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- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Monkeychow's GNR Roadtrip Experience
Hey all,
So I live in Melbourne Australia where the band was ubable to play this tour, and I didn't wanna miss the new line up, so I jumped in the car and drove a 1600km round trip to do so...just got home last night and I have to say it was a hell of a great time!
There's some GNR content here, and also some personal shit, but I feel like I know half of you guys so forgive me a bit of a ramble.
Personal Bullshit
So, I picked a great week for a roadtrip...check out the great driving weather...
The fun thing about a roadtrip in Australia is you come across some bizzare shit too...like this roadside attraction:
Also came across the "Big Rocking Horse" but can't find the pic of that just now. It's the same thing except a giant toy rocking horse!
Back on the road and it was all good, although apparently we'll be pushing on and not spending the night here:
Although I did find a cool place to feed a kangeroo, so now I'm a real Australian:
Finally made it to adeliade, in the most rock thing ever, I decided to go to the zoo and check out the pandas:
oh and this one 
The GNR Show
So here's the venue for GNR.
Clearly adeliade was concerned about the possibility of guys like Buzsaw flying over for this gig. There was a special place for people of his mindset:
So anyway....onto my thoughts of the actual show.
Well....I have to say, it kicked some serious ass. To be honest I had such a great time that I don't really know where to begin, so I'll just lay out some somewhat obvious thoughts that come to mind:
Axl: He sounded great, and seemed to be in great spirits. When Axl's having fun shows just seemed to go better, and he seemed to be having a great time. At the end of the show he got Ron to do the classic "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant (sort of a sporting chat done here), and he seemed very upbeat the whole show - sang a quick line from "Heartbreak Hotel" even - which reminded me of old times. Vocally he seemed great to me, much stronger peformance than in 2007 to my ears. I also saw 1993 but I was too young and geeking out to even consider the vocals back then I was just like "wow". lol. Anway - he sounded really great here - had lots of the trademark rasp and shreiks but also sounded really cool on some of the cleaner slower numbers like KOHD.
Richard: I know it was trendy to love richard for a while, and that created a backlash of people that hate richard. Sorry to go all fanboy but as a guitarist I was really quite impressed with his lead duties thoughout the show. I honestly think he's a lot better of a guitarist than we ususally get to see - just because normally he plays mostly rhythm. Not only is his james bond theme very impressive in places - but it's just the little fills and solos and stuff he adds. Tiny touches that make stuff great. I see why some people see him as the secret weapon or whatever. While that sounds dramatic, I think the only reason he doesn't get more attention is because the band also has Ron - who's just frightening with his abilities on guitar, and DJ who's also very cool. But yeah...i guess what I mean is from a musicanship POV you can see richard is very talented.
Soundmix: I was expecting the traditional GNR mix problems. Got to say in 2007 i experienced a bit of them - with different instruments or axl getting burried at times - thankfully i think they got it right this time. There was never a time I felt I couldn't hear Axl properly..and the instruments seemed pretty well balanced. Was nice to hear tommy on bass too - he really seemed to lock into frank and hold the madness together in some of the crazy moments - like the nighttrain solos or rosie etc.
Korn: I'm only a casual korn fan - but damn their drummer is badass. Wish i had video to show. I'm not a drummer but I was impressed.
Frank: Speaking of drummers, frank was apparently hurt at the time of the show, but still delivered the GNR set flawlessly before seeking out medical treatment. Heaps of respect to him for soildering on for us.
Lipsyncing Claims: The band clearly uses a tape of axl for some of the backing vocal lines (madagascar etc) but it's 100% obvious and clear that the lead vocal lines are 100% live and real commin from Axl. So don't anything else you read in the paper is clearly rubbish IMO.
Setlist: Got to say, while people on these boards think the setlist is too AFD heavy, it was obvious from the audience that they want those classic hits there. People go nuts for them and while it seems boring online, in person it makes your night when those riffs kick in!
Overall: Again, I'll get called fan boy - but the general chemestry of this band is much more real band than previous new GNR lineups. Of course we all know Axl is the one with the ownership or whatever. But there's real chemestry and comradery between bandmates it seems - whereas I always felt the 'old new' band with bucket and robin seemed to be pulling different ways. Richard, Ron, DJ and Tommy seem like a machine together. Overall kickass show.
Backstage
So...in the coolest thing ever...Ron was insanely kind enough to invite me as one of his guests to the GNR aftershow where I got to meet some of GNR.
Here's some pics:
Here's me with Tommy.
Tommy was nice enough to pose for that pic with me even though he was about to grab his dinner at that stage.
He kept a real low profile backstage, seeemd very humble. I have a funny story. At one stage he was sitting on a couch, and there were these groupie kind of girls who'd scammed their way backstage across the room from him.
These girls had no idea who was who - they knew ron was in the band but not his name - so they have an iphone and are on wikipedia calling out GNR member names to see if Ron answers. So they will yell out "hey frank" at ron. No answer. Then pause. Then read the ipone then like "Hey, Chris" Ron was polite to them..but worked into the conversation that he was busy sms'ing his wife!! And then spent his time being uber friendly with the obvious GNR nuts that were backstage.
Anyway, so my tommy story. These girls don't recgonise him. And they're like "who are you". Tommy is trying to eat his dinner and can clearly see that they arn't even real fans. He goes "no one" and they are like "why are you here" and he goes "oh, I work here". I lol'd at that point. They go "how?" and he's like "I'm a photographer" . Anyway...as soon as they found out he "wasn't" in the band they ignored him entirely and basicly rudely walked off. Funny shit. Me and some of the other more keen GNR fans cracked up, and he was very nice and chatted and posed with us.
I also got to have a beer or three with Chris Pitman...he's a little bit camera shy:
But he said I could take another pic if I sculled my beer before he did. Little did he realise I'm australian, and also my beer was already 7/8 finished 
So here's my real pic with him:
He's a great guy though, and despite not being a fan of cameras was very interested to chat to fans and talk about music and really interact with people on a human level. Nice guy.
I also met DJ:
He was uber tired by this stage, but I told him he could sleep through my pic if he pretended to be awake if asked about it later.
In seriousness though he'd played a kickass show and had done wonders with the crowd, and it was nice of him to hang out with us after the show and stuff too.
Here's me with Del James:
People say things about Del online but he was an absolute gentleman when I met him. Made an effort to make me feel welcome in the dressing rooms and seemed like a great guy. Also if you see the insanity involved in packing up a show the size of GNR's on the road - I have a lot of respect for him for being GNR's roadmanager - it doesn't look like an easy job - and shows like the one I went to go off without a hitch and are kickass for all involved.
Then I'll end this mamoth post with Bumblefoot.
He's just so great to fans. He was so kind to everyone there. And made endless efforts to interact, pose for photos and generally be funny, entertaining and friendly. Can't speak highly enough of him. He made you feel like a friend and not just a fan. Great guy in person...and all that after blowing our socks off onstage.
So that's my GNR roadtrip!!! I'm a VERY HAPPY MAN!
- IRISH OS1R1S
- Rep: 59
Re: Monkeychow's GNR Roadtrip Experience
Well happy for you Monkey could not have happened to a nicer guy, Im so jealous. You jammy fuck, no offence 
- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: Monkeychow's GNR Roadtrip Experience
Great review dude! Glad you had a great trip there and I'm really happy you got backstage too, like Madagas said, you're such a big fan you really deserve it.
