Axl 'N' Friends

On Saturday, Ed got a call from his friend Dennis and the next thing I knew the three of us had tickets to the Guns 'N' Roses concert the following night. Dennis lives in White Plains, so when his train arrived in the city the following evening, we met him for dinner, stopped at Duane Reade so Dennis could purchase earplugs and a box of Ferrero Rochere, and then hopped in a cab bound for Terminal 5, the venue where the band would be playing. It was one of the coldest nights of the year, which isn't saying much, but we were freezing as we walked and walked and walked towards the back of the security line. Terminal 5 is near the Hudson River, and wind whipped through the tunnel all around us and the other people in line. It was a motley crew. Some concert goers looked barely 20 and others were definitely in their mid-40s. There were leather jackets and crazy piercings, but there were also tasteful long coats and collared shirts. GNR's biggest album, Appetite for Destruction, was released in 1987, but their music is still relatively popular, so the wide age range represented there made sense. We passed the half an hour in line shivering and chatting with a Colombian girl and an Italian girl who were in line behind us. Towards the front of the line, Dennis realized that he would not be allowed to bring the candy into the venue and made more friends by frantically handing out chocolate; some people were suspicious about taking candy from a stranger, but it didn't take him long to empty the box.

We were hastily patted down, then allowed into the venue, where we learned that the opening act would not take the stage until 10:00 and GNR was not scheduled to start until 11:00. Of course anyone who knows anything about Axl Rose, the lead singer, knows that he is famously late for shows, often starting as many as three hours late. (Apparently his tardiness once cause a riot in Montreal.) We bought drinks and headed to an upper level where there were, surprisingly, couches, perfect for relaxing and watching the opening act via small screens hung here and there.

Axl Rose is in the black jacket and hat to the left of center stage.

A bit after 11:00, we headed down to the floor level in preparation for the main part of the show. We ended up standing next to a few guys in their 40s, one of whom was talking about his gall bladder surgery. Sheesh. GNR's fan base certainly had gotten older. After a mere 40 minutes of being buffeted on all sides by people trying to push past us to better viewing spots, the band took the stage. They started off with a song I'd never heard, then launched into "Welcome to the Jungle," one of their biggest hits. 

Axl Rose, the lead singer, is the only member of the original band on this tour, leading some people to sarcastically refer to the band as Axl 'N' Friends instead of Guns 'N' Roses. At first, I thought Axl sounded almost just like he had when Appetite for Destruction was recorded, which was rather amazing for a guy who'd turned 50 just a few years before. Though my view of the stage was severely compromised - more on that later - it was clear that he was still an electric performer. He dashed around the stage, gesticulating energetically as he sang. Ed, who could see better than I could, pointed out that two guitarists were playing the role that the legendary original lead guitarist, Slash, used to fill on his own; they'd pass portions of the solos back and forth between them.

Axl then.

Axl now.

Inexplicably, the band ended up doing a lot of covers. GNR had so many hits that they've inspired lots of their own cover bands, so it was a little surprising to hear them doing instrumental covers of bands like The Who, Pink Floyd, and the Sex Pistols. This was annoying. Also disappointing was Axl's performance. As the show went on, his voice seemed to lose more and more of its characteristic flair. Worse, it became harder and harder to hear him. Dennis yelled that the sound technicians must have been slowly turning his mic volume down as his voice slowly deteriorated over the course of the show, and for good reason. Near the end, the audience's singing nearly drowned him out completely.

One of the two guitarists who played Slash's part.

A Beth's-eye view of the stage.

And, alas, visibility proved to be a constant problem for me. There's no question that I'm shorter than the average person, but this concert seemed to be absolutely bursting with people who had left the six-foot mark in the dust. The result was that I'd get brief glimpses of the performers on stage when the heads in front of me aligned just right but spent the majority of my time staring at the backs of necks and shoulders. For at least half an hour, the couple in front of me made out without coming up for air, which was particularly unpleasant. Occasionally I'd hold my phone up above my head to take a picture of the stage, then look at the image to see what I was missing. There was a screen above the stage in the back which played, not the show unfortunately, but psychedelic light patterns or else strange music videos that featured women who were either very scantily clad, or weepy, or both.

At about 12:55, I yelled to Ed that I didn't want to stay any later than 1:30, as I had to work the next day. About ten minutes later, the band launched into "Sweet Child o' Mine," and as soon as it was over, Ed said that as far as he was concerned, we could go. Dennis joined us readily and we elbowed our way through the crowd and to the exits. I was glad to have gone to the concert, but I was also glad not to be a die-hard fan. I think I would have been disappointed to see only an aging portion of a band that used to be larger than life. 

Above is Ed's video of "Welcome to the Jungle."