Naltav, none of the ones we want to hear

Seriously you guys? No videos? I are disappoint

All right, now that I've got a good night's sleep in me...

To recap, we got to the venue at about 12:30pm and were the 5th people in line. A lot of them had been to multiple shows, there was even one guy who had been to every central/west coast show. The first 10-15 of us, give or take, got on really well and that made the day go by a lot faster. We grabbed food/etc in shifts. Around 6:00 the line really started to pick up and by the time doors opened at 7:15 it had expanded to well over a hundred people.

Bach went on at about 9:15, which wasn't too bad of a wait. He was about what I expected: lots of energy and not bad, but we did get bored towards the end of his set. His rhythm guitarist fell off the stage trying to give out some picks but wasn't hurt and we all laughed it off. Thankfully GNR paid more attention to the BRIGHT ORANGE tape marking the end of the stage

Bach got done at about 10:15-10:30 ish and we were expecting a long delay - but I swear within 15-20 minutes the lights went down for GNR. Took me completely by surprise. I always thought the GNR logo coming out of the "black hole" in the video was a nice touch, and in person with the CD intro playing I got goosebumps like I haven't had in years.

The band was absolutely incredible. Axl looks a lot smoother moving around in person, I'm not sure what it is about the videos that just don't do this guy justice. DJ was jumping around everywhere, standing on the rail and managing to carry on despite getting groped the entire time. Fortus is ridiculous, I love watching him play - I don't know how his guitars take the abuse he gives them.

I gotta give a special mention to BBF  here - this won't come as a surprise to many of you, but I couldn't believe what a gentleman he was. He made sure to take notice of all of us in the front, stuck his guitars out for people to strum several times, and when he gives out picks he'll give you a firm handshake to make sure the person got it.

There was only one major letdown - since all the guitarists go direct with their amps, I could hear bass at about 100db, Drums and Axl, and then everything else. They got the mix better toward the end of the night, but the unique perspective offered a few things:

1. Tommy is a f'n beast. His bass tone and just the way he plays stuff is as GnR as it gets.

2. Axl sounds fantastic.

3. Frank is also a beast.

I was surprised that Axl didn't talk to the crowd more, but I was definitely surprised to see him interacting with people, shaking hands, etc. He definitely owns that stage.

Another pleasant surprise was the crowd - other than one or two ruffians, everyone was respectful and I didn't have to deal with any pushing or shoving.

All in all, a fantastic rock n' roll concert. Although our audio wasn't the best, nothing matches the experience you get in the front row.

WTF did I see last night? I had NO idea it would be that incredible. This band blew me away. More later when my head stops hurting. For now I leave you with this:

It's 5:30. Doors scheduled at 7, Bach at 8 but no ones holding their breath. Line of about 25.