2006.11.08 - DCU Center, Worcester, USA

Hair-brained?

By my calculations, W. Axl Rose is 44. And I know what you're thinking: it's high time he and his band, Guns N' Roses, finish the "Chinese Democracy" album, an apocryphal project that has taken longer to complete than the duration of the Roman Empire.

But what's even more important is that, at the age of 44, Rose if far too old to wear his hair in those stupid, beady cornrows.

So get rid of it, kook!

Maybe he'll sport a more sensible Boys Regular cut when Rose shows up Wednesday in Worcester. That's when the latest edition of GNR - it's been years since Slash or Duff MacKagan or even Izzy Stradlin (people integral to the actual identity of the group) were members - is booked to perform as one of the first dates of the "Chinese Democracy" tour. Word so far is that the band is good, playing over two hours including the hits, teasing bits from the new album, and a lot of extended soloing.
Maybe this time Rose will actually sing for the scheduled duration of the concert without wandering offstage into Weirdo Land, leaving ticket holders cursing themselves for their own stupidity in trusting him.

- Rick Koster

Guns N' Roses with Papa Roach and Sebastian Bach, 8 p.m. Wednesday, DCU Center, Worcester, Mass; $75, $49.50 and $39.50; (617) 931-2000, www.ticketmaster.com.

Axl's Grind

Guns N' Roses' long-delayed CD is about to drop ... maybe

By JED GOTTLIEB

If you were born between 1970 and 1980, Guns N' Roses was probably a major part of your childhood.
You either loved 'em or hated 'em - maybe you sided against Axl Rose in his fueds with Vince Neil and Kurt Cobain; maybe you just don't like guys who jump into crowds boot heel first. But it's likely your love or hate peaked with the release of "Use Your Illusion." Both volumes of "Illusion" went platinum half a dozen times over, while MTV saturated screens with "November Rain" and G N'R spent two years on the road, playing more than 200 shows.

Naturally the follow up has been hotly anticipated - and anticipated and anticipated. After spending an estimated $16 million (which would make it the most expensive album ever), Rose promises that, 14 years after "'Illusion," "Chinese Democracy" will arrive before 2007.

Guns N' Roses plays Worcester's DCU Center tomorrow night on a tour intended to lead up to the release of "Chinese Democracy."

But will it really? History - and our Axl of Evil timeline - tells us no.

Sept. 16, 1991: The much-anticipated "Use Your Illusion I" & "II" debut at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Billboard chart, confirming G N'R as the world's biggest band. A day later millions of kids beg millions of moms to let them go to school dressed like Rose.

1994: Rose boots Gilby Clarke from the band, claiming his songwriting was not up to snuff. Rose sneaks in a childhood friend, Paul Huge, as a replacement on guitar during a recording of "Sympathy for the Devil," angering the other Guns.

1996: Rumors of Slash leaving the band are confirmed. Slash blames musical differences with Rose for his departure, taking his guitar and his hair with him.

Early 1998: Bassist Duff McKagan quits G N'R, making Rose the sole founding member left in the band. Rumors circulate that Rose is recording an album influenced by industrial and electronic music, with producers ranging from Moby and Youth to Mike Clink and Sean Beavan. People who love reading the word "rumors" next to the name "Axl Rose" begin an eight-year period of bliss.

Nov. 7, 1999: The title of the new G N'R album, "Chinese Democracy," is announced, but no release date. Hundreds of witty guys on barstools joke that by the time Rose releases the album China will be a democracy.

January 2000: Rolling Stone reveals the names of a few new G N'R songs and describes the tunes as " 'Physical Graffiti' remixed by Beck and Trent Reznor." Not for the first time, faithful fans tell fearful ones, "Doesn't that sound great? Trust Axl, he's a genius, man."

January 2001: The new G N'R lineup plays its first shows. New members include Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson and guitarist Buckethead (who's just like Slash but with an upside-down KFC bucket replacing the top hat, and boring jazz-metal fusion replacing dirty blues riffs). By now former G N'R members Slash, McKagan, guitarist Izzy Stradlin and drummer Matt Sorum have recorded almost a dozen solo projects. Rose promises "Chinese Democracy" will be released soon.

May 2001: Rose cancels G N'R's planned European summer tour.

November 2001: Rose cancels G N'R's European summer tour (again).

November/December 2002: G N'R tries to kick off a North American tour in Vancouver, but - because of Rose's erratic behavior - the show is canceled at the last minute. A riot ensues. A month later the tour ends abruptly in Philadelphia when - surprise, surprise - Rose is a no-show and a riot ensues. "Chinese Democracy" is expected to be released soon.

March 23, 2004: Geffen releases G N'R's "Greatest Hits." It quickly goes triple platinum.

Jan. 13, 2006: Rose shows up at the launch party for a Korn tour and tells Rolling Stone "Chinese Decocracy" is all but done. He fails to explain why he's hanging out with Korn.

Aug. 31, 2006: At the MTV Video Music Awards, Rose tells the world that "Chinese Democracy" will be out in three months.

Nov. 8, 2006: Guns N' Roses performs at the DCU Center in Worcester but still no release date for "Chinese Democracy."

Some day in the distant future: "Chinese Democracy" released. No Guns N' Roses fans left alive to care.

Guns N' Roses, with Papa Roach, at the DCU Center, Worcester, tomorrow. Tickets: $38.25-$73.75; 617-931-2000.

Guns N' Roses rocks, but not like the old days

By Scott McLennan

WORCESTER - Sometime around 1 Thursday morning, a guy standing on the concrete floor of the DCU Center opposite the stage Guns N' Roses was performing on yelled, "I can't feel my legs."

Like many in the DCU Center, which employed an open, general admission floor for the concert, that guy probably showed up sometime around 8 Wednesday night and caught sets by Sebastian Bach and Papa Roach, then waited as Guns N' Roses opted to play the bulk of its two-plus-hour show early Thursday.
GN'R's return to Worcester was as much endurance test as it was concert. Those partaking got a set full of hits from GN'R's glory days, a sampling of new songs from the much-rumored "Chinese Democracy" album, and a batch of flashy solos from various members of the reloaded eight-man version of Guns N' Roses. And in reality, the band on stage at the DCU came across more like Axl Rose and His Seven Buddies than what the original GN'R sounded like.

Since Rose chased away all of the band's original talent, he has reshaped GN'R into his vision of what a rock band should be, which is something huge, dramatic and cocky. Rose brings three guitarists, two keyboard players, a bass player and drummer to the show and packages the whole thing with towering videos, flash pot explosions, in-door fireworks, and the occasional flame blast.

Those pyrotechnic flourishes were allegedly the reason Guns N' Roses had to cancel its concert Monday in Portland, with the band claiming that city's fire marshal prohibited use of the explosives. Even with Portland ticket holders invited down to the Worcester concert, the DCU Center was only about two-thirds full by the time GN'R hit the stage at 11:45 p.m.

GN'R kicked off its set in predicable fashion with the screaming "Welcome to the Jungle." Also in rather typical fashion, Rose started complaining about having difficulties with the sound by the night's second song, "It's So Easy."

But in comparison to GN'R's disastrous and derailed 2002 tour, singer Rose this time seemed in better shape, bounding around the stage and nailing the theatrical vocal turns of such gems as Wings' "Live and Let Die" and his own classic "Sweet Child O' Mine."

The guitar team of Robin Finck, Richard Fortus and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal unleashed all manner of gnarly fretwork. Dizzy Reed, a holdover from the Guns lineup of the early '90s, and Chris Pitman crafted thick keyboard parts into the sound. Former Replacement Tommy Stinson, playing bass, and recent recruit Frank Ferrer, on drums, served as the locomotive engine behind Axl and crew.

But for all the racket that GN'R Mach II generated, none of it rivaled the nasty chemistry of the old days when Rose went head-to-head with guitarist Slash, or had the reckless abandon embodied in Duff McKagen's bass work.

The GN'R of today has traded fury for precision. But given the overall quality of the GN'R songbook, that was not necessarily a bad thing. The new Guns roared on old faves such as "You Could Be Mine," "Out Ta Get Me" and "November Rain."

In place of jams within songs, Rose directed his cast to perform standalone solos in different parts of the show. The detached soloing was less effective than hearing the talent poured into the context of a song, but the players themselves found some structure to make their work shine a bit brighter. Reed, for example turned his piano solo into a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Angie." Bumblefoot (a rather uninspired replacement for the enigmatic guitar master Buckethead, who split GN'R after the 2002 debacle) morphed his noodly solo into an instrumental version of "Don't Cry." Fortus' guitar turn gelled into a heady instrumental duet with Finck around the Christina Aguilera song "Beautiful."

GN'R uncorked a handful of new material slated for release on the long-in-the-making "Chinese Democracy" album. The soul-searching ballad "Madagascar" came across as the strongest of the new numbers, with "Better," "I.R.S" and "The Blues" sounding more serviceable than revolutionary. The night's best left-field song choice had to be GN'R's cover of UK Subs' "Down on The Farm," an angry bit of punk attitude that for a moment shed the band of all its bloat.

Heading into the wee hours, Rose had opener Sebastian Bach join the band for the raucous "My Michelle." The band then went to its tender side for "Patience" and flipped over to its most decadent and depraved mode for a set-ending ride on "Nightrain."

The final encore of "Paradise City" again rekindled memories of the raw power Guns N' Roses brought to the rock scene when it arrived in the late '80s. But nearly 20 years removed from its monumental "Appetite for Destruction" album (which accounted for eight of the show's 17 songs), and with only Rose left from that high-water mark, paradise is somewhat lost.

Papa Roach fit surprisingly well into the lineup as the band that came along in the rap-rock wave has nicely transformed itself into a more straightforward hard-rock act. Papa Roach balanced slightly rearranged versions of older hits such as "Last Resort" with ripping new material off its "Paramour Sessions" album.

Former Skid Row throat Bach delivered a throwback-set of hair-metal, singing much of it in the key of shriek.

G N'R lineup a thorn in Axl's side

By JED GOTTLIEB

GUNS N' ROSES, with PAPA ROACH and SEBASTIAN BACH
At the DCU Center, Worcester, Wednesday night.

Axl Rose has made Guns N' Roses rock's New York Yankees. He has pulled out his checkbook and spent his royalties recruiting the best talent in the world (yes, his hired guns can really play). But as the Yankees know, you can't buy chemistry. Guns N' Roses' Wednesday show at the DCU Center reconfirmed that.

Rarely is a show so good and so disappointing. In the first moments, as the spotlights swarmed the crowd and the opening chords of "Welcome to the Jungle" echoed around the arena, a fighting-weight Rose screamed, "Do you know where you are?" and it looked like he was going to pull it off. The years and hours of waiting (G N'R didn't go on until 11:45) suddenly seemed worth it. But the moment faded fast.

As the band wailed through favorites from "Appetite for Destruction" - "Jungle" was quickly followed by "It's So Easy" and "Mr. Brownstone" - cracks started to show. Rose was unhappy with the sound and complained he couldn't hear his vocals. At this point in G N'R's career, sound problems are inexcusable, but perhaps not surprising.

Rose's thin yet still unique voice barely made the list of problems. When you've got a band with no charisma and no personality, mediocre vocals aren't what hold you back. With only Rose left from the original G N'R lineup, the band is a bloated octet of soulless virtuosos.

Three guitarists - Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Robin Finck and Richard Fortus - meant three separate five-minute solo spots for each player. Maybe Rose wants fans to get to know these guys. Or maybe he's just padding the set while his vocal cords get a rest. Whatever the case, the solo noodling only reminds fans that Slash is long gone. Rose's first smart move in a decade would be firing one of these guys (hopefully the tie-dyed-sundress-wearing Finck, who has as much stage presence as a kumquat).

Of course, Rose isn't about smart moves. He picked an ultra-boring Papa Roach to open. He played several great new songs - "The Blues," "Better" and "Madagascar" are at least as good as anything on "Use Your Illusion" - from the long-overdue "Chinese Democracy," which fans still can't buy (Rose has promised it will be released this year, but time is running out). And after booking a venue he could only three-quarters fill, he started his show so late that fans began filing out long before its 2 a.m. finish.

There were bright spots. Show opener Sebastian Bach's duet vocal on "My Michelle" forced Rose to up his game, and the new G N'R songs didn't send fans charging for the beer lines. But if this is the best G N'R money can buy, well, we all know where that approach got the Yankees this season.