2010.01.20 - Brandt Centre, Regina, SK, Canada

Guns and Roses Ticket Sales Going "Very Well"

Band promoting 'Chinese Democracy': Its first album in over 15 years

Reported By Mike Raptis

Ticket sales for the upcoming Guns N' Roses concert are going "very well", says a representative of Evraz Place Ticketmaster.

The January 20th show at the Brandt Centre still has good seats available, but Ticketmaster is "very pleased" with the sales thus far.

While there wasn't any G n R pandemonium at the box office this morning, a few fans decided to show up and buy their tickets the old fashioned way.

"We're very excited... seeing the band come to Regina," said a couple of Guns and Roses fans - with their tickets in hand.

The show is one of thirteen Canadian stops on the band's "Chinese Democracy World Tour",

Chinese Democracy, G n R's first album with new material in over 15 years, has sold a disappointing 5 million copies worldwide after its release last November.

Before coming to Canada in the new year, the band will kick off its world tour on Dec. 11th in Taiwan: the first of four Asian tour dates.

REVIEW: Guns N' Roses gives Regina fans more than expected

By Christopher Tessmer, for the Leader-Post

REGINA — By the end of the Guns N' Roses show Wednesday night at the Brandt Centre it was apparent that Axl Rose was not a believer of the old Walt Disney adage "always leave them wanting more."

In fact, Rose, the 47-year-old frontman and leader of the Los Angeles rock group, took the alternative approach, giving fans a set that started at 10:16 p.m. and lasted two hours and 27 minutes, plus a very brief minute before the band came out for its encore.

Nobody in the crowd should have left the Brandt Centre feeling ripped off by the show, as the band put on an intense performance, though the notoriously late Rose had the group hit the stage 45 minutes later than scheduled.

Coming out to flashes of pyrotechnics and fire blasts, the eight-piece group launched into the title track of the 2008 release Chinese Democracy. Rose looked every bit the rock star, adorned in a sleeveless denim shirt, jeans, sunglasses, red bandana and black top hat.

The stage, brought along specifically for this tour, had a large lower tier that had a walkway on each side of it so the band could walk out and play to the seated gatherers, while a U-shaped staircase wrapped around the drum riser. Behind the drum kit, a platform on a hoist was stationed, utilized at various times for dramatic effect.

Visually, the large LCD screens were fairly uninteresting, with two smaller ones on the sides to give close-ups for those further back. What the show lacked in video footage was more than compensated for with numerous pyro effects and blasts that startled more than a few people multiple times.

While it wasn't the Guns N' Roses that people grew up knowing and loving, the current lineup was very entertaining and solid musically. With three guitarists, bass player, keyboardist, piano player, and drummer to accompany Rose, there was little chance the band's sound would be thin in the concrete confines of the arena.

If there were any concerns that the show would merely be a spectacle with little redeeming quality musically, they were quickly put to rest when the group played the opening chords of the second song, "Welcome to the Jungle." The crowd was whipped into a frenzy as the fire blasts lit up the stage, and fans dressed in leather, denim, and club clothes started to sing along.

Many of the group's hits were played, as were many selections from Chinese Democracy, though the biggest cheers were understandably for songs that made up the band's early catalogue. Most die-hard fans would have been quite pleased with the eclectic set list, however hits like "Live and Let Die," "November Rain," Sweet Child O' Mine," and an extended version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" took many attendees back to earlier memories.

Interestingly, Rose frequently took advantage of extended guitar solos and instrumentals in the set to run backstage to maintain oxygen levels. Having depended on the use of oxygen tanks since the mid-2000s to get through shows, it's apparent that many vocalists half his age would need the same treatment to get through a typical GNR show, as the eccentric singer belts out certain parts in staccato-like fashion, and races around the vast stage like a track star.

Rose appeared to be in a great mood, smiling throughout, and sharing laughs at various points with his band. That's in stark contrast to his days with Izzy, Duff, and Slash, and while it would have been nice to get the "Hall of Fame" lineup, it was nice to see the moody star on one of his better nights. That said, Rose still played up his inner diva, with no less than six changes of outfit during the show.

His vocals were not great, though they were a lot better than expected. The screeching of the high notes is merely his style, and he surprisingly can sing the more mellow parts of the act with plenty of melody. While this was not something that was anticipated, it was definitely an agreeable surprise. The show started 30 minutes earlier than listed, as rockers Danko Jones took the stage before the start time on the tickets. While the arena was sparse, the hard-touring group gave a solid effort. Followed by hair-metal rocker Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, his self-named group played a lengthy hour-long set that seemed like a dud at times, making one wonder if this was the best of what glam-rocker Adam Lambert has in store for his future, but hit its apex for the last two songs when they played "I Remember You" and "Youth Gone Wild."

By midnight the crowd started to thin out as the reality of work the next morning won over the desire of a quarter of the audience's to make it through the whole show. At times, the numerous instrumentals and riffing became irritating as their only intention was to give Rose more time to suck back oxygen backstage before continuing.

All was forgiven and forgotten as Rose lit up the crowd once more and helped them find their second wind for the night's finale "Paradise City." Showers of pyrotechnic sparks rained down on the side of the stage as it shone intensely.

As the crowd walked out of the arena, visibly tired, yet still smiling, one couldn't help but feel that the show was well worth the wait after Rose's 17-year hiatus.

"Epic" Version Of Guns N' Roses Conquers Regina

By Gary King
RockStar Weekly

Firstly, allow me to make a confession! I am not an archetypal Guns N Roses fan. I own but one of their recordings and in fact, when I last saw GNR on March 27, 1993 (use your Illusion tour) in the beautiful “Bridge City” commonly referred to as Saskatoon, it was solely due to their superb choice of support acts – “The Brian May Band’. Yes Brian May guitar player extraordinaire from the Legendary group Queen. Not to be confused with the Brian May from Mad Max fame.

At any rate, 16 years 9 months and 24 days have passed (but who’s counting) and my opportunity to see the legendary Axl “you love him, you hate him, you can’t have a good old fashioned rock n’ roll riot without him)”Rose is here. This time, I’m posed to see the much lauded ‘Chinese Democracy Tour’ in Regina, AKA ‘The Queen City’, AKA ‘The City That Rhymes with Fun’– more on that later, in the comfy confines of the acoustically challenged Brandt Centre. My curiosity has the better of me. Will he be late? How Late? One hour? 2 Hours? Will he storm out? Will he even show up? Is he still capable of delivering the goods? The questions mount.

IMHO, the words “rock star”, “epic”, and “legend” are more common these days than candy floss at the local summer fair. Well, allow me to remove all doubt that this incarnation of the multi-million selling (100 million at last count) American rockers are not only alive and well – thank you very much, but in fact, they make a compelling argument to be regarded in the aforementioned rock star, epic, legend status.

From the moment Axl and Company took the stage at precisely 10:16 pm, opening with ’Chinese Democracy’, Axl clad in a button down, white collar, long sleeve stripped shirt, (sans the sleeves) and adorned with enough silver jewelry to make any Mexican beach vendor proud (I swear I saw him in Puerto Vallarta last year – true story) and with trademark red bandanna tucked under a black hat, he had the crowd on their feet, which is precisely where the majority of the 5,500 fans stayed for 2 ½ hours until the show closed with ‘Paradise City’.

As Axl sashayed and prowled effortlessly about the stage, it became apparent very quickly that Father Time has been rather kind to Axl. His soon to be 48 years belies him. He looks and moves about with a presence and energy that reminds us that you don’t have to be a middle age rocker who well…looks middle age.

The between song banter was minimal at best, with Mr. Rose telling the crowd “good to be here tonight – I feel pretty good considering how much tequila I drank last night” Hey wait a minute, TEQUILA, MEXICO… I swear that was him! Axl later informed the crowd that this was his second show of the day, as earlier he did an impromptu performance at a local A&W. Although my sources say it was actually a Taco Time. Of course no rock show in Regina would be complete without the obligatory reference of Regina being the city that rhymes with fun. In this case, immediately before ‘Knockin’ on Heavens Door’, Axl suggested he “heard this is the city that rhymes with fun.” Regardless of how it’s delivered, the crowd obliged as they have become known to do. This appears now to be a full-on tradition in these parts.

As GNR blinded and deafened the crowd with a dizzying display of lights, explosions and pyro, while playing such mega hits as ‘Welcome to the jungle’, ‘Live and Let Die’ (an argument could be made here that the explosions were excessive) and closer to the end of the show ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’, but most certainly during ‘November Rain’ that I conjured up the hereto unforeseen and unbearable notion that perhaps the 80’s were not so bad after all. In fact, GNR was quickly proving to me that 80’s arena rock is alive and well.

In addition to Axl, ( the only original member) the band consists of Frank Ferrer - drums, Tommy Stinson – bass guitar , Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar, Ron (Bumblefoot) Thal – lead guitar, Dizzy Reed on keyboards, Chris Pitman keyboards and DJ Ashba also on lead guitar. These guys are not just “window dressing” for Axl that’s a for sure. These guys can all play. What a novel concept!

Rock Star? Absolutely! Epic? No Question! Legend? The jury is out on that one, but on this rather chilly night in “The City That Rhymes with Fun” no one, (myself included) would argue that Guns and Fucking Roses showed up, on time, and delivered the goods to a satisfied audience that were left wanting more. In my case, if I have to wait another 16 years 9 months and 24 days to see them again it’s quite conceivable that “Legend” will be in Axl’s back pocket.