GUNS N’ ROSES // Whole Lotta Riffs

Guns N’ Roses + Rose Tattoo – ANZ Stadium, Sydney – Friday, February 10th

 7:30pm – an 80,000-capacity ANZ Stadium. The sun is just starting to set, and local icons Rose Tattoo saunter offstage after wringing out the day’s last few drops of sweat from their scuzzy guitars. In twenty years, tonight will be looked back on as the night reunion cynics ate their sour fucking words…

In the early ‘90s—specifically, around the calamitous touring sprint that led to 1991’s Use Your Illusion albums—Guns N’ Roses were touted as “the most dangerous band in the world”. Their shows were notorious for being rough, unpredictable and violent– sometimes they’d start hours late at the hand of a shitfaced Axl Rose, and sometimes they’d end in genuine riots. Of course, that was when Rose and his abettors were in their hedonistic 20s—they liked cheap booze, copious sex and shitstorms en masse. Now, they like fancy wine and sleeping in, and venues comprised almost entirely of seats. We’re not complaining though: Not In This Lifetime is the first tour on Oz soil to see Rose, Slash (guitars) and Duff McKagan (bass) on the same stages since 1993, and considering how wrackful the trio’s bond had been since then, the fact this tour even exists is pretty fucking unreal. As such, an overjoyed elation spilled throughout the sunny strip of Sydney Olympic Park. Fans young and old (and older) alike mingled in their excitement. There were dads whose first gig was GNR in ’88 now dragging their own little shits to their first show (plot twist: this author dragged their dad along), bearded twenty-somethings who found an outlet for their angst in excessive guitar solos, and more middle-aged bogans in tattered leather jackets than you could point a xenophobic stick at. It was all so perfect. Drink lines moved smoothly and the blistering heat faded into a calm breeze—and, in a dazzling twist of fate, the LA rockers hit the stage at 8pm: the time they were actually billed for.

We were off to a shaky start. Rose didn’t fuck up the schedule, but the same could not be said of his stringy, slightly off-seeming vocals. “It’s So Easy” kicked things off on a musical high note, but “Mr. Brownstone” lacked the toxic spark that made it a classic to begin with, and yeah, “Chinese Democracy” went down exactly how we expected it to: with the crowd stiffening up like a pan of overcooked prawns. But then those first goosebump-inducing notes trickled across the stadium. “Welcome to the jungle! We got fun and games,” Rose howled, and from there, he was in peak form. Darting around the stage with his mic stand clutched as if it were the password for his bank account, the 55-year-old drew an inescapable attention. It felt like we’d stepped back in time, trading the passive Rose of decades past for the young, fiery beast that once had a hell of an appetite for destruction.

It never felt like he was just going through the motions—this man, soaked in sweat and face cherry red at minute 15, was having fun. He seeped passion from behind a grand piano on November Rain, dropping jaws with an introduction of the instrumental coda to Eric Clapton’s Layla. And when everyone around us lost their shit for Knocking On Heaven’s Door, he looked genuinely ecstatic.

And then there’s Slash, whose delirious fretwork was just… Fucking hell. Decked in his trademark shades and vaudevillian top hat, the silent shredder mowed through a cavalcade of soul-melting riffs. Like the wailing solos that burst from the speakers, his arsenal of axes was no slight array—the signature ’57 Goldtop was an easy go-to for meatier cuts, but one needn’t look past the blood red BC Rich Bich or double-necked Gibson EDS-1275 for grandeur. The man didn’t flinch once, either, his facial expression changing only when he fell deep into the extended solo on Sweet Child O’ Mine—pink bubblegum perched between his teeth as he brought the ‘😫’ emoji to life.

Though his own five-minute jam solo was goddamn life-changing, it was with co-axeman Richard Fortus that Slash really shined. Towards the end of the set, they buddied up for an instrumental duet of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, and biting the two-hour mark of the set in a dizzy haze of lights and smoke, it sounded nothing short of ethereal. Ditto for Duff McKagan’s sludgy and pounding bass, where he stole the spotlight on Rocket Queen and a blistering cover of the Misfits’ Attitude—for which he also took over on lead vocals. Dizzy Reed and Frank Ferrer also slayed on the piano and drums, respectively, but it’s without a shred of doubt that newcomer keyboardist Melissa Reese was the backing band’s shining star. Her vocals sliced through their acidity with a clear-cut and welcomed brightness, and every note she tapped made all the difference—even if they were occasionally buried in the mix.

As for the setlist itself, complaints were few, far, and mostly just aimed at the Chinese Democracy numbers. No love was shown for 1988’s GNR Lies, but we’re stoked to report that a whole seven tracks from Appetite For Destruction and six from Use Your Illusion I and II made the cut. It shouldn’t come as any shock that closers Nightrain (main set) and Paradise City (encore) drew the crowd’s biggest throngs of acclaim, and for good reason: they’re still bangers, and good God, do they still go off. Of course, that’s not to mention the two show-stopping AC/DC covers they busted out—Whole Lotta Rosie and Riff Raff —complete with a mic drop-worthy surprise cameo from Angus motherfucking Young himself. We’ve gotta say, for a weather-worn heavy smoker pushing 62, the Scotsman still knows how to shred his Gibson to bits.

So yeah, Guns N’ Roses aren’t the most dangerous band in the world anymore—if they even ever were. What they are, however, is one of the few acts standing that can blow a whole damn stadium away a solid two decades after their peak had come and gone. The year is 2017 and as much as your dad wants to swear it is, rock ’n’ roll still ain’t fucking dead, baby.

SETLIST

It’s So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Chinese Democracy
Welcome To The Jungle
Double Talkin’ Jive
Better
Estranged
Live And Let Die (Wings cover)
Rocket Queen
You Could Be Mine
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory (Johnny Thunders cover) / Attitude (Misfits cover)
This I Love
Civil War / Voodoo Child (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Slash’s Guitar Solo / Speak Softly Love (instrumental Nino Rota cover)
Sweet Child O’ Mine
Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC cover ft. Angus Young)
Riff Raff (AC/DC cover ft. Angus Young)
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover – Slash and Richard Fortus duet)
Layla (Eric Clapton cover) / November Rain
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain
———————
Don’t Cry
The Seeker (The Who cover)
Paradise City

Tickets are still available HERE for the following Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime Tour shows.

Tuesday February 14, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne VIC
Saturday February 18, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide SA