2011.12.01 - The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, USA

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AUBURN HILLS -- "You guys ready for a long night?" D Generation's Jesse Malin asked the crowd at the Palace during his band's opening set on Thursday night, Dec. 1.

Clearly the man has been to a Guns N' Roses concert before.

Fortunately, the relatively small -- just under 8,000, with the entire upper level curtained off -- and late-arriving crowd knew what it was getting into. GNR's reputation for tardy starts and wee-hours finishes precedes it, and any ticket buyer is well aware that it's likely to be a bleary-eyed next morning if they stick out the entire show.

But when frontman Axl Rose and his latest incarnation of GNR does hit the stage, it's usually worth the wait -- as was the case on Thursday (and Friday morning) after a blistering two-hour and 50-minute romp through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-nominated group's small but impactful catalog.

As it happened, Rose and company hit the stage at a "reasonable" 10:52 p.m., following a solid hour-long set by the reunited D Generation.

GNR clearly came to play, too, with prodigious pyrotechnics accompanying whipsaw renditions of "Chinese Democracy," "Welcome to the Jungle," "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone." Fans will always pine for the original GNR lineup, but in this eight-member version of the band Rose showed off a corps that proved capable of capturing the raw, rough and tumble spirit of 1987's seminal "Appetite For Destruction" as well as the more sophisticated epics from the two "Use Your Illusion" albums and 2008's "Chinese Democracy."

In particular, guitarists DJ Ashba, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and Richard Fortus traded lead and rhythm parts with easy precision, while keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman provided the textures and sonic layers that were crucial to epics such as "Sorry," "Madagascar," "Estranged" and "November Rain."

And Rose himself was in fine form, performing vocal acrobatics and working the stage in dervish fashion -- while also hopping in and out of a booth located in one corner of the stage, where he changed coats, hats, sunglasses and shirts more than a dozen times. His swoops and upper-register howl -- including a falsetto during the bluesy "Sorry" -- was fully intact, and his screams competed with the pyrotechnic explosions during Wings' "Live and Let Die."

GNR tossed in a few other covers during the night -- a furious spring through the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer" sung by bassist Tommy Stinson," AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "Riff Raff," and the group's signature take on Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," which finished with a lengthy call-and-response game with the audience.

Some instrumental interludes, meanwhile, found Fortus leading the group through the James Bond movie theme, Reed playing a grand piano rendition of the Who's "Baba O' Riley," Bumblefoot teasing out Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme and Fortus and Bumblefoot slinking through Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

But the crowd was really there for the favorites, particularly from the early years, and GNR didn't disappoint as it dished out the likes of "Rocket Queen," "You Could Be Mine," "Don't Cry," "Nightrain," "Patience" and "Sweet Child O' Mine." The energy level stayed high all night, from the band at least; there was no hiding the fact that significant numbers of folks slipped out as the show went on, and by the time GNR let the confetti fly during "Paradise City," the crowd had been trimmed by at least half.

That, of course, is where Rose's nocturnal habit does his band, and his audience, a disservice. GNR proved on Thursday night (and Friday morning) that it's still capable of galvanizing, exciting performances. It just makes it more than a little too hard for those who want to witness them.

On Thursday night Guns N' Roses brought their current tour to the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Frontman Axl Rose decided earlier this year to head back out on the road with his latest incarnation of Guns N' Roses (only Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed remain from the early Guns N' Roses era) and the tour has been getting a positive response everwhere it has been.

Thursday's show saw a small crowd with the entire upper level of the Palace blocked off but those who made it out were treated to a rocking almost 3 hour set from the band and a solid set from New York City openers D Generation.

This was the punk rock band's first time in the Detroit area in over a decade and they seemed to be enjoying it.
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Frontman Jesse Malin appeared to have been partying a little too hard before the set as he occasionally seemed to lose his train of thought and was staggering all over the stage, even falling at one point.

However, this did not stop him from ripping through songs like "Degenerated", "Capital Offender" and "Working On the Avenue".

The band did a nice job of getting the crowd warmed up for the main act inspite of the fact that it was guaranteed to be a long wait until they came on.

Malin actually opened their set by asking the crowd, "You guys ready for a long night?" which amused those in attendance as most people are well aware of Guns N' Roses' reputation for late starts.

In fact, Guns N' Roses last show at the Palace back in 2002 actually began just before 1 am with Rose greeting the crowd with "Good Morning!"

Knowing this, many of those who decided to come out for Thursday's show came late and spent much of their time sitting out at the venue's many restaurants watching football and waiting for the band to take the stage.

Surprisingly, Guns N' Roses hit the stage at a relatively reasonable 10:52 pm creating a mass rush of people heading back to their seats as the band performed "Chinese Democracy".

By the time Axl used his popular catch phrase "Do you know where you are? You're in the jungle baby!" as the band rocked "Welcome to the Jungle" complete with lots of pyro, the main floor had packed in and most of the lower seats had filled up.

Many of those in attendance came to see Guns N' Roses play the songs that they grew up with and they were not disappointed as the band went on to pull out everything from "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" to "You Could Be Mine" and "Sweet Child O' Mine".

In between they pulled out some covers like "Live and Let Die" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and played a number of songs off of the band's last album Chinese Democracy included passionate performances of "Sorry" and "Madagascar".

Certainly the band's original lineup including Slash will always remain its best and most popular but the group that Rose has assembled this time out is a solid band of great musicians who clearly enjoy playing together and seem to be a cohesive unit.

In between every song Rose went to the back to take a break and change his wardrobe which allowed each member of the band to shine on his own solo with bassist Tommy Stinson even getting a chance to showcase his vocals on the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer".

Reed has his moment to shine on a epic piano rendition of the Who's "Baba O' Riley".

Rose himself seems to have finally come to a place in his life where he is just enjoying the opportunity to be playing and his vocal acrobatics are in fine form as showcased early on with "Estranged" and reinforced on songs like "Patience".

During "Patience" lead guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal held up a sign given to him by a guy in the audience asking his girlfriend to marry him.

Rose's piano solo followed by the classic "November Rain" and a lively performance of "Nightrain" were the set highlights.

After exiting the stage, the band returned for a encore of "Madagascar", "Better", a cover of AC/DC's "Riff Raff", "Patience" and "Paradise City".

By the time the confetti flew just before 2 am during "Paradise City" the crowd had thinned out a bit but those still there were still feeling the energy and it appeared as if the band could keep going as well.