2002.12.03 - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, USA

Guns N’ Roses, sort of, plays the Civic Center

At its height, Guns N’ Roses was untouchable. The band’s turbo-aggressive debut, 1987’s “Appetite for Destruction,” was one of the most culturally important albums of the 1980s—heck, and ’90s—and single-handedly cleared away the glam-metal detritus littering the music industry.

The All Music Guide describes the band as raucous, sleazy, confrontational, rebellious and hostile. All of those are true. With the banshee voice of Axl Rose and the deafening guitar riffs of Slash, Guns N’ Roses pioneered an extra-nihilistic brand of hedonism with songs about violence, sex, violence and drugs. And sex. Trouble is, the musicians lived the life they sang about, which prompted a decline nearly as spectacular as he band’s ascent.

Rose is now the only remaining band member from the “Appetite” era, having fallen out with everyone else. For years he has been rumored to be nearly finished with a supposedly brilliant comeback album, “Chinese Democracy,” but—much like the real thing — it never actually happens.

A re-constituted Gun N’ Roses performed at the MTV Video Music Awards in August and hits the Hartford Civic Center on Tuesday night. Rose has assembled a group of excellent musicians, including guitarist Buckethead (who does, in fact, wear a KFC bucket on his head) and former Primus drummer Brian “Brain” Mantia.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show are $56.50 and $36.50. Information: 860-727-8010.

— ERIC R. DANTON

Refitted Guns N’ Roses Does OK

By ERIC R. DANTON
COURANT ROCK CRITIC

“Chinese Democracy Starts Now,” read the Guns N’ Roses T-shirts for sale Tuesday night at the Hartford Civic Center.

“Now” was apparently a synonym for “whenever Axl Rose feels good and ready to start,” which didn’t happen until 10:40, after an hourlong display of what concertgoer Ryan Adams called “Hessian pageantry” - bare female skin on the video screens on either side of the stage.

When Rose and the group of musicians he insists is Guns N’ Roses finally took the stage to the riotous opening chords of “Welcome to the Jungle,” however, the preceding hourlong set from Mixmaster Mike and the intervening Breast Hour almost seemed worthwhile.

After all, it had been nearly a decade since the band’s last North American tour, in 1993. The group pretty much imploded after that, with just about everyone but Rose calling it quits. Since then, Axl has spent years (and a lot of money) feverishly working on an album called “Chinese Democracy,” an alleged masterpiece so astounding that it seemed as though mere mortal ears might not be worthy of hearing it.

But lo, “Chinese Democracy” is said to be almost ready, and Rose is back on the road with Guns N’ Roses. Kind of. No, he and guitarist Slash haven’t settled their differences; there’s no Duff McKagan on bass. Instead, Rose assembled a lineup of top-quality pros, including guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck and Richard Fortus; bassist Tommy Stinson, of Replacements fame; keyboardists Chris Pitman and Dizzy Reed, who joined the band in 1990; and drummer Brian “Brain” Mantia, formerly of Primus.

They are outstanding musicians, capable of playing whatever they’re asked to. Buckethead, Finck and Fortus did a fine job re-creating the guitar parts on “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “November Rain,” among others, but it took all three of them to equal the Slash-Izzy Stradlin combination of old. Buckethead is the least emotive guitar player ever. Wearing an expressionless Michael Myers “Halloween” mask and a KFC bucket on his head, he seemed to hardly move while playing, yet he kept popping up in different places on stage. Creepy.

Rose sounded surprisingly good—much better, in fact, than he did during the band’s surprise appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards in August. His vocals are more brittle now, and he can’t belt out the high notes the way he once did, but he wailed fittingly on “Sweet Child” and sounded aggressive enough on "Mr. Brownstone.”

Punk-metal hybrid CKY opened the show.

Guns N' Roses misfires

By DONNIE MOORHOUSE

HARTFORD - There were moments when it almost seemed worth the wait.

Guns N' Roses finally showed up at Hartford Civic Center Tuesday night in support of the release of its long-awaited CD "Chinese Democracy." With only one remaining original member, leader Axl Rose, the term "finally" fits nicely with any discussion of the band.

The band made it to the stage at 10:40 p.m. in an event scheduled to start at 7:30. Openers were done at 9:15 p.m. Basic math will reveal an awful lot of downtime. How did fans fill that downtime?

Many took part in a reality TV show of sorts as the Guns' film crew moved from one female fan to the next (with video displayed live on two giant screens) looking for those who would be willing to engage in a bit of self-exposure. The Hartford contingent was happy to oblige. The skin-fest descended into soft-porn.

The diversion served to prevent fans from rioting, as they grew more and more angry at the seemingly endless delay.

When Rose finally stepped into the spotlight, he joked about his legendary tardiness.

"Tell the truth," he asked. "Did you think we were coming?"

Opening with "Welcome to the Jungle," Rose and his reconstituted Guns seemed poised to offer a passable waltz through nostalgialand. The euphoria quickly waned and the comedown was hard.

The new band is seven-strong, but can't muster the thunder of the original Guns N' Roses. Guitarist Buckethead (ceramic mask, KFC bucket hat) was the lone standout, if only because of his macabre presence.

Following the set list that has followed the group around on this tour, they forged ahead with flat versions of "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone."

Rose then went into cover mode with a version of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die." McCartney performed that very song just over a month ago on the same stage and, while Rose had exploding fireballs, the original version won out easily.

The performance continued to flatline through "Think About You" and "You Could Be Mine" before gaining some footing on "Sweet Child of Mine" as glimpses of past glory were revealed. "November Rain," with Axl on the grand piano and a Buckethead solo also served as highlights, but the group succumbed to mediocre performances of "Rocket Queen" and "Chinese Democracy" before resurrecting the set with the ballad "Patience."