2017.11.02 - Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI, USA

Guns N' Roses brings marathon show to LCA in Detroit reunion return

By Brian McCollum

At this point — 18 months and 109 shows since Guns N’ Roses kicked off its reunion tour in Detroit — it would have been easy for the band to coast in cruise control Thursday night.

But GNR hit Little Caesars Arena looking and sounding very much up for the occasion, road-tested and pulsing with energy in a return visit amid its final stretch of scheduled dates.

Indeed, the band served up a marathon set that was a full hour longer than the one at Ford Field in June 2016, laced with some new cover songs, a lengthy Slash solo segment and a deeper dive into the group's back catalog.

At nearly 3½ hours, it was a performance that was generous bordering on excessive from a band that seemed out to make a point: Having already powered the Not in This Lifetime Tour into history’s annals — it’s one of the top-grossing concert runs of all time — GNR evidently wanted to make clear it's earning its keep.

It’s certainly true that Thursday didn’t come with the built-in buzz of last June’s Ford Field extravaganza, launch of the global tour that reunited Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan after 23 years. The situation wasn’t helped by a late-arriving crowd (how’s that for a role reversal?) and pockets of empty seats that remained throughout the night. Still, the trio and its four supporting members were tight and focused as they pulled up material from GNR’s late-‘80s, early-‘90s glory days along with a big helping of tunes from the 2008 Rose-led project “Chinese Democracy.”

The night started much as it did all those months ago at Ford Field, as GNR roared out of the gate with “It’s So Easy,” “Mr. Brownstone,” “Chinese Democracy” and “Welcome to the Jungle.” It wasn’t long before the show branched off with its new twists and turns, including the new covers, two of them devoted to recently fallen stars: a chugging “Wichita Lineman,” which was inserted into the set list after Glen Campbell’s death in August, and Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” added after Chris Cornell died in May at MGM Grand Detroit.

The latter selection was a chivalrous salute to a band that rose amid the grunge phenomenon — the movement often charged with gumming up the gears for the flashier Sunset Strip rock scene that birthed GNR.

Alongside the night’s sonically dense “Use Your Illusion” mood pieces (“Estranged,” “Civil War,” “Coma”) came the sinewy live-wire fare like “My Michelle,” “You Could Be Mine” and “Nightrain.” The band seemed happy to stretch its legs, turning “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” into a lengthy, Phish-worthy workout, as Slash and guitarist Richard Fortus swapped solos and even steered the song into a syncopated reggae.

On a night with little talking, Rose did take the opportunity to playfully troll the Detroit crowd ("that's how I roll," he explained) with a reference to recently traded Tigers star Justin Verlander, whose Houston Astros won the World Series Wednesday night: "How about your boy Verlander? Congrats to you guys too!"

After a year and a half on the road with minimal breaks, the band was crisp and dialed in — no one more so than Rose, whose mid-tour stint with AC/DC has meant even more stage time logged. His wide-ranging voice was limber and robust, with vintage Axl screams punctuating “Live and Let Die” and little sign of wear-and-tear as the show crossed the three-hour mark. He was, as ever, the center of visual energy, though the top-hatted Slash and bassist McKagan — in a black Iggy Pop shirt — got their own stints front and center.

As solid as it all sounded, the night wasn’t exactly a picture of brotherhood among GNR’s three principals. The moments of personal interplay seemed routine and perfunctory, and it may very well be true that these guys have had to grit their teeth to make this happen for everyone’s (very lucrative) benefit. Whatever the case, as fans headed out of LCA late Thursday — into a sort-of-cold November rain, fittingly enough — there was no doubt they’d gotten a Guns N’ Roses that worked hard to make it worth their while.

Review: Guns N’ Roses’ show restraint in Detroit

By Jerilyn Jordan

Leave it to an alt-weekly to show up late to a Guns N’ Roses show. In that way we are more GNR than GNR. But we weren’t alone. A band known for tardiness and unpredictability showed up on time last night to Little Caesars Arena and, as suggested by the scores of empty seats as late as five songs deep into their set, it was clear that we were not going to get the GNR we’ve come to expect. At least they showed up. At the very least.

As they near the end of their multi-leg, 180-show “Not In This Lifetime... Tour,” GNR performed as if they have something to prove. Not to us, but to themselves — which made us wonder if perhaps these gregarious rockers have an appetite for collapse. The boys from Paradise City are in need of a break. And we can’t say that we blame them.

As before, GNR delivered a nearly 3.5 hour set (an hour longer than their tour kickoff show at Ford Field last year) that was padded with covers (7 in total, not including their beloved rendition of Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”) as they stumbled to find their stride. It wasn’t until halfway through 1991’s Use Your Illusion II protest anthem “Civl War” that ushered in a more unified GNR, who struggled to appear as willing compatriots.

An over-accessorized Axl Rose (looking like your ex-husband who went nuts at a pawn shop jewelry counter) proved, though, that he is a man of many hats (seriously, the guy loves hats), diving fearlessly into GNR’s ambitious back catalogue while channeling, to the best of his abilities, the slinky, high-energy Rose of yesteryear.

Considering the seemingly self-indulgent lengthiness of their performance, it still felt as though there was a lot of space to fill. They felt small on stage, not in size but in presence. This was a far cry from the GNR we saw last year. The absence of anticipation and and magic of last year’s Ford Field blowout tour launch that reunited Rose, bassist Duff McKagan, and guitar master Slash after a very turbulent 23 years was palatable last night. But to their credit, their cautious adjustments, spacing, and countless Slash and Duff solos allowed for Rose to release his explosive octave acrobatics on bangers like “My Michelle,” “Nightrain,” and tapping into his deeper, velvet tones for encore ballad “Patience.”

Of course, hearing the opening guitar chords to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” still gives goosebumps and will forever make us feel younger than we felt when we were actually young (no matter how old we really are). Criticism aside, we can’t help but applaud Guns N’ Roses' rattling legacy that has time and time again given us an all-access pass to a jungle where the term “rock ’n’ roll” surpasses a description of sound, but encompasses a way of life. Even if you have to coast a little to get there, GNR proves that it’s worth the ride.

Guns N' Roses 3 1/2 hour Detroit concert: Setlist, how they sounded, pics and more

By Edward Pevos

Talk about a rock marathon. Guns N' Roses brought their "Not In This Lifetime" tour to Detroit for a second time and performed for nearly three and a half hours straight at Little Caesars Arena on November 2, 2017. That's almost 45 minutes longer than their concert at Ford Field on June 23, 2016, the first show on their reunion tour.

WERE THEY ON TIME?

GNR took the stage right at 8pm. Gone are the days of the band beginning late at around midnight. Remember going home at 3am?

SHOW DURATION AND # OF SONGS

GNR played 31 songs from 8pm to just before 11:30pm. At their Ford Field show last year they played 24 songs in 2 and a half hours.

HOW THEY SOUNDED

If you're worried Axl, Slash and Duff might not still have it, worry no longer. This was like the late 80s and early 90s all over again. Slash killed it on guitar all night. Axl belted out the lyrics just the way you remember them. While his voice isn't exactly the same, it's pretty close. No GNR fan will be disappointed with the way they sounded.

Their energy was on overdrive all night. Axl was walking and even running around the large stage for most of the night while Slash plucked his guitar from every corner as well. Axl only took a couple of breaks during a Slash guitar solo and a Slash/Richard Fortus guitar duet.

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FINAL CONCERT NOTES

Fans thought they would never see Axl and Slash together again, and now it's been more than a year since they reunited. Their music chemistry seemed great on stage. They didn't interact much. Axl did his thing. Slash did his. The two were featured in the spotlight fairly equally. Duff also received some front and center time.

A couple other observations: Axl changed into numerous hats and fedoras throughout the concert. Duff's guitar had a Prince symbol on it in honor of the late singer and there were plenty of pyrotechnics throughout the concert, along with a really cool LED screen with plenty to look at throughout the night.