you don't need massive changes, change one or two songs & you could have a different set & experience each night - who in any audience needs to relive KOHD again??

it's a very simple procedure that would go a long way. look at the plaudits & hype surrounding the Tyoko set & Asian sets & how all that goodwill have dissipated as the setlist has becoming boringly predictable.
if every GnR set promised even at least 1 different song rarely performed it would benefit everyone - the audience, the fans & the band.
it's not like we're asking for a video or a new album or for mother goose to give us a blowjob.

because it's such a relatively small detail compared to the wider clusterfuck of the GnR saga the setlist complaints get swept under the carpet, but they're indictive of the dilemma of the organisation post-'89 (or: since axl gained control of the ship): undermined by fear & lack of preparation. they can't play different song's 'cause axl's a pussy, afraid of how they'll sound & they'll sound like shit 'cause he hasn't sang them enough.

it's a symptom of the wider tragedy. victory & power & empire for ever have been won but what good has axl ever done with the band without the other guys? GnR concerts should have surprises & unscripted excitement - but you coulda guessed this setlist 6 or 7 months ago. Axl isn't treating GnR live like a special entity, he's trying to treat it like every other band & he's doing it even worse than they do (at least the broing big bands might vary their set from continent to continent if not country to country or venue to venue).
axl's got everything he could hope for but he still wears the burden like a noose round his neck instead of being liberated by it. you would expect this liberation to be released most powerfully live as it's really the last place axl has total control over but instead of investing it with imagination & enthusiasm we get the comfortable set with songs that must've been performed about 1000 times already.

the GnR experience has gotten boring and predictable. that's pretty terrible. & they can't even raise themselves to shuffle up a minor aspect like the setlist how are they ever gonna function as a force beyond this tour. it'll fall back into the bleak cycle we've become accustomed to, only this time we don't have a record to wait for.

but there's also something a bit more personal that pisses me off. i've paid for two GnR shows this summer, one day after the other. the venues are about a 2 hour journey away from each other. it looks like i'm gonna be ripped off. i could probably have a similar sorta experience sitting in front of my comp watching youtube for two hours. it'll be the exact same choreographed performances of the exact same songs. in any day and age but particularly in a post-youtube world you can't be recycling a decade old setlist & expect people to believe they're giving all they have to give. instead the concerts seem like an inconvenience to axl & the band. if anything common courtesy, respect & politefulness GnR & Axl would be playing mindblowing setlists each & every night to thank the fans who do turn up to still support the band, you would expect that being their only capable form of expression. but no, they trot out the same safe stale set 'cause there's no risk.

the flights from belfast 2 the mainland & vice versa are short but really horrible! on the boat it takes a bit longer but you can have a bit of craic & get nicely warmed up for the gig in a way you can't on the plane..

"axl won't do" anything that he can't control.

if axl was on that rock u'd go see it..