2001.01.01 - House Of Blues, Las Vegas, USA

AXL ROSE'S NEW GUNS UNVEILED IN VEGAS
AN 'EMOTIONAL' AND 'AWESOME' ROSE DEBUTS CHINESE DEMOCRACY TRACKS TO PACKED HOUSE.

ARCHIVE-SORELLE-SAIDMAN
01/02/2001

It was over seven years in the making, but the general consensus is that it was well worth waiting for.

Axl Rose debuted his new Guns N' Roses lineup at Las Vegas' House of Blues in the wee small hours of New Year's Day, belting out an array of old favorites and introducing a handful of new tunes to a capacity crowd of 1,800 ecstatic patrons.

GN'R kicked off the show with "Welcome to the Jungle" and finished with an equally rousing "Paradise City," delivering other GN'R classics such as "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child o' Mine," "November Rain," "Patience", "My Michelle" and "Think About You" in between.

The band also rolled out a handful of previously unheard songs, including "Chinese Democracy" — the title track off the band's long-long-long-awaited album — and "The Blues," "Silk Worms" and one untitled track, GN'R management confirmed.

GN'R also offered up a version of 1999's "Oh My God", their contribution to the "End of Days" soundtrack.

Rose was "a little emotional" at the event, according to his longtime manager, Doug Goldstein, who added that the singer hugged his close friends in attendance and thanked them for their support.

The concert featured the expected lineup: guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck and Paul Tobias (a.k.a. Paul Huge); keyboardist Dizzy Reed; former Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia; and former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, who inspired Rose to joke, "'The Replacements' would be a good name for this band."

Keyboardist Chris Pittman, perhaps best known as a member of the Replicants and for his work on Tool's Aenima, also joined the group onstage.

"Axl really looked happy to be playing with those guys," said LeAnne Eden, a GN'R fan who flew in from Los Angeles for the show. "That's something that didn't seem to be happening with the old band — during their last tour, anyway."

Onstage, Rose alluded to how he had begun rehearsals with his new bandmates a few days prior to the show, another situation that rarely happened in days gone by. (The band usually rehearsed without Rose in attendance.)

"[Rose] looked young and healthy. He was slimmer than when I saw him sit in with Gilby last summer," Eden said, referring to Rose's only other outing in seven years: an impromptu performance with former guitarist Gilby Clarke in June.

The two-hour show got underway at 3:30 a.m., after the club cleared the house following a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls. GN'R started an hour later than expected, although the club's publicist said the group never intended to go on much earlier than 3:30 and that Rose's fabled tardiness was not a factor.

Rose was "awesome" and totally at ease with the HOB staff as well as with the audience, the publicist said.

Concertgoer Jeff Sheldon, who flew from Chicago for the show, said that Rose made a point of crediting guitarist Tobias with getting him through the past seven years, conveying that the two had played together since they were 12 years old.

Tobias — described alternately as a Kurt Cobain lookalike and as a paler, nondescript version of Rose himself — stuck to rhythm duties, concertgoers said, while ex-Nine Inch Nails member Finck, sporting eyeliner and black lipstick, faithfully revisited ex-GN'R member Slash's guitar parts. New twists and turns were added to the sonic texture by Buckethead, who wore his customary white facemask and Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket atop his head.

Even though the audience was positioned directly before the stage, the band's backdrop was a JumboTron-style, 25-foot, floor-to-ceiling video screen augmented by a number of smaller monitors.

"It looked like they fit an arena-sized show into this club," Eden observed.

Security was incredibly tight, so fans may be hard-pressed to find live MP3s or photos on the Web. "Not only were they confiscating cameras," Eden said, "they were even going after cell phones."

The band's performance was preceded by an animated feature that poked fun at Rose's media-perpetuated persona. The mercurial frontman was depicted in bed — presumably having spent the last seven years in Brian Wilson-like seclusion — carrying on conversations with Buddha and the odd alien, with a music magazine used in lieu of toilet paper following a bedpan sequence. Footage depicting a journey through a birth canal was also presented, among other esoteric endeavors.

Next up, the band heads to South America, where it will play the gigantic Rock in Rio festival on January 14.

New Guns N’ Roses Gets Right Back in the Jungle

Pop Music Review - Axl Rose resurfaces with a different lineup, sounding as if he never went way.

By STEVE APPLEFORD
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

LAS VEGAS —  “Good morning,” Axl Rose declared with a grin New Year’s morning at the House of Blues during his first live performance with Guns N’ Roses in more than seven years. “I’ve just woke up. I’ve been taking a nap for about eight years.”

If waiting all these years for the return of what was the most explosive hard-rock band of its generation wasn’t enough for fans, they also had to wait until nearly 4 a.m. for Rose and the new Guns lineup to take the stage.

But drama seems an inescapable part of Rose’s world.

The most suspense Monday revolved around the show itself.

Eight years away from the action is an eternity in the fickle world ofpop-rock, so the question on the minds of the sold-out crowd, many of whom came from Los Angeles and paid far above face value for the $150 tickets, was whether Rose’s new material and bandmates would satisfy their appetites.

The performance--whose scheduled 1 a.m. starting time was pushed back because a Goo Goo Dolls concert at the venue didn’t end until after midnight--began amid a storm of flashing lights and the familiar staccato guitar riff of “Welcome to the Jungle,” the band’s 1987 breakthrough hit.

Rose, appearing superbly confident, then marched abruptly to the stage, his red hair back down to his shoulders, his wailing vocals easily hitting the old screeching high notes. For all the mystery and uncertainty that has surrounded him in recent years, it was like he’d never left.

Guns N’ Roses first exploded out of the Los Angeles ‘80s metal scene with a sound mixing classic rock melody with real grit, raunch and dementia. If those hard-rock excesses sometimes drifted into cliched excess, the band was never less than genuine in its bad habits, which in later years degenerated into infighting and self-destruction.

By the early ‘90s, Guns N’ Roses seemed the rightful heirs to a certain brand of potent, defiant, straight-ahead, big rock ‘n’ roll, epitomized by the Rolling Stones. The inability of the original Guns N’ Roses lineup to hang together and build on the monumental stature was a tragic failure of potential and nerve.

With the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Korn crafting a new, dynamic metal blend, Rose will never again enjoy that kind of influence, but his appearance here could mark the beginning of a new period for him as a surprisingly forceful player of contemporary rock, not unlike the resurgence experienced by Aerosmith in the late ‘80s.

At the House of Blues, Rose and the new Guns N’ Roses band focused largely on familiar material, which was played with unexpected fire and precision.

It was an unlikely cast of characters sharing the stage, including (in the sidekick role of Slash) the eccentric guitar virtuoso Buckethead, known for his robotic stage movements and for wearing a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket as a hat. The band also included former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, guitarists Robin Finck and Paul Tobias, former Primus drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia, and keyboardists Chris Pittman and Dizzy Reed, a longtime Guns sideman.

The band was extra tight musically without being mechanical, clearly feeding off its first time in front of a live audience. Buckethead and Finck were never showy as they traded sharp guitar leads during “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” while the crowd sang along.

The best news in Las Vegas for Guns followers was that the new material frequently held up against the band’s older work. The title song for “Chinese Democracy” (the album is scheduled for a June release) was lean, quick-paced and dramatic, constructed along dark, modern riffing and Rose’s impatient vocals.

Another new rock ballad, “The Blues,” was rich with melody and romantic torment. The singer also revealed a taste of the electronic-based experiments of these last several years with a song riddled with frantic beats and panicked vocals, landing somewhere in the vicinity of Prodigy.

Fans began lining up outside the House of Blues several hours before the scheduled 1 a.m. show time, many of them proudly dressed in vintage Guns N’ Roses T-shirts. Waiting patiently at the front of the line were a pair of Los Angeles 20-year-olds, Armen Gevorkian and Garen Garabidian, who bought their tickets online via EBay for $300 apiece.

Both first discovered Guns N’ Roses as children, not long after arriving as immigrants from Iran, and they expect to attend the band’s next gig, at the Rock in Rio festival later this month in Rio de Janeiro. Gevorkian had to skip work on Sunday to be in Las Vegas. “My boss was OK with that because he knows I’m crazy,” he said with a laugh. “And I was going to quit the job.”

Like many others in line, he said he was only slightly disappointed that the band on stage would not be the original lineup, saying, “Guns N’ Roses is all about Axl.”

That sentiment was echoed later in the show, when the crowd spontaneously began chanting: “Welcome back! Welcome back!” It was a disarming moment even for the notoriously strong-willed frontman, who could only smile and turn his head, seemingly speechless. “Now you’re embarrassing me,” he said.

Maybe so, but the most memorable aspect of Rose’s long-delayed return to the stage is that the singer never came close to embarrassing himself or the legacy of Guns N’ Roses.

ROCK REVIEW; Whoever Said Appetite for Destruction?

By Neil Strauss

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 1 — One had to feel a little sorry for Axl Rose when he performed his first concert in more than seven years at the House of Blues here at 3:30 this morning. The problem wasn't his voice; he ran through Guns 'n' Roses warhorses like "Welcome to the Jungle," "Mr. Brownstone" and "Paradise City" with note-for- note perfection. And the problem wasn't the band; though Guns 'n' Roses has been converted to an odd-looking eight-person outfit with only Mr. Rose and the keyboardist Dizzy Reed remaining from former incarnations, it was an impressive, albeit different, live machine. The reason to pity Mr. Rose is that although he has spent most of the last seven years locked in a recording studio working on new songs, in a two-hour show he felt comfortable squeezing in only a few of them.

To watch the new Mr. Rose — simultaneously serious, self-mocking and self-conscious — perform was to watch a man trapped, perhaps more by himself than by his fans. "I have traversed a treacherous sea of horrors to be with you here tonight," he told the small audience, which had bought tickets ranging from $150 on up. For most of the last decade Mr. Rose has been putting himself in competition with the rock stars who replaced Guns 'n' Roses in the hard-rock limelight (from Nine Inch Nails to White Zombie), working with a revolving door of talented producers and musicians in an attempt to remake his sound and teach himself more about guitar, studio production and electronic instruments. He has done everything from re-recording the "Appetite for Destruction" album to coming up with modern electronic-industrial songs. But early on New Year's Day, when Mr. Rose and friends performed their new songs, it was with doubt and hesitancy, as if they were pleading for acceptance. "You can write home to everybody about how it just doesn't work," Mr. Rose said in one moment of insecurity (even though it was all working just fine).

The new members of the band included Tommy Stinson (formerly of the Replacements) on bass, Brian (Brain) Mantia (of Primus) on drums, Chris Pitman (of the Replicants) on keyboards and, on guitars, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails) and Buckethead. The classic Guns 'n' Roses image of Mr. Rose and a top-hatted Slash on guitar was replaced by Mr. Rose and the masked, mysterious, fast-food-container-hatted Buckethead, a funk-metal enigma who break-danced, spun nunchaku and brought a more liquid, avant-garde upgrade of soloing to Guns 'n' Roses.

But only in the first song of their encore, a hard-driving electronic rave-up that sounded like a Chemical Brothers remix of Guns 'n' Roses, did the audience get a glimpse of the music that the band really seemed to want to play. And it was the glimpse of a completely different beast than Guns 'n' Roses (with a new frontline of a beefy Mr. Rose, a mimelike Buckethead and a stormtrooper-outfitted Mr. Finck), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Axl Rose Impresses Vegas With His New Guns N' Roses

After making fans wait seven years and amidst much speculation over how Axl Rose has aged and how this new band would sound, Axl Rose made a triumphant return to the stage with a brand spankin' new Guns N' Roses that shocked, pleased, and at times perplexed fans.

But, unlike what many expected -- maybe even secretly hoped for -- the source of the shock and amazement didn't come in the form of a bloated, overweight, washed-up rock star whose infamous bad attitude was the cause of many an aborted show. Rather, it came in the form of an unmistakably new W. Axl Rose. This was a physically fit, youthful-looking Rose who sounded exactly like he did 12 years ago, but who has seemed to shed the prima donna rock star persona that so many have loved to hate him for.

And the show? After hearing that the band wouldn't go on until 3 a.m. (doors opened at 1 a.m., and they actually took the stage at 3:38 a.m.) and were planning on playing every song they know, the preconceived perception was that this would be one self-indulgent show. Instead, the sold-out 1,800-person House of Blues club in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was treated to a perfect two hours of classic GNR songs and just four new tracks.

After a funny, short animated video (see Miss Truth for details), the set, obviously mapped out with the fan in mind, kicked off with a rapid-fire assault of such GNR staples as "Welcome to the Jungle," "It's So Easy," "Mr. Brownstone," and "Live and Let Die" before even venturing into new material, which included the warmly-received "Oh My God." The debut of four other new songs -- "The Blues," the title track to the upcoming album "Chinese Democracy," "Silkworms," and "Rhiad & the Bedouins" -- were met with less excitement and upon first listen lacked the direction and hook-laden style of the old stuff.

Rose played it understandably safe -- the songs sounded exactly as they do on record and one could literally close their eyes and believe it was the original lineup playing the Troubadour in L.A. in 1989. The only risk Rose has taken was in choosing his band members -- each of which has his own distinctive style almost like the Village People. Instead of the cop, the cowboy, the Indian, and so on, the new GNR has the few lone rockers, the alien, the new waver, and the freak. So, without further ado, meet the new version of GNR:

1. W. Axl Rose: Looked great, sounded great, returned as a humbled man with a brand new attitude of self-deprecating humor (see Miss Truth for the story on that) and generosity to his fellow bandmates. Sporting a healthy glow, long lighter red (or even light brown) hair, Adidas pants, and a button-down Chinese dragon shirt, Rose was back and better than ever.
2. Robin Finck: The guitarist's alien look with his black and white space-age suit and hair and makeup straight from the planet Romulac might make sense for his former band, Nine Inch Nails, but it seems out of place for GNR. Finck and Buckethead were clearly in competition for who could freak GNR fans out the most.
3. Buckethead: The avant-garde Bay Area guitar prodigy wore his trademark Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on top of his long, wavy hair and a white mask with black eyes, while doing robotic moves and freaking the crowd out along the way. He's sort of the Wes Borland of the band.
4. Paul Tobias: (a.k.a. Paul Huge, PHT, Rose's old friend from Indiana) Rose gave his old friend the most generous introduction, calling him "the original guitar player" who "worked hard to get here." He certainly held his own up against the more experienced players in the band. Solos and lead guitar parts were spread-out fairly evenly amongst the three guitarists.
5. Tommy Stinson: Replacements bassist at age 13. More recently, he sang and played bass in the ill-fated L.A. band Perfect. While his usual duds of a retro plaid suit and new-wave suspenders looked way out of place onstage, he possessed eerily similar mannerisms (and same spiky blonde haircut) to original GNR bassist Duff McKagan. Regardless, Stinson, who sang the bulk of backing vocals, was a crowd fave and was one of the few band members Rose interacted with onstage, albeit briefly.
6. Brain: (real name: Brian Mantia) The former drummer of Primus was low-key in an outfit and cap straight out of Fred Durst's closet and held down the fort just as well as Steven Adler or Matt Sorum.
7. Dizzy Reed: Unchanged since joining GNR as the keyboardist in 1991, the only blast from the past played keyboard, bongos, piano, and sang some backing vocals.
8. Chris Pittman: He's played with Tool, Lusk, Replicants, and Blinker the Star. Dressed in a biker hat and jacket, the second keyboardist also played some percussion and sang backing vocals. He's just a touring member, and a seemingly unnecessary one at that in a band already consisting of seven players.

Regardless of the weirdness of it all, the audience -- which was comprised of a younger, hipper crowd (ranging from drag queens to club kids, with just the occasional mullet-head or old school rocker mixed in) -- welcomed back Rose and his new boys with unbridled joy. On songs such as "Live and Let Die," "You Could Be Mine," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Patience," the audience's vocals drowned out the visibly elated, smiling Rose. Chants of "Welcome Back" kept that smile on Rose's face throughout the evening.

The only real dip in this joyous occasion came toward the end of the set when Rose was gracious enough to allow Buckethead to entertain, er, confuse the crowd with a performance art piece in which he twirled what appeared to be a baton or Chinese nunchuckas to a percussive beat. He followed that with a bit of robot and an unwelcome guitar solo. Aside from a few muffled boos, and a lone shout-out for Slash, the audience was actually pretty tolerant of Buckethead's eccentricities. At the end of his shtick, he handed out what looked like chocolate roses out of a KFC bucket to those up front.

Given the fact that the Thursday prior to the show (Dec. 29) was the first time Rose performed a set with this band (he never really sang at rehearsals over these past several years), the show was amazingly perfect. Rose and his new gaggle of freaks delivered the goods beyond most people's expectations.

Diehard GNR fans should check out Miss Truth for more details on the show.

Guns N' Roses set list:

1. "Welcome to the Jungle"
2. "It's So Easy"
3. "Mr. Brownstone"
4. "Live and Let Die"
5. "Oh My God"
6. "My Michelle"
7. "Think About You"
8. "You Could Be Mine"
9. "Sweet Child O' Mine"
10. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
11. "November Rain"
12. "Out Ta Get Me"
13. "Rocket Queen"
14. "Rhiad & the Bedouins"
15. "Chinese Democracy"
(Buckethead performance art and guitar solo)
16. "Patience"
17. "The Blues"
18. "Nightrain"
Encores:
19. "Silkworms"
20. "Paradise City"

-- Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna

Miss Truth

So much to say, so little space. For those who didn't get enough minute detail of the first Guns N' Roses show in seven years on Monday (Jan. 1) at the House of Blues in Las Vegas in our review in news, here are a few more tidbits to satiate your appetites:

Opening Video: At about 3:35 a.m. the huge video screen behind the small stage at the House of Blues showed a two- to three-minute animated video (similar to the animation seen in the Heavy Metal movie) showing Axl Rose looking very '80s and poking fun at himself. The video opened with Axl saying "Hi kids. It's Uncle Axl." The sound of the clip wasn't great and it was hard to see, so here's a few bits we were able to make out: he wished everyone a Happy New Year. Images in the video included a bedpan, a Diet Coke, and a sexy nurse. He said something about being "asleep for seven years" and about "cleanliness is next to, well, you get the picture." Actually, we didn't really get the picture, but whatever.

He seemed to have been poking fun at himself, which he did later in the show as well in a little spiel about how he figured the crowd expected a tantrum out of him and then we'd have something to write about the next day. But, there were no tantrums. Axl was happy, funny, endearing, and just downright perfect.

Paul Tobias: What's this guy's name? Tobias? Huge? Well, it's both. Axl first introduced his old buddy -- and one of the three guitarists in the band -- as Paul Tobias. Then he later referred to him as Paul Huge, and then finally as PHT. So, there you have it.

The Stage: Simple setup, various TV screens and lights. Stage right sported a small, white tombstone that said, "R.I.P. Here lies the bones of Henry Jones." The only Henry Jones we've heard of is a jazz saxophone player, who's played with Louis Armstrong.

Celeb Spotting: From our vantage point, there was Taime Down (Faster Pussycat, the Newlydeads), Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls, which played a separate set at the club earlier in the evening), and Chris Vrenna (ex-Nine Inch Nails).

Random Comments: After Axl told the crowd that this show was just the second time he played this set with his new band, he said, "I have a little bit of an emotional problem doing the old stuff." Axl also introduced the title track to the new record, "Chinese Democracy," with a bit of an explanation about this new fascination with China. He explained, "This isn't pro or con about China... China symbolizes the most oppressive government in the world..."

Guns N' Roses Play Vegas

By C. Bottomley

What if Guns N' Roses gave a gig and actually showed up to play? That's exactly what happened at the Las Vegas House of Blues at 3:30 a.m. on New Year's Day. And the band even unveiled four new songs from its forthcoming - fingers crossed - album Chinese Democracy. It was the first time the group had performed in seven years.

Of course, anybody expecting an onstage reunion of Axl, Slash, Duff, and Izzy might have been disappointed. Although W. Axl Rose's razorblade vocals are familiar enough, he was backed by a new-look band that included Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck, the Replicants' Chris Pittman, and avant-gardist Buckethead - who appropriately wore a KFC bucket on his head for the entire set - on guitars.

The group was rounded out by former Replacement Tommy Stinson on bass and former Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia. Fans might have recognized keyboardist Dizzy Reed, however. He joined the group for 1991's Use Your Illusion.

The set was marred by a few technical glitches and at one point the piano gave out. Axl then climbed on top of it and basked in the audience's adulation as they chanted, "Welcome back." Warming to being in the public eye again, Axl admitted that the group had only started rehearsing the previous Thursday and that he felt weird about playing GN'R's old stuff with his new band.

Most of the material came from the band's classic 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction. The group opened the set with "Welcome to the Jungle" and played favorites like "It's So Easy," "Mr. Brownstone," and "Sweet Child O' Mine." The final song of the night was "Paradise City," as it was meant to be.

On the unofficial Guns N' Roses Web site 2000 Intentions, fan Auston posted a review, saying, "I wasn't overly impressed with the new material with the exception of 'Blues' - Most was not very 'musical.'" Auston said one song was called "Chinese Democracy."

"The crowd was not as into the new songs as the old material - which is what normally happens at just about every concert," Auston wrote. "Not to say they weren't receptive, but when Axl talks about the Dali Lama [sic] as his intro to 'Chinese Democracy' he loses a bit of the momentum of the songs that get people's adrenaline pumping."

A second unofficial Web site, Here Today...Gone to Hell!, posted the following set list:

Welcome to the Jungle
Mr. Brownstone
Nightrain
Think About You
Out Ta Get Me
Oh My God
My Michelle
It's So Easy
Rocket Queen
Sweet Child O' Mine
Patience
Live and Let Die
November Rain
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
The Blues (new song)
Chinese Democracy (new song)
Untitled (new song)
You Could Be Mine
Silk Worms (new song)
Paradise City

GUNS N' ROSES MAKE TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Axl Rose and Co. return to the stage after seven-year layoff

Patience pays off

"Good morning," Axl Rose told a packed House of Blues upon taking the stage Monday morning. "I've just woke up. I've been taking a nap for about eight years."

A rejuvenated Guns n' Roses partied like it was 1994 on New Year's Eve, returning to the stage for the first time in seven years at the Las Vegas' House of Blues. Originally scheduled to go on at 1 a.m., the band finally hit the boards and sounded the first notes of "Welcome to the Jungle" at 3:35 a.m., and closed the proceedings at 5:35 a.m., after mixing many of their hits with a handful of tunes from their forthcoming album, Chinese Democracy, due out this June.

According to a source at House of Blues, the Goo Goo Dolls' set ran longer than expected, and the venue had to be totally cleared before the organizers began taking the tickets of the 1,800 strong crowd who paid out between $150 and $250 for a ticket to the sold-out show.

In addition to Rose, the new Guns n' Roses featured a sole Guns vet Dizzy Reed on keyboards. The two were joined by ex-Replacement Tommy Stinson on bass, Primus' Brian "Brain" Manita on drums, the Replicants' Chris Pitman on keyboards, Paul Tobias and Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck on guitars along with a white-faced, Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket-wearing Buckethead. The new Gn'R skillfully gamboled through a set of tried and true songs, before unleashing a flurry of songs from the band's forthcoming album, including the title track, an untitled track, "The Blues" and "Silk Worms."

"To tell you the truth, I don't think Axl Rose has ever sounded better, and I feel confident in saying this is the best show we've ever had at the House of Blues Las Vegas," enthused Dana Olliges of House of Blues. Promoter Bill Silva concurred, explaining that the refurbished band had rehearsed in Los Angeles on Thursday, and then starting loading in their instruments and stage set up late Friday night, following Chris Isaak's set. "Axl showed up at the club the next morning at 8 a.m., and they sound-checked for three hours. It sounded just as fantastic then as it did the next night onstage."

In addition to Guns' tunes old and new, Rose frequently referenced the band's hiatus. "I have traversed a treacherous sea of horrors to be with you here tonight," he told the crowd.

Guns n' Roses set list:

Welcome to the Jungle

Mr. Brownstone

Nightrain

Think About You

Out Ta Get Me

Oh My God

My Michelle

It's So Easy

Rocket Queen

Sweet Child O' Mine

Patience

Live and Let Die

November Rain

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

The Blues

Oklahoma

Chinese Democracy

Untitled

You Could Be Mine

Silk Worms

Paradise City

JAAN UHELSZKI

GUNS ‘N ROSES IN BLOOM AGAIN

Axl Rose premieres the band's new line-up in Las Vegas - but he doesn't forget the old classics...

GUNS N’ ROSES unveiled new material from their forthcoming ‘CHINESE DEMOCRACY’ album at their first gig for seven years at LAS VEGAS HOUSE OF BLUES on NEW YEAR’S EVE.

The two-hour set began three hours late at 3.30am, kicking off with ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and according to fan reports on the unofficial website www.gnr.com.ar, the set was primarily drawn from the ‘Appetite For Destruction’ album, while five new songs were aired. They were called ‘The Blues’, ‘Chinese Democracy’, ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Oh My God’ and ‘Silk Worms’.

One fan, Auston, posted a review on 2000 Intentions’ unofficial site messageboard, saying that with the exception of ‘The Blues’ most of the new material “wasn’t very musical,” but the gig overall was “fantastic, worth every penny”.

New guitarist Buckethead played the entire gig with a KFC bucket on his head and a white Phantom Of The Opera-style mask on his face. As the stage wasn’t very big, the backdrop was minimal, with a video screen projecting images including war atrocities and swimming dolphins.

The set also included the majority of the band’s classic tracks, including ‘It’s So Easy’, ‘Mr Brownstone’, ‘Live And Let Die’, ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Nightrain’, ‘Oh My God’, ‘My Michelle’, ‘November Rain’ and ‘You Could Be Mine’.

The only original members of the band who remain from its previous incarnation are frontman Axl Rose and Dizzy Reed on keyboards. There were a few technical glitches, with a relaxed-looking Axl declaring that they had only begun rehearsing for the show the Thursday before (December 28). During a technical hitch, when the piano wasn’t working properly during ‘Patience’, he sat on top of it and the crowd began to chant “welcome back”.

Guns N' Roses play their first live show in seven years

EW.com is in Las Vegas as Axl Rose debuts his new band

By Brian M. Raftery

While most New Year’s celebrants were busy heralding 2001, a group of revelers at Las Vegas’ House of Blues were experiencing a scene straight out of 1987: rock & roll wild man Axl Rose leading Guns N’ Roses through a two hour live set to an audience decked out in their finest faded GNR T shirts. The high profile, high cost gig (tickets were $100 and up) — the first GNR show since 1993 — comes after years of industry and online gossip portraying Rose as either a reclusive genius or a misfit nutjob. And while Sunday’s show — which featured Rose fronting a new lineup that played four songs from the upcoming ”Chinese Democracy” album — didn’t answer all the questions, it did clear up a few longstanding GNR lies.

MYTH NO. 1 GNR have been reduced to Axl Rose and a bunch of interchangeable backing musicians.
Granted, the monomonikered members of the past — Slash, Izzy, and Duff — have left, but the new band is hardly a bunch of hired guns. In addition to keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who joined the group for its ”Use Your Illusion” double album, GNR include former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, Primus drummer Bryan ”Brain” Mantia, experimental guitarist Buckethead, and bassist Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, whom Rose introduced as ”the man who comes from the band with the perfect name for this organization.”

MYTH NO. 2 Thanks to Rose’s increased interest in groups like Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM, GNR have developed a techno/ industrial/ whatever sound.
If the four new songs previewed on New Year’s are any indication, Rose has indeed expanded his listening interests — though don’t expect to see him dressed all in black and covering avant garde German dance acts anytime soon. While one untitled number did showcase a far more aggressive sound — combining a throbbing bass line with ferocious industrial age guitar riffs — the real crowd pleaser was a melodic piano and power chord anthem called ”The Blues,” which could have been a ”Use Your Illusion” outtake.

MYTH NO. 3 The new GNR want to avoid playing the old songs.
No f!@#in’ way! Though Rose half jokingly described having ”a little bit of an emotional problem working through the old stuff,” the House of Blues show was practically a greatest hits medley, opening with ”Welcome to the Jungle” and moving through most of 1987’s ”Appetite for Destruction.” (A few familiar covers — ”Live and Let Die” and ”Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” — and a handful of other cuts from ”Use Your Illusion” were added for good measure.) Most versions remained faithful to the originals, though a beefed up arrangement of the sparse acoustic ballad ”Patience” felt bloated.

MYTH NO. 4 In the past few years, Rose has become a bona fide rock & roll eccentric.
We may need a little patience answering this one — if we ever find out at all. But Rose addressed the talk of Howard Hughes like lunacy by opening the show with a crude cartoon depicting an animated Axl storing his urine in a jar and hanging out with a crew of spiritual advisers. As for his appearance, the trademark bandanna and aviator shades may have been missing, but Rose has kept the long hair and serpent like dance moves intact. It would be hard for him to cruise the Sunset Strip — or a Van Halen reunion party — unnoticed.

Axl ... Who?

The return of a smokin' Guns N' Roses.

By Brian M. Raftery

Axl wasn’t going to show up.

If the rumors shimmying up and down the line outside Las Vegas’ House of Blues — where 300 or so rowdy celebrants had just finished ringing in the New Year — were to be believed, the much-anticipated return of Guns N’ Roses and its volatile, 38-year-old frontman, Axl Rose, would prove to be a great rock & roll swindle. The singer would bail out, the naysayers insisted, unable to handle the pressure of performing live for the first time in seven years. Or, he would show up, completely unrecognizable, and plow through a bunch of equally unfamiliar songs before leaving.

The tension was understandable. Though GN’R reigned as one of the most successful bands of the late ’80s and early ’90s — its 1987 breakthrough, Appetite for Destruction, still sells an average 9,000 copies a week, according to SoundScan — Rose dropped out of the spotlight shortly after the band’s 1993 world tour, eventually severing ties with all of the group’s remaining members and trying in vain to record a new album. The shift from high-profile, troublemaking celeb to rock & roll recluse made Rose the subject of rumors of Howard Hughes-like eccentricity. Rampant, too, was speculation on his physical appearance. In fact, for many the thrill was just to get a glimpse of the singer. ”I want to see if he’s fat,” said John Parrott, a 34-year-old marketing executive from L.A. ”I want to see if he’s porked out like the rest of us during the last seven years.”

Those hoping to witness Rose in action had to fork out big bucks: Tickets for the show, priced at $150, sold out in minutes, and since no photography was allowed, security spent much of the evening confiscating cameras from would-be paparazzi in the crowd (”If [Rose] sees a flash, he’s leaving,” one guard cautioned).

It wasn’t until 3:30 a.m. that fans got their first look. Dressed in track pants and a black, dragon-embossed shirt that resembled a pajama top (and sans the trademark bandanna and aviator glasses), Rose strutted out to the snakelike guitar riff of ”Welcome to the Jungle” and unleashed his patented high-pitched howl. From there, he and his newly reconstituted GN’R — which includes former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, and avant-garde guitarist Buckethead — tore through a rowdy two-hour set, drawing heavily from Appetite and providing a brief first listen to Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited and perennially promised comeback album now slated for release, um, this year. The night’s four new songs proved to be the biggest head-scratchers: For all the speculation that Rose had turned to sonic experimentalists like Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM for inspiration, the material didn’t lean toward any particular sound. Only one unnamed number, with its thrash-and-dance style, showed any sign of industrial influence, while a crowd-pleasing power-chord anthem called ”The Blues” echoed vintage Guns N’ Roses.

The infamously temper-prone Rose, however, seemed far removed from his on-stage griping of the past. ”You’re embarrassing me,” he told the pumped-up audience with a smile as they chanted ”Welcome back.” Even a few technical glitches didn’t trip him up. ”Let’s do ‘Patience,’ because that’s what I’m going to try to experience right now,” he joked after an onstage monitor went haywire.

Axl Makes Triumphant Return To Concert Stage For The First Performance In Eight Years


"Everyone needs some time on their own, everyone needs some time all alone." He sang with such passion, it was as if he was explaining his absence from our lives for so long. And the audience sang with him with such an intensity as if they understood...

"Good morning! I just woke up. I took a nap for about 8 years!" That's what Axl Rose told the crowd of onlookers still in awe at the fact that this rock n' roll icon was actually standing right before their very eyes. What a way to bring in the New Year!

Axl Rose and the new Guns N'Roses line-up burst onto the unbelievably intimate stage at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV, like a force not to be reckoned with. 3:30 AM, January 1st, 2001 will go down in the history books (screw the new millennium) and mark Axl?s return to the fans that have loved and missed him for too many years. "Do you know where you are? You're in the jungle baby," he screeched during the opening song and carried on with such an impeccable perfection it made you feel like he was welcoming you into his jungle for the first time ever!

During the powerhouse two hour set, GN'R cranked through practically the entire Appetite For Destruction album with confidence. They snuck in a few songs from Use Your Illusion I - "Live & Let Die," "Don't Cry" and the epic "November Rain" featuring Axl's return behind the piano. Mixed in were hits from Use Your Illusion II - "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "You Could Be Mine," as well as one track from GN?R Lies - "Patience." They broke out a few new tunes including the previously released track "Oh My God," the new title track to the long awaited album, Chinese Democracy and a song entitled, "The Blues," which kicked some serious ass and was well received by the audience.

Axl's back with a vengeance; and he's taking no prisoners. After an incredibly long break that, he sarcastically yet sincerely said, was necessary to deal with some emotions he had in reference to singing the old band's music. And thank the heaven?s above that he finally got over it, 'cause the world's been missing out on and foaming at the mouth just to hear him again.

He may be with all new players, but trust me, there were times if you just closed your eyes, you felt the same way that you did over a decade ago. Yeah, everyone misses the old line-up and it's gonna be hard to get used to the new, but change isn't always a bad thing. The "new guys" held their own. After all, those are some fuckin' tough shoes to fill! Fans loved every single member of the old GN'R. True. And every single one of them will be missed, but kudos to the new guys for stepping in. And kudos to Axl for finally bringing it back to us. Like the old members, the new all have their own individual identity on the stage. And they're all amazing musicians. You can't condemn them just because they weren't part of the band since the beginning. It's not their fault and they're in the band now. So you either accept it or not. It's your call, but they sounded pretty damn good to me.

The introductions of his new lineup went smoother than expected. The audience greeted them rather warmly (with the occasional cry for Slash), but by the end of the night, the crowd seemed to grow more accepting of the band. It'll take some time getting used to, especially since Guns N' Roses was always known as a "true band," but as Axl said onstage when he introduced bassist Tommy Stinson, he comes from a band whose name is synonymous with what this industry is known for. . .The Replacements. GN'R proved they can still make it work with the "new guys:" Stinson, Brian (Brain) Mantia (former Primus) on drums, Chris Pitman and Dizzy Reed (old gunner) on keyboards, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck (ex-NIN) and Buckethead on guitars. (It would be different if the old band was trying to replace Axl, that would be impossible! No one can be Slash, no one is Slash, or Izzy or Duff or Steven or Matt, but they came pretty damn close. Let's face it, no one can be Axl or even come close.

Axl's a rock star. Plain and simple. He's a frontman like no other with a set of pipes that can easily blow anyone off the stage. He wailed, he inhaled, that "yowser" sweet inhale that only he can do, and he sang with such a passion and force that it sent chills down your spine, to the point where you had to pinch yourself just to make sure you weren't dreaming.

Not only did he sound amazing, he looked amazing. All of those rumors of a balding, bloated Axl can be put to rest (although most of them were dismissed after he surfaced back in June to jam onstage with Gilby Clarke at the Cat Club in Los Angeles). His hair's a bit shorter, but still full flowing and shiny enough to be in a Pantene commercial. He looked comfortable onstage with a pair of black Adidas - like jogging pants with red stripes down either side and a black (and later white) button down shirt with a dragon painted on it. He swayed the "Axl sway" and spun the mic stand around ferociously. His energy level was different though. There was a new found maturity and stealth to his undeniable presence and movements. Not as erratic or as hyped up as he was before, but hell, this was his first show back! (And he still had the audience by the balls the entire time!)

He's still got the attitude and edge we've all grown to love. But that's also different. There were no rants, no raves, no smashing, no bashing, no real threat of not knowing when he was going to fly off the handle. There was a sense of lightheartedness on the stage that made you feel comfortable and at ease. When the piano didn?t work at the beginning of a new song they were about to expose to the crowd, there was moment of tension in the audience. For a minute, you almost expected him to explode and thought that heads would be rolling, but to everyone's surprise (including Axl's), he chose to move onto a different song while the problem was fixed and decided to practice a little "Patience" (the song he picked to play). With a great sense of humor, he mocked his notorious past onstage outbursts and opted against throwing a "tantrum." At one point, Axl even prided himself on the fact that this time around was unusual. He confessed that he actually attended practice, rehearsal, and soundcheck and claimed that was a first in 15 years!

At times, he joked around with the other members, laughing and smiling. He treated his crew with an unprecedented amount of respect that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Axl and the new GN'R seemed to have a genuinely great time and so did the audience. He connected to each and every one of them gazing at them with the same awe in which we were gazing at him, seeming to enjoy playing the music we've longed for, as much as we enjoyed listening to and watchin' it. It was hard to take your eyes off him.

As he sat on the piano gathering up his "Patience," the room burst into a chant, "Welcome Back... Welcome Back..." It was a time for goosebumps and welled up eyes. The room exploded with love and an invitation for Axl back into our hearts. The smile on his face was absolutely indescribable. He thanked the audience with a genuine amount of pride to be right back where he belongs. He admitted that he was beginning to blush and said, with a shyness that rarely comes out on a stage that he's always in complete control of, "now you're embarrassing me." And then he sang the words to that song that we've all whistled to a thousand times before, "just a little patience...yeah, yeah, some more patience..." It was as if Axl was thanking us for waiting for him to come back. Deep inside, it felt like he was connecting and telling a bit of an autobiography some how, some way. And when he roared his final line to that song, "oooohhhh I need you, ooohh, I need you, this time," you almost felt like screaming back, "we need you too!" The show was an emotionally draining experience that was flabbergasting, breathtaking and exhilarating all at the same time. "It's a feeling that I know, I know I'll never forget."

- A DIE HARD GN'R FAN

Set List: (May not be in exact order)

Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Live And Let Die
Oh My God
My Michelle
You Could Be Mine
Think About You
Sweet Child O' Mine
Knocking On Heavens Door
(New Song)
The Blues (New Song)
Patience
November Rain
Rocket Queen
Brain Drum Solo
Buckethead Guitar Solo
Out To Get Me
Chinese Democracy (New Song)

Encore:

Silk Worms (New Song)
Paradise City

In the early hours of January 1, GN'R played their first new show at Las Vegas' House Of Blues. Taking to the stage at 3:38am, the eight-man band played a slew of old material, plus four new songs - 'Blues', 'Chinese Democracy', 'Silk Worms' and 'Oklahoma'- plus the metallic 'End Of Days' soundtrack tune 'Oh My God'.

The show was preceded by a cartoon on a 25-ft screen which lampooned the general perception of Rose as a mad hermit. Axl was depicted in bed, talking to Buddha and aliens.

After appearing onstage, Rose told the crowd, who had paid in excess of $150 for tickets, 'Good morning. I've just woke up. I've been taking a nap for about eight years.' He later responded to the crowd's cries of 'Welcome back!' with 'Now you're embarrassing me!'

The latest incarnation of the band also features ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, eccentric LA guitarist Buckethead, guitarist Paul Tobias, ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, former Primus drummer Brain (aka Brian Mantian), keyboardist Dizzy Reed and second keyboardist/percussionist Chris Pittman, who worked on Tool's 'Aenima' album. At one point in the set, the aforementioned Buckethead-who literally wears a KFC bucket as a hat-did a brief piece of performance art, involving robotic dancing and the material arts weapons nunchaku.

Guns are currently rehearsing in LA and preparing themselves for their appearance at Brazil's Rock In Rio event on January 14. As soon as the UK shows are confirmed, we'll let you know.

'They kicked ass!'

Reaction to GN'R's Vegas gig...

Holtz, a fan at the gig: 'Axl looked in good shape, like he has been lifting weights. He has all his hair and isn't fat, despite the rumours.'

LA Times: 'Rose marched abruptly to the stage, his red hair back down to his shoulders, his wailing vocals easily hitting the old screeching high notes.
For all the mystery and uncertainty that has surrounded him in recent years, it was like he'd never left.'

Denise, a fan at the gig: 'I had more fun than I'd had in years. The band totally kicked ass. The new songs are like nothing else going on right now, as far as I know. I have a bruise on my wrist where I got hit by Buckethead's nunchaku!'

New York Times: 'To watch the new Mr Rose-simulatneously serious, self-mocking and self-consious- was to watch a man trapped, perhaps more by himself than his fans. Only in the first song of their encore, a hard-driving electronic rave-up that sounded like a Chemical Brothers remix of Guns N' Roses, did the audience get a glimpse of the music that the band really seemed to want to play.'

Lourenco, a fan at the gig: 'Axl was funny. There were a few technical glitches with the sound and the piano and he said how before he would have thrown a fit and all the papers would have written about what an asshole he is. I wasn't overly impressed with the new material-most of it was not very 'musical'. The show was fantastic-worth every penny.'

By A Diehard Fan

Welcome To The New Jungle

A lot of people are caught up on the fact that Axl Rose is still using the Guns N' Roses name without the rest of the guys being in the band. "How can he do that?!" Diehards scream, and many are bashing Axl, bashing the new lineup, bashing the fact that the old lineup isn't together, bashing the new GN'R songs, before they even hear them. Yes, I realize that the original Guns N' Roses is no longer together and the new band is not the old band. But, put aside that kind of thinking for once and remember what rock n' roll is about. Rock n' roll is not about thinking, it's about feeling. It's about feeling the songs, feeling the lyrics, feeling the vibe. Feeling the music. So open your soul and leave your personal politics aside. With that in mind, this is my take on a night in Las Vegas - New Year's Eve 2001 - when the unthinkable happened: Axl Rose took the stage after an eight year hiatus with his new Guns N' Roses lineup.

My heart was thumping, my pulse was racing faster than Mario Andretti and adrenaline was pumping harder than Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a hell of a journey to get there, and I still couldn't believe it was happening. I was talking to a newfound Friend, and we were about to pinch each other just to confirm that it was true. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours and I didn't give a @#%$. Axl Rose was about to take the stage with the new GN'R lineup. My mind was spinning and my legs were shaking. What was he gonna look like? What was he gonna sound like? What was the band gonna sound like? Would they play old songs? New ones? Will Axl actually show up? I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was there was no place in the world I would rather be. There was no other way I would like to bring in the New Year. My anticipation was building so high I thought I was gonna burst. I felt like I had been waiting to see Axl Rose sing for longer than GN'R had even been together.

Looking around at the crowd, I got a really weird vibe. Does anyone even live in Las Vegas? There was such a mixture of faces --- Some people you can tell were old school diehards, some younger kids who probably have never even had the pleasure of seeing GN'R live 'back in the day,' and some people who just didn't look like they belonged at a rock show… Makes it all the better, though. To look at such a mixture of faces makes you realize just how many different people GN'R has touched over the years. Everyone was in great spirits, probably still drunk from bringing in the New Year just a few hours before. At 3:30am, it was time. The crowd was frantically cheering. I was ecstatic, smiling ear to ear, glowing with excitement and anxiety. I felt as if I were a teenager again and this was the first concert I'd ever been to. Every other anxiety I've ever experienced in life was lessened. I'm about to see Guns N' Roses man!

The stage was filled with televisions upon televisions, stacked on top of one another. Suddenly they came alive and a cartoon image of Axl appeared. Much of it was a blur as I kept looking off to the side of the stage trying to catch a glimpse of the living legend. I do remember the cartoon Axl professing "Uncle Axl's newfound lack of dependence on drugs. The crowd started growing impatient and then Axl Rose burst onto the stage with shades covering his eyes.

All the questions that were up in the air for all these years, floating around through my head as recently as 10 minutes prior, suddenly found answers. He looked phenomenal, still had a full head of strawberry red hair, and a great figure. And then he opened his mouth --- "You know where you are, you're in the jungle baby." It was enough to send chills down your spine. "I wanna hear you scream." Axl was back, and better than before. He looked comfortable onstage, wearing a pair of black Adidas track pants with red stripes down either side, and a black (and later white) button down shirt with a dragon printed on it. He swayed the "Axl sway" and spun the mike stand ferociously. His energy level was different, though. There was a new maturity and stealth in his undeniable presence and movements. He wasn't as erratic or hyped up as he was before, but hell, this was his first show back in over eight years, and he still had the audience by the balls the entire time.

Once he took off his shades, you could see Axl staring at you in the same awe in which we were staring at him. It seemed like he was genuinely excited to get back on the stage, just as excited as we were seeing him there. Throughout the night, Axl Rose spoke to the crowd the way you talk to your friends. He joked about having just woke up from an eight year nap and said that he's had to deal with the emotions he had on playing the old band's music. At one point, Axl even prided himself on the fact that this time around was different. He said that unlike the past 15 years, he actually attended practice, rehearsal, and soundcheck.

It was weird to look up and not see Slash or Izzy or Duff or Matt or Steven, but just as we got used to Matt after Steven left, I think it's safe to say there's a chance we'll warm up to the new band. I know I did. And that was only the first show. Axl said it best when he introduced Tommy Stinson saying, "Tommy's old band's name is synonymous with the music industry, it's filled with The Replacements." Joining "the replacement" bassist in the new lineup were Primus' Brian "Brain" Mantia on drums, keyboardists Chris Pitman and Dizzy Reed, and guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck, and Paul Tobias --- someone Axl referred to as, "An old pal who used to fight with him over who was a better band, Queen or Led Zepplin." They're all amazing musicians who had some tough @#%$ shoes to fill, and they did a damn good job. The audience responded with a warm --- yet hesitant --- welcome during the introductions (with the occasional cry out for Slash), but I swear, if you closed your eyes, at times it was hard to tell the difference. Especially when hearing the voice of magic, a voice like no other… The voice of Axl Rose.

It was as if he kept his voice bottled up… Rose sounded better than he did 14 years ago, hitting and holding every note with precision and passion, spicing it up with his "yowser" inhales that only he could do. He was on top of his game. During the powerhouse 2 hour set, Axl and all his new guns were fired up. There was lots of joking and laughing among the members as they pretty much flawlessly blasted through almost all of Appetite For Destruction. When's the last time you heard "Think About You" live? Imagine the feeling, imagine the emotions that run through your mind. It took me back to that time and that place, yet the songs still stand strong today. There aren't very many songs that can stand the test of time like GN'R songs --- 14 years (and a huge lineup change) later and they still sounded like they were breaking ground with a new revolution in rock history. The whole band played so intensely, you could feel the vibe --- You felt like you were connecting to Axl, to the new band, and to the person standing next to you.

They added a couple of tracks from Use Your Illusion I and II, including the covers "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Live and Let Die," as well as "Don't Cry" and the infamous "November Rain." They also threw in a little "Patience" from GN'R Lies. They broke out four new tunes, plus they're previously released "Oh My God." The new songs included the title track to "Chinese Democracy," "Silkworms," an untitled song, and "The Blues," a song that made you feel like you did the first time you listened to Appetite. Let the anticipation for the long awaited new album begin…

Axl's still got the attitude and edge we've all grown to love, but that was also different. There were no rants, no raves, no bashing, no real threat of not knowing when he was going to fly off the handle. There was a sense of lightheartedness on the stage that made you feel comfortable and at ease. When the piano didn't work at the beginning of a new song they were about to expose to the crowd, there was a moment of tension in the audience --- for a minute, you almost expected him to explode and thought that heads would be rolling. But to everyone's surprise (including Axl's), he chose to move onto a different song while the problem was fixed, opting to practice a little " Patience" (the song they chose to play). With a great sense of humor, he mocked his notorious outbursts.

As he sat at the piano, the room burst into a chant "Welcome Back… Welcome Back…" It was a time for goosebumps and welled up eyes. The room exploded with love and an invitation for Axl back into their hearts. The smile on his face was absolutely indescribable. He thanked the audience with a genuine show of pride, pleased to be right back where he belongs. He admitted that he was beginning to blush, and said with a shyness that rarely comes out on a stage that he's always in complete control of, "Now you're embarrassing me." Then he sang the words to that song we've all whistled a thousand times before, "Just a little patience… Yeah, yeah, some more patience…" It was as if Axl was thanking us for waiting for him to come back. Deep inside, it felt like he was connecting, unveiling a bit of an autobiography. And when he roared his final line to that song ---- "Oooohhhh I need you, ooohh, I need you, this time" ---- you almost felt like screaming back, "We need you too!" The show was an emotionally draining experience that was flabbergasting, breathtaking and exhilarating, all at the same time. "It's a feeling that I know, I know I'll never forget."

The show ended at 5:30am, and Axl slammed his red foam mike onto the ground after an amazing performance and a show stopping encore of "Paradise City." Not out of anger though, kind of like a feeling of accomplishment, that sigh of relief that comes afterward. He wished everyone a Happy New Year and walked offstage, but then ran back on to tell the audience and crew that whoever got the mic, can keep it.

Axl Rose chose a city full of gaudiness and bright lights as the venue for his return to performing, the complete opposite of the straight up, raw rock n' roll that he brought with him. But on the Eve of the New Year 2001, Axl Rose was the only light on the Strip. He shined brighter than all the glitz and glamour, and he packed more of a punch than the fireworks that exploded atop the hotel rooftops just a few hours before. When the show ended, I was floored and my adrenaline was pumping just as hard as it was before the show.

Lately, everyone's been peaking around the corner, trying to figure out what the hell will change the face of rock, what will bring it back into the forefront… Perhaps, Axl is the man to lead the change.

JANUARY 2ND, 2001
Happy New Year! The Photographic History page is now up for your enjoyment. As you all know, the new Guns N' Roses played their first gig in Vegas. Jamie Adler, Steven's brother, was in attendance. The show was great! It's sad when you consider how five friends formed a band in the eighties, worked really hard to establish themselves and worked with each other to get themselves signed. Together they acheived that goal, and then they toured their asses off to promote their album. Each member individually had a cool look that helped broaden their appeal. The music they created, that they are responsible for establishing, is being now played by hired musicians under the guise of Guns N Roses. It's almost disrespectful when you consider that some of the other original members would love to be a part of Guns N Roses again. I apologize for the editorial, and I am well aware of your varying opinions. I'm just an old school fan for life!