Last night I had the apportunity to go to the Guns N' Roses concert at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, OH.  I never had the chance to see them when Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steve were in the band, so I had to jump on this one before I would never get to see them at all.  Being that I grew up with their music, as well as Metallica, Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard, Ratt, and other 80's hair bands I was excited to have the chance to see one of the true legends of rock.  I've already been to Metallica in 2009, Poison in 2005, Motley Crue in 2006 on the Carnival of Sin tour, and even went to Ozfest in 2007.

Leading up to the event a few people tried to tell us that it would be a waste.  According to them Axl gained a bunch of weight and couldn't sing anymore, and since the rest of the original band wouldn't be there, it was just going to be a huge disappointment.  I thought about this, and realized that I had heard this all before when I told people about going to see Motley Crue.  They laughed at the thought of Vince Neil and Tommy Lee coming out on the stage in wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.  After the concert I thought to myself that I had just been to one of the best shows that I've ever seen.  Last night was no disappointment either.

Rob, a friend of mine from work, was going with me, as well as my son Vince who had never been to a concert before.  Rob and I had gone to the Metallica concert together, so I guess you can say we're unofficial concert buddies now.  We left Pittsburgh shortly after work at 5pm.  I told Vince that we'd be at his house shortly after 6pm which would give us some time to grab a bite to eat and still deal with the potential traffic once we got close.  We hit McDonalds on the way, and pulled into the parking lot at 7:15pm.  The show was supposed to start at 8pm so we had about 45 minutes to get in and get situated.  Turns out that things were changed at the last minute, and the doors wouldn't open until 8pm.  This pushed everything back, considering the show now wouldn't start until 9pm, with the headliner band Black Label Society playing for about an hour, and then GNR on stage after that.

As we're standing outside the Covelli Centre waiting for the doors to open the temperature was starting to drop a little.  What I wouldn't have given for a cup of hot chocolate or coffee right about then, but we braved through it.  I almost felt bad for a girl in a short skirt and leather boots, but then I though "Well, she's dumb enough to wear that in December." and the thought immediately went away.  Rob and I joked about putting up a hot chocolate stand a few feet away and making a killing on the sales since there were probably around a thousand other people standing outside waiting for the doors to open.  Finally at 7:55pm the inner lobby doors opened, and we were on our way in.

All three of us had to hit the restroom, so we made our way to the closest one.  Now, I've been in a few restrooms at different venues, but I have to say that this one was the smallest.  There were 4 urinals on the right, 2 stalls on the left, and about 20 guys that came in after us waiting for their turn.  So well lined up behind our respective spots, and waited our turn.  Vince was up first, as Rob and I continued to wait.  Turns out that the guy in front of Rob drank a 55 gallon drum of beer before he came, and the guy in front of me wasn't far behind.  I ended up taking Vince's spot we he finished, and Rob jumped in my spot, tired of waiting for the "river to run dry".

We make our way into the arena to find our seats.  Since we managed to score 2nd row seats on the left side, we were surprised to see that the first 3 seat sections were missing.  After checking in with the staff checking tickets towards the front, we made our way to the left side of the stage where our seats should have been.  We were basically walking through what appeared to be a huge mosh pit.  After talking with two of the security staff, it turned out that earlier in the afternoon Axl demanded the seating be taken out to create a bigger dance floor.

The security guys also informed us that we were in for a long night.  Apparently the opening act Black Label Society wasn't coming out until 9pm, and would be playing until around 10:30pm.  There would be about a 20 minute intermission while the sets were changed out, and then Axl and crew would finish things up with a 2-3 hour set.  If that was the case we wouldn't get out of there until close to 1:30am.  That may prove to be an issue since Vince had school in the morning, and we had an hour drive back to Pittsburgh.  I wouldn't get home until around 4am since I had to take Rob home.  That was fine for Rob, who took the next day off, but for me it would prove to be a long day.

Black Label Society came on stage a few minutes after 9pm.  It was the first time I had really listened to their music, and I have to say that it wasn't bad at all.  The music was loud, and quite a few people around us seemed to really be getting into the performance.  Zakk Wylde proved that he is still a great guitarist, playing one of the longest solos that I've ever witnessed at a concert.  I remember listening Zakk for the first time on Ozzy's "No More Tears" album and loved his style.  Now I was actually able to see him in person, standing 10 feet away from me. They played about a total of 6 or 7 songs, with Zakk's solo thrown in there too, and ran up until about 10:20pm as expected.

As the stagehands rushed around tearing the set down in preparation for the main show the three of us made conversation with the people around us. It's pretty easy to strike up a conversation when you're really all there for the same reason, and obviously share a common interest.  We talked about other concerts we had been to, songs that we like, and experiences that we had.  We didn't get into any deep, philosophical or political debates, but just tried to pass the time waiting for what we had all come for.

And then it happened.  The house lights went out, the background music dropped, and the secondary music that (from what I know) all concerts play as the band prepares to come on stage blared through the overhead speakers.  Suddenly the huge screen at the back of the stage lit up with a red glow with the letters G-N-R displayed.  The red, flickering glow protruded from the side of the stage too as what looked like a huge light tapestry hung down from the rafters.  LED strobe lights flashed above our heads, and everyone stared at the stage hoping to catch a glimpse of the band coming out.  Richard Fortus was the first to come out, followed by DJ Ashba and Tommy Stinson.  Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal took his place on our side of the stage, while Frank Ferrer, Dizzy Reed, and Chris Pitman could all be seen in their respective spots in the background.  Finally Axl Rose took center stage dressed in jeans, a black overcoat, sunglasses, and a black fedora.  As he belted out the lyrics to the song "Chinese Democracy" off of their latest album, the crowd went wild with enthusiasm.  It was even more pronounced when DJ began playing the beginning rift of "Welcome to the Jungle".

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I know the lyrics to a lot of their more popular songs, and even some of the not-so-popular tracks from the earlier years.  One of the better parts about going to a concert is going with friends that you can have fun with, and letting loose for a while singing along with the band as they play.  Some people take it to the extreme, jumping around, falling into you, and just making a complete fool of themselves.  Surprisingly even though we were all huddled up in a huge mass towards the center of the stage, the crowd was pretty calm, and not too many people were getting carried away.  One fight broke out in the middle, but security quickly broke it up and escorted the people out.  In talking with security earlier, it was also make known to us that "crowd surfing" wouldn't be tolerated either, with immediate removal from the area.  Considering some of the stories that have been told about the earlier GNR years, this time was a lot calmer, and people just seemd to be having a good time.

As the night went on they started playing some of the early GNR songs from Appetite for Destruction, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.  We all went wild when Axl started singing "Estranged", mainly because they just recently put the song back into the live set list at the 2011 Rock in Rio concert, but also because it truly is a great song.  The entire band showed so much enthusiasm that is just made the show that much better.

Throughout the night Axl introduced each member of the band.  They all played their own solo for a few minutes, culminating in a group effort at the end of the each mix, right back into the songs we all know and love.  Dizzy Reed came down to the front of the stage on the classic Baldwin grand piano for his solo, and everyone loved it.

When things started finally winding down to a close we realized there we still a few songs that hadn't been performed.  One of them was "Patience" which is a personal favorite of mine, and the other being "Paradise City".  A few minutes later Richard and Ron came out with acoustic guitars as DJ took his position on the right side of the stage.  Axl came out whistling the famous beginning tune, as we all joined in with the lyrics.  A few lighters were held in the air, and a gentle wave came over the crowd as everyone swayed to the music.

Finally what would be the last song of the night began, and the well-known beginning guitar melody of Paradise City echoed throughout the arena.  At the first tempo change the pyrotechnics kicked off throwing balls of fire into the air above the stage.  A curtain of sparks fell from the rafters at the back of the set lighting up the entire front half of the arena.  As the ending of the song where the heaviest guitar rifts come in, a machine blew out thousands of pieces of read streamers all over the center of the room as the pyros continued in the background.  The final seconds of the song unleashed canons of silver streamers into the crowd, finalizing the show and setting everyone off into a frenzy of applause.  After that the band joined each center stage, took their bows, and walked off into the darkness of the backstage area.

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As we walked to the car in the cool air I looked at my watch.  It was almost 2am, and I still had to drop Vince off and make the trip back to Pittsburgh.  We stopped at a gas station to fill up and grab some food, made the 20 minute drive to his house, and then headed for the border.  I dropped Rob of at about 3:45am, and finally pulled in the driveway at 4:18am.  My ears were still ringing, and I was exhausted from the events of the night, and when I crawled in bed at 4:30am I don't remember laying there too long until I was out. 

Three hours later Missy's alarm went off to get Aubrey off to school, and a few minutes later I managed to drag myself out of bed and get ready for my day.  Rob took the day off, but I had a 2 hour meeting to attend with the client of the project that I'm on at the office, so I really didn't have a choice.  But I managed to make it through the day, pumping as much caffeine into my body as I could.

Overall it was an awesome experience, and I would do it all over again if the opportunity presents itself.  Anyone who says that GNR isn't the same obviously hasn't seen them in concert recently, and shouldn't pass judgement on them without experiencing them.  I will agree that Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steve make the original band, and all of the songs that they produced are truly classic songs.  No one will be able to duplicate the original process, or the sound and vibrance that those guys put into their work.  I wish I could have seen those guys in concert back in the day, but I am definitely happy that I got to see today's band.  An Axl Rose may be pushing his 50's, but the man can still sing in his signature tone, and he sure has the energy to bounce across the stage as always.  And considering the fact that on the same day of the concert Guns N' Roses was accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, they are truly one of the all-time great bands.