Auditorio Juan Carlos I, Spain Review

Auditorio Juan Carlos I, Spain Review

by Ignatius

Show Time

The band was scheduled to appear at 10. They didn't show up till 11:59.

People got pissed off. There were already chants agains Axl. It started to get serious when people broke a few chairs and were passing them along towards the front so they could through them at the stage. Security did well and got on the way. Fortunately, some tour manager or assistat announced there had been a techincal failure and that was 21521v2112v why the band was late. He apoligised and people calmed down a bit. Then at 12, the band started with Jungle and people when nuts.

Jungle

Easy

Brownstone

LATL

Better

SCOM

KNHD

IRS

YCBM

The Blues

Outta get me

November Rain

TWAT

My Michelle

Patience

Chinese Democracy

Nightrain

Madagascar

Paradise city

---

(the following were perforance throughout the show)

Solos by Dizzy, Richard, Bumblefoot, Robin (two).

Medley. Amazing medley with keyboards...it sounded like jazz music.

Crowd

The show sold out but not till 1130 or so. I don't know if the crowd knew Axl was gonna be late or what the hell happened, but it did finally sold out. The crowd reacted differently to every song. While the classics were very well received, the new songs hardly made an impact. There were a few people moshing but not too many. It was a good crowd, it could've been better had the band appeared on time, but reacted well.

Axl

He was in a very good mood. He didn't interact that much with us - I guess the language barrier there is a factor - but he did say a few things. After the first three songs, he said he was very happy to be in Madrid, and that he was our master of ceremonies for the evening. He then said he was "el matador". People didn't really get that. Bullfighter in spanish is torero not matador (that's in mexican spanish I guess).

For the rest of the evening, when he had something to say, he sounded like he was some kinda of announcer in a sports game. I don't know if he was just joking around, taking the piss or what...but he had this same voice you hear in any nba game..."and to my far right, mr. Richard fortus". He also made a comment about how much he heard the word "puta" (he said punta) tonight. Puta means whore and people were chanting "hijo de puta" (son of a bitch) sometimes at him. He was in good spirits though, in great mood.

He danced like I've never seen him danced before. Very smoothed, the snake dance was there, but it's evolved to something sort of slower. He really moved well, way better than in 2002. He still has the moves, definitely. He was wearing jeans and brownish jacket/shirt. Then, he put on the same shirt he wore at the new york shows. His voice sounded "amazing" even better than in 93. He nailed every single song, even better and IRS.

The band

Lot of chemistry there..specially between the 3 guitarists. I really enjoyed Fortus playing and stage presence. This guy rocks. Robin Fink is the true leading guitar here. I had some doubts about him, but this guy really got involved. Bumblefoot is good, skilled. His stage presence is not as powerful as the other two, but good overall. Tommy is number 2 in GNR these days. Axl was constanly talking to him, putting his arm around him...these two have developed a great friendship so it seems. The rest of the band was ok, didn't pay too much attention to Dizzy, Brain or Pittman.

My review:

Well, what can I say? It's been a hell of a show. I didn't really like the two-hour delay, but the band made it all up to us. If you hear negative reviews from this show, it may have to do with the stigma this band has to carry for the rest of their live than really about the performance we saw tonight. The band put everything they had. It was a 2 and 1/2 hour show, all the hits, the new songs, great sound and Axl in a very good mood...what else you want? well, there are still people who miss Slash and live constanly in the past. That's fine with me, but they will never enjoy this band cause they just can't be open about it.

I'm so thrilled about what I saw tonight. I have no doubt that Axl will have the last laugh. On this note, when you see Axl you know the guy is so confident in what he's doing.- It's like he already knows he is gonna have the last laugh. -

I'm going to be now cause it's 524 am and I'm tired. I'm just gonna add that I met Christos and Mean Machine. We couldn't get to do anything cause they were exhausted and had to catch a plane to Lisbon tomorrow

At last, but not least, if you haven't bought any tickets to any of the upcoming concerts, I don't know what are you waiting for. This has been so fucking worth it.

Have fun at the shows people!!!!!!

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