Guns n' Roses Assault Nostalgia With 'Rock in Rio' Return

http://www.craveonline.com/music/articl … rio-return

GNR's first show of 2011 is a 30+ song marathon of errors and missed notes, with a side of nostalgia.

By Johnny FirecloudOctober 03, 20110

Guns N' Roses headlined the seventh and final night of the Rock In Rio festival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, closing out the festival with a 30-plus song music marathon that pushed the limits of our memories of the once-great Rock monsters.

Inactive since last December, the most recent Frankenstein incarnation of GNR have finally activated once more, and are setting their sites on the U.S. for a Fall tour. Those anticipating the upcoming shows looked to the Brazil performance as a good indicator of what to expect while watching it streamed worldwide, via YouTube. Sadly, the roaring firecracker frontman in Axl Rose is padded with middle-aged pudge, resulting in a great many out-of-breath moments and only token reminders of the soaring post-Slash incarnation that we saw in 2006.

When their planned setlist leaked hours before the performance, computer-savvy fans delighted at the sight of nearly 35 song (and four guitar-solo performances), which included most tracks from the band's original debut Appetite For Destruction, nearly every Chinese Democracy track and a few other gems. Naturally, as is the Axl Rose way, the band took to the stage two hours behind schedule, and the setlist was amputated as a result.

Taking to the stage in a yellow raincoat, black hat and sunglasses Axl ushered in the performance with the title track from Chinese Democracy, and immediately there were signs of trouble. Levels were wildly off, the vocals initially nonexistent, and the term "clumsy" came to mind far more than any other adjective. The stomach of this original-era GNR maniac twisted in knots as the notoriously reclusive frontman croaked and wheezed his way through the song - often with a backing track too high in the mix.

"Welcome to the Jungle" only made matters worse. Sounding often like an old lady doing karaoke while sprinting, Rose wailed "DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE F*CK YOU ARE?!"... as he stepped around the army of stagehands mopping the stage around him.

The elements weren't responsible for this failure, however, as guitarist Bumblefoot Thal's chosen attire for the evening - a Stormtrooper mask - fell down on his face and caused him to completely ruin the solo in three different spots because of it:

Similarly, solos were ruined on other classics, including a sacrilegious hacking of "Sweet Child O' Mine," while performances on some of the newer tracks were tighter - most notably the solo on Chinese Democracy track "Better," which former guitarist Robin Finck owned so thoroughly in the past.

After introducing his adoptive mom and sister in an awkward "Whose fault is it" moment that the crowd didn't really understand (he didn't address the guests as family), and an ensuing unwelcome Hip-Hop version of "Mr. Brownstone," the band delivered one of the night's only shining gems: "Estranged," the massive track from Use Your Illusion which hasn't been played live in nearly two decades, or since the song's architect, Slash, made his exit from the lineup.

With five minute James Bond theme instrumental indulgences acting as a gross misreading of audience interest, the band played out their disconnect to a crowd dissipating heavily amidst the rains, and the time (4am) pushing patience en masse. It was a staggered return for what used to be the world's most dangerous Rock band, and a testament to the level of inebriation an OG Guns N' Roses fan will have to subject his or herself to in order to scratch that itch of nostalgia for the incredible power that represented the final legitimate gasp of the glam rock era.

GNR were once gods, the only band to truly straddle the schism between the collapsed hair metal era and the grime rock generation that followed. It only worked for a time, before egos and control issues devoured the promise and mojo of the greatest collective to ever rock the Sunset Strip, leaving a generation of tattooed leathered copycats and venereal half-cocked celebrators in their stead. Now we have this, a faltering musical Frankenstein geared for arenas and big-budget productions, cold calculations for nostalgia mining. And with Axl's diminishing ability, perhaps we should be thankful we're not watching that band we remember from so long ago, coming apart at the seams as it rattles down rock's unforgiving gravel road.

Guns N' Roses Guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal Talks About His Favorite 'Use Your Illusion' Song

http://www.guitarworld.com/guns-n-roses … usion-song

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Use Your Illusion I & II, I recently broke down all 30 songs from the albums, ranked in order from worst to best.

During the process of trying to get in touch with GNR's people for an unrelated project, I also caught up with current Guns guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, and I asked him about his favorite song from UYI to play live. Here's what he had to say:

"It was May 2006, my first tour with GNR. Fans would email daily asking if we could please play 'Don't Cry.' I remember standing alone on stage in front of 100,000+ people, taking a solo, and I just started playing it on my own, motioning the audience to sing along. For the next year that became part of my solo, a lone guitar rendition, the audience singing along, a moment where we'd really connect each night. One of the last shows after a year of touring, I played it as an encore and Axl joined in and sang it, for the first time in over a decade. [We] started adding it back into the set after that. Always loved the song, but after all that it has an added personal meaning to me now."