2006.09.17 - The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, USA

GN'R needs to trim fat

By JASON BRACELIN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

"All we need is just a little patience," Axl Rose sang, and the Guns N' Roses frontman wasn't lyin': His band's padded set at The Joint on Sunday came coated in so much lard that you could feel your arteries clog as the group played.

In addition to a pair of piano jams, there was not one, not two, but three extended guitar solo interludes by the band's trio of guitarists — the worst of which was by Richard Fortus, who actually turned in an instrumental rendition of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" for some reason.

All these detours took a wrecking ball to the considerable amount of momentum that Rose and company had worked hard to establish.

Taking the stage in sunglasses, jeans and a white T-shirt that declared him an "Assassin of Youth," Rose was a commanding presence from the start, spinning himself in circles with arms outstretched as he sang, holding the mic stand above his head triumphantly, like a prizefighter who had just KO'd some stubborn foe.

Heavily mining GN'R's debut, "Appetite For Destruction," the band worked itself into a lather on an opening suite full of gritty, hardscrabble urban blues — songs like "Welcome to the Jungle," "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" — mean tunes about living hard in the hard part of town, which often sound as if they're sung through clenched teeth.

GN'R is at their best when making nasty primal urges and a vengeful pathos something you can dance to — such as on the paranoid gut punch of "Out To Get Me" or the libidinous fatalism of "Nightrain" — and their early material is powered by a sultry rage.

Nowadays, the group takes a more expansive view of the alienation and dystopia that has informed much of GN'R's repertoire, and the band's sound follows suit.

This became especially evident as the group worked through a handful of selections from their long-delayed album "Chinese Democracy," the best of which was "Madagascar," a dusky, dramatic ballad with percolating electronic drums and sweeping guitar solos. Other new tunes included the similarly grandiose "The Blues," and moody rockers "IRS" and "Better."

Through it all, Rose proved to still be strong of voice, shrieking through "Sweet Child O' Mine" like nails were being pounded into his wrists. He would occasionally get winded though, and his voice was frequently lost in the mix on songs like "Live and Let Die" and "You Could Be Mine."

Still, Rose seemed to be in good spirits, smiling broadly and bounding about the stage like an aerobics instructor.

He even alluded to making amends with some of his former bandmates. "We asked Izzy to come here," Rose says of ex-GN'R guitarist Izzy Stradlin. "But I think he's somewhere in the desert, driving around in a truck. But it's all good. He sends his mojo."

Maybe so, but that mojo was too often squandered by all the unnecessary instrumental asides. The audience seemed to tire of the interludes as well. By the end of the night, the once-packed house had thinned out considerably, with a healthy chunk of the audience departing before the show ended at a little past 1:30 a.m.

"Nothin' lasts forever," Rose sang during a sprawling "November Rain."

He may be right, but this gig came pretty close.

REVIEW
Who: Guns N' Roses
When: Sunday
Where: The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel
Attendance: 2,050 (sold out)
Grade: C+

Guns 'N' Roses at the Joint, Sept. 17

There's little question of what's at stake for W. Axl Rose and his new Guns 'N' Roses. Based on the strength of the upcoming album and tour, they can either start a new chapter in the artistic progression of the band or be forced to endure a reputation as an inferior nostalgia act. That said, it's doubtful this pressing question was plaguing the beer-guzzling fans who awaited the presence of this once-touted "most dangerous band in the world" Sunday night at the Joint.

The band took the stage about an hour late on this second of a two-night stand and delivered a classics-heavy set to a mob of increasingly aggressive patrons (some escorted out in packs). Axl and his six-piece roared through the majority of G'N'R's first and best album, 1987's Appetite for Destruction, and scattered favorites from elsewhere, giving raucous takes on the songs we all know by heart.

It became abundantly clear that when stripped of the baggage -- the over-the-top videos, the rock star excess, the obnoxiously hellbent-on-destruction attitude -- the classics still stand up: "You Could Be Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Paradise City," "Patience," "November Rain." Each song spoke for itself as a composition worth its longevity in the collective mindset. The only hitch was Axl's voice, which ranged from completely on mark to barely audible.

But despite all this, there remained one simple truth: It was hard not to miss former lead guitarist, Slash. The new members -- Tommy Stinson on bass, Robin Finck and Richard Fortus on guitar, Dizzy Reed and Chris Pittman on keys, Brian "Brain" Mantia on drums -- all proved capable of show-offy, Sunset Strip musicianship rivaling any original member of the band, including Slash. But the new guitarists could set themselves on fire while doing handstands and they couldn't erase the feeling that something was missing. This was particularly true for "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain" -- songs with centerpiece Slash solos.

So then, is the new G'N'R more than just a nostalgia act? It would seem that the answer would lie in the strength and performance of the songs from the too-long-in-the-making Chinese Democracy, reportedly the costliest album ever. But the band only played a handful of selections: "Better," "IRS" and "Madagascar." And while it can be said each of the three tracks lacked the immediate likability that characterizes the classic G'N'R repertoire, there was simply not enough there to give an overall impression of what's in store. The verdict is still out.

RYAN EMTER