2017.08.30 - Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Guns N' Roses Play Surprise Covers of Glen Campbell, James Brown Classics

Guns N' Roses performed surprising cover versions of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" and James Brown's "I Feel Good" during Wednesday night's (August 30) show in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Prior to launching into "Wichita Lineman", GN'R frontman Axl Rose told the audience: "We're going to play something we've never played before. It might not be your thing, but we're just trying to pay a tribute to someone. It's not what you think."

"For Glen," Rose said at the track's conclusion, referring to the country legend who died August 8.

Last night's performance of "I Feel Good" marked the first time the group has played the song in full, and the first time Rose performed the track with guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan. A previous version of Guns, with Axl as the only classic-era member, performed a snippet of the song at 2006's Rock In Rio festival.

Guns N’ Roses Debut Glen Campbell & James Brown Covers In Edmonton

By Scott Bernstein

One of the biggest surprises of Guns N’ Roses reunion, which began last year, is how many covers the band is playing. Versions of “Wish You Were Here,” “Layla” and “The Seeker” – among others – have been performed at nearly every show. The list of songs GN’R has covered grew by two last night at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

The first major surprise of the 32-song set in Edmonton came towards the middle when Axl Rose stepped to the mic and said, “We’re going to play something we’ve never played before. It might not be your thing, but we just wanna kind of play a tribute to someone.” With that, GN’R debuted a cover of Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman.” Slash played acoustic on Campbell’s 1968 hit after which Rose proclaimed, “For Glen.”

A few songs later Guns N’ Roses unveiled a unique arrangement of James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).” Though GN’R had jammed on the funk classic last year, Edmonton was treated to a full-on cover. Fans at Commonwealth Stadium were also treated to plenty of originals including such favorites as “Paradise City,” “November Rain,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Patience.”

Guns N' Roses plays long, hard and lewd at Commonwealth Stadium

By Fish Griwkowsky

Throughout their early days, Guns N’ Roses was scrappy and vicious, not the sorts of boys to hold back a harsh jab — and this can’t have helped but rubbed off on their fans a little.

So, cutting to the chase, there were two very direct questions looming over the impending Guns N’ Roses concert after a couple decades’ absence from Edmonton — could Axl Rose still sing, and what would he look like, exactly? Sort of a “shriek and Shrek” deal, spurred by the fact they were on top of the world with more than 100 million records sold worldwide, then all but dissolved for numerous reasons in the interim, the demon-plagued Chinese Democracy nearly a decade old now.

Throw in the fact Metallica played the exact same Commonwealth Stadium precisely two weeks earlier for comparison, just to add a few tons of heavy metal pressure.

Well, joyous news all around — GNR’s set, though full of all sorts of opportunities for Rose to catch his breath and change costumes backstage, was actually less flabby than Metallica’s — which is extra impressive in that at three and a half hours it ran almost as long as a Lord of the Rings movie. By and large, Axl’s pipes were well-oiled and soaring. The 55-year-old can definitely hit the old notes, saving his voice a little during the faster songs — not quite Miss Piggy exploding during the bridge of You Could Be Mine — but holding long showboat notes a number of times. And man that felt great.

As far as how the band looked 32 years after its formation — pretty good. I mean, if a pair of sweaty dudes in their 50s wearing sexually suggestive T-shirts walked up to you in the washroom, the blond one sucking his middle finger as he sang “you’re a very sexy girl,” things might be different. But it’s pretty amazing how totally cool Slash is under that top hat and shades, dripping saltwater onto his Les Paul from under a tank top that, in a classic Coca-Cola font, read “Enjoy Vagina.”

And, despite Axl sporting a sort of Value Village Van Morrison look with Indiana Jones hat, shredded jeans, numerous rings, plaid shirt tied around his waist, and the visual pun of two crucifixes — a double cross — when the singer’s eyes glistened he still summoned an old menace. The series of Apollonia Saintclair erotica T-shirts he wore were impressively lewd, another middle finger at the prudes.

And that set list was just bang on.

Opening with It’s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone, they dipped into the world-dominating Appetite for Destruction with Welcome to the Jungle, My Michelle and a screamy Nightrain to close the first set.

Never mind how long they played, Slash was such a presence it was like there were two simultaneous concerts happening — his versus Rose’s. After the guitarist’s seriously 10-minute solo that included Johnny Be Goode and the Godfather theme, he managed to make the full-length Sweet Child O’ Mine seem like it was just part of his one-man show. He also answered the timeless question: what is the right number of skull rings to wear to a stadium concert? Turns out it’s three.

Richard Fortus killed it on guitar, too, and between him and handsome Duff McKagan overheating his Prince-logo-tattooed bass, Frank Ferrer playing the “bongs” as Rose called the drums, and Dizzy Reed on keyboards, the band could almost bring you to tears at times. Relentless. Almost best of all was the young but mystery-aged Blue — Melissa Reese — whose voice and keyboards filled the gaps. She rules.

What an engine, all of that put together.

“Can you feel the love?” Rose said during a rare bit of banter. “All warm and fuzzy!”

From their own catalogue Double Talkin’ Jive was pounding, industrial and hypnotic, and Rose sounded like a pissed-off cat on Estranged, his mouth a capital D on its back, his Jaws in a bandana face poking out of the water.

The light show was solid, stair fronts part of the video screen showing computer-animated skulls, roses, bullets and strippers throughout the night between fireworks, flashpots and, during the solo, sparks raining down. GNR played Coma, and Civil War was great, too. November Rain? Yeah man.

But it was the covers that really blew the cloud cover off under the smoky-orange half moon. Wings’ Live and Let Die, of course. But also a nod to the grunge that pushed in after their moment — a glorious, singalong version of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun for the recently departed Chris Cornell.

“We’re gonna try something we never played before,” Rose noted before pulling out Glen Campbell’s Wichita Lineman — amazing, though the crowd seemed still and bewildered. They appropriately followed this with the murder ballad Used to Love Her, a song with country in its dripping blood. Later on, a weird version of I Feel Good, another Edmonton exclusive. Slash also cruelly teased Alice Cooper’s Only Women Bleed — play it! — before Dylan’s Knockin on Heaven’s Door. And when he brought out his double-necked guitars including an acoustic-electric combo, it wasn’t cosmetic — he actually used the entire animal, as the saying goes, no waste.

Our Lady Peace opening, by the way, made a strange sort of sense, another nod to the grunge years. Naveed, Innocent, Superman’s Dead all the way through Starseed — thanks to CanCon government intervention these songs are wallpaper in the Great White North, but totally singalong. And blue-eyed Raine Maida was grateful to be in front of 40,000-plus generally happy to see him, even the dozens of dads wearing blond wigs and brand new bandanas. The Halloween dress-up thing confuses me — it’s like wearing a sumo suit to go watch a manatee show at the aquarium — but there were a lot of legit bangers thrashing real hair, too. Good-looking crowd, actually.

In GNR’s encore, Patience was a biggie. Don’t Cry, too. Oh, and, AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie, which of course Slash pulverized. The Who’s The Seeker greased in the last number taking us home, Paradise City.

Whether your expectations were low, high or really, stumblingly wasted, the show was fulfilling, daring and amazing. Better than Metallica? Well, let me think about that …

REVIEW: Guns N’ Roses best cover band ever

By Mike Ross

Here’s a sign you may be about to see a good concert – when the band rehearses in your town the day before the show. What an honour.

People living in the Commonwealth Stadium area were reportedly treated to the echoing din of Guns N’ Roses running through Glen Campbell and James Brown tunes on Tuesday. Went on for hours.

It’s that extra effort that counts. It shows they’re real musicians. These guys obviously want to make the show special for their audience – and for themselves.

On Wednesday night for the proper stadium crowd of 30,000 or so, Guns N’ Roses did indeed do Glen Campbell. Axl Rose warned the crowd, “This is something we’ve never done before,” before the band launched into a respectful rendition of Wichita Lineman. Surprise! It wasn’t too bad, either. It sounded like – words fail me – Axl Rose singing Glen Campbell. The band hasn’t quite staked a claim on it like they have with Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – which came later in the show. But give it time.

They also did James Brown’s I Feel Good – plus Soundgarden, The Who, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney and Wings and the theme from The Godfather. Beyond anything else, Guns N’ Roses is the world’s greatest cover band. Even their own classic hits sounded like beautifully-performed cover tunes that they somehow made their own. Weird. And there was plenty of time to do all the hits, too – from Sweet Child o’ Mine to the closer with fireworks, Paradise City, plus obscure material, some songs stretching more than 10 minutes, solos included. The show was more than three hours long. You had to make sure you didn’t “peak too early,” as they say.

After a set from the opening act Our Lady Peace, the introduction was funny: “You wanted the best? You got the best – but KISS couldn’t be here …” The third song was Welcome to the Jungle and the marathon was on.

The band went at it leisurely, honestly, with little artifice or pretension. The apparently temperamental Axl Rose is a true artist in the realm of rock ‘n’ roll frontage – his gift of being able to scream perfectly in tune intact after all these years, even if his lower range is a bit weak. He is the Pavarotti of Sunset Strip. Decked out in a succession of natty jackets and mad hats, he prowled around the stage, cocked his head, looked slyly into the audience as he did his thing: The Axl thing, that distinctive vocal timbre and you know exactly who it is. His high notes were thrilling. He didn’t say much. No maudlin speeches about the late Glen Campbell, thank the Lord.

Of course you can’t have Guns without Roses, or is it the other way around? Now it’s a true reunion. More or less. Enter the indispensable wingman Slash – a force of nature on guitar, and still maintaining the brand of the top-hatted fashion Wookie in a look imitated by many audience members.

You get the feeling Slash lives for guitar. Plays it in his sleep. He uncorked many epic solos on all manner of styles, modes and guitars – including the double-necked 12-string combo – commanding the stage with confidence while Axl took breaks to get new hats. Also exuding confidence was the dependable Duff McKagan on bass, in a solid rhythm section driven by the killer hired gun drummer Frank Ferrer. Giving Slash a run for his money in the skills department was guitarist Richard Fortus. He displayed stellar playing when he got his turn in the spotlight. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed and keyboardist-back-up singer Melissa Reese rounded out a full sound. Real musicians. Does it need to be mentioned that there wasn’t any tracking at this show? There wasn’t any tracking at this show. That was Axl pounding his own piano in November Rain.

Yes, it was a long haul. Exhausting. Not all of it was great. But at least it was real.