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Guns N' Roses review: Axl brings originals to Brisbane

Jorge Branco

Nothing says most dangerous band in the world like row upon row of portable plastic seating lined up like some impossibly oversized community hall.

Thousands of fans all stand neatly in line with only the most well-heeled, willing and able to part with more than $250, allowed the privilege of dancing and sweating on each other anywhere near the stage.

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I'm sure they'd be dancing in the aisles, if security wasn't there to ask them nicely not to. It's a long way from anything you could picture in a Guns N' Roses song.

Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those, "they're too old, it's time to retire" reviews.

Sure, Axl Rose has gained a few around the waist, lost a bit from the lungs, apparently owns more hats than the Queen (at least three just tonight), wears a flanno around his waist because reasons and feels the need to change shirts no less than seven times throughout the show.

Yes, he's about as unlikeable of a front man as you could hope for. But he was kind of a pest 20 years ago as well and hell, it suits him.

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At the end of the day, this is Guns N' Roses not only in just about the purest form we could ever hope for in 2017 but the first time anything approaching the original lineup has played Brisbane. Axl's Chinese Democracy tour in 2007 really, really didn't count.

When Duff, Slash and Axl hit their straps, these are some of the most powerful rock songs ever written, blasted in your face live, by brilliant musicians.

Even a disembodied Axl floating through stormy clouds in a backwards red baseball cap with fake water falling on the big screens can't ruin November Rain.

That teasing intro to Welcome to the Jungle sends the 40,000-strong crowd into immediate raptures and hearing classics like Sweet Child 'O' Mine and Paradise City is clearly a bucket list item for half the stadium, whether it's the first time or not.

Slash, black ringlets spilling out from his top hat, sunglasses on and alternately slouching or strutting his way across the mammoth stage, proves again and again he deserves his spot in the rock god pantheon.

There are enough extended solos you can't help but imagine the bargaining that went down to patch up the once-irreparable rift between the band's two most well-known members.

Axl: Hey Slash, you're going to have to play a bunch of the shit songs I wrote for Chinese Democracy.

Slash: No.

Axl: Nah, you are but.

Slash: Fine, but I get at least one extended face-melting session for every time you make me play trash.

Duff is rock solid, driving the whole thing forward with the funky basslines that make GNR stand out and together, it's a (fairly) well-oiled machine.

After all, once concerts get this big - fireworks or flame balls backing every third song, giant big screens so you can see from hundreds of metres away and at-times hilarious, menacing CGI video aides - all you're really seeing is a machine coming together. Well or not.

When the machine doesn't click, usually because Axl can't quite keep up on the faster songs, It's still three guys you never really thought you'd see on stage together again and it's pretty good.

On occasions, the whole thing veers a little closer to parody than perfection. Like when the screens go black and white for Live and Let Die or the real orgasm sounds of the album track are replaced by some sort of skeleton kama sutra on the big screens for Rocket Queen.

And seriously, stop playing songs from Chinese Democracy.

Nathan's Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre is still a horrible place to get home from, with hour-long bus waits par for the course, and it's not really much better sonically or aesthetically as a place to watch a gig.

But even if you're in that long line, you've just spent more than two hours watching the Gunners.

Sure, they're no longer the most dangerous band in the world but much of the audience (myself included) never had a chance to see them when they were. Just because Guns N' Roses isn't everything it was in the '80s, that doesn't mean it's not worth it for another generation to see its idols.

Setlist

It's So Easy

Mr Brownstone

Chinese Democracy

Welcome to the Jungle

Double Talkin' Jive

Better

Estranged

Live and Let Die (Wings cover)

Rocket Queen

You Could Be Mine

New Rose (The Damned cover)

This I Love

Civil War

Coma

Sweet Child O' Mine

Used To Love Her

Out Ta Get Me

Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)

November Rain

Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan cover)

Night train

Encore

Patience

The Seeker  (The Who cover)

Paradise City

Guns N' Roses play ANZ Stadium, Sydney on February 10 and 11, Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 14, Adelaide Oval on February 18 and Domain Stadium, Perth on February 21.

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