2017.07.07 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France

Guns N' Roses fires at the Stade de France

For their only concert in France and in front of a nostalgic crowd, the hard-rockers gave a professional show for three hours and twenty minutes.

By Frank Colombani

“All you need is just a little patience ,” sang Axl Rose serenely in 1989 on the acoustic ballad Patience . For their public, however, it was a completely different matter. At the height of their popularity twenty-five years ago, the temperamental singer and his gang of hard rockers Guns N' Roses were accustomed to delays in concerts, the wait being up to two hours long. This is clearly no longer the case today. Friday, July 7, the authors of the album Appetite for Destruction , released in 1987 (30 million copies sold), surprised by their punctuality on the Ile-de-France stage of the Stade de France, at 8:10 p.m. sharp, for a show of three hours and twenty minutes. This gives an idea of ​​the degree of professionalism achieved.

In the spring of 2016, the band's eventful reformation with three of its historical members, rock icon Axl Rose, top-hatted guitar hero Saul Hudson, known as Slash, and Sid Vicious-like bassist Duff McKagan reconciled after twenty-three years of scrambles, spawned one of the most lucrative tours of the year: $116.8 million (€102.3 million) in revenue from dates in North America, plus $55 million (48.2 million euros) for the South American tour. The original quintet are missing guitarist and co-composer Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler. The latter was invited to join his ex-band mates for a few American dates, without however managing to secure his place. There is no doubt that the European tour “Not in This Lifetime”, scheduled for eighteen dates, will meet with the same success as that in North America, judging by the crowds at the Stade de France, filled to capacity.

The audience, mostly in their forties and fifties, comes from the pre-Internet era, when powerful music TV channels such as MTV reigned supreme. Many of this generation have remembered Guns N' Roses through their blockbuster music videos that featured a tortured Axl Rose. The prominence of techno-like synthetic visuals on the giant screen gives the embarrassing impression of dating from the late 1990's and accentuates a certain shift.

However, the essential remains on stage: the group ensures the show, and Axl Rose is a charismatic leader. Despite the bias of a muscular rock entry, the start turns out to be a little soft and it is really necessary to wait for the fourth track, the emblematic Welcome to the Jungle , for the fervor of the public to manifest itself. Some proud bravado followed ( Double Talkin Jive , the famous cover of Live and Let Die, by Paul McCartney and Wings, an extended Rocket Queen ) and epic ballads ( Estranged , November Rain , a superb Civil War , and Patience as an encore). The adored singer, now 55, has of course aged, but without bearing the brunt of the years, continuing to run from one end of the stage to the other. Its high-pitched vocalizations, so characteristic, seem intact. Decked out in aviator sunglasses with chrome lenses, which he later traded for a copious collection of cowboy hats, the ex-rock bully has calmed down and asks the crowd to back off so as not to suffocate the children from the front rows.

Slash, the disheveled guitarist, flanked by his eternal top hat, steals the show from his singer for half an hour devoted to his blues rock solos, based on the theme of The Godfather, the anthem Sweet Child o ' Mine and an instrumental cover of Wish you Were Here by Pink Floyd, rather successful. Other "covers" have integrated the stage repertoire, in particular a brand-new Whole Lotta Rosie, from AC/DC, The Seeker, from The Who, as well as Black Hole Sun , a hit by the grunge group Soundgarden, in homage to Chris Cornell, died at the end of May. A band that enjoyed massive success in the 1990s, whose tragic trajectory does not fail to arouse some comparisons. Ironically, the Guns N' Roses, survivors of all the excesses, are still standing.

Guns N'Roses offer a rock high mass at the Stade de France

The mythical group of the 90s offered a show worthy of its reputation to its thousands of fans.

Impossible to rival. Rarely has a rock band had such a coordinated army of fans. Friday evening, at the Stade de France, thousands of spectators in T-shirts bearing the image of Guns N' Roses met for a high mass of incantation around the legendary group of the 90s, reformed for a world Tour.

In the enclosure of 70,000 people, not completely filled, the show started (almost) on time. From 8 p.m., the big machinery of endless guitar riffs gets going. Sweeping away, by its punctuality, the bad reputation of the band of rockers who arrived, in their heyday, hours late.

In the pit in the first row, the thousands of ponytails of fans jump in rhythm with their arms in the air. The inimitable solos of guitarist Slash, always stylish, hair with XXL curls under his hat, are greeted with howls. At 8:22 p.m., he releases his famous plectrum on the strings of his guitar the first notes of their hit “Welcome to the Jungle”.

Covers of Soundgarden and Dylan

The atmosphere, as the saying goes, goes up a notch. The spectators, often decked out in in the frontman's trademark red bandanas (which he no longer wears), take up the words of the emblematic song that they've known by heart. The tattooed bodies on stage as well as in the enclosure are unleashed in a gently regressive atmosphere.

At 10:15 p.m., the group continues, after some epic guitar solos by Slash, worthy of a great masterclass, with "November Rain" and a cover of "Black Hole Sun" by another legendary grunge group, Soundgarden. The night has fallen. Cell phones form a starry backdrop. The communion is total. Their ultimate hit, the poetry of “Knockin' on Heaven's Door” borrowed from Bob Dylan, is taken up in chorus by the thousands of Rock'n'roll pilgrims.

Axl Rose's voice rises to match their popularity. Without embellishment, nor particular staging, supported by the only virtuosity in their play. The crowd of all ages is carried by the group recomposed in its almost original formation after 23 years of separation. And who has just completed three hours of show enhanced with (almost) saturated guitar solos.

Guns N Roses - Stade de France, Paris, 7/7/2017

by John Clarkson

On a baking hot Parisian afternoon, the concrete behemoth of the French national stadium constructed for the 1998 World Cup (which they of course won) plays host to a show many thought would never happen. Thirty years since they edged into public consciousness, Guns N’ Roses are again playing the world’s biggest stages.

The reply given by singer and sole remaining founder of GN’R Axl Rose in 2012 about the probability of the band’s classic line up reforming, ‘Not In This Lifetime’, has become a tour which reunites Rose with founding bassist Duff McKagan and lead guitarist Slash.

With reformation jaunts prompting the usual eye-rolling about differences being put aside for the common cause of a colossal cash grab, the announcement that three-fifths of the line-up that recorded landmark 1987 debut LP 'Appetite of Destruction' had mended fences was greeted with considerable curiosity. While some purists have griped about the absence of rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, current six-stringer Richard Fortus, with the band since 2002 is a worthy sparring partner to Slash.

A band whose attitude to slack time keeping is the stuff of legend, with myriad horror stories of shows starting several hours late, here the former World’s Most Dangerous Band take to the stage bang on the allotted 8pm start time and hurtle straight into thrilling versions of 'It’s So Easy' and 'Mr. Brownstone' in rapid succession.

Barnstorming renditions of 'Sweet Child O’ Mine' and planet-sized ballad 'November Rain' and an all-acoustic take on 'Patience' meanwhile contrast beautifully with seething rockers 'You Could Be Mine' and 'Nightrain'.

Crucially, the performance has a real sense of momentum and purpose, with the desire to cram as many songs as possible into the allotted time apparent from the off, with the seven-piece turning in a set of thirty tracks in just over three hours, which somehow feels like a quarter of the time. Unlike say, nearest stadium contemporaries Foo Fighters who waste time on self-indulgent cover versions and bellowing mid-song enquires about how hard ‘you motherfuckers wanna rock’, here not a minute is wasted.

Highly lucrative paydays can of course also be very soothing balm for standing onstage performing through gritted teeth alongside band members you have long tired of, yet the rapport between the players here is tangible, the seven-piece a well-drilled machine without ever sounding like slick professionals going through the motions.

Slash appears to be having an absolute ball for the entire performance, his virtuosity undimmed decades on, his embellishments to the material from the under-rated if certainly overlong 'Chinese Democracy' a frustrating insight into how the album could have sounded had the band managed to stay together.

While the hits, 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'You Could Be Mine', 'Civil War' and a mass singalong of 'Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door' are delivered with pinpoint accuracy, the septet really show their mettle on deep cuts. Epic ballad 'Estranged' is every bit as grandiose as its recorded version, while the ten-minute thunderstorm of 'Coma' which stretches Roses’ vocal abilities to the absolute limit on record, is carried off with superb aplomb.

'Double Talkin’ Jive', something of a curio on disc that was a mainstay of the band’s colossal 1991-93 Use Your Illusion Tour is transformed into a juggernaut of spiralling riffs with a duck-walking Slash firmly in control. The notoriously irascible Axl Rose meanwhile working his way through a succession of T-shirt changes aside from a snarled "Hey Fuckhead!" at an over-zealous stage front security guard channels his energies into singing. Jet propelled versions of 'Live and Let Die' and 'Don’t Cry' demonstrating just how strong his sheet-metal buzzsaw of a voice currently is.

With the exceptions of Slash’s punked up take on Johnny B. Goode, dispensed with the same level of furious glee as Marty McFly at the Hill Valley School dance and a rendition of The Godfather Theme, musician solos have been scrapped. Former axemeister Buckethead’s guitar solo plus nun chuka routine and robot dance (no, honest) circa 2002 were part of a succession of interminable spotlit turns by various Gunners 2001-2015, many will be thankful to see the back of.

Sticking with the pared-down theme, the band’s over-reliance on pyrotechnics in recent years has also been severely tamed, with the giant screens either side of the stage broadcasting footage of the players while the screen to the rear is filled with images themed around the band’s album artwork and music videos.

A furious version of 'Paradise City' last sees the restraint of earlier gleefully abandoned as the full kitchen sink of stadium rock accoutrements are unveiled as fireworks, confetti storm, smoke, full battery of lights, fire belching out of the drum riser, herd of unicorns capering across the stage and Slash playing the guitar solo are dispatched. One furious coda and Rose’s standard cheery farewell of "Good! Fucking! Night!" and an underarm lob of his mic into the crowd brings matters to a close.

A stunning restatement of what made them so vital all those years ago, Hollywood’s finest give the very strong impression they could still develop into the latter-day Rolling Stones and endure for several more lifetimes on this form.