Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses with special guests Adelitas Way

GnR have been and will always be one of my favorite bands of all time. The first 4 albums they came out with, I listened to them nonstop till they would not play anymore. Seeing they were coming to Chicago on one of the Midwest stops, I knew I had to see this show.

The original lineup is no longer intact but Axl Rose, followed by his friend Dizzy Reed who plays the keys, has the second longest tenure in this lineup. The lineup included three guitarists - Richard Fortus, the insanely talented Ron (Bumblefoot) Thal, and one my favorite guitarists to see playing live, DJ Ashba. On bass is Tommy Stinson along with Frank Ferrer, who looks like Rick Ross on drums and plays the hell out of them, giving a great foundation for the three guitarists to do their thing on stage. Rounding out the new lineup is Chris Pitman, playing on the keys as well and backup vocals.

There was just one opening act, Adelita’s Way, who came on around 9:45 and gave a strong performance in front of a crowd just there to see GnR. Adelitas Way played their hit, Sick, off their newest album, Home School Valedictorian. Having seen them before you could tell they were really pumped up opening for GnR; they even missed a few days on their headlining tour to play a few select dates. They ended the 40 minute set with Invincible and knowing how nice these guys are, I hope they found some new fans.

Now, I know some people have been saying how GnR still came on late from local papers, but a tour of this size takes about 30 or more minutes to change over, so the fact they came on a little past 11pm is not bad at all for a show that did not start till after 9:30. With close to a sellout crowd at All State Arena they opened up with Chinese Democracy off the album of the same name. With fireworks going off from one end of the stage to the other as the guys walked on stage followed by Axl Rose, Rose came out in jeans, a white shirt with a jacket and wearing a hat. For a split second I thought I was maybe seeing a knock off of Country act if they sang for GnR, but that went away fast as he started hitting the high notes Rose is known for, just maybe not with the youthful vigor as before.

GnR followed up with Welcome to the Jungle, Mr. Brownstone which had the crowd going right away and sounded great. The brief moments the show had downtime was during the 6 songs they played from Chinese Democracy. Each guitarist got a turn to shine on their own solo which started with Richard Fortus James Bond theme guitar solo that turned in to Live and Let Die. The crowd erupted when they played Rocket Queen - one of the great cuts off the classic album, Appetite for Destruction.

Bass player, Tommy Stinson played a Who cover song of My Generation; this was followed by a great rendition by Dizzy Reed on piano doing another Who cover song, Baba O’ Riley. At this point, the concert really heated up, giving fans everything they had onstage and this was a perfect example when they launched into You Could Be Mine - sounded so good. DJ Ashba turned to do his solo as he played more of a softer style to show off his talent. Ashba is an amazing guitar player and is fun to watch playing as he runs across the stage before leaping in the air as he lands, still playing like it was nothing, plus he adds to GnR what has been missing for awhile - that raunchy bad boy in your face guitar player. As his solo ended, he transitioned into Sweet Child O’ Mine, which had the crowd singing along and dancing on the floor. They kept the crowd singing when Rose did a cover of Pink Floyd’s, Another Brick in The Wall. At this point, Rose did a piano solo before going into November Rain. I have to say, for me, seeing this song performed live for the first time, I was blown away at how great this sounded; for sure one of the highlights of the night.

Last guitar solo of the night was left for Bumblefoot, who played the Pink Panther theme song. I have to admit, of the 3 guitarists, this one could have been left out. Knowing the skill level of Bumblefoot, I was waiting for him to have the place explode with a searing guitar solo and it just did not come about until it went into Don’t Cry when he let his skills really shine on the fret board. GnR played 2 AC/DC songs, Riff Raff and Whole Lotta Rosie that sounded good as Rose went deeper registry on his vocals. They ended the night with Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and the roof shaking song, Nighttrain that got the whole place singing and playing the air guitar.

As the crowd waited for the short break before the encore, about ¼ of the crowd started heading home with it being past 1:30am. They opened up the encore with Madagascar and Shackler’s Revenge which seems odd being Revenge is such a hard song to sing after 2 ½ hrs on stage for anyone but Rose powered through it, but you can tell when they went into Patience how much his voice was affected. Patience is one of my top 5 songs by GnR, so maybe I am biased on this but a few people I talked with felt the same.

The night ended with the band jamming along and singing Happy Birthday to Chris Pitman who was on Keys and then for those who waited 3+ hrs to hear Paradise City. As confetti shot in the air and fireworks going off, the crowd got its 2^nd wind and rocked out to close the night out. For me personally, I have to say this was one of the best concerts I have been to and I hope Rose does not make use wait another 6 years to see them because the music industry needs a kick back in the ass in way only Axl Rose knows how to do when he is playing GnR music.

We all know this is not the old Guns & Roses band, this is now Axl Rose’s vision of GnR and he has assembled a great group of musicians to help him.

All Photos Provided by Peter Lizano