2010.06.14 - Aalborg, Denmark

Guns N 'Roses: Gigantium, Aalborg

Reviewed by Mikkel Elbech | GAFFA

Witnessing Axl Rose in front of the no longer so "new" Guns N 'Roses in Aalborg was a joy. He sounded better, looked better and radiated more sincere joy of playing than he has done for almost twenty years. The now well-known story about the old members who dropped out during the 90's, which is naturally followed up by the story of their replacements and the struggle to get the mildly long-awaited album, "Chinese Democracy", released the current tour has been given a long-awaited sentence. Not one of a kind that signals that the adventure is over, but instead one that marks the end of a 15-year process of transformation.

The start of the past decade featured an interrupted tour that followed a performance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, which Axl Rose subsequently characterized as disastrous. After years of stagnation and still no new album, the band went on tour in 2006 with some success. One of the concerts was on Danish soil - more precisely Roskilde Festival's Orange Stage - and it was an experience that probably excited incarnated fans, but which many were disappointed with. People missed an overall expression from the band that appeared somewhat variegated, just as there was a critique of the many breaks in the concert - which, however, were not actual breaks, but various features from the individual members, while the main character was not on stage.

Now it's been four years since the band was last in the country, and in the meantime "Chinese Democracy" has been released. An album shrouded in so much mythology and anticipation that it could almost only disappoint. Few in the international critics thus managed to listen to the album on its own musical terms, but instead tied their criticism to various secondary frustrations - not least the general criticism that Guns N 'Roses is not Guns N' Roses, when there is only one original member left.

And sure enough, it's a shame that the original crew - or at least one that included both Slash and Duff McKagan - did not last longer than it did. Seen with friendlier glasses than Axl Rose is otherwise accustomed to being considered with, one can put forward the theory that he has simply done the only thing he has felt he could. The recurring accusations that the preservation of the band name should be motivated by economic motives have proven not to last in the long run - there are certainly easier ways for a rock icon like Axl Rose to make money than by touring the world with several years at intervals, or by having only released one album in the now 17 years, or by not milking a potential DVD market with just one regular, new release, or by suing the record company when they - as they did in 2004 - will release a "Greatest Hits", which incidentally came to sell impressively worldwide.

Again energetic and bloodthirsty

So what are the motives? Is it anything as frightening as an acknowledgment that Axl Rose is ultimately by far the most important member of the original Guns N 'Roses and thus the only worthy heir to the name? If you have to judge from tonight's concert in Gigantium, the answer to this will be a resounding yes. The other members of the current incarnation of the band can be viewed in two ways: Either they are full members who are just as crucial to the band's well-being as Slash and Duff McKagan were in their time. Several of them have been members for about as long, and like their predecessors, they are also important contributors to the creative process. Or they are not full members - and thus just the musicians that Axl Rose has chosen to surround himself with, because it is precisely these people who make him personally perform his best.

Even with this last, not so positive view of the other band members, they must in any case be recognized for the musical and psychological support that makes Axl Rose now - at long last, one can safely say - appear again as the energetic , devilish frontman, he was also known as two decades ago. Well, he's obviously older, and he's often leaving the stage - to change lumps, get oxygen or maybe just a tear to drink - but when he's on, he's on like no other. The big stage is punched over the end again and again, just as there is jumping and stomping and dancing and gesturing on the loose. He could easily have chosen to stand still with his hands on his back like another Liam Gallagher who will never get the same old age accusations down on him. Without saying anything negative about the Oasis singer, however, there is not much to rave about in a discussion about who internally devotes himself most to the music and externally gives the audience the most interesting to look at.

Another significant aspect in this context is the communication among the members. Frequent agreed smiles, common poses towards the audience and the general rhythmic interactor illustrate the togetherness between the performers and remove any feeling that it could be hip as hap who was on stage in addition to Axl Rose. The lasso dance with an audience bra, the tangent footsteps after "November Rain", cowboy poses and greetings and markedly upturned corners of the mouth - even during less cheerful passages - also confirm the inner peace and mental surplus that has clearly been lacking in all the years Axl Rose has been absent in the spotlight.

New solo features ensured better flow

In terms of set list, surprisingly little had happened, considering that there are otherwise fourteen issues from "Chinese Democracy" to pick from. The title track, "Street Of Dreams" and "Madagascar" were all performed almost ten years ago at Rock In Rio 2001, and the single "Better" also has four years behind it in concert. Thus, the only new regular tracks were the heavy and bitter "Sorry" and "This I Love", respectively, the fourth and final part of the four-leaf clover, which also counts the three classics, "Don't Cry", "November Rain" and "Estranged". Both of these new tracks and especially the last one seemed unusually good in the concert situation, not least because it once and for all cemented that Axl Rose has definitely got his voice back at the level it should be at. Heartbreakingly beautiful one moment, unusually aggressive the next, and both sound fully believable. The set-up with three lead guitarists can at times appear a bit whimsical and anachronistic, but as long as the vocals gather the threads, it all makes sense - pastiche can simply not be dressed in as authentic an expression as Axl Rose possesses.

Among the seventeen regular tracks - six from "Chinese Democracy", seven from "Appetite For Destruction" and just four (out of thirty possible) from "Use Your Illusion" - the many solo features continued to appear, but fortunately in highly edited form, so they were in most cases performed as complete instrumental numbers with the whole band, which ensured a somewhat better flow than was experienced four years ago. Richard Fortus and DJ Ashba (who is the latest addition and official replacement for Robin Finck, who has returned to Nine Inch Nails) provided potent guitar creations, while Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal provided variations on the theme from "The Pink Panther". Dizzy Reed contributed on his own with an aviation renaissance in the form of the Warren Zevon classic, "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner". Before "November Rain", Axl Rose delivered a small obligatory intro, also at the grand piano, and before that came a short, gloomy version of the sadly somewhat trampled Pink Floyd number, "Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2".

Lots of highlights, but still room for improvement

There were many highlights, not least the explosive opening consisting of "Chinese Democracy", which was immediately followed by "Welcome To The Jungle", which has otherwise been a regular opening number since 2001. The previously mentioned "This I Love" was strong positively surprising, while "Rocket Queen" - the closing track from "Appetite For Destruction" - sounded just as captivating and beautiful as it should at all. Seeing Axl Rose on top of the grand piano while it was operated by Dizzy Reed during "Street Of Dreams" obviously had great visual appeal, while the large fountains in front of the backdrop at the dramatic coda in "November Rain" were even more captivating. The epic "Madagascar" as the first extra number was well chosen, and when Flaming Lips went into it with massive confetti cannons during "Paradise City", it was rounded off with manners.

Overall, the concert thus served as a testament to the complete transformation that Axl Rose, through good and unfortunately abundant pain, has had to go through after the band that otherwise made up his life's work crumbled between his hands. Not that there should be a prayer for creative stagnation from here - on the contrary, it would be great if the psychological surplus could be used to experiment further with the performance, so that an extra shot of dynamism could come in over the concerts. The consistent omission of "Estranged", "Civil War" and "Don't Cry" (which, however, has been performed a handful of times in recent years) is also unfortunate, and the experience of the "Use Your Illusion" tours should confirm these. numbers' popularity with the audience. Finally, the sound specifically in Gigantium was also not optimal, especially not back in the hall.

However, once these things have been said, it remains only to state once again that yes, Axl Rose is the only worthy heir to the legendary band name. From the same signature as this, a four-star review was sent after Slash's performance to Copenhagen Live just twelve days before his former colleague's visit to Aalborg, and it was an honorable and all in all fine experience to witness Slash - but where that concert leaned closer at three than five stars, then this leans closer to six than four. Slash's teammates are just - with the exception of Myles Kennedy - some anonymously prominent, immediately easily replaceable musicians who do not seem crucial to how Slash under his high hat feels in the tuber. And Myles Kennedy is and will be - although he is certainly talented and has something to offer - a bit of an upstart when compared to Axl Rose, both in terms of vocal performance, expressive authenticity and general charisma. And should Slash be compared to DJ Ashba, Richard Fortus or Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, then they perform unusually much better in the replacement contest than Myles Kennedy does. Therefore - combined with the other reasons that have been presented here - Guns N 'Roses is rightly the name that Axl Rose attaches to himself and his band.

Axl Rose: Secret meeting with Danish party girl

The Guns N 'Roses singer used the trip to Denmark to resume an old acquaintance with a hot famous brunette - see the pictures

The 48-year-old rock star Axl Rose, lead singer in the rather defunct Guns N 'Roses, was this week on a trip to Denmark to give a concert in Aalborg.

He was based at Hotel D'Angleterre in Copenhagen, and before he had to fly to Aalborg, he just managed to get a hot date with the 26-year-old The Voice host Ditte Hapel.

- We have known each other since Axl played at Roskilde four years ago. So now when he came to Denmark again, it was as if in the air that we should see each other again, says an exhausted Ditte Hapel after a long night in Aalborg, to SE og HØR.

The two first met at D'Angleterre, after which they headed for the private plane at Kastrup Airport in the rock singer's luxurious van. Also on the trip were Axl's many assistants and Ditte Hapel's own sister Camilla.

- He's funny and sweet. He is completely unique, there is no one who is like him. And he can still figure out how to fire it, laughs Ditte, who had to go straight to work on The Voice after meeting Axl.

Ditte herself thinks the two will meet again when Axl plays in London in August. But according to Ditte, there is no dating going on.

- He's gotten too old for me, so there's no flirting in it. I think he has many female acquaintances on the friendly level, says Ditte about Axl.