they love.   They're putting out some good tunes, and if Axl puts out C.D., well hopefully we'll get some more good music there too, so it's all good folks.

[Mr Cowbell ?]

Just because you try or like VR and the new lineup you don't have to give up on GnR. With a 6 cd player you can have room for all 5 guns Cd and VR's new one.

I even have room for the 1993 Duff solo release Believe in Me...


BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE NO ROOM OR TOLERENCE FOR ADDLER'S APPETITE.

[starchild_666]

I wonder what Scott meant when he said " this is the last time you'll see us like  this"

From the article:

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow substantially from here, and there's no reason to doubt him.

was this a really small venue?

[Dizzy]

BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE NO ROOM OR TOLERENCE FOR ADDLER'S APPETITE.

Why the hell not?  I have all the room and tolerance in the world for the original drummer of Guns N Roses.

[workerbee]

I wonder what Scott meant when he said " this is the last time you'll see us like  this"

From the article:

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow substantially from here, and there's no reason to doubt him.

was this a really small venue?

Yes, this place was essentially a small club or a large bar.  Max occupancy is only 2,300.  

[tomass74]

Just because you try or like VR and the new lineup you don't have to give up on GnR. With a 6 cd player you can have room for all 5 guns Cd and VR's new one.

I even have room for the 1993 Duff solo release Believe in Me...


BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE NO ROOM OR TOLERENCE FOR ADDLER'S APPETITE.

What i she doing that Axl isn't besides not pretending he is GnR? The guys life is pretty much messes up and he is just trying to make a living. I would check it out if it came my way..