2013.03.16 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Australia

Axl Rose rolls out the hits as Gun N' Roses play through rain in Melbourne

James Wigney
From: Herald Sun
March 17, 2013 9:59AM

NOVEMBER Rain was a massive hit for Guns N' Roses in 1992 but it was March rain - and plenty of it - that put a dampener on the veteran hard rockers' return to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl last night.

The grim and soggy weather doubtlessly kept plenty away – and somewhat thin crowd suggested the love for retro rock and the nostalgia for the time when lead singer Axl Rose's penchant for kilts and bike pants passed for high fashion may have been slightly overestimated.

But those who braved the elements were treated to a solid if not spectacular two-and-a-half hour show, crammed full of hits, a few misses and a smattering of well-chosen covers.

Although these days it's more like Guns For Hire and Roses, with Axl the lone remaining member of the classic Gunners line-up, there is still no denying the enduring power of the music and the band’s golden run of albums from Appetite For Destruction to G N’ R Lies and Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 have aged much better than many of their big-haired contemporaries. Certainly that's what the fired-up fans had come to hear so it was a little baffling that the band played as much as it did from Chinese Democracy, the long awaited 2008 comeback album, which was one of the most crushing disappointments in rock history.

The biggest cheers came for rock classics including Mr Brownstone, You Could Be Mine, Sweet Child O’Mine and the still soaring power ballad November Rain.

If at times the show had the feel of a Gunners covers band, it was a damned good one. Replacement guitarist DJ Ashba made for a more than serviceable Slash-alike, right down to the top hat of sorts, peeling off searing guitar solos that stacked up to the originals. He was ably supported on guitar duty by Richard Fortus and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, with plenty of ‘80s style posturing and even a double-necked guitar that strayed dangerously close to Spinal Tap territory.

And if Rose’s voice is not quite what is used to be, the crowd was more than willing to help him out, spouting back every word, particularly on covers such as Live and Let Die and Knocking On Heaven’s Door.

There were touches of ‘80s excess with the booming pyrotechnics as well as a bizarre reminder of their bad-boy past, with a leather clad woman brought out on stage to bare her boobs for no apparent reason but to roars of approval from the mainly male audience.

A true fans’ moment came when Rose called out veteran rocker Angry Anderson, who had earlier played a support set with Rose Tattoo (an early influence on the Gunners), to join him singing the Aussie band’s Nice Boys.

Guns N’ Roses play the Myer Music Bowl again tonight. Tickets still available from Ticketmaster.

They’ve still got it, and we still want it

Date March 17, 2013 - 10:06AM
Brett Woodward

Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Saturday 16 March

According to a well-informed super-fan – shivering under a plastic poncho at the rain-soaked Sidney Myer Music Bowl – Axl Rose made Melbourne Guns N’ Roses fans wait an absurdly long time, while he consulted his tour psychic, before finally stumbling onstage during his last visit.

It was a very different man who bounded into the spotlight on Saturday night, bang on time, amid outrageous pyrotechnics. The only pauses in the Gunners two and a half hour set were for the occasional costume change, as the inimitably charismatic Rose worked his way through a collection of Stetsons and a wardrobe adorned with rattlesnakes.

An eight-piece, triple guitar, line-up of Guns N’ Roses executed flawless performances of Sweet Child O' Mine, November Rain, It's So Easy, Mr. Brownstone and Don't Cry, plus covers they’ve practically made their own like Wings’ Live and Let Die and Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
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Guitarist DJ Ashba took his role as Guns N’ Roses crowd liaison seriously. When he wasn’t mugging for cheers and saluting the drenched throng on the hill, he was flicking souvenir guitar picks to adoring fans.

Ashba’s stop-start tease during the instantly recognisable opening riff of Welcome to the Jungle drew ecstatic roars from an audience who had already forgotten the endless drizzle.

At 51, Axl Rose can still pull off his signature shimmy and twirl dance move. More importantly, the quality of his voice is still phenomenal – from power-ballad croon to famed falsetto.

In a delightful gesture he called up support act Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson to duet on the Tatts’ sleazy Nice Boys, which Guns N’ Roses covered on their 1986 EP, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

Rose’s eccentricities – for better or worse – were also paraded. After a thunderous rendition of The Who’s The Seeker, he poured and served beers to a couple of delighted front row fans from a draft tap installed on the drum riser.

Then, a bizarre interlude when Rose summoned a, let’s say, young lady paying her way through Law School from backstage, unzipped her skin-tight biker jacket and bounced peanuts off her ample, naked bosom while trying to catch them in his mouth!

Undoubtedly a clumsy attempt at reviving the dim memory of ‘The Most Dangerous Band in the World’ days that was thankfully forgotten as Guns N’ Roses launched into a killer finale of Nightrain, Patience and Paradise City. They’ve still got it, and we still want it.