WELCOME TO THE BUNGLE(OR HOW TO STAY WARM IN THE NOVEMBER RAIN IN DETROIT ROCK CITY!)
So we made it to Detroit in time to get to the Palace to see Guns N'Freekin' Roses and I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited as The Rockitqeen.Running on no sleep whatsoever,she was awaiting the moment with baited breath,you could just feel her heart poundin' out the beat of familiar GnR toons in the car ride to the show.Whatta cutie!
When we got to the airport,the first thing to hit us(well,me more so)was the hazy skies and the fear of goin' back home to Michigan,which for me is alwayz a mixed bag of emotions.It's like another whole life for me there which I've left mostly behind since I moved to Vegas eight or so yearz ago.Course I was excited about seeing my friendz,family and Guns N' Roses,but all the creepy old feelingz was also bubbling up from my flesh.O.k.,so I'm overdramatizing thingz,but a part of me wanted to grab the steering wheel of the plane and head back to Sin City.I guess I have this fear of being stuck in Michigan and going backward in my life,which is silly but if you've ever read any Michael Moore or Ben Hamper books you would be familiar with the dread and sadness Michigan can bestow upon one who lives for more than just hunting,drinking beer and being unemployed.
But I digress,sorry,back to the event of the night.
My old roomate and friend-Nitriss-also known as Roy's Sister-picked us up and wisked us out to the Palace in a rainstorm that rivavled that one in that book where the guy builds an arc and puts pairs of beasties on it.The sky's where drenched.
We entered the Palace,got our wristbandz and signed a mosh pit waiver and made our way to the floor of the auditorium.Unfortatly we made it a bit too early cuz the patience of my dear Rockitqeen was quickly disolving as we sat thru the boring and pointless yammering of CKY.Yuck.File them in the C Section of the store for CRAP!
Next up was Mixmaster Mike from The Beastie Boys who was mildly entertaining for about 10 minutes then we grew very wrestless.There's only so much back n' forth playing of one mans record collection we could take(tho the big screen visuals of Ultra Man fighting giant rubber monsters did help some).It's not like he was bad,just not our flavour of the night.We wanted to ROCK-not listen to drum machines mixed with Kriss Kross and Vanilla Ice toonz.Jeez,back in the day it was a sin to play that crap in a show before a rock band hit the stage.It was always Led Zeps' second album,now it's getting jiggy with Poop Dogg N' Pee Ditty.
But alas,after waiting about an hour the moment had arrived.The lights went out,the Detroit crowd reminded me how Detroit audiences make the best noise in the world and the geetar intro staggered out over the amps as The Voice screamed over the p.a.-"Do you know where you are?....You're in the jungle baby....and you're gonna d...i.....ii.......eee....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"
The place freekin' exploded!!!
Axl,wearing a Red Wings hockey jersey and Bo Derek braids slithered out onto the stage with his all new,all different GnR and took us back to the good ol' days when the grass was green and the girls were pretty.
well,kinda-but I'm getting ahead of myself.
He sounded great thru the whole show.Usually when one catches a performance by Mr.Bailey by the time he's halfway thru the show his voice is raw and froggy,but Thursday night he was on top all the way.Zooming around the stage doing his trademark snakedance,making sure everone was feeling his wrath.I'd have to say my fave of the night was "Live & Let Die"cuz it was just blistering!!Intense baby!!
The new band,well,of course we'd all die to see The Slash n' The Duff and The Whole Sweaty Gang from back when,but I gotta confess they kick major ass.And they look just as cool.The Nine Inch Nails guitarist had that Gene Simmons stance down pat doin' the more razor sharp type solos,The punker guy from The Vandels handled the more raw type punky licks and Buckethead-well,I'm not the biggest fan of twiddly diddly technical type playin'-but he's just wierd and off the wall enough to win my thumbs up.The guy is not of this earth that's for sure-and that's what schlock-n-roll is all about!Especially his solo-where he descended his sonic booms on us with music from Star Wars,and he even handed gifts out to the audience from a grab bag-action figures and such til he pulled out a Col.Sanders Bobblehead to mach his KFC bucket.He's got to be seen to be believed cuz ya just can't explain him.
The only songs that really stood out for me that lacked the WOOMPH was "Sweet Child O'Mine"and "November Rain"cuz to me there's no one that does those songs the way Slash does.Buckethead was a bit too technical for those-they needed to be sloppied up by the one formerly known as Saul Hudson.But oh well.
Most of the toonz were from "Appetite For Destruction",a few from the "Use Your Illusions"and one from "Lies".Then toward the end of the night we got a good listen to 4(was it 4 or 5 Rockitqeen?)new songz from the much anticipated "Chinese Democracy"album,which I really enjoyed-I think they're all pretty darn good,especially one that had Brian May stamped all over it(which may be the case since the Queen string twiddler did work on the album).Also the version of "Knockin' On Heavens' Door"was done with a more gospel style type singing which sounded pretty nifty too.
But alas,after seeming to enjoy himself and having a good time,the band got back into familiar territory(which delighted the mostly"we don't wanna hear any more new stuff" audience)by going into "Patience".Oh boy,something went wrong,cuz Axl lost his place in the songs,and lost his patience so to speak and thru the mic up in the air and walked off the stage.The band tried to recover the song,but also got lost.As they all caught up in time for the end of the song Axl walked back out and finished the toon,only to throw the mic up in the air again and walked off with just a "thank you-have a good night".
Rockitqeen & I,thinking we may have siezed an opportunity to get up closer to the stage made our way thru the crowd only to have the lights go up and the place filled with the refrains of an angry Detroit audience going "boooooooooo!!!!"
Yikes,
so,to avoid another Canadian Guns N'Roses ritual(known as A Riot)we headed for the stairs and made our way out of the auditorium.
Unfortuanitly our ride hadn't arrived yet and the great outdoors of Auburn Hills was taken over by blistering freezing cold winds,rain and GASP!--snow!!Aaarrggghhhh!GOD I HATE SNOW!!!!
But after about an hour of waiting,Nitriss arrived and we hudled into her car gasping for warm air.And with the ringing of Axl & the boys who weren't Slash in our ears,we smiled and knew it was worth it.Cuz they did friggin' rock.
'Bout time for a real rock n' roll show again.
Hope the kiddies learned somethen.
And hopefully Axl will polish up on the lyrics and learn a little Patience so we get an encore in Vegas.Rockitqeen still hasn't gotten to see them do "Paradise City" yet.
And hell Axl-when ya forget the words just stick the mic out at the audience.We'll be glad to help.
Best Qoute Of The Night-"We gave you wheels,what else do you want?"Axl talkin' 'bout Detroit
Funniest Thing Of The Night-Bucketheads robot dance
Saddest Thing Of The Night-the poor drunk kid passed out in a puddle of freezing snow water with his ass crack hanging out.
Best Thing Of The Night-the smile on Rockitqeen's face!
When we got to the airport,the first thing to hit us(well,me more so)was the hazy skies and the fear of goin' back home to Michigan,which for me is alwayz a mixed bag of emotions.It's like another whole life for me there which I've left mostly behind since I moved to Vegas eight or so yearz ago.Course I was excited about seeing my friendz,family and Guns N' Roses,but all the creepy old feelingz was also bubbling up from my flesh.O.k.,so I'm overdramatizing thingz,but a part of me wanted to grab the steering wheel of the plane and head back to Sin City.I guess I have this fear of being stuck in Michigan and going backward in my life,which is silly but if you've ever read any Michael Moore or Ben Hamper books you would be familiar with the dread and sadness Michigan can bestow upon one who lives for more than just hunting,drinking beer and being unemployed.
But I digress,sorry,back to the event of the night.
My old roomate and friend-Nitriss-also known as Roy's Sister-picked us up and wisked us out to the Palace in a rainstorm that rivavled that one in that book where the guy builds an arc and puts pairs of beasties on it.The sky's where drenched.
We entered the Palace,got our wristbandz and signed a mosh pit waiver and made our way to the floor of the auditorium.Unfortatly we made it a bit too early cuz the patience of my dear Rockitqeen was quickly disolving as we sat thru the boring and pointless yammering of CKY.Yuck.File them in the C Section of the store for CRAP!
Next up was Mixmaster Mike from The Beastie Boys who was mildly entertaining for about 10 minutes then we grew very wrestless.There's only so much back n' forth playing of one mans record collection we could take(tho the big screen visuals of Ultra Man fighting giant rubber monsters did help some).It's not like he was bad,just not our flavour of the night.We wanted to ROCK-not listen to drum machines mixed with Kriss Kross and Vanilla Ice toonz.Jeez,back in the day it was a sin to play that crap in a show before a rock band hit the stage.It was always Led Zeps' second album,now it's getting jiggy with Poop Dogg N' Pee Ditty.
But alas,after waiting about an hour the moment had arrived.The lights went out,the Detroit crowd reminded me how Detroit audiences make the best noise in the world and the geetar intro staggered out over the amps as The Voice screamed over the p.a.-"Do you know where you are?....You're in the jungle baby....and you're gonna d...i.....ii.......eee....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"
The place freekin' exploded!!!
Axl,wearing a Red Wings hockey jersey and Bo Derek braids slithered out onto the stage with his all new,all different GnR and took us back to the good ol' days when the grass was green and the girls were pretty.
well,kinda-but I'm getting ahead of myself.
He sounded great thru the whole show.Usually when one catches a performance by Mr.Bailey by the time he's halfway thru the show his voice is raw and froggy,but Thursday night he was on top all the way.Zooming around the stage doing his trademark snakedance,making sure everone was feeling his wrath.I'd have to say my fave of the night was "Live & Let Die"cuz it was just blistering!!Intense baby!!
The new band,well,of course we'd all die to see The Slash n' The Duff and The Whole Sweaty Gang from back when,but I gotta confess they kick major ass.And they look just as cool.The Nine Inch Nails guitarist had that Gene Simmons stance down pat doin' the more razor sharp type solos,The punker guy from The Vandels handled the more raw type punky licks and Buckethead-well,I'm not the biggest fan of twiddly diddly technical type playin'-but he's just wierd and off the wall enough to win my thumbs up.The guy is not of this earth that's for sure-and that's what schlock-n-roll is all about!Especially his solo-where he descended his sonic booms on us with music from Star Wars,and he even handed gifts out to the audience from a grab bag-action figures and such til he pulled out a Col.Sanders Bobblehead to mach his KFC bucket.He's got to be seen to be believed cuz ya just can't explain him.
The only songs that really stood out for me that lacked the WOOMPH was "Sweet Child O'Mine"and "November Rain"cuz to me there's no one that does those songs the way Slash does.Buckethead was a bit too technical for those-they needed to be sloppied up by the one formerly known as Saul Hudson.But oh well.
Most of the toonz were from "Appetite For Destruction",a few from the "Use Your Illusions"and one from "Lies".Then toward the end of the night we got a good listen to 4(was it 4 or 5 Rockitqeen?)new songz from the much anticipated "Chinese Democracy"album,which I really enjoyed-I think they're all pretty darn good,especially one that had Brian May stamped all over it(which may be the case since the Queen string twiddler did work on the album).Also the version of "Knockin' On Heavens' Door"was done with a more gospel style type singing which sounded pretty nifty too.
But alas,after seeming to enjoy himself and having a good time,the band got back into familiar territory(which delighted the mostly"we don't wanna hear any more new stuff" audience)by going into "Patience".Oh boy,something went wrong,cuz Axl lost his place in the songs,and lost his patience so to speak and thru the mic up in the air and walked off the stage.The band tried to recover the song,but also got lost.As they all caught up in time for the end of the song Axl walked back out and finished the toon,only to throw the mic up in the air again and walked off with just a "thank you-have a good night".
Rockitqeen & I,thinking we may have siezed an opportunity to get up closer to the stage made our way thru the crowd only to have the lights go up and the place filled with the refrains of an angry Detroit audience going "boooooooooo!!!!"
Yikes,
so,to avoid another Canadian Guns N'Roses ritual(known as A Riot)we headed for the stairs and made our way out of the auditorium.
Unfortuanitly our ride hadn't arrived yet and the great outdoors of Auburn Hills was taken over by blistering freezing cold winds,rain and GASP!--snow!!Aaarrggghhhh!GOD I HATE SNOW!!!!
But after about an hour of waiting,Nitriss arrived and we hudled into her car gasping for warm air.And with the ringing of Axl & the boys who weren't Slash in our ears,we smiled and knew it was worth it.Cuz they did friggin' rock.
'Bout time for a real rock n' roll show again.
Hope the kiddies learned somethen.
And hopefully Axl will polish up on the lyrics and learn a little Patience so we get an encore in Vegas.Rockitqeen still hasn't gotten to see them do "Paradise City" yet.
And hell Axl-when ya forget the words just stick the mic out at the audience.We'll be glad to help.
Best Qoute Of The Night-"We gave you wheels,what else do you want?"Axl talkin' 'bout Detroit
Funniest Thing Of The Night-Bucketheads robot dance
Saddest Thing Of The Night-the poor drunk kid passed out in a puddle of freezing snow water with his ass crack hanging out.
Best Thing Of The Night-the smile on Rockitqeen's face!