2019.10.01 - Vystar Arena, Jacksonville, FL, USA

Still no new song. But long sets and Axl is said to be in great vocal shape.

Official pictures by Kat Benzova

Duff on Instagram: Jacksonville!! That was truly epic! Thank you all!



https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Hkj9CH_Ot/

Review in Jacksonville.com, Oct. 10, 2019:

*

Guns N' Roses delivers night of classics in Jacksonville

By Tom Szaroleta  

Some things just go together — peanut butter and jelly, shrimp and grits, Axl Rose's voice and Slash's guitar.

Rose and Slash were in fine form Tuesday night as Guns N' Roses played to a packed VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The band played as well or better than it has in years. It should come as no real surprise that the band was polished and tight, since the Never In This Lifetime Tour that came to town started more than three years ago and has encompassed more than 150 shows and played before more than 4 million fans.

This was Guns N' Roses Classic, more or less. Rose and Slash were joined by original bassist Duff McKagan,longtime keyboardist Dizzy Reed and relative newcomers Richard Fortus on guitar, Frank Ferrer on drums and Melissa Reese on keyboards. Given the number of musicians who have been through Guns N' Roses in the last 20 years, that's as close to classic as you're gonna get.

Does Rose still have that howling voice that took the world by storm on the band's 1987 debut? Of course not, but he's still got power when he needs it and his voice goes so well with Slash's guitar playing that there's really no one else who could do the job. He sounded best when he went full-out ("Welcome to the Jungle," "Rocket Queen") or when he didn't scream at all (an unlikely and faithful cover of Glen Campell's "Wichita Lineman"). Rose played changed T-shirts and hats several times Tuesday night but played the whole show in a pair of boots with the toes curled up. Helps him with that hip-sway thing, I suppose.

The band played a full three hours, walking off to "Paradise City," their 28th song of the evening. The setlist touched on the band's entire career, even including songs from the little-heard "The Spaghetti Incident?" and "Lies" albums. There were three songs from the Slash-less "Chinese Democracy" album and one from Velvet Revolver, the band Slash and McKagan formed without Rose.  They also played songs from Wings, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, the Who and Bob Dylan, all with that GNR crunch, of course. But the band hasn't released a new album in more than a decade, so the setlist was naturally heavy on classics.

Plenty of hard rock bands came out of Los Angeles in the late '80s, but Guns N' Roses always stood out from the crowd with a tougher sound. The band's secret may be McKagan, who doesn't so much anchor the songs on bass as he does drive them forward. He's also a good focal point on stage, working the crowd and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the guitarists.

Oh, one more thing: Tophats are really cool if you are the lead guitarist in a rock band. If you're in the crowd and standing for the whole show (as most of Tuesday's audience did), not so cool. But the pointy boots are no problem.

https://eu.jacksonville.com/story/entertainment/local/2019/10/02/concert-review-guns-n-roses-delivers-night-of-classics-in-jacksonville/2603936007/

More official photos by Kat Benzova (from the article above):

Footage from the first shows of the 2019 tour