September 16, The Joint
Or would it? Rose is, after all, billing the group as Guns N' Roses, and their two-hour-and-15-minute show leaned heavily on the early part of the GNR catalog, with nine songs from Appetite, the band's 1987 debut, along with a handful from the Illusion albums and four new songs that may or may not be on Rose's long-awaited "new" GNR release, Chinese Democracy. And the seven-piece band, featuring three guitarists, two keyboardists, a bassist and a drummer, played those old tunes impeccably, with a precision that would impress even the most hardcore fan.
What they didn't do, however, was transcend their status as one of the world's highest-profile cover bands. Most of the songs were re-created note for note from the records, including the guitar solos, the main hints of change coming from Rose himself, who was often out of breath and occasionally a little rough in his singing.
Even with the new songs, relatively well-received by the audience, this was essentially a nostalgia show, opening with "Welcome to the Jungle" and closing with "Paradise City," and in that way not all that different from checking out a reconstituted Styx or Journey, missing as they are certain key ingredients from their initial success. Rose, clearly in good spirits and happy with his new bandmates, did his best to put the specter of the past behind him, affording the new lineup the same indulgences as past members, with solo segments for all three guitarists, as well as keyboardist Dizzy Reed (although mercifully no drum solo).
The lengthy solos consistently killed the mood, but when the band was firing on all cylinders, as on tight, powerful renditions of Appetite tracks "My Michelle" and "Rocket Queen," it almost didn't matter who was playing the instruments. And although the new songs were less than spectacular, the sweeping, piano-driven "The Blues" did show a glimmer of the great band that once was, and offer hope of a potentially great band yet to come.