Simon Rushworth
@ Newcastle o2 Academy, August 7 2010
Going for the line-up circa 1991 – the Use Your Illusion era minus Izzy Stradlin – headliners Guns 2 Roses swagger their way on stage to the intro of It’s So Easy.
Gilby Clarke, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagen get a warm welcome but Slash, as ever, steals the moment. Hidden behind a mass of curls and boasting the trademark top hat and low slung Gibson, the only things missing are a smouldering Marlborough red and a bottle of JD to complete the look.
With all the attitude of W. Axl Rose, Gav Felvus looks more like Axl than Axl. He has the moves and the costume changes that could almost convince you that he is the real deal. Spinning like a top, climbing the lighting rig and jumping into the fevered audience, he gives us what we want from Axl. Just without the temper.
Loaded like a freight train, flying like an aeroplane, the guys power their way through GNR classics for almost two hours. The mere mention of Appetite For Destruction has the crowd baying for more – even though most present probably weren’t alive in 1987 at the time of the original pressing.
More still wouldn’t recall the ‘Robot Rape’ artwork scandal of the time. Nightrain, Mr Brownstone, My Michelle and a thunderous rendition of Live and Let Die keep us all on edge waiting for the crowd pleasers that we are hopeful will come before curfew kicks in.
Highlights of the show were Civil War, Rocket Queen and, of course, Sweet Child of Mine, Welcome To The Jungle and the last GNR track of the night Paradise City.
As the current line-up of GNR is, perhaps, only a tribute to what they once were, Guns 2 Roses offer a great show with a level of authenticity and integrity that the original artists deserve from a tribute, but with a definite aim to please. Let’s hope it isn’t another eight years before their return.
Viki Ridley