lotsajizz
Rocks Off Regular
Offline
Rocks Off Rules You Bastards
Posts: 1,818
Rhode Island
Gender: 
|
On Tuesday we left for Montreal at 8:40 AM and, after a smooth drive, were checked in at the Hitlon Bonaventure in downtown Montreal by 3 in the afternoon. It’s a nice hotel, very urban ‘60’s chic with funky split levels. Most importantly was its pool so I could keep my mile a day swim streak going. The pool was outdoors, but heated to 85 or so Fahrenheit and you entered it from an indoor chamber. Once outside, your only choice is to start swimming and keep swimming! Anyway, we dined in some fancy Montreal eatery on Tuesday—tuna tarare, mushroom risotto, champagne, yum! Morning swim on Wednesday, then scouting out the underground passage (much of Montreal is underground) from our hotel to the Centre Bell where the show would be held….perhaps a 15 minute trek. I escorted my wife to her noon-time mass (old habits) and then headed to the hotel bar for martinis while she prayed for me! More city walking, some shopping, then nap time. We woke around 7 and then warmed up for the show, leaving the hotel room about 8:30-ish. We got to the venue shortly before 9 and then it took some 10 minutes to get in the door and through security. My flask of cognac in my sock past un-noticed. Sebastian Bach was on-stage. We got a couple of coffees and settled in the back of the arena’s grandstand to see the old hair-metal veteran do his shtick. He has a great voice, but the dubbing of certain high echoes was noticeable and annoying. He played ‘till about 9:30 and as soon as he left the stage my wife and I got up and moved down to the floor. As people left the floor after Bach to beer up or hit the bathrooms, we took their place. Steady infiltration led us to stage right, maybe 20 feet from the front, but less than 15 from the protruding wing---and no one taller than us in front! Then the waiting game, putting up with the crushes of would-be infiltrators and steadily moving up every time someone vacated a spot. Finally at 10:30, lights out!
The roar goes up and the theme from the old Perry Mason show covers the arrival to the stage of the musicians…the Chinese voice scramble begins….
There he is!!! The soundscape builds, explosions and fireworks!!
Chinese Democracy, the first song—with that opening riff slicing off the tops of 15,000 skulls!
Axl—in boots, jeans, white dress/button shirt half undone, rings, silver wrist jewelry and looking mean and trim picks up a tossed scarf at the end of the song and wears it—grinning!
“You know where you are?? I think you do, you’re in Montreal, you gonna DIIIIIII---EEEEE-IIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!”
Welcome to the Jungle----perfect, the mutant, tattooed guitar duet of Fortus and Ashba slashing away far better then their predecessors and Bumblefoot picking away with a virtuosity on the solo that leaves us breathless!
It's So Easy explodes! Axl’s voice is growing stronger and he’s running around like a madman. The snake dance appears.
Mr. Brownstone is up next, and the addiction tale sounds fresher than ever. At the end, Axl declares “I think I recognize some of you, yeah that's right”—the first hint at the last time in Montreal---the notorious 1992 riot that proved so much a foreshadowing!
Sorry was next---and it was NOT an apology! His vocals are incredible---no doubt helped by his one-ever-few-minutes-backstage-for-a-blast-of-oxygen---and the band is tighter than the other couple of times I’ve caught their epic performances!
Up next, Fortus, Richard Fortus---this freakish/alien-looking Ron Wood-resembling guitar ace then burns through an instrumental jam with the band on the James Bond/007 theme!
Live and Let Die (with RED flames instead of normal ones)—we had seen it before live and were ready, but many on the floor seemed stunned by the explosions!
If the World—an industrial/NIN-type rocker with soaring vocals proved a showcase for a Tommy Stinson/Bumblefoot duet. Stinson is perhaps the most under-rated bassist in rock…truly a Giant!
Better---the changes handled with precision, all the band coming to set up right in front of us at one point, just 15 feet away---eye contact made with Axl on this song finally! He’s in a great/playful mood despite the channeled rage!
Then the band introductions "On the drums a real pisser of a fellow, Mr. Frank Ferrer"—0—he might be a pisser but this burly, biker-lookin’ dude was slammin’ the skins with precision all night!
Then the band jammed while Axl took a breather and the grand piano was rolled out for Dizzy Reed’s turn in the spotlight, a jam built around Sly & The Family Stone’s “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey…Don’t Call Me Whitey, Nigger”
Street of Dreams---vocals are devastatingly strong here, the women are swooning here…several nice sets are flashed during the song….and the band is appreciative!
You Could be Mine---a kaleidoscope of whirling lights and sound and Axl running all over the place…the guitarists variously settling in front of us to flip us some pics and smile and pose and solo to the Gods!
DJ Ashba Solo---a worthy successor to the Buckethead image—a weird, tattooed-from-head-to-to-freak who can play guitar like nobody’s business, wears a ton of make-up and has his lips pierced, but has a baby-face and a child-like smile as he jams…he does a variation of the “Ballad of Death”…leading to
Sweet Child O' Mine—DJ wailing on the opening air-raid/circus/Fripp-like opening.
I.R.S.—Axl sings it with a vengeance! Two guys pass out in front of me and are carried out by security…I advance and reach the front rail! The last of my flask is drained here!
November Rain---out comes the piano…Axl does a long intro based on Elton John’s “Somebody Saved My Life Tonight”….he nails this song and the girls are swooning and showing their tits again! Ah, rock n’roll…Fortus and Ashba smile down approvingly.
Next is an instrumental band jam built around Zep’s Immigrant Song—Axl hums it, but does not sing it.
Now it is time for Ron Thal’s (Bumblefoot) solo jam—the Pink Panther theme. cute and well-played, but a tad long.
An epic Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door ensues - Axl wearing a white cowboy hat and commenting how it’s a nice change not always be wearing the black hat and being the villain! He gets the crowd going in a singalong!
Out To Get Me—to the stratosphere….Axl becomes Satan and God and more all rolled into one, a whirling dervish of fiendish, shrieking incendiarity! At this point I finally admit to myself that this is indeed the finest rock performance I’ve witnessed in a life of hundreds of concerts! I was delayed and distracted in this conclusion by the French-Canadian goddess in front of me who kept moving back on me and wished to do a grind-dance….but the wife was there and watching so I kept having to suck in my gut and dance back. When she looked back, she glanced at my wedding ring, smiled, and moved up a little….oh, rock n’roll…’tis surely the Devil’s music!
The whistle of the introduction for Patience comes up as my Gallic brunette turns back….Axl sounds a little rough here and takes it in a lower register, but nails the ending! Bumblefoot adds sweet acoustic pickin’.
And then the industrial/hip-hop/metal of Shacklers Revenge kicks in, Axl really into it and hand-motioning the changes.
Night-train---the stratosphere is reached! Manic stage-right to stage-left dashing amidst crooning about the joys of alcohol abuse on the road! The final vocals are stringer and louder than I’ve ever heard Axl before! They leave the stage and the crowd commences begging for more!
Encores:
Madagascar
Scraped
This I Love
Paradise City---The four song encore set a dizzying mix of techno, ballads, hatred, anger, rage, love, and mindless speeding joy as we all drink it in while it lasts….DJ tosses me a pic! During the last song, someone tossed a Quebec flag on stage and Axl wraps himself in it to swelling applause.
They leave the stage and then all emerge, hands linked. Axl grabs two dozen roses (aw!) and tosses them into the crowd. Then two hotties come out and hand the band slices of lime and tequila shots. The band members pass out several shots to the crowd—I did not get one—and then down the shots after a toast to Montreal. Then Axl went to the mic and said...“you Montrealers deserve the truth”, he then paused and delivered a wicked smile and announced “…….but not tonight”. They then turned around and left!
It was then 1:15 AM.
We lingered a few moments to gather ourselves and slowly walked out. The underground pathway to our hotel was locked when the Metro closed at 1 AM. We had to walk the final five blocks back to the hotel in 15F, biting wind, and snow. I was glad I tied my sweater around my waste before the show! Even the, it was a cold walk back! Not enough sleep and then a drive through all-day snow squalls back to RI.
In sum, this band is currently the greatest rock combination on the planet. See them!!
|
Pages: 
Guns N'Roses Back!! (Read 15,079 times)
