Guns N’ Roses make 3-hour set look like It’s So Easy

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This article was published 25/08/2017 (3262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How many roadies does it take to switch the stage over for a Guns N’ Roses stadium tour?

Around 25, apparently, all of whom immediately charged forth with immense purpose when the openers were done in order to get the gear ready for what turned out to be a more than three-hour set by GNR at Investors Group Field Thursday night.

The Looney Toons theme ushered the seven-piece band on stage almost exactly when they were scheduled to start, and they looked exactly as you’d expect them to — guitarist Slash in his now-famous top hat, his messy curtain of curls hanging down into his face, almost covering the dark shades he also had on; frontman Axl Rose in a hat, jacket, T-shirt, expertly torn up jeans with a plaid shirt tied around his waist, his hands and neck sparkling with tons of bling. He would go on to change his outfit half a dozen times (maybe more), but all were similar variations on this classic Axl look.

The first full song was It’s So Easy from 1987’s Appetite for Destruction; at the sound of the first note, the crowd jolted to their feet and many stayed there for the rest of the night, especially enthused by the unexpected set of fireworks that burst into the sky after the opening track.

Immediately, Rose seemed energetic and in good spirits; he cracked out his signature sideways slither within minutes of getting on stage and twirled his purple mike stand around his head with reckless abandon. He ran, he jumped, he spun, he prowled and he danced. He was sassy and a bit of a ham, but in the best way. It was like he was 20-something years old again and the stage was his playground.

And his vocals? He was givin’r.

No one expects a flawless performance from Rose, but he more than held his own; it was easy to tell he was pushing his upper register pretty hard, but he got up there and knocked out some impressive shrieks that were totally on pitch and as powerful and impactful as they were in the band’s heyday. Producing quality vocals consistently for more than three hours, working through a back catalogue as unforgiving as this band’s, definitely deserves praise without a caveat.

A particular highlight was ballad This I Love; the toned-down number was one of the few times Rose’s voice was truly at the forefront and he sounded delicate and controlled. And again, much later, his rendition of November Rain (which featured Rose on the piano and a ridiculously amazing solo by Slash), was stunning.

Speaking of Slash solos, there were a lot of them. Like, a lot. Some (me) would say too many. However, watching one of the greatest living guitarists do his thing right in front of your eyes is a moment to absorb, appreciate and remember.

Slash was awarded one formal solo during which the stage was all his, and what he went on to perform was the face-melter of all face-melters; his fingers were moving so fast that it looked as though they weren’t even moving at all. It’s almost sickening how easy he makes it look — though he did break a sweat during this particular solo, which lasted nearly 10 minutes.

In the final seconds, his head tilted back and his mouth was open as he ripped through one last blistering lick before drifting into the universally familiar opening line of Sweet Child O’ Mine, which, of course, sent the crowd into a tizzy.

Rose isn’t much of a talker on stage, choosing to throw out just a few lines here and there, the first time being more than an hour into the show. He commented once on how loud the crowd was, once about the weather and said a few thank-yous near the end. That was about it, but no one really seemed to care.

Likely the most enthused portion of dialogue was the moment he bared his impressively straight, white teeth and screeched the iconic line, “You’re in the jungle baby, you’re gonna dieeeeee,” at the top of his lungs, his voice cutting like a knife through the chilly summer air.

Around the 120-minute-mark, every song seemed to have the ramp-up feel of a main-set closer, but GNR just kept right on going after each one. My Michelle, November Rain and covers of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun and Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door all had finale vibes, but it was Nightrain that was chosen as the end to a truly massive main set, ending where they began — with a track from Appetite for Destruction.

Guns N’ Roses quickly returned to knock out a handful of songs as an encore, ending, unsurprisingly, with a dance-party sing-along to Paradise City.

The thing to appreciate most about Guns N’ Roses is the effort that was put into this tour; it would have been easy to completely phone it in, but instead, they got fiery and produced a show that is objectively excellent and entertaining.

After their show at the Winnipeg Arena in 1993, Free Press reviewer Stephen Ostick wrote that he felt GNR had lost the hunger that often develops in a band’s embryonic form. Now, 30 years later, it oddly feels as though GNR’s hunger has returned, and it’s really working for them.

To open the show, Toronto-based rockers Our Lady Peace plowed through a brief but powerful set.

The band had a pocket of fame from the mid-90s until the early ’00s, and honoured their longtime fans by filling the majority of their set with songs from that era — including Superman’s Dead, Clumsy and Innocent — even though they are gearing up to release their first new record in five years, Somethingness.

Some sound issues plagued the first couple of tracks — the vocals were almost too muddy to decipher — but as they pushed forward, things seemed to balance out a bit.

Frontman Raine Maida (whose wife is Winnipeg-born songstress Chantal Kreviazuk) has one of those voices that is almost instantly recognizable. It held up well in the stadium setting, even if it has lost a bit of the almost unsettling edge it carried in his younger days.

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel