Every single Guns N’ Roses fan waiting for the band to perform in both Bengaluru and Mumbai, even the staunchest atheist, said a prayer or kept fingers crossed, hoping that unlike all those stories of the past about cancelled shows or much delayed performances, incredibly temperamental frontman Axl Rose would actually take to the stage, if so, at a reasonable hour. So when Mooz Entertainment’s official got on stage at a little past 7 pm at the Bhartiya Grounds in Bengaluru, the ghost of the cancelled Metallica concert suddenly came alive. “If you want to get drinks and snacks, now may be a good time. The band will be on stage soon,” one of the officials said.
Suddenly after the announcement, the “G-N-R” screaming crowd was curious why the official deemed it important to get on stage. “Is Axl not here yet?” “Why are we being prepped and asked to wait?” The prayers got more earnest and the fingers tightened. Within 15 minutes, as the crowd grooved to the hugely popular Mad Men theme song A Beautiful Mine by RJD2, GN’R band members slowly settled on stage with their instruments. Still no sign of Axl. It took a few chords of Chinese Democracy to get the vocalist on stage as the crowd rose to its toes — shades of disbelief, joy and excitement largely writ across their faces. This. Is. Happening.
While the band got on stage just a little before 7.30 pm in Bengaluru, Axl and his merrymen shocked the Mumbai audience by getting on stage at 6.55 pm. Never in the history of international rock performances in the city had a band started before 7 pm — even Mark Knopfler started a little past 7 pm. Playing a three-hour set at the MMRDA Grounds, it was a night to remember. The audience roared as they heard the familiar riff of Welcome To The Jungle, a classic runaway hit and former concert opener of the original band.
The Bengaluru set that lasted around two hours and 40 minutes was slightly different from the Mumbai one. In both venues Welcome… was followed by It's So Easy, Mr Brownstone, Estranged, Rocket Queen, Richard Fortus’s guitar solo leading to Live And Let Die and This I Love. Both setlists juggled the older songs with some popular Chinese Democracy numbers. Even the hardcore original band supporters sang along to Better, Catcher In The Rye and Street Of Dreams. While the band performed There Was A Time in Bengaluru, Mumbai’s surprise song was Madagascar from the same album.
Axl Rose joined on the piano for the cover of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall, a routine he has followed through the band’s residency in Hard Rock, Las Vegas. He followed it with a solo recital of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Someone Saved My Life Tonight. There obviously were the crowdpullers in the form of Sweet Child O’ Mine (the GN’R equivalent of Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69 at Indian concerts), Estranged, Don’t Cry, Patience and November Rain, it was truly a sight to behold as thousands of fans sang along to some other hits songs like Civil War, You Could Be Mine, This I Love and Rocket Queen.
The band, popular for making songs even more famous by covering them, did its fair share of covers. From Zeppelin’s No Quarter (Dizzy Reed), The Who’s The Seeker and Neil Young’s Don’t Let it Bring You Down (in Bengaluru), to their already successful versions that have become concert staples like Live and Let Die and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, the audience lapped up every song with a loud cheer and louder singing.
While the setlists were largely alike, both concerts were as different from each other as possible. Axl Rose’s vocals in Bengaluru were strained and sometimes even the eager fan accustomed to him going off-key while performing live had to make do with whatever he managed to dole out. His mic was surprisingly set to a lower volume but as the night progressed I felt it was the smarter thing to do considering this wasn’t the original band and the struggled vocals could’ve damaged whatever remaining mental image a true fan had of Axl Rose. The story in Mumbai was different. The sound was topnotch and Axl seemed to have got his voice back, what with holding a note on more than one occasion — something most associated with the legendary singer. Axl also seemed to be having a much better time in Mumbai. He spoke more often with the audience, even going so far as dedicating Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door to the city and it’s famous Parsi and Axl’s favourite musician Freddie Mercury.
During the song in Bengaluru, Axl who was gliding around the stage (not running like he famously would) stood straight up ahead of my husband and I who managed to find our way to the front row. Silent during one of the many guitar solos in the song, Axl noticed us when we screamed, “I sing one… you sing one…” as he has done at almost all his concerts while gearing up the crowd to repeat after him. He smiled at us, nodded with a mischievous glint in his eyes so as to say “Okay I get it, now will you let me sing my lines?” Oh the rockstar had arrived, showing faint glimpses of his bad boy past. But the song was performed in Mumbai in a manner befitting of the band’s original glory, longer than it was in Bengaluru and in a version far more heartwarming.
This wasn’t the same band. Slash’s absence was felt loud and clear. The rest of the guitarists — Richard Fortus was superb, DJ Ashba was brilliant in parts and Bumblefoot shone with his 12-string guitar — had big shoes to fill in. There was no shortage of Les Pauls’ on stage but the chunky sound of Slash magic was not there and left gaping holes in pivotal parts of many of the classics. Some parts of the night they sounded like a GN’R cover band but the eager crowd, many of them emotional about finally seeing the band, was willing to forgive them of all their shortcomings, cheered on. Axl’s flickering voice in Bengaluru was seriously in need of more powerful backup vocals — the lady singers in November Rain and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door were sorely missed. Axl seemed reserved and professional in Bengaluru; in Mumbai he was much better, he seemed happier and spoke a lot more to the crowd. He updated them of his Aspirin popping in the gap between the first half of November Rain and the song’s coda. He even told Mumbai: “Go home safe and stay away from the po-po”; in Bengaluru it ended with the band just taking a bow. He dragged his manager, soulmate and pillar of strength Beta Lebeis to pose along with Fortus at the end of the gig, showing Mumbai their Indian connection — tattoos of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
While both concerts ended with Paradise City, it was clear in Axl’s mind which one he enjoyed more. The band markedly improved its performance in Mumbai. One can only hope they seal the deal with Delhi.