Guns N' Roses
Papa Roach
Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row)
LOCATION:
Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
PRICE:
*sigh* around $95
CONCESSIONS:
I breezed by the food and merch so fast that I have no idea.
VIEW:
Front row, on the barricade. No pushing or shoving... it was wonderful.
PRE-SHOW VIBE:
Since it was so cold out, I didn't want to risk getting sick so I waited till door time to get in line. When I saw the amount of people already there, I figured I could kiss front row goodbye. Surprisingly once inside, I didn't have any trouble getting up to the barricade.
I was psyched for this show because I liked everyone on the bill. Well. "Like" is a severe understatement. From about 1989-1992 I was completely obsessed with Gn'R and Skid Row, and Papa Roach own me. So yeah, I was happy about this tour.
ATTENDANCE:
I hate to say this, but pathetic. Apparently NJ isn't the hair metal capital we all thought it was, or this place would have been filled to the rafters. There were full-on deserted sections in the upper deck and the floor was so empty that when I took a bathroom break during Gn'R, I had zero trouble getting back up to the front.
AUDIENCE:
All ages, including a man with the biggest mullet I have ever seen. His hair was down to the middle of his back for crying out loud.
WARDROBE/STAGE SET:
Sebastian didn't have any visuals except the other bands' equipment. Papa Roach had their skull backdrop, while Guns N' Roses had a giant red and white mural of Chinese letters that probably spelled out "Keep dreaming and maybe one day Chinese Democracy will be released."
ARI RATING (ADRENALINE RUSH INDEX 1-10):
Frame of reference:
1= I sat in my chair motionless and felt no emotional connection
10= I walked out bruised and high off nothing but the energy of the show
Sebastian: 5
Papa Roach: 11
Guns N' Roses: 8
SETLIST (not in order):
Sebastian Bach:
Slave to the Grind
Monkey Business
Piece of Me
Here I Am
Big Guns
18 & Life
I Remember You
Youth Gone Wild
and around 3 solo songs I don't know
Papa Roach:
Dead Cell
Not Listening
She Loves Me Not
Getting Away With Murder
Time is Running Out
To Be Loved
Alive
Last Resort
Broken Home
Between Angels and Insects
Scars
Blood Brothers
Guns N' Roses:
Welcome to the Jungle
It's So Easy
Nighttrain
Out ta Get Me
Mr. Brownstone
Paradise City
My Michelle (with Sebastian)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Rocket Queen
Used to Love Her
November Rain
You Could Be Mine
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Live and Let Die
Better and one or two other new songs
-plus instrumental solos
HIGHLIGHTS:
Sebastian sang "Here I Am", which was one of my favorite Skid Row songs ever. He looked good, at least better than I expected him to. I have seen him twice on his own besides this show. I was glad he didn't bust out into "Time Warp" and whatever song from Jekyll and Hyde like he did when I saw him at Irving Plaza a few years ago. I liked one of his new songs that was a ballad, though I forget the name. As far as vocals, he did pretty good. There were a couple of screams that fell short, but I didn't mind. Considering the hard living I'm sure he's done, he sounded decent. By the way, he's my all-time favorite vocalist next to Jacoby.
I was incredibly anxious for Papa Roach because like the summer show in Wisconsin, this was a metalhead crowd and I didn't know how well they would be received. They put on a great show as always, but the audience responded with mild cheering. After one of the songs, a kid started chanting "Guns...and... Roses" and in a kneejerk reaction, I told him I was going to kill him. He didn't hear me, but the father and son between us did and looked at me with concern. I don't know what possessed me to yell that, though I suspect being stressed out has something to do with my outburst. I was pretty excited to hear the new stuff and was particularly impressed by how good "To Be Loved" sounded live. I think they should've opened with that for this crowd. But they only have two more dates with them, so I doubt they'll be changing the setlist now, and especially at my suggestion. Coby went into the crowd for "Dead Cell" (opener) as well as for "Alive" and I think one other song but I can't remember which. The audience seemed to respond the most to "Between Angels and Insects."
For Guns N' Roses, it was pretty cool being first row for them and having Axl be about three feet in front of my face. By the way, I agree with the rumors that he had plastic surgery done. Nobody's cheekbones get higher with age. I also agree with recent show reviews that Axl's been in a very pleasant mood these days. Even when someone threw something on stage, he just calmly said "We really want to keep playing for you, but if you keep throwing things up here, we'll leave." I wondered who would be crazy enough to take their life into their hands by throwing stuff up there. Did they not see the St. Louis footage? Setlist highlights for me were Rocket Queen and Used to Love Her.
LOWLIGHTS:
I suppose you think I'm going to write about how much it sucked that Gn'R didn't hit the stage until 11:30 and didn't leave till 2am. But I fully expected this scenario, so I actually wasn't mad. The only disappointments were that the attendance was dismal and having to sit through the instrumental solos of which Bumblefoot's was the worst. It sounded like he was fumbling around on the guitar as if he'd never seen one before. Unless it's Eddie Van Halen shredding on "Eruption", I just don't have the interest in guitar solos. It also kind of irritated me that he played all of "Don't Cry" instead of hearing the whole band perform the song with Axl.
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS SHOW? (YES/NO-EXPLAIN):
If you're looking for a good time and time is not remotely of the essence to you, yes.
