How Guns N' Roses rocked Bombay

GN'& f*ckin R came to Bombay Dec 9th 2012, played a three hour set & blew our minds. Ever since 1st Feb 2008, when Iron Maiden hit the stage at the MMRDA grounds in Bombay, I have waited so painfully long for the next big rock/metal act to rock the city. And the new look GN’R did exactly that.

One of the most controversial bands in music history known for living the rock n roll lifestyle to the fullest finally arrived. The concert kick-started at about 6 in the evening, with local Indian metal band “Goddess Gagged”. The band was decent, however technical difficulties such as the volume of the singers mike was not adjusted properly & was not properly audible at times. Credit has to be given to the fans waiting for GN’R to patiently endure as opposed to what happened during the Iron Maiden gig when the crowd was abusing the opening acts.

The new line-up of GnR-

Axl Rose – lead vocals (1985–present)

Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, percussion, backing vocals (1990–present)

Tommy Stinson – bass, backing vocals (1998–present)

Chris Pitman – keyboards, backing vocals (1998–present)

Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar (2002–present)

Frank Ferrer – drums (2006–present)

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal – lead guitar (2006–present)

DJ Ashba – lead guitar (2009–present)

                                         

I did during the concert(while the opening band was playing) get to speak to one of the members of the organizing committee & asked him so when are GN’R taking the stage. The reply I got was – “the rest of the band was backstage, been there for more than an hour, but Axl hasn’t even left his hotel room”. I was thinking it’s so typical of Axl & his rocker like attitude turning up when he feels like. But when they turned up at 7 in the evening, they created Rock history in Mumbai. Opening with Chinese Democracy, lead guitarist DJ Ashba standing on the left of the stage with the spotlight focussed on him, rocked the opening riff with Axl bursting from the back with his typically out of this world vocals.

The other members of the new GN’R were quite solid as musicians, highly talented & extremely good. Lead Guitarist DJ Ashba broke his strings twice during the concert but made good recoveries both occasions that musically it was not noticeable.

The set list was incredible included a number of covers done very well.

Set list –

·         Chinese Democracy

·         Welcome to the Jungle

·         It’s So Easy

·         Mr. Brownstone

·         Estranged

·         Rocket Queen

·         Richard Fortus Guitar Solo (Blacklight Jesus of Transylvania)

·         Live and Let Die (Wings cover)

·         This I Love

·         Better

·         Motivation (Tommy Stinson on lead vocals, with band introductions)

·         Dizzy Reed Piano Solo (No Quarter by Led Zeppelin)

·         Catcher in the Rye

·         Street of Dreams

·         There Was a Time

·         You Could Be Mine

·         DJ Ashba Guitar Solo (Ballad of Death)

·         Sweet Child O’ Mine

·         Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (Pink Floyd cover, with Axl on piano)

·         November Rain

·         Objectify (Bumblefoot on lead vocals)

·         Don’t Cry

·         The Seeker (The Who cover)

·         Civil War

·         Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)

·         Nightrain

Encore:

·         Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Neil Young cover)

·         Patience

·         Paradise City

Axl Rose also dedicated Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door to one of his idols Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Also during the middle of November Rain just before the main solo, the crowd was urging Lead guitarist ‘Bumblefoot’ to stand on top of the grand piano which Axl was playing. Axl stopped to take an Aspirin claiming he had a headache. But the true reason was that was a signature Slash like behaviour, who he personally hates & hence that didn’t happen & and he continued the song after that.

There was a couple of disappointing things; there was a bit of a technical glitch where Axl’s mike was not as loud as it should have been with respect to the other instruments. Also age has seemed to have caught up with him & it could be seen in his voice, but he still pulled of an incredible set.

The show ended with a big finish with Paradise City, at the end of which did something I never expected any band to do. Axl threw his microphone into the audience & gave a word of advice after thanking the crowd & saying how the band have wanted to come to India for so long (25 years) and that was to stay away from the Po-Po(Police).

After this incredible show, I just wonder how incredible were the original Guns N’ Roses with Slash, Duff & Izzy.